Covid-19; Impact on the aviation industry

Tenzor07

Anyone else read that Korean Airlines are to close down all operations?


Also see that Norwegian are cutting 3000 flights and bringing in staff layoffs...

crisco10

General question from someone not in the industry; would airlines have some sort of Business interruption insurance? As more and more no travel notices are enforced, I'd imagine these would become payable...?

Inquitus

https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2020/0310/1121312-virgin-atlantic-virus/

Virgin Atlantic has admitted flying planes that are "almost empty" in order to keep take-off and landing slots despite demand plummeting due to the coronavirus.

The airline's chief executive Shai Weiss said the airline is being "forced" to continue with flights because rules about slot allocation have not been relaxed.

Slots at capacity-constrained airports such as Heathrow can be worth millions of pounds.

The European Union operates a so-called "use it or lose it" rule which means airlines must use 80% of their slots or risk them being taken away in the following year.

Caranica

EU temporarily suspending requirements to fly in order to retain slots

https://twitter.com/SkyNewsBreak/status/1237384575698911237?s=19

L1011

crisco10 wrote: »

General question from someone not in the industry; would airlines have some sort of Business interruption insurance? As more and more no travel notices are enforced, I'd imagine these would become payable...?

That type of insurance is normally only useful once and then becomes too expensive to justify.

Hotblack Desiato

Caranica wrote: »

EU temporarily suspending requirements to fly in order to retain slots

Ah good. I was going to suggest Virgin could hire in some ex-Flybe Dash 8s cheaply to occupy their slots

d51984

Air hostess in Clayton hotel Clonshaugh at the center of a scare there today. Whole 3rd floor sealed off. My sister works there.

kevinandrew

How long can Aer Lingus remain silent on this? Last official update was February 27th and their current approach is doing them no favours. The airline continues to state that it will contact customers affected but at this stage, in such a volatile situation coupled with media hysteria, it's not good enough.

There needs to be an updated statement identifying routes, dates and their policy for passengers affected.

The only reason we know they've cancelled flights to Italy until April 4th is because individuals have gone to the effort of searching their booking engine for information.

IngazZagni

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Ah good. I was going to suggest Virgin could hire in some ex-Flybe Dash 8s cheaply to occupy their slots

I saw some of the Flybe planes in Glasgow yesterday and they had snow plowing equipment blocking them on their stand. Would whoever's buys the aircraft have to pay the debt owed to the airport I wonder?

smurfjed

Would whoever's buys the aircraft have to pay the debt owed to the airport I wonder?

Really depends on who owns the aircraft, if they belong to FLYBE via a bank, then the administrator will be forced to pay the airport to release them, if they belong to a leasing company, then they can have them released as they are not responsible for FLYBE’s debts.

smurfjed

Just got this from TURKISH airlines,

The safety and well-being of our passengers and crew is our utmost priority at Turkish Airlines. Since the first reports of the Covid-19 outbreak in the news, Turkish Airlines has followed the developments closely, considered the probable scenarios at the highest level and taken all the necessary measures.

Upon completing a flight, all Turkish Airlines aircraft undergo a thorough cleaning process, in compliance with the national and international civil aviation authorities’ guidelines that include the wiping of the commonly-touched surfaces in the flight cabin and lavatories including toilets, tray tables, armrests, seatbelt buckles and in-flight entertainment screens with disinfectants. All blankets, linens, headrest covers, bedsheets and headsets are replaced with fresh sets for each flight.

Turkish Airlines has declared that all passenger flights to mainland China, Iran, Iraq, South Korea and Italy had been cancelled. The entire flight cabins of all our aircraft arriving from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand undergo an intensive cleaning which also includes disinfectant fogging that has proven effective against existent viruses including the novel coronavirus known to cause Covid-19.

During flight, the air in the cabin is refreshed constantly by air conditioning units equipped with hospital-grade, High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filtration systems. The air in the cabin is completely changed 15 to 30 times per hour as particles of dust and all known airborne bacteria and viruses are filtered. This ensures the highest possible quality of cabin air. In addition to premium cleaning products in all our aircraft, medical disinfectants are also available in the aircraft lavatories for flights to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. All Turkish Airlines crew is well informed and trained to handle contamination cases and is ready to assist in any case of medical emergency.

The Covid-19 epidemic is a complicated situation that requires concerted efforts on both national and international level to tackle and Turkish Airlines is working closely with all relevant authorities and adapting its precautionary measures accordingly to ensure your safety and well-being both on the ground and in the air. Thank you for your support and understanding.

Very proactive but at the same time I can’t believe that as a country, they have zero cases, or aren’t they doing any testing so that the number stays at zero.

Coil Kilcrea

smurfjed wrote: »

Just got this from TURKISH airlines,



Very proactive but at the same time I can’t believe that as a country, they have zero cases, or aren’t they doing any testing so that the number stays at zero.

That is impressive and reassuring to the extent they appear to be doing everything possible. Not so sure the same standard will apply in a low cost carrier environment.

Tenzor07

smurfjed wrote: »

Very proactive but at the same time I can’t believe that as a country, they have zero cases, or aren’t they doing any testing so that the number stays at zero.

First case reported in Turkey:

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/coronavirus-turkey-first-case-virus

Coil Kilcrea

Beggars belief that it hasn't appeared more in the Middle East and Africa. And in under developed Countries where they may not have the best resources to test and contain it.

Kev11491

Coil Kilcrea wrote: »

Beggars belief that it hasn't appeared more in the Middle East and Africa. And in under developed Countries where they may not have the best resources to test and contain it.

Europe, Asia and North America all have massive aviation markets and a population that can afford to travel and spread it.

Lapmo_Dancer

It would be naive to take the official UAE figures as the truth.

Blut2

Coil Kilcrea wrote: »

Beggars belief that it hasn't appeared more in the Middle East and Africa. And in under developed Countries where they may not have the best resources to test and contain it.

This is probably down to a few factors:

- The virus doesn't seem to be spreading anywhere near as much in warm climates, even in countries with high population density, and lots of contact with China - Singapore, Vietnam etc. So parts of MEA that are warm are likely benefiting from this.
- Poor countries don't have good medical systems, so likely aren't testing properly for it. And even if the hospitals/state have tests, large parts of the population will be too poor to consider going to hospital if they're sick.
- Lower levels of transport/economic links to China as another poster mentioned slowing the spread
- And as also already mentioned, totalitarian governments are likely to downplay any numbers so as not to panic the population/cause economic damage.

smurfjed

Have you seen photographs of the two Islamic mosques in Makkah and Madinah, they are absolutely empty, Saudi immediately closed them and banned religious passengers, without this prompt action you would have seen much higher figures spreading out from Saudi around the world.

The 21 people infected in Saudi came mainly from Iran via Kuwait and Bahrain, hence the reason for high numbers in those countries, most of these people are Shia Moslem, so the authorities locked down the city that they live in.

Tenzor07

On the aviation front..... Aerologic, Cathay, Korean air, Alitalia, Norwegian all teetering on the brink of collapse...

Less choice in the European aviation market, we'll end up like the U.S with only 4 major airlines..

Hotblack Desiato

In fairness when have Alitalia and Norwegian not been on the brink of collapse...
I would have thought Cathay would have a healthy cash pile, but of course this is coming off the back of the HK protests

cson

Tenzor07 wrote: »

On the aviation front..... Aerologic, Cathay, Korean air, Alitalia, Norwegian all teetering on the brink of collapse...

Less choice in the European aviation market, we'll end up like the U.S with only 4 major airlines..

The US has the big 3 [AA/UA/DL] for sure but WN, B6, AS, NK, F9 are all pretty substantial operators too.

GM228

All travel from Europe (except the UK) to the USA banned from Friday for 30 days, that's really going to hurt European carriers.

kevinandrew

Absolute insanity, he blames Europe and only Europe. The UK is excluded from the ban.

It will be devastating for Aer Lingus, and indeed other European carriers.

cson

EI are hosed.

Genuine sympathies to anyone working, this will be grim as ****.

GM228

kevinandrew wrote: »

Absolute insanity, he blames Europe and only Europe. The UK is excluded from the ban.

It will be devastating for Aer Lingus, and indeed other European carriers.

He must think the UK left Europe, not the EU

bluelamp

So technically Belfast - USA would be allowed, but not Dublin / Shannon - USA?

Strange times.

Hotblack Desiato

He's some d!ckhead, but there'll still be the usual suspects on this site defending him.

GM228

Ireland is exempt from the travel ban also, confirmed by Homeland Security press release moments ago.

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmPhaG1ud38

sdanseo

Schengen only. Relief for EI, but totally illogical from a containment point of view.
Could put us in danger in fact. People could travel here to get to USA. They would have to stay outside Schengen for 14 days first to be compliant meaning we could get tons of 14-day layovers if this gets extended.