The world’s largest airlines have built up a mountain of more than $300b in net debt, a sign the pandemic will hamper recovery for years as carriers face paying back huge bills from rescue financing and state support. With hopes of a limited restart to travel in the summer, attention is turning to how quickly airlines can heal their balance sheets after the biggest crisis in aviation history. “Liquidity is and has been of great importance to always make sure we have enough cash to manage the situation,” easyJet CE Johan Lundgren said. But there is now a big price to pay after shareholders, debt markets and state support schemes provided essential liquidity to help the industry survive a collapse in passenger numbers and avoid widespread corporate failures. Although companies are sitting on cash and short-term investments of $140b, up from $90b at the start of the year, their net debt has also risen by $60b over the same time to $320b, according to FT analysis using FactSet data of the balance sheets of the 50 biggest airlines. The four big US carriers — United, American Airlines, Delta and Southwest — have led the way in raising money, bolstered by more than $60bn of government aid. In Europe, Air France-KLM and Lufthansa have been shored up by billions of euros in state support, while British Airways owner IAG tapped shareholders for E2.75b, received a GBp2b state-backed loan from the UK and raised E1.2b in a bond issue this week. Airlines came into the crisis in broadly better shape than before the financial crash in 2008, allowing them to raise billions quickly, according to Jonathan Root, a senior vice-president at rating agency Moody’s. “Credit markets were there for the companies from day one,” he said. “If this was 2008, we would be having a different discussion today.”<br/>
general
As US sports leagues continue to welcome back fans to stadiums, the impacts of Covid-19 are still lingering and may interfere with airline sponsorship revenue. Data analytics firm GlobalData projects sports leagues worldwide will face more than $300m in sponsorship losses and “will likely see a wide withdrawal of the airline sector from its sponsorship commitments” as the travel sector recovers from Covid-19. “Given the damage done to the industry following government-enforced lockdowns around the world, and the subsequent fall in international travel, airlines, even those able to rely on sovereign wealth funds, have seen drastic losses and job cuts,” wrote Patrick Kinch, a sports analyst at GlobalData. “As a result, in an effort to recoup costs, it is likely the airline sector will withdraw from its current sporting commitments.” Added Kinch: “Rights holders will be facing the challenge of having to either find an industry that has been less troubled by the pandemic or accepting a reduced value for their sponsorship assets.” GlobalData released its findings on Thursday and estimates global airlines will spend roughly $737m for sponsorships in 2021. And of that figure, US sports leagues will receive approximately $197m in fees for deals with American Airlines, United and Delta. Conrad Wiacek, head of sports analysis at GlobalData, estimates United will spend $29m in 2021 on sports sponsorships, of which $13m in deals will expire this year.<br/>
Millions of Americans, many cooped up for a year, are hitting the road and taking to the skies, as more people get vaccinated against Covid-19. President Joe Biden last week said all American adults will be eligible for a vaccine by May. As more people grow confident that the threat of Covid-19 is fading, it’s becoming harder to find the rock-bottom fares, some in the double-digits, that airlines offered when they were more desperate to fill planes. Hotel rates are also ticking up. Travel-search site Kayak, said searches for summer travel have been up 27% each week since Biden’s announcement and said that airfares for top 100 most-searched U.S. destinations are up 7% month-over-month. “Domestic airfares are rising. While discounts can still be found, they’re no longer falling into consumers’ laps,” said Jamie Baker, JP Morgan airline analyst. “Discounted fares increasingly require a hunt, and for many consumers that have been locked up for a year, they’re probably not up to the effort.” The cheapest domestic leisure airfares, which include those promotional fares that airlines send to your inbox, were $59.48 as of March 15, still 26% lower than a similar week in 2019 but up more than 6% on the week, according to Harrell Associates, a firm that tracks airfares. Average leisure fares were nearly $187, up close to 5% on the week and close to 9% higher than a similar point in 2019.<br/>
Spring break is here and people suffering from a year of cabin fever are throwing caution to the wind. Saturday marked the 10th straight day on which more than 1m passengers traveled through American airports. The TSA reported 1,369,180 travelers passed through security checkpoints Saturday, a day after air passengers set a new pandemic record, when 1,468,516 traveled through TSA security. That's a worrying sign for health experts: Although millions of Americans have been vaccinated, the US CDC continues to recommend that people avoid travel. It has so far declined to issue new guidance on travel for vaccinated Americans out of concerns prompted by travel-related surges that the United States encountered during previous holiday periods. "What we have seen is that we have surges after people start traveling, we saw it after July 4, we saw it after Labor Day, we saw it after the Christmas holidays," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said last week. Walensky said because 90% of people remain unvaccinated, the CDC will wait to update guidance.<br/>
Aviation training specialist CAE said on Friday it will be ready to host mass COVID-19 vaccinations as early as Easter, becoming one of the first major Canadian publicly traded companies to carry out inoculations of workers and the public. Canadian manufacturers have warned that a slower vaccine rollout in Canada could put them at a competitive disadvantage with companies south of the border, with employees in the United States working in industries such as auto plants now being inoculated. Montreal-based CAE is partnering with the province of Quebec to transform offices at its own cost into a vaccination center to inoculate workers of all ages, their family members and the surrounding community to support a provincial ramp-up in May and June, Health Minister Christian Dubé told reporters.<br/>
Victoria, Kelowna and Thunder Bay are among the latest to find they no longer have an international airport designation, echoing the situation faced by the airports in Regina and Saskatoon. Up to a dozen medium sized cities in Canada may have been delisted, including both of Saskatchewan’s major airports. Saskatchewan officials have voiced their concern to Ottawa. “Transport Canada did not keep the airport authorities apprised of any requirements to maintain international designation which they gladly and willingly would have complied with,” said Minister of Trade and Export Development Jeremy Harrison. Transport Canada has not disclosed a full list of airports losing the designation but said all can reapply if they meet border service, immigration, health inspection and other service requirements.<br/>
Europe's airlines and travel sector are bracing for a second lost summer, with rebound hopes increasingly challenged by a hobbled COVID-19 vaccine rollout, resurgent infections and new lockdowns. Airline and travel stocks fell on Friday after Paris and much of northern France shut down for a month, days after Italy introduced stiff business and movement curbs for most of the country including Rome and Milan. The setbacks hit recovery prospects for the crucial peak season, whose profits typically tide airlines through winter, when most carriers lose money even in good times. "If there's no confidence there, demand just doesn't come back," said Dublin-based Alton Aviation consultant Leah Ryan, who expects the bad news on vaccines and lockdowns to hurt already weak bookings. The summer outlook also has been dented by rising infections in Greece and elsewhere, and a suspension of AstraZeneca's vaccine by a number of European countries over health fears. Several countries announced resumption of use of the AstraZeneca shot this week after the European Medicines Agency said the benefits clearly outweigh its risks. A patchy stop-start summer may pose fewer difficulties for low-cost airlines such as Ryanair and Wizz Air, which can redeploy planes quickly between routes. But Ryanair's home market expects to keep strict travel curbs in place at least throughout June, Irish health official Ronan Glynn said on Thursday, citing the "deteriorating situation internationally" and emerging more contagious virus variants.<br/>
The door to summer is slowly creaking open in Europe, and for those who want to stroll through it to take a vacation amid ongoing Covid restrictions, the key may soon be at hand. While borders are likely to remain closed in coming weeks, the European Union is proposing to roll out a Digital Green Certificate, or vaccine passport that will allow those with the required armfuls of approved anti-Covid pharmaceuticals or antibodies from having had the virus, to travel freely. Negative tests could also be used to qualify. It's a measure eagerly anticipated by Europe's prime tourism destinations, among them Portugal, Spain and Greece, where an absence of visitors over the past year has left gaping holes in national bank balances. But will it be fair? Story examines the question.<br/>
The EU faces a tough task in seeking to introduce so-called Covid-19 passports by June to get people traveling again, according to the owner of France’s busiest airport. The slow progress and uncoordinated roll-out of health passes already under development at airlines and other companies suggest the bloc’s target is “very, very ambitious,” said Franck Le Gall, operations chief at Groupe ADP, which runs dozens of hubs including Paris-Charles de Gaulle. The EU’s executive arm this week cleared the way for the introduction of a Digital Green Certificate providing proof that holders have been vaccinated, recovered from the coronavirus or recently tested negative. The passes are meant to facilitate trips both inside and outside the bloc, striking a balance between tourism-dependent states eager to reopen their borders and countries like France and Germany that have adopted a more cautious stance. The move comes just as numerous mobile application-based systems are already in the pipeline, including the IATA’s Travel Pass, the AOKpass from travel-security firm International SOS, Daon’s VeriFly and the World Economic Forum-backed CommonPass.<br/>
Greece has lifted restrictions on flights from Turkey, Albania and North Macedonia that were imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19, its civil aviation authority (YPA) said on Sunday. All passengers from abroad will however need to show they have a negative COVID-19 test, taken within 72 hours of their arrival, YPA said. They will also have to quarantine at home or at their place of stay for seven days. YPA also increased the limit on visitors from Russia, to 4,000 per week from 500 before, with flights allowed to the airports of Athens, Thessaloniki and Heraklion in Crete. Passengers from Britain and the United Arab Emirates will be subject to a mandatory rapid COVID-19 test upon arrival in Greece, the authority added. Arrivals from Britain will have to take another test after their seven-day quarantine expires.<br/>
It would be premature for Britons to book summer holidays overseas as Britain must avoid a situation where holidaymakers return with vaccine-resistant variants of COVID-19, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said on Sunday. Half of all adults in Britain have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, placing it well ahead of all other major economies, and of neighboring European countries where the vaccine rollout is slow and chaotic. Wallace said Britain should avoid throwing away the gains of its vaccination campaign by allowing dangerous variants into the country via returning tourists. “If we were to be reckless in any way, and import new variants that put out risks, what would people say about that? We’ve got good direction of travel, we’re getting there, and I think we need to make sure we preserve that at all costs,” he said. Foreign holidays are currently banned. Under the government’s four-stage roadmap, they could be allowed to resume from May 17 at the earliest, although it could be later than that. “I haven’t booked my holiday,” Wallace said. “It would be premature to do that.”<br/>
A volcanic eruption began in southwestern Iceland near the capital Reykjavik on Friday following thousands of small earthquakes in the area in recent weeks, the country’s meteorological office said. The eruption occurred near Fagradalsfjall, a mountain on the Reykjanes Peninsula, located around 30 km southwest of the capital. Reykjavik’s international Keflavik airport was not closed following the eruption, but each airline had to decide for themselves if they want to fly or not, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said.<br/>
The Philippines will expand tighter COVID-19 rules to include four provinces surrounding the capital Manila, and restrict travel to and from these areas for two weeks beginning on Monday, as the country battles a renewed surge in infections. The restrictions currently in effect in Metropolitan Manila will also be imposed in the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal, including night curfews and the prohibition of mass gatherings, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said on Sunday. Only essential travel to and from the capital region and the four provinces, which Roque called the bubble area, will be allowed. “This is not hard lockdown,” he said, “but we have additional restrictions.” Travel will remain unimpeded within the bubble area but only individuals 18-65 years old are allowed outdoors. Travel to and from the bubble area is limited to health and emergency frontline services personnel, government officials and government frontline personnel, persons travelling for medical and humanitarian reasons and those going to the airport to travel abroad.<br/>