Southwest on Wednesday said it has logged a “modest” improvement in bookings through October, helping it trim its daily cash burn estimate for this quarter by $3m to an expected $17m. Despite the uptick in bookings, the airline said in a filing that it expects revenue to drop 65% to 75% in October and capacity to be down 40% to 50% from the same month last year as the coronavirus pandemic continues to hurt travel demand. It forecast November capacity to drop 35% to 40% from 2019. “Passenger demand and booking trends remain primarily leisure-oriented and inconsistent by region,” Southwest said. “The Company remains cautious in this uncertain demand environment and continues to plan for multiple scenarios for its fleet and capacity plans.” Southwest said it would extend a policy that leaves middle seats open on its flights, except for travelers in the same party, through the end of November, an effort to calm travelers nervous about flying in a pandemic and better compete at the start of the end-of-year holidays. <br/>
unaligned
The chief executive of a European airline says that flying is safer than shopping for groceries in terms of the risk catching coronavirus. Jozsef Varadi, CEO of Wizz Air, said: “We don’t know a single case globally that someone would have been infected by flying, so flying is a very safe activity, it’s a lot safer than going to the supermarket or even meeting your friend.” Varadi said that as it operates a young fleet, with aircraft averaging five years of age, filtration systems meant air quality is “comparable to an intensive care unit of a hospital.” “By engineering and design the aircraft is very safe,” he said. He added that he was satisfied with standards of cleanliness in airports and called for government to provide testing for people who wanted to travel, rather than impose travel bans or quarantines. HEPA, or high efficiency particulate air filters, are used in aircraft, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), and they are similar systems to those used in operating theaters and intensive care units, it states. People in close proximity on an airplane may transmit infections to each other, similar to how they might on a bus or in a theater, the WHO adds. Aircraft cabin air systems use 50% outside air and 50% recirculated, filtered air, according to the IATA. “There are no two countries of those 45 that would be imposing the same measures, so it is totally unpredictable, it has become … very difficult to cut through. We need to align standards, we need to align measures,” Varadi stated.<br/>
Pakistan has opened criminal investigations into 50 pilots and at least five civil aviation officials who allegedly helped them falsify credentials to secure licences, according to two senior government sources and cabinet meeting minutes. The probes comes roughly three months after Pakistan grounded dozens of pilots over allegedly dubious qualifications. At the time, the civil aviation regulator said it would conduct a detailed investigation into the scandal. On the government’s orders, Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has launched criminal probes into the matter, according to minutes from Tuesday’s cabinet meeting and the sources, who declined to be named because the discussions are private. A show-cause notice served to one of the pilots said the FIA was investigating “alleged corruption, violations, malpractices in (the) issuance of flight crew licences.” Munir Ahmed Shaikh, a senior FIA official, confirmed that a probe into the matter was ongoing, but declined to comment any further. The ministry submitted the findings of its inquiry to the cabinet chaired by PM Imran Khan on Tuesday, said the sources, adding that another 32 pilots have separately been suspended for a year. “The cabinet was told that FIA has opened proceedings into the pilots whose licences were revoked, and the civil aviation officials who connived with them,” said the minutes.<br/>
El Al has disclosed the initial results of its share issue, through which it had intended to raise proceeds of 505m shekels ($145m). The issue was launched on 16 September. El Al had been offering 753.35m shares of which the government had been lined up to take 393.75m at the basic minimum price of 0.671 shekels. It says it received orders for purchasing 578.19m shares at above the standard price, which were accepted “in full”. The airline adds that it also accepted 44% of base-price offers made for a total of 396.76m shares – making up the balance of the issue. While the airline has yet to detail the shareholder breakdown, Israeli publication Globes is reporting that investor Eli Rozenberg has acquired a 42.85% stake, which would be larger than that held by previous main shareholder Knafaim Holdings. El Al had stated in preliminary documentation ahead of the issue that, depending on whether other investors bought into the offer, the government would hold between about 32% and 44.9% of the airline after taking its stake.<br/>
WestJet is offering refunds to customers with European flights cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Travellers with flights to or from Europe and scheduled to depart between March 1 and Oct. 31 of this year can be reimbursed within four weeks, according to an update sent by WestJet to travel agents this month. The policy marks a shift from the airline’s previous stance that offered flight credit or no-fee rebooking rather than reimbursement for trips that were cancelled as airlines halted the majority of their flights amid border shutdowns, quarantines and a collapse in travel demand. WestJet is contacting guests with eligible flights who had already accepted travel credit to alert them to the new option, spokeswoman Lauren Stewart said in an email. In June, WestJet adopted a similar approach to refunds for cancelled flights to or from the United States or United Kingdom. The carrier’s policy stands in contrast to that of Air Canada, which has announced refund offers for travellers with flights departing from Europe but not for customers whose trips originated in Canada. WestJet did not say what prompted the policy change.<br/>