Emirates reported an H1 loss for the first time in more than 30 years as the Dubai airline’s revenues slumped about 75% on coronavirus travel restrictions. The government-owned carrier swung to a $3.4b loss in the first six months of its financial year, compared to a $235m profit in the same period last year. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates’ CE, described the pandemic-induced halt to air travel as “unprecedented” for the aviation and travel industries. “We began our current financial year amid a global lockdown when air passenger traffic was at a literal standstill,” he said Thursday. At Emirates Group, which also includes ground handling, revenues declined 74% to $3.7b in H1 of its 2020-2021 financial year, pushing it to a half-year loss of $3.8bn. The group, which has implemented widespread redundancies in response to the pandemic, said headcount had been reduced by 24% to about 81,000 as of September 30. Emirates has tapped cash reserves and shareholder and bank funding to sustain the business, including a $2b injection from Dubai’s government. The group’s cash position declined by $1.4b to reach $5.6b in H1. But by pivoting to cargo operations as passenger traffic declined, Emirates managed to recover revenues from zero to 26% of its position in the same time last year. The airline carried 1.5m passengers during the first six months, down 95% on the previous year. Cargo volume declined 35% while yield rose 106% on strong freight demand.<br/>
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Southwest said Thursday an improvement in revenue seen in the past few months was losing steam in recent weeks amid surging COVID-19 cases in the US, sending the US budget carrier’s shares down 2% in premarket trade. "While the company expected the election to impact trends, it is unclear whether the softness in booking trends is also a direct result of the recent rise in COVID-19 cases," Southwest said. “As such, the company remains cautious in this uncertain revenue environment.” Southwest said it continues to expect its November operating revenue to be between 60% and 65% compared to a year earlier, and forecast December operating revenue to drop to that range as well. The company said its October operating revenue fell 65%, compared to its expectations of a 65% to 70% drop. Southwest estimates its January 2021 capacity to decrease in the range of 35% to 40%, year-over-year, compared to an expected 40% fall in the current quarter.<br/>
JetBlue is gradually removing seat blocks set up on its flights early in the pandemic, with all available seats up for sale after the holiday travel season, the budget carrier said on Thursday. The decision, announced in a memo to employees, follows a growing number of studies including from the Harvard School of Public Health and the US Department of Defense that validate the safety of the aircraft cabin, it said. “Studies like the recent report from Harvard researchers confirm that the layers of protection we have in place make the aircraft as safe or substantially safer than other more common settings, like grocery shopping or indoor dining,” JetBlue President Joanna Geraghty said. The New York-based carrier will limit its onboard capacity to 85% between Dec. 2 and Jan. 7, up from the current 70% cap, allowing it to tap into extra demand over the holiday travel season while still providing extra space on planes. Starting Jan. 8, in the low season, all seats will be available for sale, it said.<br/>
Hawaiian Airlines has found a novel way for you to put those frequent-flier miles to use. For a limited time, the carrier will allow customers to redeem them for a coronavirus test kit. “We remain dedicated to making testing for our guests as convenient and accessible as possible, so we’re incredibly pleased to extend our partnership with Vault Health to allow our HawaiianMiles members to purchase their at-home test kit with miles,” said Avi Mannis, the senior VP for marketing at the airline. For 14,000 miles, Hawaiian Airlines customers can have a mail-in test kit from Vault Health shipped to their home. Once it arrives, recipients will connect with a testing supervisor via video call who will talk them through the process of collecting a saliva sample. Once that’s completed, they’ll express-ship the kit to a lab. Travelers should receive their results electronically within 24 hours of when the lab receives their samples. The test kits are available to travelers of all ages, including children, the airline said.<br/>
Thirty-six weeks after Flybe collapsed, Virgin Atlantic’s chief executive has welcomed the prospect that the regional airline could resume flying. Shai Weiss said: “We hope and hear that there may be some signs of a resurrection. If the commercial terms are there, we will be willing partners just as we’ve been in the past.” Flybe collapsed on 5 March 2020, just as the coronavirus pandemic was taking hold. More than 2,000 people lost their jobs with the Exeter-based airline – which was the biggest regional carrier in Europe. The airline served 119 routes and flew eight million passengers in its last full year.<br/>
Norwegian Air’s debts of more than $5b and a “confusing” ownership structure are the main obstacles to any extra state aid, Norway’s transport minister said after the government this week rejected a cash injection plea. The pioneer in low-cost transatlantic flights, which grew rapidly through borrowing to build up a huge fleet of aircraft, was already facing financial difficulties before the coronavirus crisis brought air travel to a standstill. Now the cash-strapped budget carrier, which is serving domestic routes only with just six of its 140 aircraft flying, has warned it could run out of funds in the first quarter of 2021 without state aid. “We have not set a principle that we can’t consider support for a company,” Transport Minister Knut Arild Hareide told a conference organised by the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions Thursday. “But for us it’s difficult when we know the company has reported net interest bearing debts of 48.5b crowns ($5.34b),” Hareide said of Norwegian.<br/>
El Al’s CFO, Dganit Palti, is to step down before the end of this year. Palti’s departure will mark another high-profile change in the wake of the ownership shake-up at the carrier. El Al undertook a share issue in September, as part of a financial rescue package, during which the long-term main shareholder, Knafaim Holdings, was ousted by investor Kanfei Nesharim Aviation. CE Gonen Usishkin has since agreed to step down from the top post. El Al has disclosed that Palti, who took up the position of CFO in March 2014, is also to surrender her role on 22 December. The airline’s new controlling shareholder has already installed new board members.<br/>
South African carrier Airlink has unveiled a new livery to mark its move to standalone operations. It comes after the airline ended its long-standing franchise agreement with South African Airways (SAA) earlier this year. Last month the airline formally changed its name from SA Airlink to Airlink and began operating under its own 4Z designator code. The airline says the new look, which features an African Sunbird set against a sunrise and dawn sky, signifies its new strategy as an independent carrier. It removes any brand association with its former partner SAA. Airlink CE Rodger Foster says: “We have flown that particular nest and we are inviting our loyal and new customers to fly with us as Airlink expands its network, connecting and re-connecting people, communities, businesses, goods and services with markets throughout southern Africa and beyond.” The new livery will debut on an Embraer 190 regional jet on commercial services in early December. Airlink says the new paint scheme will be rolled out across the fleet in the coming months in line with scheduled maintenance.<br/>
The airlines have seen more than their share of casualties during the pandemic, as travel stopped and carriers’ finances nose-dived. That’s forced many survivors to concentrate on cutting costs, trimming payrolls, and walking away from aircraft orders, but IndiGo, the airline operated by InterGlobe Aviation, is doing something few of its peers would risk right now: going shopping. Since taking to the skies in 2006, no-frills IndiGo has grown to control more than half of all local traffic in India, consistently making money in the process. It’s betting it can bounce back stronger once the virus is tamed and ordering billions of dollars of equipment to be delivered after the current crisis. The airline is in talks with Pratt & Whitney and CFM International, a joint venture of General Electric and France’s Safran, to provide engines to power about 150 new Airbus A320neo jets, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are private. Based on the size of IndiGo’s last engine order—a $20b transaction with CFM covering 280 planes that was the largest engine order ever—the agreement could be worth about $10.7b, including service, repair, and maintenance. Story has more.<br/>