Blackstone secures Bill Gates support in bidding war for Signature Aviation January 8, 2021 The Blackstone Group has the support of a big-name backer – Bill Gates- the largest shareholder in Signature Aviation, strengthening the firms bid to buy the private-jet servicing company. The support comes in opposition to rival bidder Carlyle and strengthens Blackstone’s $4.29bn (£3.16bn) offer alongside Gates’ Cascade Investment. Blackstone and Cascade, which own a near [...]
Mandatory testing is the boost the travel industry needs January 7, 2021 Lockdown 3 has once again decimated the travel industry. There is a total ban on foreign trips except for very specific reasons such as work or urgent medical or compassionate need. We are in a total mess but there is one clear way out. The government needs to act quickly and introduce stringent Covid testing for [...]
Khan pushes for airport testing, while airport boss wants taxpayers to foot bill January 7, 2021 Sadiq Khan pushes for airport testing, while Southend airport boss wants taxpayers to pay for pre-flight tests
Airline passenger numbers plummet over Christmas period January 5, 2021 The number of passengers flown by Ryanair and Wizz Air fell over 80 per cent for the second consecutive month in December as a dire year for the industry came to and end. The Irish flier carried just 1.9m people last month, down 83 per cent from 11.2m the year before. For the year as [...]
Heathrow connectivity collapses by two-thirds due to pandemic December 18, 2020 Some six thousand air routes across Europe are yet to be restored nine months into the Covid-19 crisis, a new report reveals, with Heathrow’s connectivity collapsing by more than two-thirds. The report, from Airports Council International, measures connectivity through a set of direct, indirect and hub indexes. European and UK airports have been the hardest [...]
United Airlines commits to reducing greenhouse emissions to nothing December 10, 2020 US airline giant, United has pledged to become 100 per cent green by 2050.
Boeing lost 63 more 737 Max orders in November as dire year goes on December 8, 2020 Boeing lost 63 orders for the 737 Max last month, even though the plane was finally cleared to fly again by regulators. In yet another dire month for the US planemaker, orders of all its different models fell by 28 planes in total. A number of airlines, including Virgin Australia and Air Canada, scrapped or [...]
Easyjet working with restructuring heavyweights Alix Partners to reduce debt pile November 30, 2020 Low-cost carrier Easyjet is working with restructuring heavyweights Alix Partners in an attempt to refinance its hefty debt pile. The Telegraph first reported that the FTSE 250 carrier had asked the US firm for help as it is faced with paying back £1.4bn in debt to various lenders. The airline must repay a £600m loan [...]
Joe Biden could favour Ireland travel corridor over London-New York link – reports November 27, 2020 The aviation industry is facing a race against time to set up a travel corridor between London and New York amid fears that President-elect Joe Biden will favour an air link with Dublin instead. There had been hopes that a quarantine-free corridor between London and New York would be in place by Thanksgivings, but these [...]
Aviation groups push for airport slot waiver extension November 26, 2020 Leading aviation organisations have pushed for airport slot rules to be waived into the summer as airlines continue to battle the coronavirus downturn. Under the existing rules, which have been suspended since March, airlines which do not use 80 per cent of their take-off and landing slots have to cede them to rival carriers. The [...]