All articles by David Kaminski-Morrow – Page 244
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NewsIAG impairs fleet after BA 747 and Iberia A340 retirements
IAG has taken a €729 million ($863 million) charge in conjunction with a broad fleet impairment covering 61 aircraft, including the withdrawal of British Airways’ Boeing 747-400 fleet and Iberia’s Airbus A340-600s. The exceptional charge deepened IAG’s already-dire operating loss for the first half to just over €4 billion, in ...
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NewsQatar Airways on board as IAG proposes €2.75bn capital increase
British Airways and Iberia parent IAG is proposing a €2.75 billion capital increase, to which Qatar Airways – its largest shareholder with 25% – has already agreed to sign up. IAG says the increase would strengthen its balance sheet and liquidity, and reduce financial leverage, given that it does not ...
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NewsAir France-KLM aims to keep medium-term fleet delivery schedule intact
Air France-KLM Group has recorded a €520 million impairment from its early phase-out Airbus A380 operations, and another €72 million from withdrawal of A340s for the second quarter. But it says it intends to keep the schedule of committed fleet deliveries for 2021-25 “as much as possible intact”, and is ...
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NewsAirbus expects to set aside up to €1.6bn for restructuring
Airbus has warned that it is likely to require a provision of up to €1.6 billion ($1.9 billion) to account for restructuring once firm agreements are reached with its social partners. The airframer disclosed in June that, in response to the air transport crisis and the scaling-back of commercial aircraft ...
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NewsAirbus impairs inventories ‘at risk’ as stored aircraft level rises
Airbus has recorded a near-€300 million charge for impairment of inventories considered at risk, as stored aircraft continue to push up its inventory level. The airframer reveals in its first-half accounts to 30 June that its inventories stood at €37.5 billion – up by nearly €6 billion on the figure ...
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NewsAirbus trims A350 rates again as crisis becomes ‘visible’ in second quarter
Airbus is trimming A350 production rates, to five aircraft per month from six, in a further adjustment to its output in the face of weak air transport market demand. The airframer has disclosed that some 145 commercial aircraft went undelivered during the first half of this year, as a result ...
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NewsS7 temporarily tops Russian passenger carriage table
S7 Airlines has temporarily emerged as Russia’s largest individual operator, the aviation regulator shows, as passenger numbers in the country halved to 27.8 million in the first six months of the year. Federal air transport authority Rosaviatsia states that the number of air passengers travelling in Russia was nearly 52% ...
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NewsComair business plan pushed back as rescuers work to firm up offers
South African carrier Comair’s rescue practitioners have disclosed that a potential deal with an interested consortium has fallen through, but are pushing back publication of a business plan to provide time to consider other approaches. Publication of the business plan had been due on 28 July after an expression of ...
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NewsSupersonic AS2 forward fuselage to be built by Spirit AeroSystems
US aerostructures firm Spirit AeroSystems is to build the forward fuselage of the Aerion AS2 supersonic business jet, in return for additional investment in the programme. Aerion says it has reached a memorandum of agreement to enhance Spirit’s role, after the two sides started co-operating on the AS2 last year ...
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NewsIcelandair seals new cabin crew pact as it reels from first-half losses
Icelandair Group has secured approval from its flight attendants for a new collective agreement, thrashed out after a stand-off which involved the airline’s dismissing, and then reinstating, its cabin crew corps. The agreement will remain valid until the end of September 2025 and rounds off the critical negotiations with personnel ...
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NewsRussian regulator underscores storm risk after Khabarovsk An-24 incidents
Eastern Russian authorities are urging operators to improve their awareness of adverse weather operations after two serious thunderstorm-related incidents in the space of three days involving Khabarovsk Airlines Antonov An-24s. One aircraft unintentionally flew into a heavy hailstorm at 17,000ft while operating a Tynda-Khabarovsk service on 17 July. The aircraft ...
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NewsFastjet seeks stock market delisting in bid to maintain crucial funding
African operator Fastjet Group is planning to delist from the stock market and register as a private company, as a condition of securing further support from key shareholder Solenta Aviation Holdings. Fastjet is listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market. But it says there is “considerable” cost and time involved in ...
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NewsRecovering Ryanair could have 40 737 Max jets by summer 2021
Budget carrier Ryanair hopes to introduce its first Boeing 737 Max this year and up to 40 of the type ahead of the 2021 summer season. But the airline warns that the financial year will be “very challenging” after it turned in a first-quarter net loss of €185 million ($217 ...
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NewsEl Al seeks approval to raise capital as pilots object to cost-saving pact
El Al has called a shareholders’ meeting for 18 August in order to seek approval to raise the company’s registered share capital. The Israeli flag-carrier is planning to raise $400 million through a $150 million share issue and a state-backed staggered $250 million loan. El Al says that, in order ...
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NewsSmartwings 737 inquiry recommends psychological appraisal of captain
Czech investigators probing the incident in which a Boeing 737-800 proceeded to its destination without diverting, despite suffering engine failure early in the flight, have recommended that its captain should undergo psychological assessment. Investigation authority UZPLN says the unusual recommendation for a psychological examination at the Czech Institute of Aviation ...
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NewsSmartwings 737 captain 'hid' engine failure to continue flight to Prague
Czech investigators have revealed that a Boeing 737-800 captain misled air traffic control over a serious engine failure and ignored the first officer’s urging a diversion, in order to press on to Prague, the flight’s original destination. Investigation authority UZPLN states that the captain’s poor decision-making – disregarding several crucial ...
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NewsAirbus ‘olive branch’ aims to end subsidy row as WTO remains impaired
Airbus’s adjustment of A350 launch aid contracts is intended to bring an early end to a transatlantic subsidies dispute which is otherwise set to drag on for several months as a consequence of delays to World Trade Organization decisions. The WTO’s appeals process has been crippled since last December by ...
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NewsA350 launch aid rejig leaves US tariffs unjustified: Airbus chief
Airbus believes it is in complete compliance with World Trade Organization rulings on commercial aircraft subsidies after adjusting contracts for A350 government launch aid. The measure is the latest development in the long-running transatlantic dispute between the US and European Union administrations over provision of financial support to Boeing and ...
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NewsFinnair expects to restore 50% of flights by September
Finnair is expecting to rebuild its services over the third quarter, operating around 50% of its pre-crisis flight capacity by September, up from the figure of 25% in July. It aims to carry out 120 daily flights in August and increase this to 190 in September. The airline turned in ...
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NewsCharter carrier Jet Time collapses but owner plots Nordic successor
Danish charter carrier Jet Time is filing for bankruptcy, the latest air transport casualty of the crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. Jet Time states that the restrictions on travel and closed borders have proven “too great a challenge” for the operator. Chief executive Jorgen Holme is submitting the filing ...