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Greece's largest carrier Aegean Airlines said Thursday it would ask the country's big banks for E150m of loans under the COVID-19 Enterprise Guarantee Fund, to deal with hardships related to the coronavirus pandemic. Aegean said under the programme the state guarantee is set at 80% for loans lasting up to 5 years and for up to 25% of annual turnover. "We will apply for a total amount of E150m, equal to only 11% of our turnover," the carrier said. That, along with E510m of cash reserves at the beginning of the crisis, would give it some time to adjust, it added. The loan request will be submitted to Alpha Bank, Eurobank, National Bank and Piraeus Bank. The airline said that government measures unveiled earlier Thursday to support the aviation industry were a step in the right direction, even though the numbers were rather limited compared to other EU countries. Greece's measures to support the air transport sector, hit hard by the grounding of flights during the pandemic, amount to E115m.<br/>

SAS is in talks with major shareholders to raise more money to help it ride out the pandemic-induced collapse in global air travel after reporting bigger losses in its Q2. Sweden and Denmark, part owners of SAS, have already stepped in to aid the airline, guaranteeing a 3.3b crown credit facility, but SAS CE Rickard Gustafson said more would be needed given the scope of the crisis. "SAS is currently in active, intensive and constructive discussions with the company's major shareholders and selected stakeholders on a recapitalisation plan to ensure the future of SAS," Gustafson said. When asked for more details on the funding needs, Gustafson declined to give more information, but said it was clear the amount would be "significant". Gustafson said the company aimed to present a plan to the market in June. SAS said losses before tax in the February-April quarter rose to 3.72b Swedish crowns ($387.4m) from 1.22b a year earlier. The airline, facing tough competition from low-cost rivals, had already been restructuring and making cost savings before the coronavirus pandemic hit the airline industry.<br/>

SAS has agreed with Airbus to delay delivery of four A320neos and is in talks with the airframer on further deferrals as the Scandinavian carrier prepares for a slow recovery in traffic after the coronavirus crisis. CFO Torbjorn Wist said during a Q2 results briefing that “so far” negotiations with Airbus had resulted in the deferral of four A320neos from 2022 to 2024. “We continue our discussion on additional solutions,” he says. Cirium fleets data shows that SAS has 40 A320neo-family jets on order – including three A321LRs – and holds options on a further 16. Additionally, the Scandinavian carrier has five A350-900s on order and hold six options. CE Rickard Gustafson said during the briefing that SAS intended to delay “some” deliveries and accelerate the retirement of older aircraft in an effort to reduce the fleet size to match a lower-demand environment. “We might be able to reach a one-type fleet faster than previously anticipated before the crisis,” he says.<br/>

The Portuguese government may make decisions in June about saving carrier TAP, which had to suspend most of its operations due to the coronavirus outbreak. Airlines around the world have been struggling to stay afloat after the coronavirus punctured a decades-long aviation boom. Germany on Monday offered Lufthansa a package of loans and equity investment. Infrastructure Minister Pedro Nuno Santos said May 19 that Portugal won’t let TAP collapse, and the government has repeatedly said it won’t exclude any instruments it can use to intervene. Secretary of State for Treasury Alvaro Novo said on May 13 that the government may have a decision in the middle of June about a possible cash injection. TAP asked the government for aid after the pandemic brought its business to an almost complete halt, making the airline go through the “most delicate moment in its 75-year existence,” Chairman Miguel Frasquilho said in April.<br/>

These days, Bangkok's normally bustling main international airport feels like a museum dedicated to displaying Boeing and Airbus jets owned by Thai Airways International, with the carrier's fleet largely grounded. The mixed collection of Boeing 747-400s, Airbus A330s, Boeing 787-9s and Airbus A380s sitting silently on the tarmac or inside hangars at Suvarnabhumi Airport might appeal to aviation enthusiasts and photographers looking for a rare and dramatic shot. But the inertness of the fleet highlights not just the impact of COVID-19 but the airline's decades of financial inefficiency. "Thai Airways troubles started in the 1990s when it decided to diversify and buy every type of plane that was being manufactured," said an airline industry insider in Thailand. Different models have different specs using different engines, forcing the airline to train an army of engineers to keep the General Electric and Rolls-Royce engines flightworthy, inflating maintenance costs. The inefficiency manifest at Suvarnabhumi is just one part of a history of mismanagement, corruption, and political interference that has now plunged the airline into overhaul proceedings. The kingdom's Bankruptcy Court on Wednesday accepted a petition from Thai, as the airline is commonly known, for rehabilitation under the court's supervision, with the first hearing scheduled for August. Story has more background.<br/>

At two previous companies, new United CEO Scott Kirby developed a reputation for bluntness, often favouring honest answers over diplomatic ones. On Thursday, speaking at his first public forum since taking over last week from Oscar Munoz, Kirby showed he wouldn’t drop the act just because he now leads a Fortune 100 company. At the Bernstein 36th Annual Strategic Decisions Conference, Kirby shared his opinions on several issues he’s confronting, including onboard safety, a lack of demand, and mounting debt. Story features highlights.<br/>

United CE Scott Kirby said on Thursday that facial masks, aircraft cleaning and air filtration systems are better measures for preventing the spread of the coronavirus on airplanes than trying to social distance. "You can't be 6 feet apart on an airplane, middle seat or not," Kirby said. While some rivals are capping the number of seats sold on an aircraft, United is giving passengers the option to re-book if their flight is full or nearly full.<br/>

Air NZ has signalled its fleet of Boeing 777-200ER aircraft may never fly again, resulting in an asset write-down worth hundreds of millions of dollars, an aviation analyst says. The carrier this week told shareholders, due to the devastating impact of Covid-19 on international travel, it was grounding its Boeing 777-200 and 777-300 extended range fleet until at least the end of the year. However, UBS aviation analysts Marcus Curly said Air New Zealand management indicated to analysts during a conference that its ageing 777-200ERs were no longer needed, based on an expectation that the airline would be 30% smaller in two years time and international travel may take even longer than that to recover. "What they were effectively telling us was that the most likely outcome is that they won't fly the 777-200s again," Curly said. That was reiterated in a Forsyth Barr analyst report on Air New Zealand which said airline management suggested they may undertake "early termination options" on several leased 777-300ER aircraft and largely write down the book value of its 777-200ER fleet. In a statement to the NZX on Tuesday Air New Zealand said it expected to book a non-cash impairment charge in relation to some 777 aircraft in the range of $350m to $450m in the 2020 financial year.<br/>