Lufthansa Technik (LHT) is already seeing a massive impact from the COVID-19 crisis but cannot predict the extent of the damage to the global aviation industry.
Bogota-based Avianca announced it will temporarily cease all passenger flying, as a cascading series of travel restrictions across Latin America forces carriers to halt operations or scale back to skeletal levels.
Waco Aircraft and Centennial Aircraft Services will close from March 24 until April 13 because of a stay-at-home order in Michigan aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus.
Japan’s two major airlines have both announced significant cuts to the start of their summer schedules to offset lower traffic resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following a warning last week of coming cutbacks—and on the heels of previously announced cost-saving goals months ago before the COVID-19 pandemic—major Tier 2 provider Triumph Group on March 24 said it will eliminate 500 staff and contractor jobs by May 1.
After having been thought for a few days to be on a strong upward curve, demand for aircraft storage during the COVID-19 crisis is still unstable, according to specialist Tarmac Aerosave.
As travel demand falters, European airlines are continuing to cut flights, with Ryanair predicting its aircraft will remain grounded through May and Wizz Air temporarily closing its Vienna base.
Spirit AeroSystems, Boeing’s provider of aerostructures and its largest supplier, on March 24 said it will halt work at its Wichita and Tulsa, Oklahoma, facilities after Boeing the day before announced a temporary shutdown of its Puget Sound facilities in Washington state.
Ryanair does not expect to operate any flights through April or May while fellow European ULCCs Wizz Air and easyJet have grounded the majority of their fleet.
Bombardier will temporarily suspend aircraft and rail production and other work considered “nonessential” at most of its Canadian operations from March 25 through April 26.
IATA expects airlines globally to lose around $250 billion in revenues this year as a consequence of the coronavirus crisis and is asking governments to quickly intervene.