Air Europa lifeline loan may prove a headache for BA owner IAG November 3, 2020 Low-cost carrier Air Europa has become the first firm to tap the Spanish government’s new emergency funding pot for companies endangered by coronavirus. The airline, which is an acquisition target for British Airways owner IAG, will receive €475m in state-backed funding. A spokesperson for the government said that the package would comprise a €240m equity-backed [...]
International testing success could allow reduced UK quarantine November 3, 2020 Quarantining international arrivals for just five days in Iceland has proved up to 90% effective.
Wizz Air passenger numbers shrink two-thirds in October November 3, 2020 Wizz Air said that passenger numbers dropped 69 per cent in October as further coronavirus restrictions came into effect around the world. The low-budget carrier flew 1.15m passengers last month, down from 3.7m in the same period last year. And the decline could yet grow further in November, with international travel from England due to [...]
TfL to review driverless trains as condition of new bailout November 2, 2020 Transport for London (TfL) will have to undertake a review of how to switch to driverless trains as a condition of its new government bailout. Under the terms of the rescue package, which will see the transport network receive £1.8bn in financial support, ministers have set a number of requirements. In addition to the review, [...]
Easyjet boss Stelios loses Telegraph libel case over ‘strawmen’ claim November 2, 2020 Easyjet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou has lost his libel case against the Daily Telegraph over an article that disputed the outspoken founder’s claims about three shareholders. The suit related to an article published in May in which Telegraph journalist Ben Marlow wrote that the budget airline boss was engaging in “increasingly wild conspiracy theories”. The article [...]
Ryanair dives to €200m loss as coronavirus decimates passenger numbers November 2, 2020 Ryanair crashed to a €197m (£177.8m) loss in the first half of the year as the budget carrier flew just 17m due to the coronavirus pandemic. From the start of lockdown in March to the end of June, 99 per cent of the Irish airline’s planes were grounded amid stringent travel bans and health concerns. [...]
Airlines plead for emergency support as international travel banned November 1, 2020 The UK aviation industry has made fresh pleas for emergency financial support from ministers after international travel was banned for the duration of the new lockdown. From 5 November to 2 December, foreign holidays have been banned – as well as overnight stays in the UK. The decision is a hammer blow to the country’s [...]
New £1.8bn TfL bailout agreed at the eleventh hour November 1, 2020 Transport for London (TfL) will receive £1.8bn in government support to see it through until March after a second bailout deal was finally agreed last night. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the capital’s transport network has seen revenue dry up amid the collapse in passenger numbers. In March TfL received £1.6bn in the [...]
Waterloo and City line closure set to continue indefinitely October 30, 2020 No date has yet been set for the Waterloo and City tube line to be reopened, London Mayor Sadiq Khan has said. The route – London’s second-most intensively used after the Victoria line – has been closed since lockdown began in March. In answer to a question from Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon, Khan said that [...]
What’s in store for the airline industry this winter? October 30, 2020 Although every industry has suffered due to the coronavirus pandemic, few have been as hard hit as the world’s airlines. At the beginning of the year, the idea of a world without global air travel was for most people a relic of a long-forgotten past, but seven months of extreme turbulence have flipped that notion [...]