unaligned

Allegiant Travel Company, the parent of ultra-low-cost carrier Allegiant Air, turned a slim profit in the first three months of the year as the company prepares for a busy summer with a “bullish” outlook. “Based on the data we are seeing, I can say, we are back,” the company’s chief executive Maury Gallagher tells analysts on the company’s quarterly earnings results call on 4 May. The Las Vegas-based carrier reports it earned $6.9m in Q1 2020, compared to a $33m loss for the same quarter in 2020, just as the coronavirus pandemic was beginning to make itself felt around the world. In Q4 2020, the company had reported a loss of $29m. Revenue for the first three months of 2021 was $279m, down 32% from the same quarter in 2020. But signs of improvement and a sustainable recovery are mounting, executives say. Potential passengers are booking tickets in numbers that align with 2019 trends, and they are also planning further ahead with their air travel. “The momentum reported last quarter picked up in earnest towards the back half of the first quarter with booking trends showing meaningful improvement,” says Gallagher. “I could not be more bullish on our outlook. Going forward our full-year, 2021 capacity should exceed 2019 capacity levels.”<br/>

Norwegian Air Shuttle, currently under bankruptcy protection after the coronavirus pandemic pushed into a record loss last year, said Tuesday it plans to axe 85% of its workforce in Spain. The no-frills airline has informed unions of its plans to axe up nearly 1,200 cabin crew in Spain as part of a group-wide restructuring programme, a spokesman said. Norwegian will retain just two of its five bases in Spain -- in the southern coastal cities of Malaga and Alicante -- as part of a reduction of its short-haul operations. Like other airlines, Norwegian has been hit hard by the dramatic drop in air travel due to the Covid-19 pandemic and last year saw passenger numbers plummet by 81% to just 6.87m. Placed under bankruptcy protection in both Ireland and Norway, the carrier saw its bottom-line loss widen 15-fold to 23b kroner ($2.7b) last year. It has already closed its long-haul operations -- where it had been a pioneer in launching low-cost transatlantic flights in 2017 -- to instead focus on the Nordic market. But the company racked up repeated losses, partly because of technical misfortunes. Its Boeing 777 Dreamliners encountered problems with their Rolls-Royce engines, and then its Boeing 737 MAX aircraft were grounded, as elsewhere in the world, after two fatal crashes.<br/>

Ethiopian Mozambique Airlines has announced the indefinite suspension of its domestic flights from May 6, 2021, citing as reason a drastic drop in domestic travel demand due to COVID-19. In a statement on May 1, 2021, the carrier said that despite the challenges, it had remained "resiliently operational" during the pandemic, however, the economic challenges now had become so severe that it had become impossible to continue operating. The airline said it would monitor developments in the market. Ethiopian Mozambique Airline is a Mozambique-registered carrier based at the capital Maputo. It was established as competition to state-owned LAM - Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique in December 2018 in partnership with Ethiopian Airlines, which owns 99% of the company, with the remaining 1% owned by Malawi Airlines. <br/>

With El Al competing against Delta, United and American Airlines this summer, there will be 10 daily flights alone between Tel Aviv and New York. El Al Israel Airlines is increasing the frequency of its flights to the US, sources close to the matter have told "Globes." In June, El Al will increase the number of its daily flights between Tel Aviv and New York (including Newark) for three daily flights to four. El Al will also increase the number of weekly flights from Tel Aviv to Miami and from Tel Aviv to Los Angeles from three each to five. Bearing in mind that El Al does not fly on Shabbat, it will be operating some 30 flights a week between Tel Aviv and the US from next month. Return fares between Tel Aviv and New York will begin at $700. El Al is not the only carrier increasing the frequency of its flights between Israel and the US. Delta is increasing the number of its weekly flights between Tel Aviv and New York from seven to 10 and from June 1, it will operate two daily flights on the route. <br/>

Emirates plans to operate around 70% of its normal capacity this winter thanks to an expected increase in international travel as countries ease coronavirus restrictions and reopen borders. Emirates, the world’s biggest long-haul airline before the pandemic, has been gradually rebuilding its network of 157 passenger destinations since flights were grounded in March 2020. It is currently operating to around 120 destinations, though capacity remains limited due to the continued grounding of most of the airline’s 118 Airbus A380 superjumbos. “We already have a plan to get back to almost 70% of our capacity to be recovered by winter 2021,” Emirates CCO Adnan Kazim said Tuesday. He did not disclose its current operating capacity, although he added that the airline had a way to go to reach 70%.<br/>

Virgin Australia recorded a $3.1b loss during its last financial year before it was taken out of administration. The extraordinary loss for FY20 was 10 times higher than the previous year and was in part due to revenue falling 20% to $4b. The airline entered administration in April 2020 owning more than $7b and was subsequently bought by new owner Bain for $3.5b. Documents published with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission on Tuesday revealed the business had just $740m of cash to service over $5b of debt that was due within the next year. The $3.1b loss was the ninth negative return in a row. The airline also has $1.2b of debt currently that it carried into administration, though this is mostly in bank loans for aircraft.<br/>