Global airlines are pledging their brands, loyalty programs and aircraft as collateral to secure more funds in the debt markets as the coronavirus pandemic continues to batter the sector. Alaska Air Group said last week it plans to use its customer mileage plan as collateral to tap US government-backed financing. Other carriers putting assets to work as they raise funding include American Airlines, which is borrowing against its brand in a $1.2b deal with Goldman Sachs Group, and Singapore Airlines, which has raised loans secured by some of its Airbuses and Boeings. The coronavirus pandemic forced carriers to be inventive as they bolster their coffers to weather a long recovery process for the travel industry. Airlines have already tapped $49b from loan issuance, as well as $47b from bond sales, in the course of 2020, a record year for the industry. Secured loans have jumped to $21b so far this year, almost triple 2019’s full-year figure. Secured bonds reached a record high of $13b, more than doubling from 2019’s full-year issuance, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Story has more individual carrier details.<br/>
general
A majority of the US House of Representatives has endorsed a provision calling for $32b to protect aviation workers from layoffs though next March, as airlines fight to survive a huge downturn in travel caused by the virus pandemic. House backers of the aid provision released a letter Monday in which 195 Democrats and 28 Republicans endorsed further payroll aid to the airline industry. “Without further relief from Congress, mass layoffs among airline industry workers are inevitable —and their magnitude will eclipse those of any furloughs the industry has ever seen,” House Transportation Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio and other lawmakers wrote in the letter to House and Senate leaders. The fate of the proposal is unclear, however. Republicans who hold the majority in the Senate released a new coronavirus-relief measure that did not include the airline provision. Thirteen airline unions endorsed the House letter. They have been lobbying Congress for the additional payroll aid, warning of massive job cuts in October, when money approved this spring runs out. Airlines that took the money agreed not to furlough workers or cut their pay rates or benefits. <br/>
Spain’s tourism industry is at increasing risk of being shut down as countries across Europe seek to restrict visits to the Mediterranean nation, following an order by the British government to quarantine visitors. A steady increase in new infections in Spain last week pushed Boris Johnson’s government on Saturday to order a 14-day quarantine for all travelers from Spain. Other European countries, including Belgium, France and Norway, have also begun advising against visits to certain areas in Spain, and more restrictions could be coming. The increase in new cases is “definitely an issue” for Berlin too, German Health Minister Dilek Kalayci said Monday. PM Pedro Sanchez’s government downplayed the trends as it sought to protect a sector that accounts for 12% of the country’s economy. “Spain is a safe country,” Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said Sunday. “Spain has outbreaks. As do other countries. What’s important is that Spain is making great efforts to control these outbreaks.” But the risks are becoming all too real in Catalonia, where the regional government sounded the alarm as it seeks to contain the spread. Over the weekend, authorities put restrictions on nightlife, shutting clubs and requiring bars to close at midnight. “I wouldn’t make an appearance like this, nor a call like this is, if the situation weren’t critical, if the evolution of the data weren’t highly concerning,” Catalan’s President Joaquim Torra said Monday at a press conference. Still, Catalonia is safe for tourists, he said.<br/>
Vietnam has suspended all flights to and from Danang for 15 days after at least 14 cases of the novel coronavirus had been detected in the city, the government said Tuesday. The country is back on high alert after authorities on Saturday confirmed the first community infections since April, and another three cases on Sunday, all in or around Danang. A further 11 cases linked to a Danang hospital were reported late Monday. All bus and train services to and from Danang have also been suspended from Tuesday, the statement said. Vietnam is still closed to foreign tourism, but there had been a surge in domestic travellers looking to take advantage of discounted flights and holiday packages to local resorts. On Monday, the government said it had requested the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) to allow domestic airlines to significantly increase the number of flights from Danang to 11 Vietnamese cities in order to help evacuate 80,000 people, mostly tourists. “All evacuation flights now are cancelled,” CAAV deputy director Vo Huy Cuong said Tuesday. “We operated 90 flights to evacuate tourists stranded in Danang yesterday but most tourists had already left Danang on Sunday, mostly by coach or train to nearby provinces.”<br/>
Vietnam is evacuating 80,000 people -- mostly local tourists -- from the popular resort city of Da Nang after three residents tested positive for coronavirus, the government said. Vietnamese authorities are rushing to nip a potential new outbreak in the bud after the Southeast Asian nation recorded its first locally-transmitted case of Covid-19 in 100 days on Saturday. The patient, a 57-year-old man, had no international travel history and had been living in Da Nang for the past month. Two other cases were reported the following day. On Monday, the government made the drastic decision to begin evacuating 80,000 people from Da Nang, a process it said would take four days. Domestic airlines are operating about 100 flights daily to 11 cities around the country, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam. Only two Vietnamese provinces, Bac Giang and Bac Ninh, will require those returning from Da Nang to be quarantined. Other local authorities will require them to fill in health declaration forms.<br/>