The Boeing [NYSE: BA]-built X-37B autonomous spaceplane today launched on top of a uniquely configured United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
Boeing is the prime contractor for the X-37B spaceplane and facilitates the integration of all experiments into the vehicle ensuring they receive the correct power, thermal and data services required. Boeing also works to identify future reusable platform experiment opportunities on each mission.
The X-37B’s sixth mission is the first to use a service module with additional payload capability to support a variety of experiments for multiple government partners. The mission will deploy FalconSAT-8, a small satellite developed by the U.S. Air Force Academy and sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory, to conduct experiments on orbit. Further, two NASA experiments will study the impact of radiation and other space effects on certain materials and seeds used to grow food. Another experiment by the Naval Research Laboratory will transform solar power into radio frequency microwave energy which could then be transmitted to the ground. In addition, the mission will test reusable space vehicle technologies.
The X-37B first launched in April 2010. Originally designed for missions of 270 days duration, the X-37B has set endurance records during each of its five previous flights. Most recently, X-37B spent 780 days on orbit before returning to Earth in October 2019.
“The X-37B has shifted the paradigm and redefined efficiency in space development, said Jim Chilton, Boeing Space and Launch senior vice president. “The rapid technology advancements enabled by the program will benefit the entire space community and influence the next generation of spacecraft design.”
The X-37B program is a partnership between the Department of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office and the United States Space Force. Boeing program management, engineering, test and mission support functions for the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) program are conducted at Boeing sites in Southern California and Florida.
(Reuters) – Avianca Holdings, Latin America’s second-largest airline, filed for bankruptcy on Sunday, after failing to meet a bond payment deadline, while its pleas for coronavirus aid from Colombia’s government have so far been unsuccessful.
If it fails to come out of bankruptcy, Bogota-based Avianca would be one of the first major carriers worldwide to go under as a result of the pandemic, which has crippled world travel.
Avianca has not flown a regularly scheduled passenger flight since late March and most of its 20,000 employees have gone without pay through the crisis.
“Avianca is facing the most challenging crisis in our 100-year history,” Avianca Chief Executive Anko van der Werff said in a news release.
While Avianca was already weak before the coronavirus outbreak, its bankruptcy filing highlights the challenges for airlines that cannot count on state rescues or on such rescues coming fast enough. Avianca is still hoping for a government bailout.
“This isn’t a surprise at all,” said Juan David Ballen, chief economist at Casa de Bolsa brokerage in Bogota. “The company was heavily indebted despite the fact it tried to restructure its debt last year.”
Avianca, the second-oldest continually operating airline in the world after KLM, had $7.3 billion in debts in 2019. The airline filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York and said it would continue operations while it restructured its debts.
The Colombian Association of Civil Aviators (ACDAC), a union representing many Avianca employees, said it supported the move.
Avianca already went through bankruptcy in the early 2000s, from which it was rescued by a Bolivian-born oil businessman, German Efromovich.
Efromovich grew Avianca aggressively but also saddled the carrier with significant debt until he was ousted from the airline last year in a boardroom coup led by United Airlines Holdings Inc. He still owns a majority stake in the carrier.
United stands to lose up to $700 million in loans related to Avianca.
Efromovich told Reuters on Sunday that he disagreed with the decision to file for bankruptcy and that he was not involved in making it.
The logo of Avianca Airlines is pictured at a counter following the cancellation of an Avianca flight to San Salvador due to coronavirus fears in Mexico City
OSLO (Reuters) – Norwegian Air <NAS.OL> shareholders backed its financial survival plan on Monday, with more than 95% of votes cast supporting the conversion of nearly $1 billion of debt into equity and raising more cash from its owners.
Approval of the scheme is a vital part of the struggling airline’s plan to tap government credit guarantees as it seeks to overcome the coronavirus crisis, which has compounded its already deep financial problems.
Airlines around the world have been hit hard by the impact on travel of the pandemic, with many forced to turn to governments for state aid to avoid bankruptcy.
The airline, which at the end of last year had amassed debts of around $8 billion, said ahead of the meeting that it had won “strong support” from aircraft lessors for its plan.
With 95% of its fleet grounded due to the coronavirus pandemic, Norwegian Air has said it could run out of cash by mid-May unless shareholders supported the plan.
On Sunday it said bondholders had signed up to the plan, which was narrowly rejected in a vote on Thursday.
Norwegian Air said lessors are now willing to convert at least $730 million of debt into equity, up from $550 million earlier, and talks are ongoing for possible further conversion.
“With the significant contributions from lessors and bondholders, the company expects to convert more than 10 billion crowns ($958 million) in debt to equity,” it said.
Based on the results from the shareholders’ meeting, the company will now proceed with the conversion of bonds and lease debt to shares, as well as the public offering of up to 400 million ($38.4 million) from the sale of new stock, it said.
The debt conversion and share sale will allow Norwegian Air to tap government guarantees of up to 2.7 billion crowns, which hinge on a reduction in leverage, on top of 300 million crowns it has already received.
The plan will hand majority ownership to the airline’s creditors and could leave current shareholders with just 5.2%.
The loan could keep Norwegian Air going until the end of 2020, although further cash may be needed as it eyes a gradual ramp-up next year and normalisation in 2022, albeit with a reduced fleet.
Norwegian Air is only paying invoices vital to maintaining minimum operations, such as salaries for staff still employed and critical IT infrastructure. It has put payments for ground handling, debt and leases on hold.
The Oslo Bourse said it had halted trade in Norwegian Air’s shares until the outcome of the vote is presented.
(Reporting by Terje Solsvik; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Jason Neely and Alexander Smith)
FILE PHOTO: A Norwegian Air plane is refuelled at Oslo Gardermoen airport
The International Airfreight Capacity agreement with the Ministry of Transport will allow exporters and importers the ability to access key markets in a world where available air freight capacity is reduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Air New Zealand General Manager Cargo Rick Nelson says cargo customers will be able to access capacity across Air New Zealand’s traditional network, with a handful of exceptions.
“The new agreement means Air New Zealand can publish scheduled cargo services into key markets which will allow freight forwarders, exporters and importers to plan and operate their logistics supply chains with certainty.
“We are working to offer connectivity to and from the United Kingdom and Europe, as well as Houston and Chicago via Los Angeles and San Francisco, Hong Kong and Narita gateways.
“This agreement will add significant value to New Zealand’s air cargo community, and we encourage the New Zealand forwarding, export and import communities to get behind these cargo options. Naturally, we hope the need to operate under an agreement of this nature will be a short-term business model and in time we’ll be able to revert to our traditional model as demand for passenger travel begins to pick up.”
Ports the airline will not operate cargo flights to under the agreement are London and Buenos Aires. Singapore is also not included in the initial phase.
LONDON (Reuters) – Airbus <AIR.PA> will furlough around 3,200 staff at its Broughton factory in Wales, the European planemaker said on Monday after it warned staff that the coronavirus crisis had put its survival at stake.
Airbus has given its starkest assessment yet of damage from the crisis, telling the company’s 135,000 employees to brace for potentially deeper job cuts as it grapples with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the aerospace sector.
Earlier this month, the group said it would furlough some 3,000 French workers by tapping a government-backed scheme for four weeks.
“Airbus confirms it has agreed with its social partners to apply the government’s Job Retention Scheme for approximately 3,200 production and production-support employees at its commercial aircraft site in Broughton,” it said in a statement.
Britain’s job retention scheme allows employers to furlough staff and claim cash grants up to 80% of wages, capped at 2,500 pounds per worker.
Airbus will top up gross salaries to bring pay up to 85-90% of pay, in accordance with an agreement signed with trade union representatives.
The deal affects the majority of the production and production support teams in Broughton, the north Wales factory which assembles wings.
Furlough periods will be staggered, with all starting in the next three weeks and lasting for at least three weeks.
The move does not affect Airbus’ 3,000 staff in Filton, western England, where wings are designed and supported.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by Stephen Addison)
FILE PHOTO: Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury poses before Airbus’s annual press conference on full-year results
By Tim Hepher
PARIS (Reuters) – European planemaker Airbus issued a bleak assessment of the impact of the coronavirus crisis, telling the company’s 135,000 employees to brace for potentially deeper job cuts and warning its survival is at stake without immediate action.
In a letter to staff, Chief Executive Guillaume Faury said Airbus was “bleeding cash at an unprecedented speed” and that a recent drop of a third or more in production rates did not reflect the worst-case scenario and would be kept under review.
Airbus said it did not comment on internal communications.
The letter was sent to employees late on Friday, days before the company is due to give first-quarter results overshadowed by a pandemic that has left airlines struggling to survive and virtually halted jet deliveries since mid-March.
Airbus has begun implementing government-assisted furlough schemes starting with 3,000 workers in France, “but we may now need to plan for more far-reaching measures,” Faury said.
“The survival of Airbus is in question if we don’t act now,” he added.
Industry sources have said a new restructuring plan similar to its 2007 Power8 which saw 10,000 job cuts could be launched in the summer, but Faury indicated the company was already exploring “all options” while waiting for clarity on demand.
People familiar with the matter say Airbus is also in active discussions with European governments about tapping schemes to assist struggling industries, including state-guaranteed loans.
It has already expanded commercial credit lines with banks, buying what Faury described as “time to adapt and resize”.
OSLO (Reuters) – Norwegian Air <NAS.OL> could run out of cash by mid-May unless its proposed financial rescue plan is approved by creditors and shareholders, the budget carrier warned on Monday.
If approved by bondholders, leasing companies and shareholders, the plan may help Norwegian survive the coronavirus outbreak, which has grounded 95% of its fleet, leaving just 7 aircraft in operation.
But the planned debt-to-equity swap will hand majority ownership of 53.1% to the company’s lessors, while bondholders would own 41.7%, leaving current shareholders with just 5.2%, it said.
The move would allow Norwegian to tap government guarantees of 2.7 billion crowns ($255 million), which are dependent on the company reducing its ratio of debt to equity, and which would come on top of 300 million crowns it has already received.
It is “critical to get access to the state aid package by mid-May before the company runs out of cash,” Norwegian said in a presentation to investors.
Rapid growth has made Norwegian Europe’s third-largest low-cost airline and the biggest foreign carrier serving New York and other major U.S. cities, but with the expansion came debts and liabilities of close to $8 billion by the end of 2019.
Last week, the company reported that four Swedish and Danish subsidiaries had filed for bankruptcy and that it had ended staffing contracts in Europe and the United States, putting some 4,700 jobs at risk.
Norwegian’s shares opened 8% lower on Monday and are down 86% year-to-date.
The company aims to gradually emerge from the COVID-19 crisis with both a short-haul and long-haul network in place, and is targeting a return to normal operations in 2022, it said.
The plan requires backing from bondholders in each of four separate votes planned for April 30, from shareholders in an extraordinary general meeting scheduled for May 4, and from leasing firms.
It maintained plans to raise up to 400 million crowns in cash from owners.
(Editing by Jan Harvey)
FILE PHOTO: A Norwegian Air plane is refuelled at Oslo Gardermoen airport
Boeing [NYSE: BA] completed its first COVID-19 transport mission, using a 737-700 aircraft from its corporate fleet to bring personal protective equipment (PPE) from China to the United States. Working in partnership with FIRST® Robotics Founder Dean Kamen, the company transported 540,000 medical-grade face masks that will be delivered to healthcare professionals battling COVID-19 in New Hampshire.
Kamen, who has a longstanding relationship with Boeing through FIRST Robotics, is also a founder of DEKA Research and Development Corporation. He worked with DEKA to secure the face masks from manufacturers in China and turned to Boeing to facilitate their transport. DEKA is the importer of record for the delivery and provided the masks to New Hampshire for distribution to healthcare professionals in the state.
“Another life-saving delivery of PPE has arrived in New Hampshire,” said Governor Chris Sununu. “Thanks to Dean Kamen for facilitating this deal, and to Boeing for donating the cost of this mission transport. The state will deliver these masks to the greatest areas of need across New Hampshire so those on the frontline have the necessary resources to fight COVID-19.”
“Boeing has been a long-time partner of FIRST Robotics and I’m proud that I can again partner with the Boeing team to meet the needs of our frontline healthcare professionals fighting COVID-19,” said Kamen. “Now more than ever, help from companies like Boeing is critical so we can continue to make sure protective equipment gets to the people who need it most.”
Boeing continues to support local communities and the heroic healthcare professionals working tirelessly to stop the spread of COVID-19. Additional airlift transport missions with the Boeing Dreamlifter and ecoDemonstrator are planned in the future. Boeing is coordinating closely with U.S. government officials on how to best assist areas with the greatest need.
“I want to personally thank Governor Sununu, the entire New Hampshire congressional delegation and Dean Kamen for their leadership in helping secure and distribute this much-needed personal protective equipment for our frontline healthcare workers and first responders here in New Hampshire,” said Dave Calhoun, Boeing president and CEO. “We are honored to have conducted today’s airlift mission and we look forward to providing continued support in the fight against this pandemic.”
A Boeing-owned aircraft loads 540,000 medical-grade masks in China destined to New Hampshire. (Boeing photo)
CHICAGO, April 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Oscar Munoz, Chief Executive Officer, and J. Scott Kirby, President, today issued the following message to nearly 100,000 United Airlines (NASDAQ: UAL) employees:
To our United Family:
We hope all is well with you and your family. Two weeks ago, we hosted a virtual townhall and it was a valuable opportunity for us to connect with you all. And we’ve been really pleased with the response, more than 50,000 of you tuned in live or watched the broadcast on demand.
At the townhall, we discussed the impact of your calls and letters to Congress as they debated financial support for the airline industry. Washington heard you loud and clear, passing vital legislation that will provide commercial airlines with a total of $50 billion worth of grants and loans. We are grateful for the bipartisan cooperation displayed by leaders in the Congress and Administration — and appreciative of the critical role that you played. The thousands of letters and messages you sent, capturing the spirit of our United family and what our service means to our customers and communities, made all the difference in the world. We will need that spirit more than ever as we set our sights on the rest of 2020 and beyond.
The challenge that lies ahead for United is bigger than any we have faced in our proud 94-year history. We are committed to being as direct and as transparent as possible with you about the decisions that lay ahead and what impact they will have on our business and on you, the men and women of United Airlines.
Let’s start with the near-term. We now expect United to receive approximately $5 billion from the federal government through the Payroll Support Program under the CARES Act – to be used to protect the paychecks of our United employees. This government support does not cover our total payroll expense, but we’re keeping our promise that there will be no involuntary furloughs or pay rate cuts for U.S. employees before September 30. And, payroll only represents about 30 percent of our total costs. Fixed operating and non-payroll costs like airport rent, supplies and infrastructure are significant and not going away. That’s why we’ve been so aggressive in reducing our schedule, slashing capital expenditures, scaling back our work with vendors and consultants and cutting executive salaries in half.
We’re planning to go even further to reduce costs. This weekend, we’ll load a revamped schedule that will further reduce our capacity to about 10 percent of what had been planned for May at the beginning of this year. We expect to announce similar reductions to the June schedule in the next few weeks. We have now essentially redesigned our network to be down 90 percent while complying with the CARES Act and maintaining connectivity among nearly all our domestic destinations. And these May and June schedule reductions will have direct consequences for our frontline employees in terms of total hours worked. Those work groups can expect to hear more details from their leaders soon.
The more flexibility we have from a payroll perspective, the better. So, all work groups can expect to see a continued emphasis on payroll cost cutting options over the next few weeks including new voluntary leave offerings and voluntary separation programs. For those who are eligible, please consider signing up for voluntary COLA and ANP days. We’re grateful to the more than 20,000 employees who have already signed up. Your sacrifice is both deeply appreciated and important to our company’s future.
These schedule changes reflect the stark reality of our situation – and unfortunately, it’s something that even legislation as large as the CARES Act can’t fix. Travel demand is essentially zero and shows no sign of improving in the near-term. To help you understand how few people are flying in this environment, less than 200,000 people flew with us during the first two weeks of April this year, compared to more than 6 million during the same time in 2019, a 97 percent drop. And we expect to fly fewer people during the entire month of May than we did on a single day in May 2019.
The historically severe economic impact of this crisis means even when travel demand starts to inch back, it likely will not bounce back quickly. We believe that the health concerns about COVID-19 are likely to linger which means even when social distancing measures are relaxed, and businesses and schools start to reopen, life won’t necessarily return to normal. For example, not all states and cities are expected to re-open at the same time. Some international travel restrictions will remain in place. Meeting planners and tour operators will do their best to accommodate people looking to avoid large crowds. So, while we have not yet finalized changes to our schedule for July and August, we expect demand to remain suppressed for the remainder of 2020 and likely into next year.
So, let us end where we began, the government funding we expect to receive soon is helpful in the near-term because we can protect our employees in the U.S. from involuntary furloughs and pay rate cuts through the end of September. But the challenging economic outlook means we have some tough decisions ahead as we plan for our airline, and our overall workforce, to be smaller than it is today, starting as early as October 1.
Throughout this crisis, we have been candid and upfront with you. And today is no different. We appreciate the partnership and open dialogue we have with all of you as we confront this extraordinary situation that has had an unprecedented impact on our families and our company. We promise to continue to stay in close touch – and will continue to be as transparent as possible – in the weeks and months ahead.
Stay safe. Stay healthy. And please continue to take good care of our customers and each other. It’s because of you that we remain proud to be United Together.
WASHINGTON, April 6 (Reuters) – RavnAir Group, the largest regional carrier in Alaska, filed for bankruptcy Sunday and grounded all of its 72 planes as it waits on a decision from U.S. Treasury for government assistance.
The Trump administration is weighing applications from numerous airlines as it considers how to disburse $25 billion in passenger airline grants, $4 billion for cargo carriers and $3 billion for airport contractors. Congress approved the bailout funds to help air carriers cover payroll costs.
RavnAir, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware, said Sunday it was suspending all operations and laying off all employees.
“We took these actions to ensure our airline has a future, and to give us time to ‘hit pause'” while it seeks Treasury grants and “other sources of financial assistance that will allow us to weather the coronavirus pandemic and emerge successfully once it has passed.”
In a letter posted Sunday, RavnAir Chief Executive Dave Pflieger said the airline was working to “resume the vital air service you depend on to get home to your families, to your businesses, to medical appointments, and to other duties that are essential to our communities and the state of Alaska.”
Delta Air Lines Inc, American Airlines Group Inc , Spirit Airlines Inc, Southwest Airlines Co , United Airlines Holdings Inc and JetBlue Airways Corp are among the airlines that confirmed they filed before a Friday deadline set by Treasury to get speedy consideration.
On Sunday, top Democrats including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Charles Schumer urged Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to move quickly and not impose unreasonable conditions on the grants. Airline unions and many Democrats object to Treasury demanding significant equity or warrants as a condition to the grants.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
