Trans States Airlines, which announced last month that it would be shuttering at the end of the year due to consolidation and a pilot shortage, has told its employees that it will go out of business nine months earlier, on 1 April. It could be the first US airline to fall victim to the coronavirus that has decimated the industry. “It’s difficult to articulate or even comprehend the speed at which the coronavirus has changed our industry and our world,” president of Trans States Holdings Rick Leach writes in a memo to employees on 17 March. “We received word late last night that the immediate cuts to our schedule are far deeper than we feared.” “We knew that the wind-down would be accelerated, but were confident that we could continue to fly for United for some months. Yet now, less than one month after our original announcement, we now have less than two weeks of flying remaining. It hardly seems possible,” he adds. Trans States did not respond to requests for comment on the internal memo. In late February, Trans States Airlines, which operates 46 Embraer ERJ-145 jets for United Airlines from Denver, Chicago and St. Louis, said it would be winding down operations at the end of 2020. According to Cirium fleets data, the airline provides feeder services to more than 80 cities in North America with about 240 daily flights. The Trans States memo to employees in February said United expressed a desire to “simplify the Embraer 145 programme by consolidating flying”. In addition, the company cited a pilot shortage as another reason it will cease operations. On Monday, industry group Airlines for America (A4A) asked the government for $58 billion in aid to assist airlines as they manage through the coronavirus crisis that has led to sharp declines in demand and subsequent cuts in service. All major US airlines, including United, said last week that they expect significantly lower revenue for the rest of the year.

Source: Cirium

The air traffic control tower at Chicago Midway International airport has temporarily closed after three members of the staff tested positive for the coronavirus. The tower closed in the late afternoon local time on 17 March, and will go through a deep cleaning before it is reopened. According to a Notice to Airmen published by the FAA, the tower will not re-open until 08:00 local time (13:00 GMT) on 20 March. FAA says in a preliminary statement that “operations will continue at a reduced rate until the situation is resolved”. It was not immediately clear if the affected members of staff were air traffic controllers, technicians or other employees. Pilots familiar with the area say operations and control of the field were temporarily shifted to the Chicago TRACON, the regional air traffic control hub, during the time the airport would remain closed. TRACON is the control facility that guides a plane through airspace after it leaves the main tower’s responsibility. “The air traffic system is a resilient system with multiple backups in place,” the regulatory body says. “This shift is a regular execution of a long-standing contingency plan to ensure continued operations. Each facility across the country has a similar plan that has been updated and tested in recent years.” The FAA adds that the safety of staff and the traveling public is the organisation’s top priority and that controllers and technicians are integral to the functioning of the national airspace system. Cirium schedules data show that Southwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines operate flights to and from Chicago’s Midway airport, the second airport in the northern US city after Chicago O’Hare International. The airlines fly to 76 destinations in six countries from the field near the city’s centre. The airport is also used for charter operations and general aviation.

Source: Cirium

Air Canada is retracting financial guidance and cutting operations as the global coronavirus pandemic hits airlines, while asking the Canadian government to help with financial losses it expects to suffer in the coming months. “The crisis facing our industry is worsening as countries around the world adopt increasingly severe measures, national lockdowns and travel restrictions,” writes chief executive Colin Rovinescu in a statement on 16 March. “We understand that the governments of the United States and many European countries such as Germany, France, Italy, Norway and others have approved or are considering assistance for their airline industries in one form or another. Under these circumstances, we believe that the Canadian airline industry should also see similar assistance, whether through forbearance of taxes, landing fees and other charges that form part of the aviation burden in Canada or otherwise until the industry stabilises,” he says. The Montreal-based flag carrier also says it is withdrawing earnings guidance for 2020 and 2021, and suspending 50% of its capacity in the second quarter of this year. “Although the company expects this disruption to be temporary, as the full impact and duration of the outbreak is unknown, Air Canada is withdrawing its previously announced first-quarter and full-year 2020 guidance as well as its full-year 2021 guidance (including its free cash flow guidance for the 2019-2021 period) while it takes steps to mitigate the financial impact on its business,” the airline says. While the airline’s current cash liquidity is at about C$7.1 billion ($5.1 billion), it says it will be working “with its aircraft partners in exploring the potential deferment of aircraft deliveries” in order to preserve cash if the crisis drags on. The carrier says its capital expenditure in 2020 was planned to be C$2.4 billion, but will now be lower. “This includes purchase commitments for 17 Airbus A220 and six Boeing 737 Max aircraft totaling approximately $1.2 billion, which are still expected to be delivered and, subject to satisfactory lending arrangements, financed in 2020,” the airline says. Last week, the airline said it would be cancelling 11 of the Max orders, which had planned to be delivered in 2023 and 2024, after it reassessed its long-term fleet planning requirements in the wake of the troubled aircraft’s year-long grounding.

Source: Cirium