South African Airways’ rescuers are seeking creditors’ approval for a further postponement to the deadline for publishing a business plan for the embattled flag carrier. The rescue practitioners have previously secured four extensions to deadlines for publishing a plan – the most recent to 8 June – since SAA entered the rescue process in December last year. But three unions, representing the majority of SAA personnel, have sent a letter to the practitioners seeking a further postponement to 15 June. A draft business rescue plan has already been distributed to employees and creditors, and had been awaiting the inclusion of submissions from the respective workers’ and creditors’ committees following consultations scheduled for 4 June. The practitioners state that there have been “meaningful engagements” with the creditors’ committee regarding the draft plan, but that the employees’ committee wanted instead to consult via the ‘leadership compact’ unveiled on 1 May by the government’s department of public enterprises. “This consultation has not occurred,” the practitioners add. Legal representatives for the three unions – NUMSA, cabin crew association SACCA, and pilot group SAAPA – have objected to the business plan’s being published on 8 June, and have sought the extension. “The practitioners thought it would not be appropriate to proceed with the publication of the business rescue plan without conveying the request of the unions that represent a majority of the SAA employees,” the practitioners state. “Should such request be approved the practitioners will do everything possible to limit the negative impact of the extension of the publication date.” They point out that any extension “will not stop” the practitioners from taking necessary measures to conserve cash and protect the interests of the airline.

Source: Cirium

British Airways, EasyJet and Ryanair have started legal proceedings against the UK government over the introduction of a mandatory 14-day quarantine measure for travellers arriving in the country from 8 June. The three carriers sent a pre-action protocol letter to the government on 5 June, describing the measure as "disproportionate and unfair on British citizens as well as international visitors arriving in the UK". Under the new rules, all arriving passengers – bar those covered by a short list of exemptions – will be required to self-isolate for 14 days. Failure to comply will be "punishable with a £1,000 [$1,270] fixed-penalty notice in England or potential prosecution and unlimited fine", says the UK Home Office. It is unclear how the measure will be enforced in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, a point raised by the three airlines. "We challenge the UK government on a number of defective measures," say British Airways, EasyJet and Ryanair in a joint statement. These include "the fact that this quarantine is more stringent than the guidelines applied to people who actually have Covid-19", the airlines note, and that "if you live in Scotland, to date, the rules won't apply". The joint statement also notes that commuters to the UK from European Union member states such as France and Germany "will be exempted", and questions the logic of "banning people from countries with lower R rates [the rate at which the virus spreads] than the UK". Calling for abandonment of the quarantine measure, the airlines argue it would "have a devastating effect on UK's tourism industry and will destroy (even more) thousands of jobs in this unprecedented crisis". The government plans to review the measure by 29 June.

Source: Cirium

Emirates Airline president Tim Clark expects the Airbus A380 will continue to be a “hugely potent” tool once the industry begins recovering from the post-coronavirus crisis. But he warns that it will hinge on the roll-out of a global inoculation programme against the disease. In an interview with consultant John Strickland during this week’s Arabian Travel Market virtual event, Clark was asked about the future of large airliners like the A380 following the pandemic. The airline’s fleet of 115 A380s have all been grounded since late March amid the coronavirus pandemic. “Much will depend on whether we’ll get the vaccine and global inoculation programmes in place, and if you get that, [the crisis] will all be behind us and we’ll get back to business as usual,” he says. Clark expects that if a vaccine is rolled out quickly, the short-term effects of the crisis will “probably last a year while primary [market] segments – corporate, leisure, VFR [visiting friends and relatives] – sort themselves out”. But he’s confident the business will return and says it “would be folly to exclude large widebodied aircraft in the future. The A380 has proven to be a hugely successful aircraft and if fuel prices were forever to stay at today’s levels, this aircraft is hugely potent. “Providing that demand holds up with the mass-vaccination scenario, I do not subscribe to this ‘new norm’. There will be differences as a result of what has happened – but will this be a paradigm change in everything that goes on in the global economy – no it won’t. The thirst for travel will come back.” However, the scenario where a vaccine does not become available, and the industry has to adopt the current short-term measures to counter the virus spreading for much longer, “will introduce high level of conditionality into the drivers of demand for air travel”, Clark warns. But if a global inoculation programme is implemented, “then the A380 has a place”. Cirium fleets data shows Emirates has a firm backlog of over 200 aircraft, including 58 widebodies from Airbus (50 A350s and eight A380s) and 145 from Boeing (115 777Xs and 30 787s). Clark hints that the airline will seek to renegotiate the size or schedule of these commitments but not until it better understands the impact of the crisis on its business. “We have an orderbook which is pretty substantial and as part of our assessment of what life is likely to be in the next two or three years will have a bearing on what we do with the manufacturers. And, hopefully, this will be done to mutual benefit,” he says. The airline’s last eight A380s had been due for delivery over the next year or so. While Clark does not disclose the status of the schedule, he says the first aircraft equipped with Emirates’ new premium-economy cabin “is sitting in Toulouse waiting to go”.

Source: Cirium