Thai AirAsia's parent company has postponed an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of shareholders intended to approve a new restructuring plan for the airline following board approval of the plan in April. Asia Aviation disclosed the postponement of the 4 June meeting in a 7 May filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), but did not state a new date for the meeting. The company says it needs more time to revise the restructuring plan following input and feedback from regulators. Asia Aviation had originally scheduled the meeting to consider and approve a proposed corporate and capital restructuring plan for Thai AirAsia. It had set a record date of 11 May to determine which shareholders would be entitled to attend. The company says it will set a new date for the EGM and a new record date. The restructuring plan, which Asia Aviation's board approved on 26 April, would involve listing Thai AirAsia on the SET to enable it to receive a Bt3.15 billion ($100 million) loan from an unnamed new investor. Previously, Asia Aviation had expected to receive approval for Thai AirAsia's initial public offering within seven-and-a-half months from the now-postponed 4 June EGM, depending on various factors and conditions.

Lufthansa airline Swiss has announced plans to cut its fleet by 15% and its headcount by a fifth as it attempts to right-size itself to serve what it perceives will be a permanently smaller customer base. "It has grown increasingly clear that our market is undergoing structural change, and that despite the actions which we were swift to take in response, a restructuring of our company now sadly seems unavoidable," says Swiss chief executive Dieter Vranckx. Such measures are required "in view of the continuing absence of any industry recovery", the carrier highlights, with demand expected to be around 20% lower over the "medium-term future". The carrier's overall fleet is being downsized by 15% from its 2019 levels, with short and medium-haul aircraft numbers being reduced from 69 to 59. Its long-haul fleet will decline from 31 aircraft to 26, through the retirement of five Airbus jets. Calling the Covid-19 crisis "the greatest challenge it has faced in its corporate history", it adds that frequencies on its short and long-haul routes are will be reduced compared to their pre-crisis schedule, while some intercontinental services will not return at all. The carrier is also extending its staff resizing programme that will reduce its total workforce by 1,700 full-time positions, or over 20% of the carrier's total, up from previous expectations for a reduction of 1,000 full time roles by the end of the year. This could result in the forced dismissals of up to 780 ground staff and flight crew, with the Zurich-based carrier having launched a consultation procedure on the changes. Swiss adds that it will continue to pursue its premium position in the market, maintaining operations at its hubs in Zurich and Geneva, "and ensure that Switzerland remains connected with the world." Its resizing and transformation plan will also entail a shift towards environmental responsibility through using sustainable aviation fuel, as well as "developing and refining intermodal transport solutions", it states. On 29 April the carrier reported an operating loss of Swfr201 million ($221 million) in the first quarter of 2021, compared with Swfr84.1 million during the same period a year ago. It carried around 290,000 passengers in the quarter, a decline of 90% year-on-year. Revenue passenger kilometres decreased by 90%, while capacity, as measured in available seat kilometres, was cut by 73%.

Fitch Ratings has downgraded the Class A certificates of Air Canada's 2013-1 enhanced equipment trust certificate (EETC) issuance as a result of the deterioration in Boeing 777-300ER values amid the pandemic. The US agency downgraded the certificates to "BBB" from "A-" as values for the 777-300ERs that back the transaction have declined by roughly 18% year-over-year, according to recent appraisals. Fitch has affirmed the Class B certificates at "BBB-". It notes that the 777-300ER, with its low cost per available seat mile, holds "strategic importance" in Air Canada's high-volume leisure routes and will likely be a "key asset" as travel begins to return to normalised levels. Fitch has affirmed Air Canada's 2020-2, 2017-1 and 2015-1 EETC Class A certificates at "A-", "A", and "A", respectively. The transactions continue to pass its "A" level stress tests, reflecting "relatively strong" collateral value performance. Loan to values (LTV) for each of these transactions are nearly "unchanged" from Fitch's prior review, as modestly lower aircraft values were largely offset by principal amortisation. Collateral for the 2017-1 and 2015-1 transactions consists of the newest generation technology aircraft including 737 Max types and 787s, which have "held up well" through the pandemic. The 2020-2 transaction includes some older aircraft and 777s which have fared worse, but the transaction has a relatively rapid amortisation profile, Fitch observes. Fitch has also removed Air Canada's 2017-1 transaction from rating watch negative. Fitch has affirmed Air Canada's 2017-1 class AA certificates at "AA-" and has removed the negative outlook. The affirmation is supported by adequate LTV headroom in Fitch's 'AA' stress scenario. Fitch calculates the maximum stress scenario LTV in this transaction at 89%, an improvement of roughly four percentage points from its prior review. Lower LTVs for the transaction are driven by a reduced stress rate applied to the 737 MAX aircraft, which Fitch has reduced to 25% from 30%, subsequent to the ungrounding of the Max aircraft by the Canadian government. The removal of the rating watch is due to the ungrounding of the Max, which previously was a risk to the transaction's ratings.
Collateral in the transaction consists of 737 Max 8s and 787-9s, the values for which have been relatively firm over the past year compared to other popular aircraft types. Fitch views both aircraft types as being well positioned to hold their value as air traffic continues to rebound. Fitch has affirmed all of Air Canada's class B certificates.