Many Pakistanis tempered this year's Eid greetings with words of condolence or prayers for the victims of coronavirus and PIA flight PK-8303. The flight from Lahore crashed in a dense residential area adjacent to Jinnah International Airport in Karachi on May 22, killing all but two of the 99 people on board. Investigators have recovered the flight data recorder but the cause of the crash is yet to be determined. The crash was a horrific tragedy at a time when the country is battling the mounting toll of the pandemic. But as with most things in Pakistan, it is also political. Pakistan's national carrier has been ailing for over a decade and now has liabilities of more than PKR400b ($2.48b). The institution has long suffered from allegations of corruption and cronyism. As the global lockdown in response to coronavirus took effect in March, Bloomberg identified PIA as the airline most likely to go bankrupt within two years. Successive attempts to revamp the airline have been botched by poor management. The airline has had nine CEOs over the past 12 years. The appointment of the current CEO, Arshad Mahmood Malik, has been controversial, sparking legal battles and further skewing Pakistan's civilian-military balance. Malik is an Air Marshal of the Pakistan Air Force. A provincial court in December barred Malik from continuing in the role on the basis of a petition filed by PIA's Senior Staff Association, arguing that he lacked the necessary qualifications and experience. Story has more of the background.<br/>
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Virgin Atlantic’s lineup of potential backers has narrowed as Richard Branson’s airline races the clock to secure a bailout, people with knowledge of the situation said. CEO Shai Weiss made follow-up presentations to four remaining interested parties over the weekend, according to the people, who asked not to be named discussing a private matter. Virgin Atlantic pitched its plans for surviving the coronavirus crisis to a dozen firms earlier this month. The airline is seeking to pin down emergency funding in the next two to three weeks, with restructuring specialist Alvarez & Marsal continuing to work on a so-called pre-packaged administration should it fail to secure support, the people said. The trans-Atlantic specialist’s survival plan is based on securing around $925m to shore up liquidity. In addition, the rescue package would include an injection from founder Branson, and guarantees for credit card receipts, the people said. In an email, Virgin Atlantic said it’s “exploring all available options” to obtain external funding. <br/>
EasyJet’s CFO has announced plans to leave the low-cost airline next year, just days after he survived an attempt to oust him by its founder and biggest shareholder Stelios Haji-Ioannou. The budget carrier on Tuesday said Andrew Findlay, who joined easyJet in 2015 from Halfords, will leave in May 2021 after working out his 12-month notice period. It comes just days after Findlay was one of four easyJet directors, including chief executive Johan Lundgren, to win backing from investors after an attempt by Sir Stelios to have them dismissed as part of his fight to get a multibillion Airbus aircraft order scrapped. His departure comes at a difficult time for the airline, which has had to ground almost its entire fleet since the end of March following widespread lockdowns and travel restrictions and faces a long recovery ahead. The move to leave easyJet was a “personal decision”, according to one person close to the matter. Findlay said he remained “fully committed” to the carrier and to ensure it “successfully weathers this unprecedented time for the airline industry”. <br/>
Norwegian Air Shuttle is facing its worst crisis ever and just went through a big restructuring, but the airline’s market value has never been higher. In a three-day rally, the stock has jumped more than 72%, closing at level that’s even higher than before the registration this week of billions of new shares handed to creditors. That means the low-cost carrier’s market value is now at a record 13.7b kroner ($1.4b). That’s despite the airline remaining highly indebted and having warned it will likely need to raise more capital as the entire industry struggles from the slump in demand triggered by the Covid-19 outbreak. Although the share’s rise follows a broad advance by other European travel stocks as countries lift restrictions, it seems to defy all logic, said Robert Naess, the head of Nordea Investment Management in Norway. “It doesn’t make any sense,” he said by phone. “The people buying the stock can’t have sat themselves down and done the math.” Norwegian Air’s rally followed a steep drop on May 20, when the company announced the completion of a 13b-krone recapitalization that included the conversion of lease and bond debt and the sale of new shares. <br/>
Ryanair is planning to rekindle growth after the coronavirus crisis by negotiating incentives with traffic-starved airports and betting on the return of Boeing’s beleaguered 737 Max. The carrier is in talks with airports in Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain and Portugal that are facing “severe cuts” in capacity as the Covid-19 pandemic batters air travel, CEO Michael O’Leary said Tuesday. The discussions involve “expanding our growing traffic in their airports over the next 18 months,” he said. “That’s very much why we want to go ahead and take delivery of the Max,” O’Leary said. “Clearly there’s going to be a huge drop in traffic in 2020, but we think in 2021, there’ll be a lot of growth opportunities there where airports will be offering significant incentives.” The CEO is planning Ryanair’s long-term recovery as the airline prepares to face off against rivals fortified by government assistance. <br/>
Low-cost carrier Jin Air said Tuesday it will resume flights on five international routes next month to cater to incoming passengers and meet cargo-carrying demand. Jin Air plans to restart flight services on routes from Incheon to Bangkok, Taipei, Narita, Osaka and Vietnam on June 1, to bring overseas Koreans, those studying abroad and businessmen to the country, the company said. The company said it will operate one to two flights a week to the five cities from June to also meet cargo-carrying orders, it said. Jin Air has suspended all of its international flights since April, as countries strengthened entry restrictions on incoming passengers to stem the spread of the new coronavirus. But seven domestic routes have been in service despite the virus outbreak. It offered flights on 32 international routes to cities that include Guam, Hawaii, Shanghai and Hong Kong before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the airline industry.<br/>
Philippine Airlines has seen revenue shrink by nearly $1 billion since it suspended operations because of the coronavirus pandemic, the flag carrier’s parent confirms. Airline president Gilbert Santa Maria was quoted in local newspaper The Philippine Star last week saying that the carrier has seen revenue slide by over $300m per month - totalling nearly $1b - since suspending operations in March. PAL Holdings says that the airline had been “more or less” generating revenues of $300m per month and Santa Maria’s estimate is “not without basis”. In The Philippine Star report, which was published on 22 May and re-reported comments made to local television news channel ANC, Santa Maria also stressed that the airline is “not in immediate danger of bankruptcy”, primarily due to a Ps15b ($296m) cash injection from owner Lucio Tan, who is also PAL’s chairman and CE. PAL Holdings’ 2019 financial results show it had received Ps11.4b from Buona Sorte Holdings, a company owned by Tan, in the period to 31 December, followed by a separate $93m infusion in Q1 2020.<br/>
German airline Eurowings resumed services from Düsseldorf to Sardinia, Italy, on Saturday - but was forced to turn around at its destination because Olbia Airport is still closed. Flight EW9844 set off on the 1170km flight to Sardinia's Olbia Airport on the morning of May 23, but was in Sardinian airspace before being informed by air traffic control that it wasn't open to commercial traffic. The Airbus A320 hung around in a holding pattern hoping for permission to land, but no dice. A diversion was proposed to Cagliari, some 190 km away, reports Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera, but the flight crew opted to cut its losses and head back to Düsseldorf. This little sightseeing tour of western Europe, for the benefit of the A320's load of two Sardinian passengers, took a total of four hours and ten minutes. A Eurowings spokesperson said that "against the background of the coronavirus crisis, the situation at numerous airports in Europe is very dynamic. The large amount of information provided on operating hours or airport closures are often changed at short notice," added the spokesperson, and there are "daily changes in entry regulations in the various countries".<br/>