Issue No. 779
Phased Out: U.S. Airlines Look to the Past, Future
Pushing Back: Inside This Issue
Airlines are not happy with their governments. Air Canada complains of overzealous border restrictions. Asia’s airline association complains of inconsistent policies. Allegiant criticized Washington for inadequate testing and information. Ryanair is livid about government bailouts. Fair enough. But the true enemy is an extremely infectious virus which keeps on spreading. It’s creeping back into places where it was once well controlled. It’s spreading at alarming rates in some of the most populous countries, including India, the U.S., and Brazil. With some modest exceptions like the Chinese domestic market, there’s really no airline recovery to speak of. And there might not be for the rest of 2020.
Europe is seeing some shorthaul leisure recovery. But for global giants like Air France/KLM and IAG, that’s just a sideshow. The recovering Japanese domestic market is more significant to All Nippon. But Japan is backsliding in its fight to contain Covid. And forget about all that important premium traffic ANA typically carries to cities like New York and London and Sydney. Air Canada can’t do very much at all revenue-wise, with its borders sealed tight. Cargo helps a bit, but Asian carriers like Singapore Airlines are bigger cargo players, big enough to meaningfully alleviate losses. Back in Europe, the shorthaul leisure recovery, still choppy to be sure, will help Ryanair and Wizz Air prepare for what’s hopefully a more normal 2021. More U.S. airlines expressed their discouragement with current trends. Airlines in India, Brazil, and Mexico presented Q2 results as well, likewise in a cloud of great uncertainty.
More airlines report this week, including Europe’s largest airline, Lufthansa.
Verbulence
"The Covid crisis will pass. Whether it’s in 6 months or 10 months or 12 months or 18 months, we don't know. But we will be one of the survivors, and we will be, by far and away, the most flexible lowest-cost survivor coming out of this."
Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary
Mondays With Skift Airline Weekly
Airline Weekly got cranky. Brett "The Cranky Flier" Snyder joined host Madhu Unnikrishnan on a livestream to look back at the second quarter and talk through what might happen in the fall. Listen to the replay.
Earnings
April-June (3 Months)
- Air France/KLM: -$2.9b/-$1.9b*; -131%
- IAG: -$2.4b/-$1.6b*; -184%
- All Nippon: -$1b; -131%
- Air Canada: -$1.3b; -$251m
- Singapore Airlines: -$802m/-$71m*; -67%
- Ryanair: -$206m; -125%
- Wizz Air: -$120m/-$63m*; -117%
- JetBlue: -$320m/-$548m*; -332%
- Hawaiian: -$107m/-$175m*; -366%
- Allegiant: -$93m/-$95m*; -80%
- IndiGo: -$377m; 344%
- Gol: -$370m/-$235m*; -251%
- Aeromexico: -$1.2b/-$323m*; -253%
- Volaris: -$71m; -154%
- Icelandair: -$91m/-$124m*;
- SkyWest: -$26m/-$178m*; -45%
January-March (3 Months)
- AirAsia X: -$132m/-$38m*; -11%
- SpiceJet: -$111m; -30%
*Net result in USD/*Net result excluding special items/ Operating margin