South Korea's Eastar Jet said yesterday it planned to cut its 1,200 strong workforce by 50% and reduce its aircraft fleet of 18 to six to increase its appeal to investors, the Yonhap news agency reported. Eastar is looking for new owners after rival South Korean LCC, Jeju Air, decided against acquiring a majority holding in the airline last July. Read More »
Separately, Jeju Air indicated yesterday it would apply for a government grant to help it ride out the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, local media reported. Jeju Air would be the second airline, after Asiana Airlines, to access the government's key industry stabilization fund set up to assist industries hit hard by COVID-19.
Vietnam Airlines said yesterday it was in line to post a loss of 10.7 trillion dong (US$461 million) for the nine months to September 30, 2020, compared with a net profit of 2.5 trillion dong 12 months ago. Revenue fell 68%, to 23.9 trillion dong, Vietnam Airlines chief accountant, Tran Thanh Hien, told local media. Hien said Vietnam Airlines had implemented staff and salary cuts, restructured loans and retired older aircraft in response to losses from the pandemic.
Airports Council International (ACI) World and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) have reiterated the need for governments to introduce widespread and coordinated COVID-19 testing to enable quarantine requirements to be removed and borders to reopen. "Without this action, it is not an exaggeration that the industry is facing collapse,” ACI World director general, Luis Felipe de Oliveira, said in a statement overnight. ACI said the airport industry was facing a 60% decline in revenue in calendar 2020 and IATA has forecast global airline revenue would be down 50% compared with 2019.
Virgin Australia group CEO, Paul Scurrah, said today airlines were likely to need the support of governments to relaunch international routes once borders reopened. "For airlines it will be an economic issue. Airlines will need government assistance to start those routes up," Scurrah told The Australian Financial Review newspaper's National Infrastructure Summit.
Boeing said overnight it delivered 28 commercial aircraft in the three months to September 30, 2020, down from 62 aircraft in the same period a year earlier. Notable deliveries to Asia-Pacific airlines during the quarter included one 787-9 to All Nippon Airways (ANA), one 787-10 to EVA Air, and one 787-9 to Vistara. There were eight orders in the quarter.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) has boosted its digital presence with a new app, Kris+, that brings together payment, lifestyle and reward services in a single platform. Users can earn frequent flyer miles from purchases made through the app, as well as use miles to pay for products and services. SIA said yesterday the investment in the app was part of its ongoing strategy to "drive non-airline revenue streams in the coming years".
