American Airlines is taking steps to strengthen its business as it continues to feel the impact of labour tensions and delays in the return to service of the Boeing 737 Max. “The point that I want to make is that 2019 should have been much better for American,” president Robert Isom told investors during the 4 September Cowen & Company Global Transportation Conference in Boston. He adds that the airline has not produced the margins and earnings it had hoped to see this year despite record second quarter revenue. The ever-changing return to service date of the Max has impacted American’s operations, Isom says. “It has put us in a position where we have not been able to pursue our fleet harmonization…and it has also been frustrating for our team.” The carrier recently pushed back its timeline for reintroducing the Max to 3 December, one month later than its previous estimate. However, the overall timeline for reintroducing the Max to the skies remains uncertain. The Max is not American’s only issue - ongoing labour tensions with mechanics have also impacted American’s operations this year. The airline claimed that its mechanics unions, the Transport Workers Union (TWU) and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), were supporting an illegal work slowdown that resulted in the cancellation of hundreds of flights. The TWU had said it had not instituted a slowdown, but on 12 August a Texas judge issued a permanent injunction against the two unions.

Source: FlightGlobal

Scandinavian budget carrier Norwegian is putting up slots at London Gatwick as part of an exchange package as it seeks to delay repayment of unsecured bonds. The airline says it is requesting extension of the maturity dates for two sets of unsecured bonds – designated NAS07 and NAS08 – until November 2021 and February 2022. These bonds originally had due dates of December 2019 and August 2020. Norwegian says the request to delay the repayment is intended to "ensure successful operations" and provide "adequate liquidity headroom". It points out that the value of the Gatwick slot portfolio exceeds that of the $380 million nominal value of the bonds. The airline stresses that it operational performance "continues to improve" with projected earnings of NKr6-7 billion ($658-768 million) at EBITDAR level for the year, despite the impact of the Boeing 737 Max grounding and the technical issues affecting its Rolls-Royce Trent-powered Boeing 787s. But Norwegian says that, while it has been making "significant" progress, its working capital has been "negatively affected" – to around NKr1.5 billion – by the aircraft problems. "In addition, terms in the credit-card acquirer market have tightened," it adds, putting the impact of amounts not received from these acquirers at NKr4 billion during the second quarter.

Source: FlightGlobal

French carrier Aigle Azur has filed for bankruptcy, but will continue to operate flights during a "period of observation". The Paris Orly-based airline says it was placed in receivership on 2 September, under a judicial administrator, and that court bankruptcy proceedings having been initiated. Previously, on 27 August, the carrier had been put under the control of a temporary administrator at the request of the carrier's president, Frantz Yvelin. That came after what the company describes as a "totally ugly" situation in which a minority shareholder attempted to take control of the business. Several media outlets have reported that French businessman Gerard Houa – who controls around 20% of Aigle Azur via Luxembourg-based entity Lu Azur – tried to install himself at the airline's helm. Aigle Azur says it has filed a complaint over this move, which was rejected by 80% of shareholders. China's HNA Group is the airline's largest shareholder with a 48% stake, while airline investor David Neeleman owns 32%. Flights by Aigle Azur have been "assured" during a "period of observation", the airline says.

Source: FlightGlobal