Avation has boosted its liquidity and reduced indebtedness since the end of last year, and is reporting increased interest in the eight ex-Virgin Australia ATR aircraft it is attempting to remarket. The Singapore-based lessor says in a 9 June trading update that its total cash balance, including restricted cash, had grown to $122 million by 31 March, from $118 million at the end of December, following an "improvement in cash flow" in the intervening quarter. Net indebtedness fell to $988 million from $1.04 billion. "The executive team have worked tirelessly with the airline customers to manage the collection of revenue as well as remarketing returned aircraft," states Avation executive chairman Jeff Chatfield. "Rent collections have improved compared with the prior half-year." He adds: "Management is optimistic that as the pandemic recedes, the company will be well situated to take advantage of the recovery in the airline industry." At 31 March, Avation's fleet totalled 45 aircraft, three of which are unencumbered. The aircraft have a weighted average age of 4.8 years and a weighted average remaining lease term of 6.4 years. The total future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable leases was about $749 million at the end of March, says the lessor. In the quarter ended 31 March, Avation saw an improvement in cash collection, achieving an overall cash-collection rate of 71% – up from 64% in the six months to 31 December. To date, the London-listed lessor has agreed lease deferrals totalling $25.9 million of rent with 14 of its 19 airline customers. It says the impact on cash flow has been mitigated by secured lenders agreeing to reschedule $32.7 million of loan amortisation payments. Avation is "actively remarketing" eight ATRs that were formerly on lease to Virgin Australia, and says it has seen "an increase in interest for these aircraft recently". The turboprops are available for sale or lease. The lessor expects to receive a distribution from its $73 million claim against Virgin Australia over the comings months. The airline's administrators have advised an expected distribution of 9.5-13 cents per dollar for unsecured claims. Another troubled Avation customer, Philippine Airlines, is set to enter restructuring "in the coming weeks", says the lessor. PAL leases a Boeing 777-300ER from Avation and has proposed retaining the aircraft at a lower fixed rent. Davy Group says in a research note that Avation's financials are "in recovery mode", pointing to improving cash collection and liquidity. "There is more work to be done on the capital structure for Avation to capitalise on the post-Covid opportunities, but some core strength is returning," says Davy. While the lessor's "most significant outstanding uncertainties remain", Davy adds that they are "closer to their conclusions and are largely captured in the company's financials". Avation slipped to a $60.5 million loss in the six months ended 31 December, from a $45.2 million profit in the same period a year earlier. The company expects to release its full-year results on 30 September.

Air New Zealand is establishing a temporary pilot and cabin crew base in Brisbane, to facilitate the resumption of scheduled services between mainland Australia and Norfolk Island from 30 August. The services are operated under an agreement with the Australian government, which has been extended from 30 August until the end of August 2023. Air New Zealand will fly from Brisbane and Sydney to Norfolk Island, an external territory of Australia, at least thrice weekly on each route, the airline says in a statement today. The crew base will be in place until 30 November this year, to ensure potential disruptions between Australia and New Zealand’s travel bubble arrangement will not affect continuity of services to Norfolk Island. Air New Zealand’s chief operating officer Carrie Hurihanganui states: “Prior to the trans-Tasman bubble opening, crew operating domestic flights in Australia were required to have been in Australia for 14 days or have arrived in Australia on a quarantine-free flight. This unfortunately resulted in us having to suspend services between Norfolk Island and mainland Australia in February. Having crew based in Australia will ensure we avoid disruption should the Australian border close again.”

Travel recovery in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic is uneven as nations vary in their progress vaccinating against the disease yet stagnant demand in some regions may be offset by returning demand in others, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines chief executive Pieter Elbers predicts. International travel is uncertain amid the restrictions set by different nations aimed at halting the spread of Covid-19 yet government co-operation can accelerate recovery, Elbers said on 8 June during a virtual discussion hosted by the International Aviation Club of Washington DC. The latest forecast by air traffic manager Eurocontrol states that air travel in Europe "is not expected to reach 2019 levels until 2024 at the earliest", which makes Elbers sceptical. "I would have difficulty saying it's going to take years," Elbers says of international recovery, adding that "there are going to be some specific parts that will take longer". "I would see no reason why Europe and India would take four years to come back," he says of that international route network. The first priority should be to reopen travel between the European Union and the USA, he says, and then "other nations will follow". The USA and EU can "support the travellers who are willing to start travelling again" by agreeing on a unified set of vaccine passports or other standard that governments would recognise to enable recovery of transatlantic travel, he says. A revival of transatlantic travel could inspire other nations to unravel what he calls a "patchwork" of restrictions. KLM has firm orders for 10 Boeing 787-10 aircraft to boost its current fleet of 109 aircraft in service, Cirium fleets data shows. The flag carrier is phasing out its Airbus A330 aircraft. Its 777 and 787 jets will be "the foundation" of its long-haul flights, Elbers says. KLM's low-cost subsidiary Transavia generates 10% of the flag carrier's business, with another 10% generated by its cargo operations. Air freight became increasingly important for KLM during the pandemic as the worldwide grounding of passenger aircraft led to a plunge in air freight capacity, creating more demand for cargo flights on KLM's 747 and 777 aircraft. Low-cost carriers have also become increasingly important during the pandemic, Elbers says, making Transavia a more significant part of KLM's future. During the pandemic in Europe low-cost carriers "Wizz Air and Ryanair have emerged even bigger" and increased their market share in the region compared with 2019, he says, while Transavia has expanded its operations in France. "We are very well positioned but we cannot rest on our laurels" he says, adding that competition from LCCs will be "a very strong force to reckon with" even as the Covid-19 crisis eventually wanes. Leisure travel is leading the recovery, so Elbers says KLM has reopened routes in Southern Europe for the summer travel season and has flights planned to Orlando during the winter season. The KLM executive is sceptical about predictions that business travel may never recover to 2019 levels and expects "incremental month-to-month recovery" by the end of 2021. "For sure in 2022, there are going to be budget discussions for companies" about how much they want to resume business travel, he says. Continuing his theory that an uneven recovery will balance out, he says "probably one segment of business travel will remain low but another will recover". Digital video chats have become more widely used during the pandemic but he says "I don’t think it will massively replace travel".