American Airlines has expanded its pre-flight coronavirus testing programme, hoping to inspire customers’ confidence to return to air travel. The Fort Worth-based carrier says on 2 November that it is giving guests to vacation destinations such as Belize, Grenada, St. Lucia and Hawaii the opportunity to test ahead of time. It will partner with the at-home testing provider LetsGetChecked to offer travellers the tests from 16 November. “Our initial preflight testing has performed remarkably well, including terrific customer feedback about the ease and availability of testing options,” Robert Isom, the carrier’s president says. The next phase will be targeted at “reopening international travel and driving industry recovery while delivering a safe and positive travel experience.” American introduced the testing on selected flights from its Dallas/Fort Worth hub to Hawaii, which relaxed isolation restrictions earlier this month. Now the programme will be extended to other departure airports for flights headed to the islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. United Airlines led the way in pre-departure testing for passengers headed to the archipelago and Hawaiian Airlines followed shortly thereafter. On 15 October, the state of Hawaii allowed inbound travellers to side-step the 14-day mandatory isolation rule if able to show a negative coronavirus test no more than 48h old. But a complex patchwork of travel restrictions and isolation requirements across the USA continue to hamper a sustainable recovery of passenger air travel. Potential customers are wary of booking flights without knowing for sure if they will be forced to quarantine when they get to where they are going, or on their way home again. The regions around New York City, Washington DC and Chicago maintain strict quarantine requirements for arriving domestic passengers from more than 30 other US states. The rules for overseas destinations can be even more confusing, and the punishment in case of violating them quite severe. Nevertheless, airlines are hoping to benefit from pent-up demand in the coming months as the all-important Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season looms. Numerous airlines say that pre-departure testing is a way to bridge the timeframe before a vaccine will be widely available. On its earnings call last week, American reported a $2.4 billion loss for the third quarter as the coronavirus kept guests from planning too far in advance. The airline also furloughed 19,000 staff after federal financial assistance for airlines ran out on 1 October, without an extension. American said at the time that it expects overall capacity in the final three months of the year to be down 50% from the same period a year ago, with international long-haul capacity down about 75%.

Source: Cirium

Russian carrier Aeroflot saw quarter-on-quarter rises in passenger demand and revenue during the three months ended 30 September, underpinned by strong domestic demand. Although third-quarter revenue was down 67% on last year's, at Rb55.2 billion ($695 million), the carrier notes that load factors and yields were at "comparable levels". Still, its third-quarter net loss of Rb23.3 billion compares with a Rb21.4 billion profit in the same period of 2019. "In Q3 2020 Aeroflot Group carried 10.1 million passengers, 3.8 million of whom flew with Aeroflot airline," it notes. "Taking into consideration all the operational and economic challenges currently facing the aviation sector, our gradual restoration of passenger traffic, driven primarily by the domestic market, is being achieved in a financially prudent manner." Passenger numbers were four times higher in July-September compared with April-June, cutting the year-on-year decrease to 64% in the third quarter from 91% in the second. Aeroflot highlights IATA data showing that the Russian domestic market "was the only major market worldwide where operating volumes were fully restored as early as August". It adds that "the market has continued to outstrip other markets in terms of its speed of recovery".

Source: Cirium

Paul Jacobson has resigned as chief financial officer of Delta Air Lines, and is moving on to a similar position at General Motors. Jacobson's resignation from Delta is effective 15 November. In April, Jacobson rescinded his decision to retire from Delta at chief executive Ed Bastian's request. Jacobson at that time was leading Delta's pursuit of liquidity amid the cratering of demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The Atlanta-based airline had stated on 28 February that Jacobson, who joined Delta in 1997, would retire "later this year". Delta ended the third quarter with $21.6 billion in liquidity and expects to close out the year with more than $16 billion."With our cash-burn trajectory on track to achieve breakeven by spring, and a solid liquidity position, our balance-sheet work has already begun," Jacobson had said during Delta's 13 October earnings call. "Paul delayed his decision to retire from Delta to help address the financial impact of the pandemic," Bastian said in a 30 October memo to Delta employees. "Since then he has led the team that has, among other things, raised nearly $30 billion in liquidity – a cushion that is essential to weathering the storm and positioning Delta to lead the industry in the recovery from the pandemic." Gary Chase, Delta’s senior vice-president, business development and financial planning, and Bill Carroll, senior vice-president, finance and controller, will serve as interim co-finance chiefs while the carrier searches for a permanent replacement for Jacobson.


Source: Cirium