general

A couple hundred flight attendants and pilots rallied this week on Capitol Hill and tweeted at lawmakers, asking them for $25b in additional federal funds to prevent airline furloughs next month. More than half of Congress is on record as supporting the request by airlines and their unions, and President Donald Trump says he wants to help an industry that has been devastated by the pandemic. Any chance that Washington will give airlines more money soon hinges on Congress and the White House approving a comprehensive coronavirus-relief package — there won't be a plan that only helps airlines. But the prospects for a big deal suffered a blow Thursday, when Senate Democrats blocked a scaled-back Republican plan. While the GOP bill had no money for transportation, its failure could make major coronavirus relief before the November election less likely. A sharp drop in travel has left the airlines with tens of thousands more employees than they need to operate the vastly reduced number of flights. This spring, the airlines began receiving $25b in federal grants and loans to keep workers on their payrolls for six months. With that money ending Sept. 30, the three biggest US carriers are expected to furlough or lay off about 40,000 workers starting Oct. 1. Flight attendants, mechanics, baggage handlers and other airline labor groups have not been able to copy the pilots' success at negotiating no-furlough bargains. Pilots have more leverage because their training and certification requirements make it harder and slower for airlines to recall pilots when travel recovers. Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, said United plans to cut 60% of flight attendants through furloughs or voluntary departures. She said that will dismantle a key work group and "is putting the airline in jeopardy of being able to ramp back up when that demand returns" once the virus is contained. Furloughs require airlines to give laid-off union workers first preference to return to work once the industry is able to rehire. But Nelson said it's cheaper for taxpayers to help keep airline workers on the payroll, with health insurance, than to provide them with unemployment benefits and health care. "This is a proven jobs program," she said. "It kept people (in jobs) so they were spending back into the economy and they were also paying taxes." "When the two parties want a deal," Nelson said, "it can come together in an hour."<br/>

The US Senate on Thursday killed a Republican bill that would have provided around $300b in new coronavirus aid, as Democrats seeking far more funding prevented it from advancing. By a vote of 52-47, the Senate failed to get the 60 votes needed in the 100-member chamber to advance the partisan bill toward passage, leaving the future of any new coronavirus aid in doubt. “It’s a sort of a dead-end street,” Republican Senator Pat Roberts said following the vote. “Along with a pandemic - the COVID-19 - we have a pandemic of politics” in Congress, he added. Senator Rand Paul, who opposed the deficit spending in the bill, was the lone Republican to vote no. Democratic leaders in Congress have been pushing for a far more vigorous response: around $3t in new funding amid the continuing pandemic. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who spearheaded the Republican bill that failed, had offered a more expansive, $1t coronavirus measure in July. Amid strong opposition from Democrats and many Republicans, he was unable to even stage a vote on that proposal. The Republican bill would have renewed a federal unemployment benefit, but at a lower level than Democrats sought. It also would set new protections for businesses against lawsuits during the pandemic. An array of other initiatives - including aid to state and local governments, a second round of direct payments to households, and bailouts for airlines - were not addressed in the Republican bill.<br/>

The largest airline union in North America is warning Congress that compounded economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic, beyond lost jobs, is a certainty if additional stimulus funding is not soon allocated to the industry. “If we don't support the industry what you will definitely see is a reduction in service, maybe no service in a lot of smaller communities, and definitely a cut in frequency in service in larger communities,” James Carlson, Assistant Airline Coordinator for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said Wednesday. With the exception of pilots, the IAMAW represents airline workers across the industry, including flight attendants, technicians, gate agents, ticketing agents, customer service workers, and ramp workers. These US workers face widespread involuntary layoffs scheduled to go into effect on October 1, absent additional funds to supplement $50b in relief distributed among airlines under the coronavirus stimulus package known as the CARES Act in exchange for an agreement to keep all workers on their payrolls. Of the approximately 700,000 workers currently employed in the industry, the union predicts that between 250,000 and 300,000 will lose their jobs if new funding does not come through. “The situation in the airline industry is dire,” Carlson said. “And that’s airline jobs,” Carlson said. “That’s people that are working in the industry. But we’re looking at a multiplying, ripple effect on that because for every 100 airline jobs, [there] are about 300 other jobs that are supported. Those are the folks that work at the news stands. Those are the folks that work in the airports at restaurants, in the hotel industry — so massive loss in the airline industry, but great, great economic harm all around, to come.” The union, among other labour representatives, has requested a 6-month extension of the CARES Act relief that would provide enough funding to continue the Act’s moratorium on involuntary furloughs.<br/>

European governments have provided the continent’s airlines with nearly E26.6b in assistance throughout the coronavirus crisis, underlining the value regulators place on the connectivity carriers provide, according to a report from HSBC. The figure is equivalent to 46% of the airline’s market capitalisation at December 2019 or 21% of the companies’ pre-Covid-19 full-year revenues for 2019, not including funds carriers accessed through furlough job retention schemes. State assistance was made available despite airlines often being held in low regard in many countries prior to the crisis, and reflects the value that governments place on carriers’ role in enabling trade and exports, including for healthcare products and PPE, as well as being enablers for tourism and providing employment. “We think that many governments came to value the connectivity offered by airlines, once their continuing existence was called into question,” writes HSBC. The bank believes the emphasis among regulators is shifting away from ensuring competitive aviation markets towards stability. For example, while state aid has been made available to many countries’ largest airline groups, it was not forthcoming to Virgin Atlantic Airways or Virgin Australia. France has also refused assistance for secondary airlines. “We think governments were judging that global connectivity is something that is valued and needs defending but that providing funds to secure a competitive aviation market post pandemic is not a priority for government resources,” HSBC says.<br/>

Airlines including BA and easyJet urged the UK government Thursday to introduce coronavirus testing as an alternative to quarantine by the end of the month, in what they described as a "last chance" to save the industry. Ministers have said in recent days they are looking at introducing testing to reduce the current 14-day quarantine rule for arrivals into Britain from countries with high virus rates, a rule that has left the travel industry reeling. But Airlines UK said action was needed before the end of September. "We urge you to announce and implement a policy on testing before the end of this month," Airlines UK said in the letter to the PM Boris Johnson. "The stakes could not be higher. We risk economic ruin otherwise." BA-owner IAG Thursday joined easyJet and Ryanair in warning that travel demand had weakened lately due to quarantine rules, dashing airline hopes for a recovery after the pandemic grounded fleets for months. In the letter, Airlines UK told Johnson that if he wanted Britain, currently engaged in emergency Brexit talks, to retain its international connections, he needed to introduce the testing regime and other support for the industry before it was too late. "You must grasp this last chance to save the aviation industry, and with it so much prosperity across the UK," the letter said.<br/>

Wellington Airport has put its terminal expansion plans on hold indefinitely because of the coronavirus pandemic, but insists the project will still happen. The airport revealed its expansion plans late last year, hoping to get the project under way within five years and spend NZ$800m over the next eight years. But a lack of passengers because of the pandemic, and a corresponding loss of revenue, has forced the airport to put part of the $1b plan on hold. It said the extension of the main terminal, which it planned to redesign to cater for both international and domestic flights, would be put on ice indefinitely while the pandemic played out. “Passenger growth and terminal build now depend on how long Covid-19 border restrictions remain, and how quickly passenger numbers return post-Covid,” an airport spokesperson said. The 20-year redevelopment is premised on passenger numbers doubling to 12m by 2040. It includes extending the main terminal building to the south, and using the old Miramar South School site and half of the Miramar golf course for additional aircraft parking and taxiing. The terminal extension would allow the northern terminal to be used for regional flights - instead of international flights - and the main terminal to be used for international and domestic flights. The plan also involves a range of other upgrades, including runway and taxiway improvements, new freight facilities, an expanded cargo hub, and a new fire station.<br/>

The UK is facing a GBP4.6b hit to its economy if Boris Johnson keeps travel quarantines in place until Christmas, airline leaders have warned. An additional 87,000 jobs will be lost in the coming months, global trade body IATA has estimated. Boss Alexandre de Juniac urged the PM to introduce a testing regime to “avoid apocalyptic unemployment that is sure to devastate society and the economy”. The warnings came as one London borough warned a third of residents are at risk of losing their jobs because of the crisis in aviation. Hounslow, which is heavily dependent on Heathrow for employment, said the borough was facing a GBP189m hit to its economy. Major airlines have shed thousands of jobs since the start of the year as flights dried up. Separately, the bosses of British Airways, Ryanair and Virgin Atlantic launched a fresh appeal to Johnson, urging him to “announce and implement” a testing regime by the end of September. The letter from airlines bosses, co-ordinated by Airlines UK, also called for a holiday on air passenger duty - a levy on travellers - and an extension of the job retention scheme for the aviation sector. IATA, which represents major airlines from around the world, supported calls for APD to be suspended. It also criticised the Government’s infection rate threshold for removing countries from the UK’s safe list. IATA said: “The present UK methodology for calculating which states should be subject to quarantine is opaque, but a frequently quoted metric is the threshold of 20 infections per 100,000 of population. This level is not aligned with other European states. And if the UK were to agree to adopt a metric that was harmonised with other European countries it would give passengers greater predictability to plan their journeys, and give greater flexibility to maintain air connectivity.”<br/>

China's biggest airshow, which takes place every two years in the southern city of Zhuhai, rescinded a comment that the event was being canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition is due to take place from Nov. 10-15 and feature industry giants including Boeing. Reuters reported Wednesday that the show had been cancelled. A spokesman for the event confirmed that decision, but later walked back on the comment. The airshow's website still says it is taking place in November. The biennial show first took place in 1996 and is often used by China to showcase its vast array of military equipment. State-owned planemaker Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Ltd., or Comac, is also generally a big participant.<br/>

Myanmar increased lockdown measures in its biggest city on Thursday after reporting another record daily rise in coronavirus cases, with 120 new infections taking its overall cases past the 2,000 mark. Health authorities expanded a stay-at-home order to nearly half of the townships in greater Yangon, a city of at least 5m people, where most of the new infections were found. The country has now reported a total of 2,009 COVID-19 cases and 14 deaths, with infections quadrupling since a month ago, when the virus resurfaced in the western state of Rakhine after weeks without a domestic case. That prompted authorities to close schools nationwide and re-impose some restrictions that had earlier been eased. Domestic airlines also announced that their services were suspended until the end of September.<br/>

Customs officers at a Florida airport found nearly a half-million dollars being smuggled out of the US hidden inside furniture, officials said. US Custom and Border Protection officers at Miami International Airport seized $491,280 in unreported US currency last Thursday, the agency said. The money had been concealed inside a chair placed in a crate with other furniture. The shipment was heading to the Dominican Republic and was selected for examination during outbound enforcement operations, officials said. “Criminal organizations will attempt to export large sums of cash to launder their ill-gotten gains,” said Robert Del Toro, the agency's acting port director. Officials didn't say who the money belonged to or whether criminal charges would be filed.<br/>