Easyjet founder refers airline to watchdog over Airbus deal April 14, 2020 Easyjet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou has referred the airline to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for not showing “the highest standards of disclosure and transparency” in its decision to defer the order of 24 new aircraft from Airbus. Haji-Ioannou has been locked in a spat with the budget carrier’s executives over a deal for 107 [...]
EDF withdraws financial guidance for 2020 and 2021 as coronavirus hits power demand April 14, 2020 French energy company EDF said today it was withdrawing its financial targets for 2020 and 2021 as a result of the coronavirus crisis. EDF said it was pulling all financial targets, including the lower end of the earnings Ebitda range of €17.5bn (£15.2bn) in 2020. “The economic turmoil that follows from the current sanitary crisis [...]
Heathrow Airport forecasts 90 per cent passenger number plunge in April April 14, 2020 Heathrow Airport, traditionally the busiest in Europe, forecast that passenger demand would plunge by over 90 per cent in April, as coronavirus restrictions stop most people from travelling. Heathrow said today that its passenger numbers were down 52 per cent in March compared with the same period last year, with many of those journeys being [...]
National Express pulls dividend and secures £800m in new cash facilities April 14, 2020 Transport group National Express said today it was scrapping its dividend and keeping future dividends under review as it said it had secured £800m in new cash facilities. National Express said that two of its workers had died of coronavirus globally and that other members of staff were suffering from the virus. The company said [...]
Manchester Airport backs Virgin Atlantic bailout as airlines call for more support April 12, 2020 The boss of Manchester Airport has pleaded with the chancellor to save Virgin Atlantic from collapse as UK airlines urge the government to extend its support during the coronavirus crisis. Manchester Airports Group chief Charlie Cornish said Virgin was the biggest long-haul carrier at the airport, flying nearly 1m people a year to New York, [...]
Renault to seek loans of up to €5bn to protect against coronavirus April 10, 2020 The chairman of French car giant Renault has said that the firm could seek loans of up to €5bn to protect it against damage from the coronavirus pandemic. Speaking on French radio, Jean-Dominique Senard said: “We are working on the idea of bank loans that would be guaranteed by the state and later reimbursed. This [...]
Coronavirus: Virgin Australia to ground all but one domestic flight and seeks state aid April 9, 2020 Embattled Virgin Australia has said it will ground all domestic flights except a single daily trip from Sydney to Melbourne due to coronavirus, and is seeking AU$1.4bn (£707m) in government aid. The severely reduced programme will run through to 15 June at the earliest. It is understood that Virgin is seeking the cash in the [...]
Coronavirus: Airbus to cut jet production by a third April 9, 2020 Airbus has announced its largest ever production adjustment in response to the coronavirus pandemic, cutting output of its best-selling A320 narrow-body family by a third to 40 aircraft a month. The global shutdown in flights due to the coronavirus has forced many airlines to postpone or cancel orders of new planes. The French-German aerospace giant [...]
Airlines set to save millions as air traffic control payments deferred April 8, 2020 The UK’s airlines could save tens of millions of pounds a month after European governments took steps to allow them to defer payments for using UK and European airspace for 14 months. The new measures, which were agreed by air traffic body Eurocontrol’s member states, will cover the period between February and May 2020. In [...]
Coronavirus: Tour operator Tui cancels holidays until mid-May April 8, 2020 The UK’s biggest package holiday firm Tui has extended the cancellation of its holidays for UK customers until mid-May among uncertainty as to when coronavirus travel restrictions will cease to apply. In a statement, the firm said that beach holidays for UK and Irish customers travelling up to and including 14 May would no longer [...]