Singapore Airlines (SIA) has completed sale-and-leaseback transactions for 11 aircraft, comprising seven Airbus A350-900s and four Boeing 787-10s, raising approximately S$2.0 billion in total.
The transactions were arranged by four different parties, as follows:
Lease Arranger
Aircraft
Aergo Capital Limited
1 Airbus A350-900 1 Boeing 787-10
Altavair
4 Airbus A350-900s
EastMerchant / Crianza Aviation
1 Airbus A350-900 2 Boeing 787-10s
Muzinich and Co. Limited
1 Airbus A350-900 1 Boeing 787-10
Total
11
SIA has successfully raised approximately S$15.4 billion in fresh liquidity since 1 April 2020, including these sale-and-leaseback transactions. The amount also includes S$8.8 billion from SIA’s successful rights issue, S$2.1 billion from secured financing, S$2.0 billion via the issuance of convertible bonds and notes, as well as more than S$500 million through new committed lines of credit and a short-term unsecured loan.
SIA continues to have access to more than S$2.1 billion in committed credit lines, along with the option to raise up to S$6.2 billion in additional mandatory convertible bonds before the Annual General Meeting in July 2021.
During this period of high uncertainty, as the airline industry continues to navigate the unprecedented challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the SIA Group will continue to explore additional means to raise liquidity as necessary.
Mr Goh Choon Phong, Singapore Airlines Chief Executive Officer, said: “The additional liquidity from these sale-and-leaseback transactions reinforces our ability to navigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic from a position of strength. We will continue to respond nimbly to the evolving marketing conditions, and be ready to capture all possible growth opportunities as we recover from this crisis.”
Australians and Kiwis have chosen Air New Zealand as their most trusted, respected and admired company – and the airline has a message of thanks as it faces a tough road ahead.
Quiet skies haven’t stopped Aussies sharing their love for the Kiwi airline, making it four consecutive years Air New Zealand has topped The RepTrak Company’s annual reputation ranking in Australia. Air New Zealand has also claimed the top position at home, pipping Toyota New Zealand, The Warehouse, and KiwiBank in RepTrak’s New Zealand ranking.
In ranking first in both Australia and New Zealand, Air New Zealand has continued to outperform on reputation pillars such as innovation, citizenship, products and performance.
Air New Zealand Chief Marketing and Customer Officer Mike Tod says the news is heartening as the airline faces the most disruptive period in its 80-year history.
“This award belongs to our hardworking people, who despite deep uncertainty about the future, continue to represent our nation and airline with pride, serving our customers with outstanding dedication.
“Our Aussie connection began 80 years ago, when we took our first flight to Sydney’s Rose Bay on 30 April 1940. Australia is Air New Zealand’s largest international market and before COVID-19, at peak times we operated around 375 flights a week across the Tasman.
“While we’re down to a handful of international services and a fraction of our domestic flying for essential travel and cargo, we’ve been overwhelmed by messages of support and care from customers. Thank you Australia, and New Zealand, for continuing to put your faith in us. Our Air New Zealand family can’t wait to welcome you on board again, when we can.”
Chief Executive Officer for The RepTrak Company Kylie Wright-Ford says the high esteem in which Australians and New Zealanders hold Air New Zealand will stand the airline in good stead as it continues to navigate the ongoing COVID-19 disruption.
“In times of crisis and uncertainty, having a consistently excellent reputation – as Air New Zealand does – is invaluable. Based on more than 20 years of providing data and actionable insights to companies globally we know people will continue to support companies that have stronger reputations.”
Further commentary on the RepTrak Australia and New Zealand rankings is available here.
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)
Due to increased uncertainty surrounding the duration and scale of the Covid-19 outbreak, Air New Zealand has today announced that it will be withdrawing the full year 2020 earnings guidance it issued to the market on 24 February 2020 and reconfirmed at its interim results announcement on 27 February 2020.
Air New Zealand has taken numerous steps to mitigate the impact of reduced demand resulting from Covid-19, including reducing capacity on its Asia, Tasman and Domestic networks, redeploying its fuel efficient 787 Dreamliner fleet to drive operational efficiencies and using tactical pricing to stimulate demand on the impacted sectors. However, the airline now believes that the financial impact is likely to be more significant than previously estimated and with the situation evolving at such a rapid pace, the airline is not in a position to provide an earnings outlook to the market at this time. An update on earnings expectations will be provided when appropriate.
Over the course of the past week the airline has seen additional softness in demand with a decline in bookings across its network. The further spread of Covid-19 to countries outside of China, including New Zealand, has driven a downward shift in demand.
Chief Executive Officer Greg Foran says that it is increasingly clear that Covid-19 has created an unprecedented situation and it is difficult to predict future demand patterns.
“We have been continuously monitoring bookings and in recent days have seen a further decline which coincides with media coverage of the spread of Covid-19 to most countries on our network as well as here in New Zealand,” says Mr Foran.
In response the airline has implemented further capacity reductions to its network, which include extending the suspension of its Shanghai service through to the end of April, and additional consolidation of services across the Tasman, Pacific Islands and Domestic network in March and April.
As a result of these actions, Air New Zealand has reduced total capacity into Asia by 26 percent, and total overall network capacity by approximately 10 percent since the outbreak of Covid-19 started.
Like the vast majority of its industry peers, the airline is also pursuing a range of mitigations in response to the swift decline of demand. These include the deferral of non-urgent capital spend and non-critical business activity across operational and corporate functions.
Chief Executive Officer Greg Foran has voluntarily offered to reduce his base pay of $1.65 million by approximately 15% ($250,000) with the support of the Board, and Air New Zealand’s Executive team will extend their salary freeze that has been in place since May 2019. On top of this, the airline has implemented a hiring freeze for all roles that are non-critical and will offer operational staff the option to take unpaid leave in addition to managing annual leave balances.
“Air New Zealand is a strong and resilient business operated by a world-class team with deep experience having navigated prior shocks to our business and industry. While we have already made swift adjustments to our operations, we are prepared to take further actions to address the ongoing demand impact of Covid-19,” says Mr Foran.
Summary of Air New Zealand’s response since the Covid-19 outbreak
Overall capacity reductions of approximately 10% across the network, including: – Asia capacity reduction of 26% through June, including extension of Shanghai route suspension through April – Tasman capacity reductions of 7% through June – Pacific Islands capacity reductions of 6% through June – Reductions across the Domestic network of approximately 4%, with a 10% to 15% reduction in March and April
Various labour initiatives including a voluntary reduction in CEO pay, a hiring freeze for all non-critical roles and voluntary unpaid leave for operational staff
Deferral of non-urgent capital spend and any non-critical business activity
FILE PHOTO: A traffic light is seen in front of a logo of General Electric at the company’s plant in Birr
(Reuters) – The U.S. government is considering whether to stop General Electric Co from continuing to supply engines for a new Chinese passenger jet, according to people familiar with the matter, casting uncertainty over China’s efforts to enter the civil aviation market.
The potential restriction on the engine sales – possibly along with limits on other components for Chinese commercial aircraft such as flight control systems made by Honeywell International Inc – is the latest move in the battle between the world’s two largest economies over trade and technology.
The issue is expected to come up at an interagency meeting about how strictly to limit exports of U.S. technology to China on Thursday and at another meeting with members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet set for Feb. 28, sources said.
The White House and the U.S. Commerce Department, which issues licenses for such exports, declined to comment, as did a GE spokeswoman. The departments of Defense, State, Energy and Treasury did not respond to requests for comment.
For years, the United States has supported American companies’ business with China’s budding civil aviation industry.
The government has provided licenses that allow those companies to sell engines, flight control systems and other components for China’s first large commercial aircraft, the COMAC C919. The narrow-body jet has already engaged in test flights and is expected to go into service next year. COMAC is an acronym for Commercial Aircraft Corp of China Ltd.
But the Trump administration is weighing whether to deny GE’s latest license request to provide the CFM LEAP-1C engine for the C919, people familiar with the matter said, though GE has received licenses for the LEAP engines since 2014 and was last granted one in March 2019.
The CFM LEAP engine is a joint venture between GE and France’s Safran Aircraft Engines. The proposal to halt the deliveries of the engines was also reported on Saturday by the Wall Street Journal.
Safran did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and French government officials could not be reached for comment.
Aside from aircraft engines, flight control systems are up for discussion at the February meetings. Honeywell International has received licenses to export flight control systems to COMAC for the C919 for about a decade, and one was approved in early 2020, according to a person familiar with the matter.
But future permission for such sales for COMAC’s passenger aircrafts may be up for debate. Honeywell also has been seeking a license for flight control technology to participate in the development of the C929, China’s planned wide-body jet venture with Russia, the person said.
The flight control system operates moving mechanical parts, such as the wing flaps, from the cockpit.
A spokeswoman for Honeywell declined to comment.
An aerospace trade group official said his organization would like to weigh in on any policy shifts.
“If there are any changes, we would hope they would engage with us, as they’ve done before,” said Remy Nathan, vice president for international affairs at the Aerospace Industries Association.
At the heart of the debate over a possible crackdown on the sale of U.S. parts to China’s nascent aircraft industry is whether such shipments would fuel the rise of a serious competitor to U.S.-based Boeing Co or boost China’s military capabilities.
People familiar with the matter said some administration officials are concerned the Chinese could reverse engineer some items, though others say an abundance of LEAP engines in China has not brought that about to date.
If the United States were to move ahead with the measure, one person familiar with the matter said, China could retaliate by ordering more planes from Airbus SE , rather than crisis-hit Boeing, which relies on China for a fourth its deliveries.
The Trump administration’s meetings about technology issues also are set to include a discussion of whether to impose further restrictions on suppliers to Huawei Technologies, the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker, which is on a U.S. trade blacklist.
(Reporting by Karen Freifeld and Alexandra Alper; additional reporting by Tim Hepher in Paris; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
FILE PHOTO: China’s home-grown C919 passenger jet taxis after landing on its maiden flight at the Pudong International Airport in Shanghai
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump called Boeing <BA> Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg this week to ask about the status of 737 MAX production, two people briefed on the matter confirmed.
The call on Sunday was brief and Muilenburg assured Trump that the planned production halt was temporary and that the company would not be laying off any workers. The production halt, set to begin in January, was announced by Boeing Monday after a board meeting.
Boeing and the White House declined to comment on the call, reported earlier by the New York Times.
Separately, S&P Global Ratings on Thursday downgraded Boeing’s credit rating to “A-” from “A” and lowered the short-term rating to “A-2” from “A-1.”
The change “reflects the uncertainty over when the 737 MAX will return to service, the risk to the supply chain from the planned production halt, and possible long-term impact to Boeing’s competitive position.”
U.S. officials have repeatedly said they are waiting for additional answers from Boeing and have at time faulted the quality of submissions from the planemaker since the plane was grounded in March after two fatal crashes killed 346 people.
“We’ve had conversations about the importance of making sure that we are looking at complete documentation and not piecemeal documentation,” FAA Administrator Steve Dickson told Reuters in September. “It’s really better to be very methodical and very detailed rather than try to rush a partially completed product and then say, ‘We’ll get back to you with the rest of it.’”
Boeing has repeatedly said it is working with regulators to safely return the plane to service and acknowledged last week it would not occur until 2020.
Dickson said last week there are nearly a dozen milestones that must be completed before the MAX returns to service. Approval is not likely until at least February and could be delayed until March, U.S. officials told Reuters last week.
American Airlines Group Inc <AAL> and Southwest Airlines Co <LUV> have canceled flights into April because of the grounding.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
