Boeing believes it will resume 737 Max deliveries in the third quarter of 2020, with chief executive David Calhoun saying the company is progressing well through certification work despite challenges posed by coronavirus. “We currently expect the necessary regulatory approval to allow Max deliveries in the third quarter,” Calhoun says on 29 April. “We are very confident that the process will conclude with the… certification.” Boeing is now working through what Calhoun describes as “a mountain” of documentation work. He says the certification pace has been hampered by the coronavirus pandemic, which has forced staff to work from home. Boeing expects to resume 737 Max production this year at “low rates”. It does not specify initial production volumes but says production will “gradually increase” to 31 aircraft monthly in 2021, with additional increases to follow. “The slower production rate ramp-up reflects commercial airline industry uncertainly due to the impact of Covid-19” and the pace at which Boeing is able to deliver the roughly 450 Max in storage, Calhoun says. Boeing produced those 450 jets since the grounding in March 2019, but has been unable to deliver them during the grounding.

Source: Cirium

British Airways is proposing a restructuring programme which, it warns, could result in up to 12,000 redundancies. The IAG-owned carrier states that it has notified its trade unions about the measure and – while it remains subject to consultation – the proposal is likely to affect “most” of the UK airline’s employees. It furloughed over 22,600 personnel in April. But BA says it is preparing for the expectation that the recovery of passenger demand to last year’s pre-coronavirus crisis levels will “take several years”. UK cockpit union BALPA says the disclosure has “come as a bolt out of the blue”, adding that the flag-carrier’s personnel are “devastated”. “BALPA does not accept that a case has been made for these job losses and we will be fighting to save every single one,” it insists. Over the first quarter IAG turned in an operating loss of €535 million, and it has taken an exceptional charge of €1.3 billion on its pre-tax profit arising from ineffective fuel and currency hedging. All of the reduction in the operating result for the quarter occurred in March, says the company. BA bore the majority of the impact, followed by Iberia and Aer Lingus. Spanish budget carrier Vueling experienced a “modest increase” in operating loss, says IAG. IAG adds that it expects its operating loss for the second quarter to be “significantly worse”, given the collapse of passenger traffic and despite a degree of relief from the government on staff costs. Passenger capacity in April and May has been cut by 94%. IAG conducted some 350 cargo-only flights in the month to 26 April. “Capacity from June will depend on the timing of the easing of lockdowns and travel restrictions by governments around the world,” the company adds. Total cash and undrawn aircraft finance facilities amounted to €9.5 billion at the end of March, including €6.95 billion of cash, cash equivalents, and interest-bearing deposits. IAG is set to detail its results for the quarter on 7 May.

Source: Cirium

Shandong Airlines slipped into the red in the first quarter as it largely failed to mitigate the impact of coronavirus-related travel restrictions. The Jinan-based airline reported a CNY594 million ($84 million) loss attributable to shareholders, having earlier this month predicted losses of as much as CNY700 million. While it narrowly avoided that worst-case scenario, the first-quarter loss is a significant decline from Q1 2019's CNY34 million net profit. Operating profit also fell CNY38.4 million in Q1 2019 to a loss of over CNY797 million in the most recent quarter. In addition, revenues were down nearly 51% year-on-year to CNY2.27 billion, while cash and cash equivalents fell over 29% to CNY714 million. The airline said in its 29 April statement that lower operating revenue compared to the year-ago period was "mainly due to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak". Earlier this month, Shandong said that an "industry-wide downturn" had led to significant declines in investment capacity and operating income, even though it employed "various self-rescue measures" after the coronavirus outbreak.

Source: Cirium