EasyJet’s CE has set his sights on using the coronavirus crisis to win market share from Europe’s national flag carriers, rather than going head-to-head with low-cost rivals when the industry emerges from the pandemic. Johan Lundgren said that the biggest market overlap the group had “is with companies such as Air France, KLM, Lufthansa, Tui and British Airways. There has been huge retrenchment of capacity from their end . . . this gives us a great opportunity to grow.” He said he was not focused on competing with budget airlines such as Ryanair. The pandemic has caused huge damage across the aviation industry, but legacy national airlines are expected to recover more slowly because they are generally geared towards business travel and short flights to feed long-haul hub operations. Business trips and long-haul travel are widely expected to be laggards when the market improves. EasyJet competes with these national airlines on two-thirds of its network, and will prioritise flying from the more expensive airports those carriers tend to use as it plans its network for the rest of the year, Lundgren said. He is more circumspect about the opportunities arising from the crisis than Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary or Wizz Air’s József Váradi, who have both talked about a one-off chance to win huge market share. EasyJet investors have also yet to be won over on future opportunities. The company’s share price has fallen 50% over the past 12 months, while Ryanair and Wizz Air have recovered their losses.<br/>
unaligned
Emotional-support animals are no longer free to roam about the cabin on Southwest either. The airline said Monday that it will let passengers bring trained service dogs in the cabin, but it will no longer accept support animals, starting March 1. Customers who want to bring a dog or cat on board as a pet will have to pay a fee, and the animal must be kept in a carrier that fits under an airplane seat. The move follows a DoT decision to reverse a yearslong regulation and let airlines ban animals that owners claim provide emotional support. <br/>
Ryanair is interested in taking part in a tender to buy slots at Milan Linate and Rome Fiumicino airports if Alitalia puts them on the block, the Irish low-cost carrier said on Monday. Loss-making Alitalia has endured 12 years of turbulent private management and three failed restructuring attempts, with the government now seeking to nationalise and relaunch the ailing carrier after the pandemic scuppered plans to sell it. Under the nationalisation project, the government plans to inject E3b euros into a new company dubbed ITA that would take over the assets of the old Alitalia. The EC, however, has rejected the idea that the old carrier could sell its belongings to ITA in a private negotiation. "As part of its state aid investigation into Alitalia’s new company, the European Commission advised the Italian government to put Alitalia’s assets to a competitive tender, including its Linate and Fiumicino slots,” Ryanair said. “Ryanair has expressed an interest in participating in such a tender,” the carrier added, confirming it had sent a letter to Rome. Italian daily La Repubblica reported on Sunday that Ryanair had written to Italy’s industry and transport ministries saying it was ready to bid for Alitalia’s slots and other assets. The government declined to comment on the issue.<br/>
Ryanair has been forced to pull its controversial “jab and go” advertising campaign after a ruling from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The airline called the ruling “baseless” and said it “disagrees” with the ASA’s decision, although it will comply and retract the ads. The campaign was launched by Europe’s biggest low-cost carrier over the Christmas period, with a TV advert first airing on Boxing Day. Featuring a small bottle labelled “vaccine” and a syringe, the advert told the public: “Covid vaccines are coming so book your Easter and summer holidays today with Ryanair. “One million seats on sale from GBP19.99 to sunshine destinations in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece and many more so you could jab and go.” The ASA said it received more than 1,600 complaints about the advert, including that it was misleading to suggest the vaccine would be rolled out by the spring and that travel restrictions would be over. Consumers also complained that the advert trivialised the pandemic’s impact on society.<br/>
Cebu Pacific has outlined the details of a $250m stock rights offering, which it intends to use to finance its debt obligations. The low-cost carrier plans to issue convertible preferred shares priced between $0.74 and $0.84 each, it said in a 25 January disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange. The proceeds will be used to settle financial liabilities, which comprises repaying a $100m advance by JG Summit Philippines, $71.3m for aircraft lease payments due 2021, $72.3m for principal debt repayments due 2021, and $6.4m for general corporate purposes such as passenger refunds. The rights issue will be offered from 26 February to 4 March 2020. Cebu Pacific’s board approved the stocks rights offering on 7 October, as part of a business transformation exercise that “involves right-sizing of network and fleet to meet new demand” and “improvement of operations efficiency through process and policy enhancements and digitalisation”.<br/>