Latvian carrier Air Baltic intends to resume scheduled operations on 18 May, both from its Riga base and from Estonian capital Tallinn. Air Baltic says it will operate flights from Tallinn to Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Oslo, and has received all permissions for these services. From Riga, the carrier will start on 18 May daily flights to Tallinn and, on 25 May, services to Lithuanian capital Vilnius, Air Baltic's website indicates. A schedule and booking facilities for the flights have been made available on the airline's website. Air Baltic suspended scheduled operations on 14 March, ahead of most carriers in Europe, as the Latvian government shut the country's borders to international scheduled traffic. Since then, the carrier has operated a number of repatriation flights. As previously outlined by Air Baltic, it will resume operations with Airbus A220s only and retire its Boeing 737 Classics and De Havilland Canada Dash 8 turboprops. Cirium fleets data shows Air Baltic has 22 A220-300s, 12 Dash 8-400s and four 737-300s. All but two A220s are listed as being in storage. Prior to the coronavirus crisis, Air Baltic had a plan to operate an all-A220 fleet from 2023. Chief executive Martin Gauss states that the carrier is "well positioned" for the operational restart with the fleet concentration around the A220. The airline will hand out to passengers face masks and disinfectant wipes. But Gauss says: "We are still continuing our work on specific guidelines for various other safety activities."

Source: Cirium

Israeli flag-carrier El Al has warned that the survival of the airline is uncertain as it seeks to secure urgent funding to cope with the coronavirus crisis.

In its belated full-year financial statement, El Al says a loan is “essential” and that the are “significant doubts” about the continued existence of the company as a going concern.

El Al’s auditor has similarly drawn attention to the uncertainty over the airline’s financial position.

Deloitte states that the collapse of demand and disruption caused by the coronavirus outbreak has prompted El Al to adjust its cash outflow and negotiate with lenders over a loan of around $400 million.

“Negotiations with the state and lender are continuing and uncertainty exists regarding completion,” it adds in a ‘going concern’ note.

The airline points out that among the problems it is facing is a decline in aircraft values, which are normally used to secure loans for the company’s activity.

El Al is pushing back the release of its first-quarter results, aiming to publish them by 30 June. For the full year 2019 it turned in a net loss of $59.6 million, deeper than the previous year’s $52.2 million. The airline’s pre-tax loss was also higher, at $76.6 million. Revenues edged upwards by 2% to $2.18 billion while expenditure was down slightly to $1.83 billion. El Al’s current liabilities at the end of last year stood at $1.08 billion compared with current assets of $486 million. Its non-current liabilities amounted to $2.24 billion against non-current assets of just over $3 billion.

Source: Cirium

Qatar Airways is set to retire around 50 aircraft and cut almost a fifth of its staff in the wake of the corona virus pandemic.
The airline may also provide cash support to airlines in which it has investments should such a move be required to secure equity. “Unfortunately, we will have to cut nearly 20% of our workforce – nearly equal to the amount of aircraft we will never fly again, over the next three years,” Qatar Airways group chief executive Akbar Al Baker told the BBC in an interview. “It’s a very hard decision… but we have no alternative.” The airline currently has a fleet of 245 aircraft, around half of which are in temporary storage due to capacity cuts. Qatar Airways Group holds equity stakes in a number of airline groups globally including Cathay Pacific, IAG and LATAM. Al Baker denies reports of a plan to provide a financial bail-out for Cathay, but does not rule out cash injections to support any of the group’s investments. “If there is a recall for an injection in equity [at Cathay], as a shareholder we will do it otherwise we will lose our equity share. The same goes with all our other investments,” he says. “We have invested strategically for the long-term. We have a pie and we will have to share it equally between our staff and the investments that we have.” Al Baker joins other airlines with a stark warning about the consequences of states introducing lengthy quarantine periods for air travellers: “[Quarantining] will really destroy the industry, destroy airport feasibility and their income. And I don’t think it will solve the problem,” he says. “The only answer is a treatment and a vaccine.”

Source: Cirium