HONG KONG, Dec 2 (Reuters) – Cash-strapped Chinese conglomerate HNA Group said on Monday it has agreed a deal to restructure its low-cost carrier West Air with a Chongqing-based asset management firm.
Chongqing Yufu Asset Management Group and its affiliates will together hold at least 70% stake in West Air, becoming the biggest shareholder, HNA said in a statement.
West Air, established in 2007, operates about 160 domestic and international routes with a fleet of 35 airplanes.
It has been directly controlled by HNA, whose affiliates also own struggling Hong Kong Airlines as well as Hainan Airlines Holding Co Ltd.
Budget carrier Hong Kong Airlines was ordered by Hong Kong’s air transport regulator on Monday to shore up its financial position by Dec. 7 or risk the suspension or loss of its licence.
Hainan Airlines, which has seen declining profits, said in a Shanghai stock exchange filing on Monday that it will seek 4 billion yuan ($568 million) in loans from eight banks led by China Development Bank.
The funds will be used to cover the costs of fuel, maintenance charges, staff salaries and operational expenses, it said in the filing.
$1 = 7.0389 Chinese yuan renminbi
Reporting by Meg Shen; Editing by Edmund Blair and Susan Fenton
FILE PHOTO: A Norwegian Air Boeing 737-800 is seen during the presentation of Norwegian Air first low cost transatlantic flight service from Argentina at Ezeiza airport in Buenos Aires, Argentina, March 8, 2018. REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci/File Photo
OSLO (Reuters) – Norwegian Air has agreed with Airbus and Boeing to reschedule delivery of aircraft to cut capital spending, the loss-making budget carrier said on Wednesday.
In total, the announced restructurings and postponements of Boeing and Airbus aircraft delivery will reduce capital expenditure for 2019 and 2020 by $2.1 billion, it said.
The Oslo-listed airline has shaken up the long-haul market by offering cut-price transatlantic fares, but its rapid expansion has left it with hefty losses and high debts.
(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
(Reuters)
– Virgin Atlantic on Wednesday reported an annual pretax loss for the
second consecutive year, hit by a shaky economy, the higher costs of
fuel generated by a weaker British pound and problems with Rolls Royce’s
Trent engines.
The
airline, the 1980s brainchild of British billionaire Richard Branson,
fell back into the red in 2017 after three years of profits, as
competition intensified and the weakening of the pound added to already
rising fuel costs.
Best
known in Europe for the trans-Atlantic planes it flies with Air
France-KLM and Delta, Virgin said its loss before tax and exceptional
items was 26.1 million pounds ($34.12 million) for the year ended Dec.
31, compared to a loss of 49 million pounds in 2017.
Total
revenue rose 5.8 percent to 2.78 billion pounds, as passenger numbers
grew just under 5 percent to 5.4 million and revenue per customer rose
1.7 percent.
The
company said performance had suffered from economic uncertainty and the
weaker pound – which increases costs because fuel is priced in dollars –
as well as the well-documented problems of the Trent 1000 engines used
on its Boeing 787 jets.
“While
a loss is disappointing, our performance has improved in 2018 despite
challenging economic conditions and put us on a trajectory for growth
and return to profitability,” Chief Executive Officer Shai Weiss said in
a statement.
Rolls-Royce
on Wednesday agreed to an early inspection of some Trent 1000 TEN
engines by regulatory authorities, a week after Singapore Airlines
grounded two Boeing 787-10 jets fitted with the units.
British
Airways owner IAG in February chose Boeing 777-9s, rather than a
competing package from Airbus in part powered by Rolls, underlining the
risks to airlines from the engine issues.
Since
then the industry has been thrown into chaos by the grounding of
Boeing’s new 737 MAX planes after a second fatal crash within six
months.
The
pound fell 5.6 percent against the U.S. dollar, in 2018 as Britain
contended with the political and economic uncertainty generated by its
negotiations on leaving the European Union.
Finance
chief Tom Mackay said that while economic factors would continue to
challenge the carrier in the year ahead, Virgin Atlantic was in a strong
cash position.
The
results are the company’s first since its acquisition of troubled
regional airline Flybe for $2.8 million earlier this year, in a joint
bid with Stobart Group and Cyrus Capital.
($1 = 0.7649 pounds)
(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain and Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
ABU DHABI (Reuters) – Etihad Airways on Thursday reported its third consecutive annual loss despite finding cost savings of nearly half a billion dollars as it cut its workforce and fleet.
The Abu Dhabi state-owned airline blamed challenging market conditions including higher fuel prices for a $1.28 billion (965.2 million pounds) loss in 2018, narrower than the $1.52 billion it lost in 2017.
Etihad, which has trimmed its ambitions to be a major intercontinental airline to focus on point-to-point flights, has made losses of $4.75 billion since 2016.
Revenue fell nearly 4 percent to $5.86 billion last year, compared with the $6.1 billion it reported for 2017.
The airline launched a five-year turnaround strategy in 2017, the year current chief executive, Tony Douglas, was hired.
“In 2018, we continued to forge ahead with our transformation journey by streamlining our cost base, improving our cash flow and strengthening our balance sheet,” Douglas, said in a statement.
Etihad said it slashed costs by $416 million in 2018, or 5.5 percent, as it cut its workforce by 5 percent to 21,855.
The number of passengers carried fell by 4.3 percent to 17.8 million as it cut the number of aircraft in its fleet by nine and stopped flying to several routes it said were unprofitable.
Etihad has been rethinking its business since 2016 after piling billions of dollars into a failed strategy of buying minority stakes in other airlines.
Dozens of aircraft orders with Airbus and Boeing worth billions of dollars have since been canceled.
(Reporting By Stanley Carvalho; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
