Canadian regional airline Jazz has agreed to purchase up to 13 freighter conversion kits for De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400 turboprops, enabling the airline to carry freight needed to combat coronavirus. Supplied by Toronto-based airframer De Havilland, the conversion kits will transform the 74-seat turboprops into a configuration called the Dash 8-400 Simplified Package Freighter, the companies announce on 23 April. Jazz, a subsidiary of Halifax-based Chorus Aviation, will be the first airline to operate Dash 8-400s in the newly approved configuration, they say. Jazz operates aircraft under agreement with Air Canada. Jazz president Randolph deGooyer says the conversions will enable the airline “to redeploy aircraft while contributing to the collective fight against Covid-19”. The companies say the conversions can be completed “quickly”. Jazz is ”working closely with Air Canada Cargo” on the possibility of deploying the first aircraft in “early May”, it says. The airline will operate the modified Dash 8-400s under the Air Canada Express brand. The conversions require removing seats and seat-track covers from the aircrafts’ passenger cabin. Then, up to 17 cargo nets can be strapped to the seat tracks. The configuration allows each aircraft to carry up to 8,100kg (17,960lb) of cargo and provide 32.6cb m (1,150cb ft) of cargo space, the companies say. News of the cargo conversions comes after Chorus announced it reduced flying for Air Canada by about 90% in April and May and reduced its headcount by at least 3,000 staff, down from 5,000. Chorus has said it will seek wage subsidies from the Canadian government for staff affected by the headcount reductions. At the end of 2019 Chorus had 53 Dash 8-400s in its fleet, including aircraft flying for Air Canada and under Chorus’ leasing and aviation services arms, according to a securities filing.

Source: Cirium

South Africa's government has reiterated that it will not provide any additional funding for South African Airways, and disclosed that it has reached agreement with the airline's unions that "some jobs will be lost". In a 21 April media statement, South Africa's public enterprises department confirmed that it had met via video link with union leaders representing SAA employees to discuss the airline's future. "There was consensus that the unions would work with the government to ensure that a new, financially viable and competitive airline emerges from the business rescue process," says the government. It reiterates that the state "is not in a position to provide more capital to SAA" and says the airline's labour unions have been invited "to submit their proposals on the restructuring of the national carrier and the future of jobs going forward". The unions present at the meeting agreed that "some jobs will be lost", adds the government statement, and that employees who remained at the airline would need to "sacrifice some of the unaffordable arrangements that had worsened the airline's financial position". SAA entered business-rescue proceedings in December, having failed to make any progress with its turnaround programme. The flag carrier is being restructured by Matuson Associates.

Source: Cirium

ICAO forecasts that the Covid-19 crisis could send the number of international air travellers falling by up to 1.2 billion by September 2020, compared to a typical year. It also estimates that airline revenues could fall by $160-253 billion for the first nine months of this year, with international capacity down by up to two-thirds. According to its baseline scenario, referencing originally planned capacity, passenger numbers could have risen by 64 million in the first nine months of this year, while revenues could have increased by $15 billion. In a new report published on 21 April, ICAO says that Europe and Asia-Pacific will see the greatest hit to capacity and revenue. Over two-thirds of the predicted revenue loss will be accounted for in Asia-Pacific and Europe, it estimates. The report also details a 19% year-on-year drop in air freight for the month of March, measured in tonnes transported, for a 22% drop in air freight revenues as the grounding of passenger aircraft worldwide led to the loss of belly capacity. Belly cargo is down 31% while all freighter capacity is up 9%. It also estimates that so far in April global passenger capacity is down 91%. ICAO’s estimates vary across two scenarios - one a V-shaped recovery with first signs of recovery in late May and the other a U-shaped path with a restart of air travel in the third quarter or later. The 2003 SARS outbreak had a V-shaped impact on aviation, ICAO says. It notes, however, that the impact of Covid-19 has already surpassed that outbreak, which was largely confined to the Asia-Pacific region. “The 6‐month recovery path of SARS might not apply to today’s situation,” the report cautions.

Source: Cirium