UK airlines desperately need a coronavirus testing regime in place avoid a “really, really bleak winter” for the industry, according to Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK. “All airlines today are effectively going bankrupt,” he states during the Airlines 2050 conference. “It’s just a matter of time, depending on their own balance sheets and their own economic situations.” Calling on the government to take action on the introduction of pre-flight coronavirus testing as soon as possible, Alderslade says “we know the clock is ticking”. He notes progress on testing is being made by the UK government through a task force which is due to report its findings soon, but cautions that “airlines are running out of money, and if we cannot get a testing regime in place, economic measures come to the fore”. On the latter point, he highlights the importance of the UK’s economy-wide furlough scheme in helping airlines through the last few months, but laments that little sector-specific support is available looking forward. In the absence of either a comprehensive testing regime or further financial help, UK airlines could collapse. Then, ”you are effectively outsourcing your connectivity to heavily subsidised overseas carriers”, Alderslade states, citing the government bailouts given to airlines elsewhere in Europe, including Air France-KLM and Lufthansa, which ensures their survival. UK aviation summit Airlines 2050 – launched last year by airline groups Airlines UK, BAR UK and IATA UK, alongside FlightGlobal – is being held today via a live online stream.

Source: Cirium

Collapsed UK regional operator Flybe’s administrators have been holding talks with parties interested in acquiring the business, with prospects potentially raised by success in retaining the company’s operating licence and slots. Flybe ceased operations in early March this year and is being overseen by four joint administrators. These administrators state that a sale of the business and certain assets “may be possible” and that “a number of parties” have shown interest in such a transaction – although they point out that a transaction would be “unlikely” to include sale of the company as a legal entity. “We continue to facilitate due diligence,” the administrators add, in a 2 October update. But they are withholding the identities of the parties, and not disclosing the nature of the assets involved, in order “not to prejudice” the negotiations. The administrators’ efforts to sell the company have received a lift after they won a legal tussle to retain the carrier’s operating licence – which is crucial to the airline’s retaining its airport slots. Slots are being considered as part of the business transactions under discussion. Flybe’s license had faced revocation by the UK Civil Aviation Authority and this decision was being appealed. But as the appeal was progressing, the onset of the pandemic led to amendment of European Union air transport legislation, and this changed the threshold test for assessing revocation of the operating license. The administrators successfully argued for a fresh assessment and, on 9 July, the CAA withdrew its revocation decision. In response, the administrators withdrew their appeal, and Flybe was permitted to keep its licence, subject to certain undertakings. Even with the licence retention, Flybe faces legal wrangle over the slots it held at London Heathrow. These slots were taken over by IAG, the parent of British Airways, after Flybe ceased operations, but the administrators are “challenging” this action. Flybe was granted grandfathering rights over the Heathrow slots by the European Commission on 4 August, the administrators state. “In light of the ongoing dispute with IAG, we are unable to comment further on the company’s prospects for realising value from this asset at present,” they add. Uncertainty also surrounds Flybe’s air operator’s certificate, which is subject to a separate revocation proposal and panel hearing from the CAA, on the grounds that the airline could no longer meet the regulatory requirements to hold the AOC. “We have argued that such a hearing should be delayed whilst there is an opportunity to financially reconstruct the company,” the administrators state, adding that no hearing date has been set.

Airbus’s A330 has become the first of the European airframer’s twin-aisle aircraft to reach 1,500 deliveries, a mark only previously achieved by two Boeing widebody models. Delta Air Lines received two A330-900s last month – on 21 and 23 September – which respectively represented the 1,500th and 1,501st A330s to be handed over. Only the Boeing 777, with 1,642 deliveries, and the 747 with 1,557 have previously reached the threshold. Of the first 1,500 A330s a total of 771 have been the A330-300 variant, followed by 643 A330-200s and 48 of the re-engined A330-900s. The remaining 38 are freighters, based on the -200 airframe. Fifty-eight A330s have been delivered to government or executive operators, with nearly 50 submitted for military tanker conversion. Airbus has also separately manufactured three modified A330-700L aircraft, better known as the BelugaXL transports, for its internal logistics arm. The third of these is to be “delivered soon”, says the airframer. Rolls-Royce’s Trent 700 engine has been the dominant powerplant on the earlier A330 variants, while its Trent 7000 is the exclusive engine on the A330neo. Air Inter became the first operator of the A330, in early 1994, and Airbus has taken 26 years to reach the 1,500th delivery.Although the first Boeing 777 was delivered a year after the initial A330, the US jet reached its 1,500th delivery in a shorter time, with the handover of a 777-300ER to United Airlines in mid-2017. Boeing delivered its 1,500th 747, a 747-8 variant, to Lufthansa in 2014 – some 44 years after the first entered service with Pan Am. Airbus says it intends to start delivering the first A330-800s, the latest version of the twinjet and the smaller variant of the A330neo, in “the coming weeks”. It has also newly secured certification for the highest-weight option of its A330-900, which has a maximum take-off weight of 251t, giving the type twice the 4,000nm range of the first 212t A330-300s. The airframer says the landmark delivery illustrates the “enduring qualities” of the twinjet’s original design, combined with subsequent enhancements and modifications to refine the aircraft’s aerodynamic and payload capabilities, fuel efficiency and interior configuration. “It was Airbus’ first long-range aircraft and the first programme to have an integrated final assembly facility with the [assembly line], the paint shop and cabin furnishing in the same place,” it adds. While monthly production has been trimmed to just two aircraft, as a result of the air transport downturn, Airbus still has over 300 A330s in its backlog, having secured orders for 1,818 aircraft.

Source: Cirium