Air Transport

Mitsubishi Aircraft on Mar. 18 conducted the first flight of the first SpaceJet prototype that conforms to the new, certifiable design of the regional jet.

Coronavirus-driven demand declines and a ban on non-essential Canada-U.S. transborder travel have forced Canadian airlines of all sizes to cut back or stop flying.

Small French companies—a major part of Airbus’ and other OEM’s supply chain in Europe—are seeing significant challenges as the COVID-19 crisis pummels the economy.

American airports have asked the U.S. Congress for $10 billion in immediate aid to help offset the massive drop in travel levels caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

DELTA is now cutting capacity by 70% (80% international) until demand starts to recover; it says year-over-year revenues are down $2b in March and

ACI is projecting COVID-19 will result in airport industry losses of at least $20-25b in 2020 and is recommending policies to alleviate shortfalls

CHORUS AVIATION updated its liquidity; it has cash balance of C$132m and revolving operating facility of C$100m, of which C$75m is committed. It owns

RYANAIR expects to reduce capacity by up to 80% in April/May, and says a full grounding of its fleet cannot be ruled out.

Tier 2 provider Triumph Group on Mar. 18 announced a fresh round of significant workforce cuts and restructuring in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, Boeing 737 MAX shutdown and other issues.

JETSTAR ASIA is temporarily suspending all services from March 23 to at least April 15, and is grounding its 18 A320s.

AIR MALTA is suspending scheduled operations on March 20 until further notice; it will operate special flights for government.

The FAA evacuated the air traffic control (ATC) tower and operations stopped at Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC), Utah, on Mar. 18 after a 5.7-magnitude earthquake shook the area.

China Eastern Airlines will reduce or suspend flights on 11 European and North American routes, apparently in response to further falls in demand amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Airlines in the Asia-Pacific region are making deeper capacity cuts and grounding more aircraft in response to tighter travel restrictions.

ALITALIA is operating special schedule to select destinations to return Italian citizens to country; Italian Government is reportedly looking to re

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS has cancelled 162 flights (38 international/124 regional) through end of March and says going forward it will operate flights

BDLI and MESSE BERLIN have cancelled ILA Berlin 2020, which had been scheduled for May 13-17.

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA is suspending all international service and cutting domestic capacity by 50%. It is grounding 53 aircraft: five 777s, an A330 and 14

JETBLUE is cuttng capacity by 40% in April/May, with substantial cuts expected in June/July. It is grounding some aircraft and working with Airbus to

FEDEX EXPRESS earned $137m in third quarter ended February 29, down from $389m a year ago; its operating margins fell to 1.5% from 4.3%.

UNITED is cutting capacity in April by 60% (42% in US/Canada and 85% international), and is expecting PLF of 20-30% during period. It also postponed

Deep schedule cuts at partner United Airlines have forced U.S. regional carrier Trans States to speed up its planned cessation to Apr. 1, the airline’s top executive told employees.

TRANSAT, Canada plans to gradually suspend all air operations after its nation closed its borders to foreign nationals.

UKRAINE INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES has suspended all scheduled operations after its government closed the borders.

The European Commission has said airlines do not have to pay compensation for flights canceled because of travel restrictions put in place to slow the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak as they constitute “extraordinary circumstances.”