Shares in Ryanair tumbled 8% as a consequence of Europe’s largest low-cost carrier announcing that it has reviewed its annual passenger target downwards by 25%, despite the figures for the lockdown quarter of April-June coming through at better-than-expected levels. Having cut 99% of its capacity as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the carrier posted
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued an emergency airworthiness directive relating to potential corrosion problems on parked-up Boeing 737 NG and Classic jets that could lead to catastrophic dual-engine failure if not immediately addressed. The problems involve approximately 2,000 of the 737 variants which have been parked up as consequence of the devastating
Having already laid off thousands of its workforce, Spirit AeroSystems (Spirit), which makes the fuselage for the troubled Boeing 737 MAX, is in discussions with lenders over loosening debt terms. Kansas-based Spirit had already been asked by Boeing to cut back on production owing to further knock-on effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in what
Bombardier, the Canadian plane and train maker, has secured a US$1 billion secured loan, indicating that the company will now have sufficient liquidity to see it through the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Having severely revised its 2020 forecast, Bombardier has now begun to announce job cuts as the market for high-profit-margin jets falls, with
Qantas will mark the end of an era with the departure of the national carrier’s last Boeing 747 jumbo jet on July 22. The final 747-400 in the fleet (registration VH-OEJ) departed Sydney at 2pm as flight number QF7474, bringing to an end five decades of history-making moments for the national carrier and aviation in
ATP, the USA’s leading flight school, has taken delivery of six new Piper Archer TXs, taking its predominantly Archer-manufactured training aircraft to a fleet total of 412. In addition, the company has renewed an order for an additional 100 Piper aircraft. While the airline industry currently battles against the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic, the
After many months of negotiations with Icelandic Cabin Crew Association (Flugfreyjufelag Islands/FFI) and the signing of a five-year deal aimed at “increasing productivity and flexibility”, ten days ago, Icelandair cabin crew voted 73:27 to reject the proposals. Iceland’s flag-carrying airline had successfully negotiated similar deals with the pilots’ and engineers’ unions. Because negotiations had broken
SR Technics, a leading provider of MRO solutions for aircraft, engines, components, engineering and training, has announced it has secured a CHF120 million (US$127 million) additional credit line from its existing consortium of banks, supported by 60% surety by the Swiss Confederation. Having posted results that exceeded expectations for Q1 2020, growth collapsed in April
Shareholders in Latvia’s carrier airBaltic have approved a €250 million (US$285 million) investment by the Republic of Latvia in order to assist it through the COVID-19 crisis. Martin Gauss, the CEO of airBaltic, said: “With this new equity investment we are executing our new business plan Destination 2025 CLEAN. This investment will facilitate the successful
As the COVID-19 pandemic shows no sign of receding and numbers of reported cases increasing in over 35 U.S. states, the uncertain demand for future air travel has seen Delta Air Lines (Delta) halve its anticipated 1,000 flight increase for the month of August to just 500 flights. Having posted a net quarterly loss of
