The Qantas Group says its 2020 fiscal year was the worst in its 100-year history, but still managed to turn an underlying profit before tax of A$124 million ($90 million). The A$124 million figure for the 2020 financial year ended 30 June was 91% lower than a year earlier, with revenue falling 20.6% to A$14.3 billion amid the collapse in demand stemming from the coronavirus pandemic in the first half of 2021, says the airline. “The impact of that is clear,” says chief executive Alan Joyce. “Covid punched a $4 billion hole in our revenue and a $1.2 billion hole in our underlying profit in what would have otherwise been another very strong result.” This was reflected in the airline’s full-year net loss of after tax of $1.94 billion, compared to a net profit after tax of $840 million in 2019. While the airline implemented a number of cost cuts in response to the crisis, operating expenses excluding fuel fell 16% to A$8.9 billion, failing to keep pace with the decline in revenue. ASK's fell 26% for the year, RPK's were down 28%, and the number of passengers carried dropped 28% to 40.5 million. Load factors for the year fell 1.9 percentage points to 82.3%. Owing to fundraisings and credit facilities, the group’s cash and cash equivalents situation improved to A$3.5 billion, compared with A$2.1 billion a year earlier. The main bright spot in the airline’s results was Qantas Loyalty, which generated earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of A$341 million, down just 9% from a year earlier. As for other individual segments, Qantas Domestic remained profitable with an EBIT of A$173 million, down from A$773 million a year earlier. Qantas international had an EBIT of A$56 million, down from A$323 million. Qantas International enjoyed support from “a record performance in freight due to increased air freight demand while passenger aircraft belly space remained constrained.” Low-cost unit Jetstar, however, suffered an EBIT loss of A$26 million. While Jetstar’s Australian and New Zealand operations were profitable, its Jetstar Asia, Jetstar Pacific, and Jetstar Japan units suffered losses Qantas reiterated that its exit from Jetstar Pacific in Vietnam is “well advanced,” and that Jetstar Asia’s fleet will be reduced to 13 aircraft from 18. Qantas says the recovery plan announced in June is well underway. This will see 100 aircraft grounded for 12 months, including the Airbus A380 fleet, which will be grounded for the foreseeable future. In addition, the airline retired its Boeing 747-400 fleet earlier than planned. At the end of June 2020 the group’s fleet stood at 314 aircraft, unchanged from a year earlier. Joyce adds that after the crisis Qantas will be the only Australian airline that can fly long-haul, and reiterated that the airline still wants to pursue its “Project Sunrise” initiative. This could see direct long-haul flights from Melbourne and Sydney to destinations such as London and New York. “Our message is simply this: the Flying Kangaroo’s wings are clipped for now, but it’s still got plenty of ambition,” says Joyce. “And we plan to deliver on it.”

Source: Cirium

Emirates Airline is battling to restore its passenger operations despite over 150 destinations in its global network remaining subject to Covid-19-related travel restrictions. On Monday 17 August, the carrier’s tracked scheduled passenger jet flights and hours were down more than 80% compared with Monday 19 August 2019, while 72% fewer of its aircraft were tracked in the air. However, daily flights were up more than 11% on a seven-day rolling average basis, compared with the seventh day prior. The vast majority of the airline’s 133 passenger Boeing 777s have returned to service although many are operating cargo-only flights, according to Emirates Airline president Tim Clark. In contrast, a mere 13 of the airline’s 115 ultra-large Airbus A380s are showing in-service status, and only six of these were tracked operating a commercial flight on 17 August (all more recently-delivered examples equipped with Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines rather than Engine Alliance GP7200s).
London was the top city served last year with 22 flights to and from Dubai, but only six were operated on 17 August 2020. Daily services to Kuwait City meanwhile dropped from 15 last year to only two this year. Clark says Emirates – which is seeking a financial bailout from the Dubai government – is only operating services capable of generating revenue higher than cash operating cost.

Source: Cirium

The Indian government has proposed creating "air bubbles" with five neighbouring countries, according to civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

Proposals have been made to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal and Bhutan, he said in an 18 August Twitter post.

"Going forward, we will consider such arrangements with other countries also."

He adds that India is committed to "further strengthen the reach and scope" of its Vande Bharat Mission, an evacuation programme for Indians stranded overseas during the Covid-19 pandemic. "Air travel arrangements" are already in place with the USA, UK, France, Germany, the UAE, Qatar and the Maldives, he said.

He went on to say that the government is now "taking these efforts forward" and negotiating with 13 more countries – including Australia, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Nigeria, Bahrain, Israel, Kenya, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand – to "establish such arrangements".

It is not clear what stage these "air bubble" talks are at, nor exactly what Puri means by an "air bubble", but his Tweet seemed to provide a ray of hope for the many Indians stranded overseas amid the Covid-19 pandemic. His tweet was flooded with replies from Twitter users who said they were desperate to get home.

"Sir, I'm stuck here in Nepal since March. Please start air bubble with Nepal as soon as possible. So I can go back to India, as my mom and dad are alone there with no help," one person tweeted.

Travellers in Asia-Pacific have been faced with an array of immigration restrictions and border closures related to the coronavirus, although limited travel "bubbles" allowing less restricted travel have emerged. Earlier this month, for example, Auckland International Airport in New Zealand said it would separate its international terminal into two self-contained zones to cater to different categories of travellers "in anticipation of a safe air corridor being formed between New Zealand and the Cook Islands". Amid the chorus of Indians stranded abroad, the government has made clear it will do its best to bring them home. "It is always our endeavour to reach out to every stranded citizen," Puri said. "No Indian will be left behind."

Source: Cirium