The CE of Southwest, Gary Kelly, tested positive for the coronavirus after appearing at a Senate hearing with other airline industry officials this week, the company confirmed on Friday. Kelly tested negative several times before attending the hearing on Wednesday, but received a positive result after returning home and experiencing mild symptoms. Kelly, who is 66, is fully vaccinated, has received a booster shot and is resting at home, Southwest said. Kelly appeared before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Wednesday to discuss the impact of billions of dollars of federal pandemic aid to the airline industry. He was joined in person by Scott Kirby, the CE of United; Doug Parker, CE of American Airlines; John Laughter, the chief of operations at Delta; and Sara Nelson, the head of the Association of Flight Attendants. Each was unmasked for at least part of the hearing. Many senators on the committee also did not wear masks, but they sat further apart from each other. At one point during the hearing, Senator Roger Wicker, Republican of Mississippi, asked Kelly if passengers would ever be able to travel on planes without masks. “I think the case is very strong that masks don’t add much, if anything, in the air cabin environment,” Mr. Kelly said, praising the air filtration on planes. “It’s very safe and very high quality compared to any other indoor setting.” <br/>
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Ryanair Holdings’ CEO Michael O’Leary thinks only vaccinated passengers should be allowed to fly, according to the Telegraph. The newspaper said that the European airline chief pushed back against compulsory vaccine programs being rolled out in Austria and Germany in an interview. Instead, governments should “make life difficult” for people who refuse to take the vaccine without good reason. “If you’re not vaccinated, you shouldn’t be allowed in the hospital, you shouldn’t be allowed to fly, you shouldn’t be allowed on the London Underground, and you shouldn’t be allowed in the local supermarket or your pharmacy either,” he said. The omicron variant has once again dashed the travel sector’s hopes for recovery, as a fresh wave of restrictions leads passengers to cancel or hold off on booking trips. O’Leary said Ryanair expects to fly 10% fewer passengers in December as a result, according to the newspaper. He said he also expects the first few months of the year to be weak if there’s continued uncertainty over restrictions, or if new measures are imposed. <br/>
Ryanair has bid farewell to the London Stock Exchange after earlier confirming plans to delist its shares due to EU rules on ownership post-Brexit. The airline applied to authorities to cancel its listing on the main market in London as “the volume of trading of the shares on the LSE does not justify the costs related to such listing and admission to trading”. It added that trading in the City had “reduced materially” as a percentage of its overall shares activity during the year. The company, which is Europe’s largest budget carrier, has a primary listing on the Euronext Dublin exchange, and has already made some of its investors in the UK sell shares to ensure it complies with the mandate since Brexit. While UK holders have been barred from buying Ryanair shares for some months, delisting will take effect in London from 20 December, with the last day of trading on 17 December.<br/>
Air travel between the Isle of Man and the Republic of Ireland is set to begin again next year following an agreement to re-establish the connection. Journeys between Dublin and Ronaldsway airports will be run six times a week by Emerald Airlines from March. CE Conor McCarthy said it was a "great boost for connectivity". It comes after the Irish firm reached a franchise deal with Aer Lingus to operate its regional services, which were previously run by Stobart Air. That carrier collapsed in June as a result of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. McCarthy said the deal would see "a high-frequency schedule with convenient flight timings".<br/>
Two listed subsidiaries of HNA Group have revealed that they are subject to an investigation that sources with knowledge of the matter said may be linked to allegations that shareholders embezzled company funds and illegally used corporate assets as collateral for loans. The investigations mark the government's latest move in untangling the risks posed by the formerly freewheeling financial conglomerate, which is now going through bankruptcy restructuring. Shanghai-listed Hainan Airlines Holding disclosed Friday it had received a China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) notice the same day that said the regulator had launched an investigation into the company on suspicion that it violated information disclosure laws and regulations. The CSRC accused the company of breaching China's Administrative Punishments Law and Securities Law, according to a filing released on the Shanghai Stock Exchange late Friday. Founded in 1989 as a state-owned airline before becoming a privately controlled joint-stock company in 1992, the parent of the two companies, HNA Group, went on to become one of China's largest airlines. HNA got into trouble after it veered from its core aviation business early in the last decade and went on a global shopping spree that included buying stakes in Hilton Worldwide Holdings, airport retail giant Dufy America and Deutsche Bank.<br/>
Philippine Airlines won court approval for its reorganization plan, paving the way for the carrier to exit bankruptcy, cut $2b in debt and revive its fortunes after a slump in international travel. US Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman said Friday that she would approve the Chapter 11 plan after unsecured creditors voted to back the proposal. The reorganization didn’t face any major opposition from debt holders. “This case is a model for what can be accomplished in Chapter 11,” Chapman said. “You’ve achieved overwhelming consensus.” The company expects to emerge from the court-supervised Chapter 11 process before the end of 2021 and after completing “a few more procedural steps,” it said in a statement on Saturday. The flagship carrier, majority owned by billionaire Lucio Tan, is one of several to enter debt restructuring in the US, which companies often consider a preferred location. Philippine Airlines had already gotten a green light to access $505m worth of equity and debt financing to help it meet obligations. The company on Saturday also said the plan provides for more than $2b in permanent balance sheet reductions from existing creditors and allows the carrier to consensually contract fleet capacity by 25%.<br/>