Low-cost airline Ryanair has slashed its winter flight schedule further as the outlook for the aviation industry darkens. The Irish airline now intends to fly just 40% of last year's schedule between November and March, down from a previously planned 60%, following a sharp fall in bookings. Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s CE, blamed the cuts on “government mismanagement of EU air travel” as quarantine restrictions weaken demand for travel. “Our focus continues to be on maintaining as large a schedule as we can sensibly operate to keep our aircraft, our pilots and our cabin crew employed while minimising job losses,” he said. Ryanair shares fell 3% to E11.90 in morning trade in London as other European airline stocks came under pressure. Shares of rival low-cost carrier easyJet fell 5% to 471.80p. Like its competitors, Ryanair has been forced to reduce flights after passenger bookings failed to materialise in expected numbers. Typically, airlines are able to predict long-term passenger demand with precision, and adjust their schedules well in advance. But this year the industry has been forced into regular changes to try to match planes to erratic bookings that have been influenced by quarantine measures and the resurgence of the virus across many parts of Europe. By trimming its schedule, Ryanair intends to ensure its planes are at least 70% full to help save costs. The airline has enough available liquidity to survive more than 20 months in the current conditions, and longer if it began selling its aircraft, according to Stephen Furlong, an aviation analyst at Davy.<br/>
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Two of the oldest bases in the Ryanair network are to close for the winter. The Irish airline has announced the closure of its long-established bases at Cork and Shannon. Ryanair will also shut its base at Toulouse in southwest France, as it reduces its winter operation from 60 to 40% of the planned winter schedule. In addition, Europe’s biggest budget airline will reduce the number of flights operated from bases in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Portugal and Spain. Eddie Wilson, CE of the airline’s main division, Ryanair DAC, said: “There’s no aviation policy in this country. When have you ever seen Ryanair, Aer Lingus and all the airports in Ireland saying to the government ‘We need a plan to be able to fly so we can get to restoring confidence’? We all know there’s flare-ups at the moment across Europe. You’ve got to give us a fighting chance to be able to return when times get better.” The Fórsa trade union called the closure of the Irish bases "a devastating blow for crew and pilots at these bases, their families and communities, as well as for other airport staff and the economies of both regions”.<br/>
Firefly Airlines will start flying jet planes in the first quarter of next year, its parent Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) said Thursday, in a sign MAG is shifting its focus as core brand Malaysia Airlines struggles to survive. MAG, which is trying to negotiate steep discounts from lessors to keep national carrier Malaysia Airlines afloat, said Firefly would add up to 10 narrowbody jets to its fleet in phases, serving the domestic, ASEAN and Asia Pacific markets out of Penang International Airport in the north of the Malaysian peninsula. Firefly currently flies turboprop planes out of Subang Skypark. “Firefly will be complementing sister company, Malaysia Airlines (MAB), in serving the leisure market while diversifying its base connecting secondary cities in Malaysia to East Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore,” MAG said. It will leverage on available resources and talents in the group, with the possibility of deploying Boeing 737-800 aircraft from MAB, allowing MAB to focus on the premium market. Setting up Firefly’s jet operations at the Penang hub will require minimal investment by MAG next year, with an expected increase in capacity, measured as average seat per kilometre, of 36% over the next five years, MAG said.<br/>
WestJet is suspending operations to four cities in Atlantic Canada and slashing service to others in the region as the pandemic continues to take a toll on the airline industry. WestJet said Wednesday it will indefinitely halt routes to Fredericton, Moncton, N.B., Sydney, N.S., and Charlottetown, while "dramatically" paring down service to Halifax and St. John's, N.L. The Calgary-based airline is also suspending operations between Toronto and Quebec City. The cuts eliminate more than 100 flights weekly starting Nov. 2, and remove nearly 80 per cent of WestJet's seat capacity from the Atlantic region, the company said. "The lack of travel demand combined with domestic quarantines means that sadly we can no longer maintain our full Canadian network of service," CEO Ed Sims said. "Since the pandemic's beginning, we have worked to keep essential air service to all of our domestic airports, but we are out of runway and have been forced to suspend service in the region without sector-specific support."<br/>
The owner of Virgin Australia, US private equity group Bain Capital, has been accused of misleading Australians over its plans for the airline after replacing the company’s CE with the former boss of a budget operator. Virgin Australia on Thursday confirmed reports that Paul Scurrah was to leave the airline within week, to be replaced by Jayne Hrdlicka, the former CEO of Qantas’s budget brand, Jetstar. The move sparked fears among unions that Bain would walk away from commitments to run Virgin Australia as a full-service airline, keep 6,000 jobs, maintain regional routes and reopen international travel when the coronavirus pandemic permits. In addition to the potential job losses, a weakened Virgin Australia may not be able to compete effectively with the bigger Qantas, increasing the risk of higher airfares. Michael Kaine, the national secretary of key Virgin Australia union the Transport Workers Union, blasted Bain and called on transport minister Michael McCormack, who he said was “perpetually missing in action”, to force the private equity group to live up to its promises. Scurrah was “a tough CEO [but] when he gave his word, he’d stand by it... What we’ve seen at Bain over the last 24 hours has all the hallmarks of slippery private equity doing backroom deals that are not in the public interest,” he said. I think the Australian community has been misled here.” Unions, including the TWU, reluctantly supported the Bain offer after the private equity firm said in August that Scurrah and his team had its support. They supported Scurrah’s plan to cut 3,000 jobs from the airline as the best available deal in the belief that the budget option supported by some Bain executives would result in an airline that was too small and weak to operate effectively. Union leaders also dislike Hrdlicka over her role as CEO of Jetstar, an airline where employees are paid significantly less than at parent Qantas. Story has more.<br/>
Hong Kong's budget carrier HK Express joined airlines offering "flight to nowhere" on Thursday with an inaugural journey filled with media and influencers, sparking criticism from environmentalists. The low-cost airliner, now wholly-owned by Cathay Pacific, has been grounded for months because of the coronavirus pandemic. A preview flight carrying around 110 passengers took off on Thursday afternoon, circled Hong Kong and returned 90 minutes later. With the aviation industry in deep crisis, several carriers -- including in Australia, Japan and Taiwan -- have been offering short flights that start and end at the same airport to raise cash. But the carrier described the flight as a refresher for when travel restarts in earnest. "You can see this as a warm-up exercise for passengers to get ready for the new normal," said Iris Ho, public relations officer at HK Express. "Passengers have not been flying for so long, and we want to educate them with our preventive measures and new arrangements on board." HK Express said it would offer three "nowhere" flights in November at a price of HK$388 (US$ 50) -- considerably cheaper than similar sightseeing flights by other airlines. Tickets have already sold out. Passengers will be seated apart to employ social distancing. No food will be provided and all magazines are taken away. According to Cathay Pacific calculation, an equivalent 90-minute flight from Hong Kong to Taiwan's Kaohsiung emits some 0.06 tonnes of CO2. Tom Ng, a campaigner from Greenpeace Hong Kong, criticised nowhere flights as "an unnecessary campaign that only does harm to the environment".<br/>
A Trump supporter was kicked off a Southwest flight after he “repeatedly” lowered his mask, according to the carrier. Video of the unnamed man, who was wearing a “Trump 2020” mask and “Black Voices for Trump” hat, was shared on social media. The footage shows a member of airport staff requesting that he get off the plane, while the passenger can be seen with his mask pulled underneath his chin. “Right now, you’re not going on this airplane,” the employee says. The woman recording the video seems to suggest that the man only lowered his mask to eat a snack. She can be heard asking, “Can you tell me the policy that prevents him from taking his mask off while he’s eating please?” She repeats: “Please show me the policy that says he cannot eat with his mask off?” The woman claimed the male passenger was being discriminated against because of his political affiliations, saying: “It’s the hat and the mask, it’s not the eating.” Donald Trump Jr picked up on the story, retweeting the video alongside the caption: “WTF??? This is disgusting. “I’ve been on a thousand flights in the last few months and everyone lowers their masks to eat and drink. I did it on a Southwest flight earlier this week.” However, the airline has stressed that the passenger was removed after repeatedly failing to comply with instructions from the crew.<br/>