British Airways, Ryanair and Easyjet launch quarantine legal action June 12, 2020 The UK’s three largest airlines have today launched legal action against the government’s plan to make all incoming travellers to the UK quarantine for 14 days. Rivals British Airways, Ryanair and Easyjet have come together to see a legal review of the plan as soon as possible. In a joint statement, they said the measures [...]
Ryanair set for net loss as quarantine legal action launches June 12, 2020 Ryanair is on course to book a loss to €200-€300m (£179m-£269m) in this financial year, chief Michael O’Leary has told a Spanish newspaper. Speaking to Expansion, O’Leary added that he expected the budget carrier to return to profitability next year. He said: “Everything will depend on how people will fly between September and March and [...]
Tui pushes back holiday restart plans to 10 July due to quarantine June 11, 2020 Holiday firm Tui announced today that it would cancel all beach holidays for British tourists up to 10 July due to uncertainty over the government’s quarantine rules. The tour operator had previously planned to restart its holidays at the beginning of July, but said that the requirement for all travellers to England to quarantine for [...]
Fiat-PSA mega-merger faces months-long competition probe June 11, 2020 The $50bn mega-merger between car giants Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot owner PSA is facing a four-month competition probe from European antitrust officials after the companies failed to provide requested concessions. Over the weekend it emerged that the two firms had been warned by the European Union over their combined high market share in small vans. [...]
Bombardier warns over 400 job cuts at Belfast plant June 11, 2020 Planemaker Bombardier may be forced to cut 400 jobs in Northern Ireland, it was reported today, due to the “extraordinary industry interruptions and challenges” caused by coronavirus. The potential redundancies were confirmed after the Canadian firm laid out plans earlier this week to lay off 2,500 workers. The cuts would account for over 10 per [...]
European business networks join calls to quash quarantine plan June 11, 2020 Business networks which support the UK’s trade relationships with its European neighbours have added their voices to the growing criticism of the government’s blanket quarantine plan. Eduardo Barrachina, president of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in the UK, said that the plan “sent the wrong message” and risked putting the UK out of step with [...]
Heathrow Airport to begin job cuts as passenger numbers flatline June 11, 2020 Heathrow Airport announced this morning that it would begin to cut frontline jobs after the government’s 14-day quarantine measures meant traffic numbers were no longer sustainable. In May, passenger numbers were at an all time low of 228,000, down 97 per cent from last year. As a result, the airport, which has already cut one-third [...]
From airships or supersonic jets, air travel is about to change forever June 11, 2020 The phrase “a perfect storm” is frequently overused. But when it comes to aviation, it is no exaggeration. Indeed, the collision of the Covid-19 pandemic with the challenges the civil aviation industry was already facing is certain to precipitate the mother of all root and branch transformations in air travel. While journalists today write glibly [...]
Scottish MP submits bill to block BA’s ‘fire and rehire’ plans June 10, 2020 SNP MP Gavin Newlands has submitted an emergency bill to the House of Commons which would prevent firms using controversial “fire and rehire” tactics on their employees. The decision to bring forward the bill comes after it was claimed that British Airways (BA) was planning on making all 42,000 of its staff redundant and then [...]
More ‘Boris bikes’ to be rolled out after record numbers take to two wheels June 10, 2020 Transport for London is adding 1,700 more bikes to its Santander Cycle scheme in response to record numbers of users during May. With health fears over coronavirus keeping Londoners off public transport, last month saw over 1.2m of the vehicles – formerly known as “Boris bikes” – hired, the highest number in the scheme’s 10-year [...]