EasyJet said a travel restart in the UK is lagging behind the rest of Europe because a 14-day quarantine for people arriving in Britain puts off would-be travelers from flying. The carrier is seeing strong demand away from its home market, CEO Johan Lundgren said Monday. EasyJet, which is one of the first European airlines to begin building up services after the coronavirus lockdown, is seeing fewer bookings in the UK, he said. Lundgren held out some optimism for the self-isolation policy being relatively short-lived, saying he favors so-called air bridges that allowed unfettered travel between low-risk nations, or more targeted quarantines imposed where there’s a specific threat. Britain’s biggest discount carrier is restarting with mainly internal flights in the UK and routes to France. “We’re working very hard to get quarantine measures replaced by something that makes more sense,” Lundgren said. “The U.K. is dampened by the quarantine the government has put here last week, but hopefully as that gets replaced we’ll see demand picking up.”<br/>
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Aer Lingus is to cut the pay and working hours of staff to less than 50% of their pre-coronavirus pandemic levels following the failure of workers to meet the airline’s deadline to accept its workplace reform programme. Management had set a deadline of 6pm Monday to accept plans for changes to work practices. CE Sean Doyle told workers in a video message, issued after the 6pm deadline, that because not all unions had accepted the Covid Crisis recovery plan in time, its proposals were off the table. “Aer Lingus will now proceed with the planned layoffs and further reductions to working hours and pay that were previously communicated,” he said. He said changes to work practices would now be implemented and were “absolutely required in the context of the unprecedented crisis that we face”. Unions had earlier said they needed longer to consider and vote on the plan. <br/>
WestJet in July and August will increase frequencies on its network and resume service to certain locations for a total of 39 destinations in Canada, five in the USA and one in Mexico as air travel slowly recovers. WestJet’s capacity in June is down 91% year-over-year as people shelter in place to avoid the coronavirus pandemic, according to Cirium’s schedules data. The new seasonal schedule will double the number of flights operated on its network compared with June, but July capacity will still be 76% lower year-over-year, the carrier says on 15 June in a statement. The carrier from 5 July through 4 August will operate flights to Los Angeles from Calgary and Vancouver; to Las Vegas from Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver; and from Toronto to New York LaGuardia International and to Orlando. A weekly flight from Toronto to Cancun, Mexico will begin on 11 July. WestJet in July will operate more frequent flights within Canada to destinations including Charlottetown, Winnipeg, Kelowna, Yellowknife and Saskatoon.<br/>
One of the few hopes Virgin Australia bondholders have of receiving anything from its sale hangs on whether the collapsed airline's administrators decide to cut the amount owed to aircraft lessors down to size. There are growing fears that owners of $2b worth of unsecured bonds will walk away from the Virgin administration empty handed as the two final bidders, Cyrus Capital and Bain Capital, prepare to submit binding offers for the business by next Monday. Making up less than a third of Virgn's $6.8b debt pile, bondholders have not been expected to form a large enough voting group to block any rescue deal administrators Deloitte put to creditors in mid-August. One bondholder, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to confidentiality obligations in relation to the matter, said that secured creditors, including aircraft owners (which are owed $1.8b), had debts from long-term contracts, many of which would be renewed. He said that could prompt Deloitte to reduce how much of their debt to recognise and the number of votes they are allocated, which would boost the bondholders' relative voting strength and force bidders to offer them something to win their support. "The $7b in debt is if they are liquidated - that's if you sack everyone, and that's assuming all the planes are sent back to the lessors", he said. "But this is being sold as a going concern." Story has more.<br/>
Vietnam’s aviation authority suspended two VietJet Aviation JSC pilots and six crew members operating a plane that skidded off a runway at Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport on Sunday during bad weather, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported. There were no injuries, according to the newspaper. The pilots had their licenses temporarily suspended, reported the newspaper, which citied the country’s aviation authority. The aircraft touched down shortly after noon on Sunday after departing from Phu Quoc Island. VietJet attributed the accident to rain and strong winds, according to the newspaper, which cited an airline representative. Airport operations had returned to normal Monday morning after the runway was closed, affecting hundreds of flights, the aviation authority said on its website.<br/>
Lithuania’s government intends to establish a new national airline later this year or early in 2021. The ministry of transport and communications says it will “initiate establishment of a virtual Lithuanian national airline” to restore air links from the Baltic state “in a post-Covid-19 situation”, without reliance on external operators. A new national airline will enable the government to “adapt more flexibly to the new demands of the Lithuanian air connectivity… thus minimising dependence on the constantly changing strategies of the foreign air carriers”, the ministry argues. It says the project will “most certainly” involve private-sector partnership, but “to which extent remains to be seen”. Noting a “highly fluid situation with the pandemic” and the “complexity” of establishing an airline, the ministry adds: “We are still in the early stage of defining which possible solution could be optimal for Lithuania… All options are still on the table.”<br/>