Issue No. 790
LUV in the Time of Covid
Pushing Back: Inside This Issue
As election day looms in America, the country’s airline gave more evidence of travelers willing and eager to fly but deterred by closed borders and quarantine policies. Hawaii is a good example: As the state substitutes quarantines with testing, airlines see bookings take off.
The same is largely true in Europe. When the U.K. removed Spain’s Canary Islands from the quarantine list, bookings took off. So said British Airways, whose parent company reported predictably heavy losses. Air France/KLM, on the other hand, posted unpredictably mild losses thanks to lots of longhaul family-visit markets, leisure travel within France, KLM’s busy Amsterdam hub, and a widebody fleet well-equipped for the cargo boom. Wage subsidies helped too, though government loans are at risk following pilot discord at KLM.
Three airlines from mainland China were notable for their post-Covid recoveries. Shanghai’s Juneyao and Spring, both controlled by the private sector, managed small operating profits last quarter by moving international capacity back into the increasingly busy domestic market. China Southern, meanwhile, benefitting from problems at Hainan Airlines, came close to joining them in the black. (Its net result was actually positive but lifted by one-off gains).
Japan’s Big Two airlines, enjoying early stages of a domestic recovery, see newly launched LCCs equipped with Dreamliners as key to their eventual recoveries on foreign routes. In India, domestic leader IndiGo expects to emerge from the crisis stronger than before, with the help of more Airbus NEOs, more digitization, more cost cutting, and ultimately a return to bullish capacity growth. It’s still most bullish about international markets, though not yet convinced of the wisdom of widebodies.
Verbulence
“We believe there will be incredible generational opportunities to purchase planes in the coming years.”
Allegiant President John Redmond
Earnings
July-September 2020 (3 Months)
- Air France/KLM: -$1.9b/-$1.2b*; -41%
- IAG: -$2b/-$1.4b*; -105%
- All Nippon: -$750m/-$863m*; -72%
- Japan Airlines: -$636m; -80%
- Air China: -$87m/-$270m*; -10%
- China Eastern: -$88m/-$331m*; -17%
- China Southern: $135m/-$28m; -2%
- Hainan Airlines: -$563m/-$581m; -47%
- Juneyao Airlines: $28m/-$2m; 3%
- Spring Airlines: $38m/-$4m; 2%
- JetBlue: -$393m/-$477m*; -128%
- Spirit: -$99m/-$215m*; -62%
- Hawaiian: -$97m/-$173m*; -287%
- Allegiant: -$29m/-$69m*; -39%
- SkyWest: $34m/-$156m*; -25%
- IndiGo: -$161m; -52%
- Finnair: -$232m; -171%
- Icelandair: $38m (includes unspecified one-off gains); -5%
*Net result in USD/*Net result excluding special items/ Operating margin
Skift Aviation Forum November 19
Join us for the inaugural Skift Aviation Forum, held online in partnership with Dallas Ft. Worth International Airport. Guests include Air Lease Corp. Executive Chairman Steven Udvar-Hazy, American Airlines President Robert Isom, and Southwest CEO Gary Kelly. You can check out the latest list of confirmed speakers here. Registration is free for annual Airline Weekly subscribers.
Airline Weekly Lounge Live
A recording of this week's edition with special guest Brett Snyder of Cranky Flier is now live.