general

Today’s move from Tui, Europe’s largest travel company, to raise up to E400m to shore up its business is just the latest sign of the havoc wrought upon an industry devastated by the pandemic. An uneven vaccination programme and an increase in infections and lockdowns have diluted hopes for the 2021 European summer season, fuelling pessimism among investors, who sent Tui’s shares down in morning trading more than 7% before they recovered to close 2% lower. The company has already gone through a series of refinancing deals and reported a E3.2b loss in the year to the end of September. Governments around the world meanwhile are striving to inject hope into the airline industry. In the UK, government proposals to allow travel to certain countries from May 17 were criticised for the caveat that travellers must undergo costly PCR Covid tests. The plans follow another week of uncertainty for a sector that lost $118.5b in 2020, the worst year in aviation history, with downgraded passenger forecasts from Ryanair and new state aid for Air France/KLM. A handful of entrepreneurs such as Nino Singh Judge, a former motorsport businessman who calls himself the “Sikh Michael O’Leary” have found inspiration amid the chaos, founding new airlines that can react quickly to new conditions rather than trying to adapt business models designed for very different times. <br/>

The Caribbean Saint Vincent island was hit by another explosive event from the La Soufriere volcano early on Sunday, triggering power cuts and water outages in some areas, while ash clouds began to blanket parts of the island of Barbados. After decades of inactivity, the volcano erupted on Friday, spewing dark clouds of ash some 10 km into the air and prompting an evacuation of thousands of people on the island. The volcano has continued to rumble and vent ash since then. On Sunday morning, Saint Vincent’s National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO) said there was a huge power outage after “another explosive event” at the volcano. However, by 12 p.m. ET (1600 GMT), power had been restored, residents said. In the island of Barbados, about 178 km from Saint Vincent, the meteorological services agency said varying intensities of ash were impacting the island. Videos posted on social media showing a thin layer of ash coating cars and even the country’s airport, which remains closed.<br/>

French lawmakers voted late on Saturday to abolish domestic flights on routes than can be covered by train in under two-and-a-half hours, as the government seeks to lower carbon emissions even as the air travel industry reels from the global pandemic. The measure is part of a broader climate bill that aims to cut French carbon emissions by 40% in 2030 from 1990 levels, though activists accuse President Emmanuel Macron of watering down earlier promises in the draft legislation. The vote came days after the state said it would contribute to a E4b recapitalisation of Air France, more than doubling its stake in the flagcarrier, to shore up its finances after over a year of COVID-19 travel curbs.<br/>

Four in 10 European business travellers plan to fly less after COVID-19 travel restrictions are fully lifted, a survey showed on Monday, with many intending to stick to video conferences. Changing habits during the pandemic and worries over climate change are likely to reduce business flights in the long term, suggested the YouGov poll for the philanthropic group European Climate Foundation, which supports a goal of zero emissions. “Flying for business meetings burns up time and money, as well as our climate,” said Alethea Warrington, campaigner at climate action charity Possible, which was not involved in the poll. “This polling shows that after a year of quick and easy virtual meetings, travellers aren’t planning to go back to business as usual.”<br/>

The UK said it will decide by early next month whether Britons can resume taking international holidays on May 17, while implementing coronavirus testing rules that airlines criticized as too costly. Countries will be rated according to their Covid-19 risk in a traffic light system, the Department for Transport said Friday. At a minimum, travelers will need to buy a two-test package, including a so-called PCR assessment, that typically costs around $300 per person and can range much higher. “The framework announced today will help allow us to reopen travel safely and sustainably, ensure we protect our hard-won achievements on the vaccine roll-out and offer peace of mind to both passengers and industry,” Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said. Airline groups welcomed the progress toward a travel restart after a year of Covid-19 restrictions that walloped the industry. Still, they criticized testing requirements they said would put family vacations out of reach for many. Tim Alderslade, CEO of the industry body Airlines UK, called the proposals a “further setback for an industry on its knees.” The government has said that May 17 is the earliest day foreign holidays can resume, but officials have warned that a further delay could be required if coronavirus infections continue to surge elsewhere in the world. Shapps defended the need for PCR tests that can identify Covid-19 variants and said he’ll look for ways to keep the costs down.<br/>

British travel company Jet2 said it was cancelling holidays until late June, blaming uncertainty in UK government plans for restarting international travel, which were condemned by airlines. Flight operators had been counting on government proposals published on Friday to allow planning for a summer getaway season, but the industry criticised the release for not including a start date for travel or listing which countries would be open for holidaymakers. “We are extremely disappointed at the lack of clarity and detail,” said Jet2 CE Steve Heapy. “The framework lacks any rigorous detail about how to get international travel going again.” Jet2, the UK’s third largest carrier by passenger numbers, said it had no choice but to cancel flights and holidays to June 23, over a month later than the May 17 date the government has said is the earliest for international travel to resume. The country’s largest airline, easyJet, also criticised the government’s plans, saying the requirement for an expensive PCR COVID-19 test for trips to low-risk countries would mean that only wealthy people could take holidays abroad.<br/>

Boeing will need to inspect hundreds of undelivered 737 Max jets for a potential flaw in their electrical power systems, said people familiar with the matter. About 450 Max planes built since early 2019 could potentially require repairs, a total that includes about 90 aircraft in commercial operation, said the people, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Boeing earlier Friday instructed airlines to ground dozens of recently delivered 737 Max jets to check for the manufacturing defect. The problem renews scrutiny of the upgraded 737 model, whose success is critical to helping Boeing recover from the coronavirus pandemic after burning through $20b in cash last year. While analysts expect the affected planes to be flying within a few days, US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg underscored the heightened concerns around the Max after two fatal crashes prompted the longest jetliner grounding in US history. “We need to make sure there’s full confidence before these specific aircraft return to the air,” he said at a White House briefing. The FAA will closely monitor the situation, he said.<br/>

The FAA has proposed that airlines be required to address a Boeing 777 rivet issue that raises concerns about potential pressure loss. “The FAA has received a report indicating that an operator found solid rivets with missing heads at the left buttock line 25 on the sloping pressure deck web,” the FAA says in regulatory documents published on 9 April. “The model 777–300 airplane had 23 solid rivet locations with missing manufactured heads,” the FAA adds. That aircraft had logged 21,343 flight cycles and 53,979h of flight when the issue was identified. Subsequent inspections revealed that four other 777-300s and one retired 777-200 had the same issue. “Boeing analysis showed the root cause to be the 7050 aluminium solid rivets used on the sloping pressure deck web, which were inadequate for the complex tension loading environment, and led to premature fatigue cracking of the solid rivets,” says the FAA. The agency warns that the issue, if not addressed, could “result in loss of sloping pressure deck panels, causing decompression and pressure loss, and loss of the hydraulic systems in the area for wheel brakes (both normal and alternate) and steering”. Story has more. <br/>

US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said regulators want to ensure “full confidence” in dozens of Boeing 737 MAX airplanes that halted flights on Friday before they return to service. US airlines halted the use of more than 65 Boeing 737 MAX planes after Boeing recommended the step over a production issue that could impact the operation of a backup power control unit. Buttigieg said the issue was not related to the issues involved in the two fatal 737 MAX crashes that led to the plane’s 20-month grounding. “We need to make sure there is full confidence before these specific aircraft return to the air and that’s what the (FAA) will be closely monitoring,” Buttigieg said at a White House briefing. <br/>

London’s Heathrow faces opposition from some board members to its plan to raise GBP2.8 billion from airlines and customers by increasing airport prices, the Telegraph newspaper reported. Qatar Airways, whose owner is also Heathrow’s second-biggest shareholder, said the plan is “unreasonable, not in the consumer interest and should be rejected,” according to the report. The airline’s top executive, Akbar Al Baker, is a representative for the state of Qatar on Heathrow’s board of directors. Heathrow’s demands to change a complex regulatory framework so it could recoup losses caused by the pandemic have been rejected by the Civil Aviation Authority, the newspaper said. A spokesman for Heathrow said the regulatory adjustment is needed to lower prices for consumers, according to the Telegraph. While all airlines and airports have taken a battering in the coronavirus crisis, Heathrow has been hit particularly hard since it relies on long-haul markets that have all but been wiped out. Passenger volumes have fallen to the lowest level since 1966 due to the ban on non-essential travel and quarantine rules. <br/>

India has established a bilateral air bubble arrangement with Sri Lanka for operation of special international passenger flights between the two countries, the Civil Aviation Ministry said on Saturday. With this, India now has such pacts with 28 countries, including Afghanistan, Bahrain, Canada, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, the Maldives, Nigeria, Qatar, the UAE, the UK and the USA. Under an air bubble pact between two countries, special international passenger flights can be operated by their airlines into each other's territories under restrictive conditions. "India has finalized an air bubble agreement with Sri Lanka, making it the 6th such arrangement in SAARC region and the 28th in total," the Civil Aviation Ministry said on Twitter. "All the eligible passengers will be able to travel between the 2 countries in the near future," it noted.<br/>

As US business aviation traffic rebounds to pre-pandemic levels, a niche, fragmented industry providing services ranging from hangars to fueling is drawing interest from private equity funds and infrastructure investors. Fixed base operators, or FBOs, play a key role in keeping private jets flying, offering services like hangars and fueling, and some buyers are betting the revival in flights could spill over into allied industries. While business jet orders and deliveries dropped in 2020, private flights, which carry smaller groups and promise wealthy passengers less risk of exposure to the coronavirus, have generally fared better than commercial. That is underpinning investor interest in FBOs. The sector recently made headlines when Gatwick Airport owner Global Infrastructure Partners joined forces with Blackstone and Bill Gates' investment vehicle to make a $4.73b offer for Signature Aviation, the largest private jet services firm. There are other deals brewing too. <br/>