general

The resurgent Covid-19 pandemic is pushing back the recovery in air travel, turning winter into a survival test for carriers now pinning hopes on a spring rebound. Airlines are urging governments to introduce more testing and travel bubbles to help spur demand. The industry is on track to burn through an estimated $77b in cash the second half. The IATA has called for fresh government support, while stressing the safety of flying. The pain is evident across the globe, where airlines have rescinded earlier forecasts that called for traffic to gradually increase toward normal levels during Q4. Instead, carriers are retrenching and shoring up their finances. Cathay Pacific will slash more than 5,000 jobs and close a regional carrier to reduce its cash burn. IAG no longer expects to break even during the last three months of the year and has slashed capacity. American Airlines Group Inc. authorized the sale of $1b in shares as it burns up to $30m a day this quarter. One exception is in China, where the pandemic is in check and domestic flights have surged past where they were a year ago. In the US, airlines carried 1m passengers on a single day for the first time since March. Still, air travel is at about the level it was more than three decades ago. “It is still very unclear as to whether China is a model for what recovery will look like in other short- to medium-haul markets such as the US or Europe, or whether aspects of its geography and culture make it different,” Nick Cunningham, an analyst at Agency Partners, wrote in an Oct. 23 note. There are some signs of progress toward standards that would unlock long-distance travel, which has lagged behind domestic and regional flying. An international protocol will be ready in the next four weeks, said Gloria Manzo, CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council. “We can’t wait for a vaccine,” Manzo said at the Future Hospitality Summit on Monday. Travel corridors between London and Dubai, as well as London and Newark, New Jersey, are ready but hinge on government signoffs, she said.<br/>

Aircraft engineer Dan Baker expected his career would let him see the world. And since starting as an apprentice aged 16 with BA in London, it’s taken him to Africa, the Caribbean, New Zealand and the Middle East, where he worked for Emirates. Now he’s in a desert of a different sort -- Australia’s vast red center. With the coronavirus pandemic upending global aviation and putting millions out of work, Baker has found an unlikely job in Alice Springs, storing and maintaining scores of grounded jumbo jets. “I had to do a bit of looking up to see what life would be like,” Baker, 49, says of his new surrounds, a remote town of 25,000 better known as a jumping off point for famous sights like Uluru and the Olgas. “So far, it’s been great.” The Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage facility (APAS) makes a strange and eerie sight, with the flat landscape punctuated by familiar tall tail fins against a brooding desert sky. More than 100 planes are stored at the purpose-built facility adjacent to the airport, which can keep jets maintained and ready to be brought back into service when needed. Despite spiraling Covid-19 case numbers in Europe and the US, some are returning to the skies. Data from aviation analytics company Cirium show the number of aircraft making at least one flight per day in the Asia-Pacific region is almost back to pre-Covid levels. That’s largely thanks to recovering domestic markets in places like China, where the outbreak is more or less under control. International routes, however, remain weak. The IATA last month downgraded its traffic forecast for 2020 to reflect a weaker-than-expected recovery. The group now expects full-year traffic to be down 66% versus 2019, more than a previous estimate of a 63% decline. Story has more.<br/>

While the risk of contracting Covid-19 during a flight has been reduced with measures such as air filtering in place, passengers should continue to take precautions while on board. Infectious diseases experts urged caution when flying, saying that the risk of getting infected from somebody else on board cannot be eliminated completely. Their comments come after industry group IATA released findings this month stating that the risk of Covid-19 transmission on board planes appears to be "very low", and that current figures "are extremely reassuring". Airplane manufacturers Airbus, Boeing and Embraer had backed the findings with their own studies. Professor Teo Yik Ying, dean of the National University of Singapore's Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, who noted that there have been documented instances of transmissions during flights, said: "Travellers should pay heed that it is entirely possible to be infected, and they should take every precaution to protect themselves should they be travelling on a plane." Wearing face masks properly and maintaining good hygiene will greatly reduce the risk, he said. "The only concern will be when passengers remove their masks during meal times, but the risk is also reduced compared with normal meals at home or in restaurants since passengers typically are facing forward and not each other." Dr Leong Hoe Nam, an infectious diseases expert at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, said that one potential source of risk could be when passengers use the airplane toilets. To manage this risk, passengers can clean surfaces inside the toilet before touching them, and also wash their hands thoroughly after. Story has more details.<br/>

With airlines imposing mandatory mask requirements on flights amid the coronavirus pandemic, many unhappy passengers have made headlines for being removed from flights for refusing to wear a mask. And with some carriers keeping no-fly lists of passengers who violated the policy, it is now clear that more than 900 passengers have been banned from airlines because of their refusal to put on a mask. Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in a memo to employees that 460 people are now banned from the airline for refusing to wear a mask. And Delta isn't the only one: United and Alaska Airlines said via email on Monday that the carriers have banned "roughly 300" and 146 passengers, respectively. That means at least 906 travellers have now been banned from US airlines for not wearing a mask. Alaska Airlines said the banned passengers "won't be able to fly with us as long as our mask policy remains in effect”. JetBlue did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the number of passengers it has banned. American and Southwest airlines said they do not release tallies of passengers they discipline for not wearing face coverings. "We expect our customers to comply with our policies when they choose to travel with us," an American Airlines spokesperson said. "We take action when that is not the case, but the vast majority of our customers have supported and welcomed our continuing efforts to strengthen our face covering policy based on the CDC's guidance ... we may deny future travel for customers who refuse to wear a face covering for the duration of this requirement."<br/>

The main pilots’ union has reacted furiously to a government advertisement appearing to suggest that flight crew should retrain for jobs in cyber. The ad depicts a female first officer. The copy reads: “Naomi’s next job could be in cyber. (She just doesn’t know it yet.) Retrain. Reskill. Reboot.” Brian Strutton, general secretary of the British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa) said: “It’s astonishing that the government can be so tin-eared. We’ve been calling for government support for the airline industry for months. It was the first in and will likely be the last one out of this crisis. We’ve already seen hundreds of pilots lose their jobs or take significant cuts to their pay. And yet the government’s response is to casually tell young pilots who’ve spent over GBP100,000 on highly-specialised training to give up their career, abandon their skills and their hopes and dreams. Aviation will power the UK’s post-Covid economic recovery, rebuild our trade and global connectivity and we will need pilots like ‘Naomi’ to do so.” Tim Darby, a Boeing 737 pilot for Norwegian, tweeted: “What a disgraceful advert by the #UKgovernment. “They should be helping us, not dumping us on a scrap heap – disgusting.”<br/>

Aero-engine maker Rolls-Royce will ask shareholders on Tuesday for GBP2b in a make-or-break attempt to survive the COVID-19 pandemic, which has stopped planes flying and hammered its finances. At stake is the future of a company which has been at the heart of manufacturing in Britain for more than 100 years, making engines that powered World War Two bombers and still drive the country’s fighter jets and nuclear submarines. Investors are expected to back the rights issue, supporting CEO Warren East’s plan to cut 9,000 jobs and close factories to adjust to a lower level of demand from airline customers that fly with Rolls engines on Boeing 787s and Airbus 350s. Shareholder advisory groups Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis have both urged clients to back the fundraising. “We find the terms of the proposed rights issue to be reasonable,” Glass Lewis said in a note, while ISS said the rationale was “compelling”. Investors can buy 10 new shares for every three they own at 32 pence each, a 41% discount to the theoretical ex-rights price. The company, which made a GBP5.4b pound loss in H1 2020, faces a cash crunch at the end of next year, when GBP3.2b of debt needs to be repaid. In a sign of Rolls’s strategic importance, the UK government has guaranteed a GBP1b loan on top of the GBP2b it backed in July through its UK Export Finance arm.<br/>