Virgin Atlantic Airways, fresh from getting a $1.5b rescue package Tuesday, is anticipating a sluggish recovery in air travel that won’t see demand returning to 2019 levels for at least three years. The British carrier founded by Richard Branson is resuming passenger flights next week with trips to Hong Kong, New York and Los Angeles. Widespread border restrictions and a UK quarantine for most long-haul arrivals mean “it’s basically essential travel only,” Chief Customer Officer Corneel Koster said. “Bookings initially are looking limited and load factors will be relatively low,” Koster said. “We do believe there is pent-up demand out there. But we don’t know when our major market to and from the US will open. And corporate demand will take time to recover.” Virgin Atlantic is clawing its way back from the brink of failure after securing a package including GBP200m from Branson and GBP170m from hedge fund Davidson Kempner Capital Management. The carrier, which was refused a state bailout, is now “funded and prepared for all scenarios,” Koster said, whether the reopening of the crucial North Atlantic market takes weeks or months. “We are going to take it one step of a time,” he said. “We think it will take at least three years to get back to 2019 levels.”<br/>
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Three women were arrested Tuesday at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport after a violent incident broke out against Spirit Airlines staff, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office said. Allegedly in response to a delayed flight, “three Guests became combative following a delayed flight, and they were arrested for physically assaulting our Team Members,” Spirit Airlines said. “Three of our Team Members sustained minor injuries.” Danaysha Dixon, 22, Keira Ferguson, 21, and Tymaya Wright, 20, were charged with battery. Wright received an additional charge for allegedly taking the cellphone of a Spirit Airlines employee. A viral video captured the incident at the gate for Flight 1004 from Fort Lauderdale to Philadelphia. Data from FlightAware shows the Philadelphia-bound flight was one hour and 19 minutes late and departed at 10:36 p.m. The Broward Sheriff’s Office arrest report says the women punched and kicked airline staff and “intentionally struck the victims against their will with miscellaneous items” including phones, shoes, fast food, metal boarding signs and water bottles. Following the arrest, the women were taken into custody and turned over to the Broward Sheriff’s Office main jail.<br/>
El Al Israel Airlines Thursday extended its suspension of flights to the end of August and said it reached cost-cutting agreements with the country’s main labor union that will facilitate a government bailout. The Israeli flag carrier, which sent nearly all of its 6,500 employees on unpaid leave since the coronavirus outbreak, has said it will go bankrupt without state assistance. The government has offered to guarantee bank loans and even buy a majority stake, but it is demanding an overhaul, including some $400m in cutbacks. The airline’s workforce is expected to be reduced by about 2,000 employees. El Al said it signed an agreement with the umbrella Histadrut labour federation regarding the airline’s 650 pilots, who have been the last holdouts. Flight attendants, mechanics and administrative staff have already signed on. Histadrut said the pilot agreement alone would bring $105m in spending cuts. The pilot’s association, however, did not support the deal, saying it was a maneuver to secure government assistance and that a final arrangement needs to be reached. CE Gonen Usishkin said the company has now met the “basic conditions” to receive the bailout. “The plan includes parting ways with many people, salary reductions and giving up benefits,” Usishkin said in a letter to employees. The mandatory furlough was also extended to the end of August, and should commercial flights resume then, workers will be gradually brought back, he said.<br/>
Guangzhou in China and Iranian capital Tehran are among four more destinations that will rejoin Emirates’ network this summer, bringing the total number served by the Middle Eastern carrier in August to 62. The Tehran route will resume on 17 July and the Guangzhou one on 25 July. Emirates is to begin serving Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa again on 1 August, followed by Norway’s capital Oslo from 4 August. All of the flights will be operated with Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. Emirates began returning its Airbus A380s to service on 16 July, with initial services to London and Paris. The Dubai-based airline had been forced to ground its entire fleet of A380s in March because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The carrier said it is “not disclosing redundancy numbers at this time, nor the breakdown”.<br/>