JetBlue Airways unveiled a series of cost saving measures on Tuesday, including halting pay raises and paid parental leave, in a move it said would avoid furloughs through at least Sept. 30 as it continues to battle the pandemic. New York-based JetBlue said cost reductions, which also include pay cuts for top executives into 2021 and the cancellation of large-scale company events, were necessary amid an unpredictable 2021 followed by years of paying back debt it took on to weather the coronavirus crisis. “We are finalizing next year’s budget now and there is no doubt it will be the most challenging in our history,” Mike Elliott, JetBlue’s chief people officer, told staff in a memo obtained by Reuters. JetBlue did not comment. The airline is planning for revenue to be billions of dollars lower than usual, Elliott said. “As we get into 2021, we will have better visibility into what we need to do to continue protecting jobs beyond September,” he said.<br/>
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Norwegian Air was given additional creditor protection by a court in Norway on Tuesday on top of that granted by an Irish judge on Monday, allowing the cash-strapped airline’s restructuring efforts to continue. “A supplementary reconstruction process under Norwegian law will be to the benefit of all parties and will increase the likelihood of a successful result,” CE Jacob Schram said. Norwegian said it could now move forward with the dual-track process. The company, which helped transform transatlantic travel, expanding the European budget airline business model to longer-haul destinations, has been forced to ground all but six of its 140 aircraft amid the COVID-19 pandemic. If successful in convincing creditors and owners of its future potential, Norwegian could, with the help of the courts, emerge as a smaller but more efficient carrier with fewer aircraft, less debt and more equity. “Our aim is to secure jobs in the company and to contribute to securing critical infrastructure and value creation in Norway,” Schram said. The airline, which has said it could run out of cash by the end of Q1 of next year, aims to complete the debt restructuring by Feb. 26.<br/>
Emirates expects more than 200,000 passengers to travel through its Dubai hub during the festive season, a rare piece of good news for the the world’s largest long-haul carrier in a year severely impacted by the coronavirus. The airline’s busiest day will be on Dec. 11 and high traffic will run through Dec. 21, the Dubai-based carrier said in a statement on Tuesday. Still, the number of passengers is down from about 300,000 in the same period last year. Emirates said more than 200,000 passengers will be arriving on its flights into Dubai -- the Middle East’s trade and travel hub -- for the holidays, compared with more than twice as many last year. The airline has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic because its business model is built around the biggest category of jets ferrying passengers between all corners of the globe. Long-haul travel is widely expected by the industry to be the slowest to recover from the crisis as passengers shy away from lengthy journeys and virus hotspots.<br/>
BOC Aviation has taken action to enforce a UK court judgement for AirAsia X to pay it $23.4m in relation to aircraft leases. The lessor filed in the High Court of Malaya to register the foreign judgement on AirAsia X, dated 7 December, according to an 8 December filing by AirAsia X to Bursa Malaysia. This pertains to summary judgement that the High Court of Justice in the Business and Property Courts of England and Wales granted to BOC Aviation against AirAsia X and AAX Leasing Two, dated 6 November, as AirAsia X detailed in a 20 November disclosure. The sum encompasses a $23m component that includes interest till 30 June, and about $401,000 in relation to interest between 1 July and 6 November. AirAsia X states in the latest filing: “The financial impact to the group will be a cash outflow equal to the amount of the said notice, if successful. There is no operational impact to the group.” The airline group says its board is currently reviewing the documentation received and will be seeking legal advice.<br/>
A state rescue for South Korea’s biggest low-cost carrier Jeju Air has been pushed to early next year due to the key state lender’s engagement over the mega-merger of the country’s two full-service airliners. State-run Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank) and Korea Credit Guarantee Fund have expedited their share for Jeju Air last month – 120b won in loans and 30b won in bond purchase via the primary collateralized bond obligation program. The commitment of 40b won ($37m) from the Korea Development Bank (KDB), however, is being delayed. KDB manages the state fund committed to protect the country’s mainstay industries from the pandemic fallout. It was to approve the loan last month, but the bank has been preoccupied with the merger of Korean Air Lines and Asiana Airlines. The funding for Jeju Air will likely come next month.<br/>
Virgin Australia has renegotiated its multibillion-dollar order of Boeing's grounded 737 MAX aircraft, with the carrier slicing its delivery in half to just 25 planes which will start arriving in mid-2023. The airline first placed an order for 737 MAX aircraft in 2012 but has repeatedly pushed back delivery as it struggled financially and then after the best-selling short-haul jet was grounded globally last year following two fatal crashes that killed 346 people. With US aviation safety authorities last month clearing the aircraft to return to service following design updates and additional pilot training, Virgin said overnight that it would accept the first of its 25 new 737 MAX 10 planes in 2023. Virgin's original order of 23 smaller 737 MAX 8 which were due to arrive in the middle of 2021 has been scrapped. The 25 larger MAX 10 planes were originally due to arrive in 2025. "The MAX 10 will allow us to build on the operational flexibility we have been able to achieve with our existing fleet... to ensure we remain competitive on the other side of COVID-19," Virgin CE Jayne Hrdlicka said. "The restructured agreement and changes to the delivery schedule... gives us the flexibility to continually review our future fleet requirements, particularly as we wait for international travel demand to return." Virgin, which went into voluntary administration in April and is now owned by US private equity giant Bain Capital, has stripped its domestic fleet back from around 80 jets to just 56 older variant 737s and also shut down its long-haul operations.<br/>
Virgin Australia expects the profit outlook for the Sydney-Melbourne-Brisbane triangle will be challenging for a long time as Regional Express Holdings Ltd (Rex) enters the market, Virgin's CE said Wednesday. Rex plans to launch Sydney-Melbourne flights in March in a challenge to Qantas Airways Ltd and Virgin and has begun selling seats for as little as A$79 ($58.70) each way to gain customers by undercutting its rivals. The so-called "golden triangle" of the Sydney-Melbourne, Sydney-Brisbane and Brisbane-Melbourne routes normally accounts for 40% of domestic aviation traffic. "It is a challenging outlook for the profit pool on the triangle for a long period of time because Virgin Australia has no intent of backing off that market share either," Virgin CE Jayne Hrdlicka said. "I think they (Rex) should expect it is going to be super-competitive since we are all rebuilding the market." As states re-open borders closed due to the pandemic, Virgin and Qantas are ramping up capacity on key routes. Virgin expects to reach 60% of its pre-coronavirus domestic capacity in January, while Qantas will reach 68% by the end of December.<br/>