Tag: shutdown
Infrastructure work across the Auckland metro rail network is set to ramp up over the Christmas period during a network wide shut down.
As Aucklanders head out of the city on holiday, work on several projects is scheduled across the network to take advantage of the quieter period.
KiwiRail Chief Operating Officer Todd Moyle says work will focus on track repairs.
“We’ll have more than 100 people working over the Christmas and New Year period across the network. Additionally, preliminary work on Papakura to Pukekohe electrification, the Westfield and Wiri junction and the construction of a third main will be getting underway.”
All of the projects are part of the Auckland Metro Rail Programme and once complete will deliver Auckland a resilient train infrastructure network for improved reliability of passenger train services provided by Auckland Transport and freight trains.
Earlier in the year, testing uncovered damage to more than 100km of track which required urgent upgrading.
“Our teams have put in a lot of hours and have already completed over 50 percent of the required work.
“The upgrade has been a massive task and KiwiRail has worked with Auckland Transport throughout the project to try to minimise the impact on commuters.”
The network shutdown will take place from Saturday 26 December to Sunday 10 January. During that period only freight trains will operate on the tracks.
Commuters on the Western line between Fruitvale Road and Swanson will need to prepare for a longer period of disruption, with work starting earlier, on December 20, and continuing along the entire Western Line until the end of January 2021.
“We have planned the repairs on the Western line to minimise the impact when the school year begins in February.”
“KiwiRail appreciates the level of cooperation and understanding from the public as this necessary work continues. The progress that will be made during the shutdown is an investment which will make the network more resilient and reduce future outages.”
AT Executive General Manager Integrated Networks Mark Lambert says “Once again AT wishes to acknowledge the disruption that these works have had on our customers. We will continue to provide Rail Replacement Bus services across the network throughout the shutdown, including New Year’s Eve, when many Aucklanders will be wanting to spend time with their friends and loved-ones.”
Boeing Announces Second-Quarter Deliveries
The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] announced today major program deliveries across its commercial and defense operations for the second quarter of 2020.
“Our commercial airplane deliveries in the second quarter reflect the significant impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on our customers and our operations that included a shutdown of our commercial airplane production for several weeks. We have and will continue to work with our customers on specific timing and adjustment to deliveries,” said Greg Smith, Boeing executive vice president of Enterprise Operations, chief financial officer and interim leader of Communications. “We continue to closely monitor the commercial marketplace by staying very engaged with our customers around the globe to fully understand short term and long term requirements. All of this is informing current and future production rates and any further adjustments as needed to balance supply and demand going forward. The diversity of our portfolio including our government services, defense and space programs will continue to provide some stability as we navigate through the pandemic and rebuild stronger on the other side.”
Major program deliveries during the second quarter were as follows:
LONDON (Reuters) – EasyJet can survive a nine-month shutdown thanks to its measures to contend with the coronavirus crisis and is planning for a slow recovery, the British airline said on Thursday.
As airlines worldwide battle for survival after lockdowns and travel bans brought the sector to a virtual standstill, EasyJet announced a new fleet plan to manage its emergence from the enforced hibernation.
The UK-based company said it will start to shrink its fleet and the number of planes it operates will not reach pre-crisis levels until 2022, signalling that it does not expect a quick recovery for the industry.
“We’ve been able to adapt ourselves to reduced demand for the next couple of years, then have the flexibility to increase as demand picks up again,” Chief Executive Johan Lundgren told reporters.
The industry is split on how quickly the sector can recover. Lufthansa, plane manufacturers and airline body IATA have warned that it will be a slow process. EasyJet’s bigger low-cost rival Ryanair, meanwhile, has predicted a swift rebound in traffic.
Lundgren said that, while he does not expect the grounding of easyJet’s fleet to last nine months, the company would remain cash-positive even if that were the case and could survive for longer than that by seeking additional funding.
Among the steps it is taking, easyJet is in talks over the sale and leaseback of some planes to leasing companies, with expected proceeds of up to 550 million pounds ($687 million).
“Overall, the company has presented a very credible response to the crisis,” said Goodbody analyst Mark Simpson.
In addition to the deferral of new orders and non-renewal of leases, easyJet said it now plans to sell six aircraft.
The airline, however, has faced calls from its founder and biggest shareholder, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, to terminate its 4.5 billion pound order with Airbus for 107 new jets.
He escalated his row with management on Thursday, issuing a statement saying he planned to call for the removal of Lundgren as well as chairman John Barton at forthcoming meetings. He said Lundgren should not send money to Airbus for planes while running an “aircraft parking lot”.
CASH PILE
Through various funding initiatives, easyJet expects to generate total additional liquidity of about 1.85 billion to 1.95 billion pounds, leading to a notional cash balance of about 3.3 billion pounds.
Given the level of continued market uncertainty, the company said it is not possible to provide guidance for the remainder of the 2020 financial year.
However, it said winter bookings are well ahead of those at the same stage last year, with Lundgren adding that he expects there to be pent-up demand for holidays as people emerge from lockdown.
But travel restrictions are likely to ease slowly and easyJet will have to be flexible, the CEO said. “I don’t think this is going to be a case of let’s just open everything up,” he added.
Measures under consideration include disinfecting aircraft and steps to ensure social distancing on planes.
“We will clearly look to have the middle seat empty as we start,” Lundgren said. “I think that is actually what the customers would like to see.”
EasyJet shares were up 2.2% at 616 pence at 1207 GMT, having lost more than 50% year to date.
($1 = 0.8007 pounds)
(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Kate Holton and David Goodman)
MILAN (Reuters) – Luxury carmaker Ferrari <RACE> said on Friday it would extend the shutdown of its two Italian plants and reopen on April 14, provided it had supplies, and update 2020 forecasts in May when it releases its first-quarter earnings.
Ferrari this month closed factories in Maranello and Modena, in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, for two weeks until March 27 in a response to the coronavirus outbreak and a shortage of parts.
Investment firm Exor <EXXRF>, which controls Ferrari, on Wednesday said that current plant closures at Ferrari as well as at other controlled companies Fiat Chrysler <FCAU> and CNH Industrial <CNHI>, though temporary, might continue.
Ferrari – which cited “the huge uncertainty and lack of predictability that the COVID-19 has created” – said it would continue to cover all days of absence for those employees who could not work remotely.
The company added it would give further financial guidance during a conference call on its first-quarter earnings, scheduled for May 4.
In February, Ferrari said it planned its adjusted core profit to increase to between 1.38-1.43 billion euros this year, compared to a previous guidance of over 1.3 billion euros.
Ferrari said on Friday it remained confident that it would “continue to create value for all stakeholders beyond the near-term uncertainties”.
(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari; Editing by Nick Macfie)
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Aircraft lessor BOC Aviation Ltd said on Tuesday it expected up to 30 Boeing Co <BA> and Airbus SE <EADSY> jets that had been scheduled to arrive this year could be delayed, primarily due to the Boeing 737 MAX grounding.
BOC said 18 jets that had been due in the first half had been delayed, including 12 A320neo’s due primarily to industrial constraints and 6 737 MAX’s as a result of the grounding.
For the full year, up to 7 A320neo’s and 23 737 MAX’s could be delayed, including three for which an airline customer has the right to acquire upon delivery, Asia’s second-biggest aircraft lessor said in a statement.
BOC said it was working with Boeing on a revised delivery timeframe.
Boeing last week estimated a return to service for the jet would begin early in the fourth quarter, but it did not rule out further reducing or temporarily shutting down production of the plane if that forecast needed to be revised.
U.S. carrier Southwest Airlines Co <LUV> last week removed the 737 MAX from its schedules until Jan. 5, 2020, saying it would need one to two months following regulatory approval to train pilots and prepare the jets for fresh commercial service.
(Reporting by Jamie Freed; Editing by Stephen Coates)
(Reuters) – Southwest Airlines Co cut its forecast for first-quarter revenue per seat mile on Wednesday, citing weak passenger demand and a $60 million hit to first-quarter sales from the longest partial U.S. government shutdown.
The more than month-long hiatus in U.S. government decision-making prevented the country’s fourth-largest airline from launching its new route to Hawaii and led to widespread delays at airports.
Southwest had said previously that it expected a $10 million to $15 million impact on revenue in the first three weeks of January.
On Wednesday, it quadrupled that for the full quarter and cut its growth estimate for unit revenue to a range of 3 percent to 4 percent from an earlier range of 4 percent to 5 percent.
Shares of the company, which has also been cancelling flights in recent days due to a conflict with maintenance staff and weather issues, fell nearly 5 percent in early trading, with a Goldman Sachs “sell” recommendation for investors adding to the pain.
Though the company has now received permissions for test flights to Hawaii, Goldman Sachs analyst Catherine O’Brien argued the shutdown would result in a shortened selling window for the airline, forcing it to discount fares heavily.
“Most of the company’s schedule is published eight months in advance and we would have expected a three to six month selling window for its Hawaii flights,” O’Brien wrote in a note, downgrading the stock to “sell” from “neutral”.
“We now expect initial flights to have a one to one and a half month selling window, putting more pressure on management to fill planes in a shorter time frame,” she added, cutting price target on the stock to $54 from $66.
Southwest shares were last down 4.1 percent at $55.30.
The company said on Tuesday it would be investigating a doubling of the number of planes grounded with mechanical problems in recent days as it continues talks with its mechanics union on a new contract that have been ongoing since 2012.
Flight cancellations by Southwest accounted for roughly 24 percent of the nearly 800 total flights canceled across the United States on Tuesday, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware.com.
About half of the cancellations were related to unscheduled maintenance issues but the airline said it had yet to calculate the impact of the groundings on its results.
(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera and Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
Airbus acknowledged reports last Thursday that Quantas has cancelled an order for its 8 remaining A380 aircraft. The announcement comes on the heels of Emirates re-evaluating its decision to add on to its remaining Super Jumbo order book.
Qantas Airlines of Australia confirmed it would not take any more of the world’s largest airplane, operating a fleet of 12 aircraft, instead of the 20 it had originally ordered. This news comes on the heels of Airbus’ largest A380 customer Emirates beginning discussions with Airbus over the possibility of changing some, or all, of its remaining A380 orders to smaller A350 or A330neo models after failing to secure an engine contract from Rolls-Royce for the last A380 order it placed.
Airbus has declined to comment on the future of the A380 at this time, but reports indicate that an announcement could come as soon as this Thursday.
Airbus also reported the cancellation of an order for five of its smallest aircraft, the 110-seat A220-100. The identity of the A220 buyer was not disclosed, but is widely believed to be the Swiss-based business charter carrier PrivatAir, which filed for insolvency at the end of 2018. PrivatAir had placed an ordered for 5 of the type, the Canadian Bombardier CS100 at the time of the order, in early 2012.
