Shares in AirAsia fell by almost a fifth on Wednesday after the Malaysian airline’s auditor said coronavirus had cast “significant doubt” on the company’s ability to continue as a going concern. “The travel and border restrictions implemented by countries around the world has led to a significant fall in demand for air travel which impacted the group’s financial performance and cash flows,” EY said in a stock exchange statement on Tuesday. EY also highlighted that in the 2019 financial year, AirAsia’s liabilities exceeded current assets by RM1.84b ($430m) and the carrier owned by tycoon Tony Fernandes registered a net loss of RM283m. AirAsia stock fell as trading resumed after a halt that lasted until early afternoon, closing down 18%. “It’s quite clear globally that for privately owned airlines, this is an exceptionally tough challenge. They don’t have as much government support to fall back on,” said Paul Yong, equity analyst at DBS, pointing to struggling peers such as Virgin Australia, which has collapsed into administration. AirAsia said in a stock exchange filing on Wednesday that criteria had been triggered for it to be categorised as a financially distressed company, which would mean it had to produce a business improvement plan. However, it said it would avoid that designation for now under a 14-month relief period extended by the Malaysian bourse to companies hit by the coronavirus crisis.<br/>
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AirAsia Group Thursday said it was in talks to raise more than 1b ringgit ($234.52m) in funds, a day after its auditor cast doubt on its ability to continue as a going concern. AirAsia, like other airlines, has been slammed by the coronavirus pandemic that has hammered demand for air travel. Its auditors have said its 2019 earnings were prepared on a going concern basis, which is dependent upon a recovery from the crisis and the success of fundraising efforts. AirAsia said it was considering various fundraising options, including debt and equity, and looking to at least halve cash expenses this year. "We have been presented with proposals in various forms of capital raising, be it debt or equity, and are in ongoing discussions with numerous parties, including investment banks, lenders, as well as interested investors in seeking a favourable outcome for the group," the airline said. Some financial institutions have indicated they would support a funding request of over 1b ringgit, it said. A part of the funding would come from a Malaysian government guarantee loan programme, AirAsia said, adding its subsidiaries in the Philippines and Indonesia have also applied for loans.<br/>
Pakistan's national carrier is firing 28 pilots found to have tainted licenses, the company's spokesman said Wednesday, the latest chapter in a scandal that emerged in the wake of the Airbus A320 crash in Karachi in May. An inquiry into the May 22 crash that killed 97 people on board resulted in the stunning revelation that 260 of 860 pilots in Pakistan had cheated on their pilots exams, but were still given licences by the Civil Aviation Authority. The government later fired five officials of the regulatory agency and criminal charges against them are being considered. According to news reports Wednesday, 262 pilots are currently grounded in Pakistan. The scandal has shocked the nation, including the families of those passengers who died when the flight PK8303 went down in a congested residential area while trying to land in the port city of Karachi. The revelations of tainted pilot licenses have also embarrassed the government and shaken the top ranks of Pakistan International Airlines. The European Union’s aviation safety agency and the United Kingdom subsequently banned PIA from flying into Europe for at least six months following revelations that nearly a third of Pakistani pilots had cheated on their exams. Pakistani pilots flying with European airlines have also been grounded while their credentials are being verified. PIA spokesman Abdullah Hafeez said that 17 of the 28 sacked pilots were already grounded in January last year, after an aircraft skidded off the runway in northern Pakistan. An internal inquiry into that accident, which did not result in any injuries, questioned the licences being issued by the country's Civil Aviation Authority.<br/>
El Al is set to shed 1,700 positions across three divisions as part of a restructuring programme. The airline says it has reached new collective agreements with its maintenance and administrative sectors. CE Gonen Usishkin says the arrangement is “another step on the road to El Al’s recovery”. El Al says the maintenance and administration pacts follow a deal in June reached with cabin crew representatives. Some 1,700 jobs will be cut between the three sectors, it states. The cabin crew agreement intends to save $30m annually through the reduction of regular and temporary flight attendants. El Al employs some 1,400 cabin crew but the Histadrut trade union centre says “painful concession” are required. Histadrut has also been involved in negotiations with transport workers to achieve the new agreements with maintenance and administrative personnel, collectively around 4,300 employees. The organisation says that, together, the arrangements will save “tens of millions of dollars” but will mean the workforce in both sectors will be reduced – some through “favourable” early retirement schemes while others will receive enhanced compensation. “These agreements represent another significant step in [achieving the strategy] for rescuing the airline,” it says, adding that they demonstrate “responsible leadership”.<br/>
Ryanair has agreed to keep on all UK-based cabin crew in return for pay cuts, according to unions. The deal would involve crew at the budget airline accepting salary reductions of 5-10% over the next four years or until its business returns to pre-pandemic levels. Ryanair had announced in May it was planning to cut 3,000 jobs after grounding most of its fleet as the coronavirus pandemic hit. The deal was accepted in a ballot of Unite members at Ryanair, who voted for lower pay to preserve jobs. It follows a similar deal reached between the UK pilots union, Balpa, and Ryanair, in which pilots agreed to a 20% pay cut, although there could still be some redundancies among pilots. Unite said the reductions were temporary and tiered to ensure the lowest paid were least affected, adding that “temporary problems require temporary solutions”.<br/>
Cash-strapped Air Namibia will have its planes grounded at midnight on Wednesday after it failed to secure enough funding to remain solvent, voiding its air licence, the transport authority said. The airline, which operates 10 aircraft on continental and one international route, with a staff of close to 800, requires around 8b Namibian dollars ($469m) to stay afloat, but only received a tenth of that in last month’s budget. “This is scarcely 12% of the amount stated as needed by the management of the airline,” said the head of the Transport Commission, Eldorette Harmse. The withdrawal of its air licence means it is prohibited from operating commercial flights. It will however be permitted to undertake humanitarian evacuation and repatriation flights under its non-scheduled air services licence, which is valid for the duration of the State of Emergency due to the coronavirus. The firm’s financial woes pre-date the COVID-19 pandemic which has ravaged air travel around the world due to the stand-still in tourism. It has failed to produce financial statements in recent years, a requirement of Namibia’s Air Services Act. In January it faced serious allegations around safety, operations, and its finances, contained in an audit report published by Lufthansa. It has yet to resolve those issues.<br/>
Thai Vietjet hopes to spur the domestic market by adding five new domestic routes in the second half of the year, but is halting fleet expansion this year because of uncertainty from the outbreak. Nguyen Thi Thuy Binh, Thai Vietjet chairwoman, said while the airline is waiting to resume international flights once the government announces the next open stage for inbound and outbound travellers in the wake of the pandemic, it has to streamline fleet operations by flying just seven jets this year. The airline has a total fleet of 11 jets, made up of Airbus A320 and Airbus A321 models. While Thai Vietjet services only domestic routes, she said the number of passengers in July increased about 10% compared with the last two weeks in June. "A growth trend is possible in July, thanks to government support to stimulate domestic tourism," said Binh. The airline resumed all seven domestic routes, from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Krabi and Udon Thani, as well as flights from Phuket and Udon Thani to Chiang Rai, totalling 336 flights per week. The five new routes Thai Vietjet plans to introduce are flights from Bangkok to Hat Yai, Khon Kaen, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Ubon Ratchathani and Surat Thani.<br/>
The boss of Jetstar says the airline's bungling of health procedures that saw passengers from Victoria leave Sydney Airport without going through COVID-19 screening is not a rerun of the Ruby Princess fiasco because all passengers were screened before they departed Melbourne. NSW Health authorities blamed Jetstar for allowing 137 passengers to disembark from flight JQ520 at 6.40pm on Tuesday before health teams had arrived at the gate to conduct screening. Authorities tracked down and screened 89 passengers in the terminal but 48 people left the airport without being screened in a major breach of health protocols. The last five passengers had been tracked down and were being tested on Thursday, NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said. Jetstar CE Gareth Evans said Thursday health authorities shared some of the blame for not being there when the plane arrived. “The process broke down,” he said. “NSW Health should have been there, they weren’t; we should have held the plane, we didn't. We have to now work with other stakeholders to make sure this doesn’t happen again.” Evans said it was a “completely different set of circumstances” to the Ruby Princess because all passengers had undergone a temperature check, completed a health questionnaire, and an identity check before boarding the plane in Melbourne. “It’s the same screening process - what was happening in Sydney was a double check,” he said.<br/>
Air Mauritius has put three Airbus widebodies and two single-aisle aircraft up for sale, weeks after entering voluntary administration amid the Covid-19 crisis. In a procurement notice on its website, the airline says it is selling two A340-300s, one A330-200 and two A319s. The A340s were built in 1997 and 1999, Cirium fleets data shows, while the A330 is a 2009 example. The narrowbodies were manufactured in 2001 and 2003. The closing date for interested parties is 11 August.<br/>