The General Court of the European Union has ruled that the EUR475m in Spanish government loans handed to Air Europa last year was legal, rejecting a case Ryanair had brought against the EC, which approved the aid. The state funds, which Madrid approved in October 2020 and which were provided through the sovereign wealth fund, were part of a E10b fund in Spain for pandemic-hit companies that the EC greenlit last July. In its May 19 ruling, which can still be appealed at Court of Justice of the European Union, the general court said that the measure complied with EU law and had been “proportionate and non-discriminatory”. <br/>
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EasyJet slammed the UK government on Thursday for sending out confusing messages on international travel, forcing the airline to scale back flight plans for the start of the peak summer holiday season. The UK-listed carrier expects to fly 15 per cent of its normal schedule between April and June as CE Johan Lundgren lowered forecasts for passenger travel. The projections are less optimistic than an update last month, when the company said it would fly 20% of its pre-pandemic schedule and ramp up from May. Lundgren said the government’s mixed messages over whether people should travel abroad had led to the cut, although he plans to increase capacity towards the end of the three-month period. “They aren’t following their own criteria [for restarting travel] and making it confusing in terms of if people should travel,” he said. The UK government reopened its borders to limited leisure travel this week, but passengers are only able to visit a handful of destinations, such as Portugal and Gibraltar, without quarantining on their return.<br/>
German charter airline Condor will be acquired by investment fund Attestor, which pledged to invest in new planes to help the carrier emerge from the coronavirus crisis, Condor said on Thursday. Attestor will purchase a 51% stake from the German state for E200m and plans to invest a further E250m to modernise Condor’s fleet, the airline said. A planned sale to Poland’s national carrier LOT fell apart last year when the coronavirus crisis grounded air travel.<br/>
El Al Israel Airlines said Thursday it was cutting 1,900 jobs as part of a broader plan to recover from the impact of COVID-19, even as its net loss narrowed in Q1 due to steep cost-cutting measures. Israel's flag carrier reported an $86m loss in the January-March period, versus a net loss of $140m a year earlier. Revenue slid 64% to $117m, while expenses such as salaries and jet fuel dropped 54%. El Al, which has new ownership and management, has reported losses for three years and racked up debt to renew its fleet. It suspended scheduled passenger flights in March 2020 at the outset of the health crisis when Israel closed its borders to most foreign citizens, compounding its financial woes. Following a rapid vaccination roll-out that has led to a steep drop in virus infections -- there are just 588 active COVID cases nationwide -- Israel has begun to open up some international routes again to its citizens. Tourists will begin to enter on May 23 on a limited basis since there are still concerns over new coronavirus variants.<br/>
El Al has yet to determine the financial consequences of the armed conflict which has ignited in Gaza, but believes the impact is not material at this stage. While some foreign carriers have been cancelling flights to Tel Aviv, El Al says it has continued to offer an “air bridge” to passengers – including those whose flights have been affected. El Al gave the update as it disclosed details of its Q1 financial performance.<br/>
Malaysian long-haul budget airline AirAsia X reported a record loss for the first three months of the year and its eighth quarterly loss in a row as the coronavirus pandemic devastated demand for air travel. The airline, an affiliate of AirAsia Group, on Thursday reported a net loss of 5.67b ringgit ($1.37b) in January-March, more than 10 times the loss of 549.7m ringgit seen in the same period last year. The loss was primarily attributable to the impairment of assets, it said. Revenue for the quarter fell 95.8% to 38.5m ringgit. AirAsia said it has assessed the recoverability of its assets in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and its restructuring process, and impaired those assets by 5.28b ringgit. The airline has been looking to reconstitute 64.15b in debt, and said the asset impairment does not impact the restructuring. "Appropriate accounting entries will be made on a successful restructuring that will reflect more appropriately the assets and liabilities based on the final agreed restructuring terms," it said.<br/>
Virgin is set to hire an extra 250 staff, including pilots, ground staff and baggage handlers, in addition to the 150 new cabin crew roles unveiled last month. The airline made the announcement alongside revealing plans to launch five new services and significantly increase frequency across its network, including by 30% on the ‘Golden Triangle’. CE Jayne Hrdlicka said the business had turned a corner from the worst of the pandemic. “Growing confidence in the community, thanks to the vaccination rollout and domestic borders staying largely open, means the time is right for us to bring back jobs and put more aircraft in the skies,” she said. Virgin will introduce five new services to allow for greater connection from capital cities to major regional destinations: Adelaide-Cairns, Perth-Cairns, Sydney-Townsville, Melbourne-Townsville and Sydney- Darwin. It will also increase flight frequencies to key Queensland destinations, including Brisbane, the Whitsunday Coast, Hamilton Island, Cairns, Townsville, the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast by up to 40%.<br/>