CAPA News Briefs

Ontario International Airport stated (14-Jan-2021) its passenger operations "fared significantly better than most airports in California and across the world" in 2020. Domestic passenger numbers decreased 53% year-on-year and international traffic decreased 68%, compared to projections of a global drop in air passenger volumes of 60%. Ontario International Airport Authority CEO Mark Thorpe said: "Despite the challenging passenger numbers for 2020, several airline partners restarted service to popular destinations in the second half of the year and announced additional routes for the first half of 2021". [more - original PR]

Airports Council International – North America (ACI-NA) forecast (14-Jan-2021) US airports will lose at least USD17 billion between Apr-2021 and Mar-2022 due to a prolonged decline in commercial aviation traffic. The losses are in addition to around USD23 billion that US airports are expected to lose between Mar-2020 and Mar-2021. [more - original PR]

EgyptAir, via its official Facebook account, announced (14-Jan-2021) plans to commence daily Cairo-Doha service on 18-Jan-2021. The airline will operate the service with the "latest types of aircraft". Chairman and CEO Mohamed Roshdy Zakaria said the airline may increase frequency to twice daily depending on demand (Anadolu Agency/Arabian Business/Bloomberg, 13/14-Jan-2021).

Air Senegal and Dakar Blaise Diagne International Airport signed (30-Dec-2020) a MoU on 29-Dec-2020 for the establishment of an aeronautical maintenance centre at the airport. The proposed facility will provide MRO services for local, regional and international customers. [more - original PR - French]

Delta Air Lines announced (14-Jan-2021) it implemented the following measures to mitigate COVID-19 impacts:

• Completed over USD25 billion in financing transactions in 2020, including USD9 billion SkyMiles financing;
• Received USD5.6 billion in payroll support programme proceeds through the CARES Act, with USD4 billion in grant funds, USD1.6 billion in low interest rate loans and issuance of warrants for over 6.7 million shares;
• Restructured aircraft order book, reducing aircraft purchase commitments by USD2 billion in 2020 and USD5 billion through 2022;
• Accelerated fleet simplification strategy with 227 aircraft retirements in 2020, reducing the number of fleet families from 13 to 11. The carrier anticipates the cumulative retirement of around 400 aircraft through 2025, further simplifying fleet families down to nine;
• Reduced total adjusted operating expense by 40%, with a nearly 50% or greater reduction in 2/3/4Q2020. [more - original PR]

All Nippon Airways announced (14-Jan-2021) plans to further suspend 11,361 domestic frequencies between 19-Jan-2021 and 28-Feb-2021. Between 19-Jan-2021 and 31-Jan-2021, the carrier will operate 32% of its planned schedules, and 55% in Feb-2021. [more - original PR - Japanese]

Kennedy Lewis Investment Management and Arena Aviation Capital entered (14-Jan-2021) a strategic partnership to launch a USD1.5 billion aircraft leasing platform, named KLA Aviation Finance. The platform will seek to acquire modern technology commercial aircraft assets leased to airlines globally, with a primary focus initially on young and new narrowbody aircraft. Kennedy Lewis has committed to provide equity financing to capitalise KLA. Arena will source transactions for the platform on an exclusive basis as well as provide a full suite of lease servicing and asset management services. [more - original PR]

Air New Zealand announced (14-Jan-2021) the following highlights for the airline during 2020:

• Air New Zealand cargo operated 3306 freight services;
• More than 29 rescue services were operated from Wuhan, Mumbai, Delhi, Germany, Netherlands, Korea, Samoa and Tonga;
• The carrier handled 8.4 million passengers in 2020, a 17.6 million decrease year-on-year;
• More than 10 million items of PPE were delivered by the carrier to New Zealand, with more than 45,000 litres of disinfectant being used on its aircraft in 2020;
• New Zealander's purchased more than three million seats for under NZD100 (USD72.2) during 2020;
• Air New Zealand donated more than one million items to 33 organisations and charities around the country;
• Assisted transport 508 threatened wildlife and 60 conservation dogs, as well as establish as establish 5000 hectares of sustained pest control areas on New Zealand's Great Walks through its partnership with the Department of Conservation, bringing the total area controlled to 43,247 hectares. [more - original PR]

CAPA - Centre for Aviation confirmed (15-Jan-2021) Air Serbia CCO Jiri Marek, easyJet CEO Johan Lundgren, Finnair head of loyalty Karolina Baszarkiewicz, Flyadeal CEO Con Korfiatis, Hawaiian Airlines president & CEO Peter Ingram, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines managing director & CFO Erik Swelheim, SWISS CCO Tamur Goudarzi Pour, AAPA director general Subhas Menon, Citi region head global travel Asia Pacific and global travel management company strategy lead Michaela Rousseau, Istanbul Airport CEO Kadri Samsunlu, MUFG Bank Ltd director advisory, global aviation finance Albert Muntane Casanova, On Point Loyalty managing partner Evert de Boer and Raymond James managing director equity research Savanthi Syth as new speakers at CAPA Live February on 10-Feb-2021.

VINCI Airports reported the following traffic highlights:

• 3Q2020:
  • Passengers: 13.9 million, -76.6% year-on-year;
    • Portugal (ANA): 3.0 million, -77.0% ;
    • UK: 929,000, -92.0%;
    • Japan (Kansai Airports): 3.7 million, -70.8%;
    • France: 1.0 million, -78.5%;
    • Chile (Nuevo Pudahuel): 1.6 million, -72.5%;
    • Cambodia (Cambodia Airports): 115,000, -95.9%;
    • US: 921,000, -65.7%;
    • Serbia (Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport): 418,000, -70.3%;
    • Brazil (Salvador): 1.3 million, -40.0%;
    • Dominican Republic (Aerodom): 669,000, -52.4%;
    • Sweden: 104,000, -80.0%;
    • Costa Rica: 51,000, -80.6%;
  • Aircraft movements: 212,156, -56.6%;
• 12 months ended Dec-2020:
  • Passengers: 76.6 million, -70.0%;
    • ANA: 18.0 million, -69.6%;
    • UK: 11.9 million, -77.5%;
    • Kansai Airports: 15.8 million, -69.4%;
    • France: 6.8 million, -68.2%;
    • Nuevo Pudahuel: 8.5 million, -65.5%;
    • Cambodia: 2.2 million, -81.3%;
    • US: 4.0 million, -61.0%;
    • Belgrade Airport: 1.9 million, -69.1%;
    • Salvador: 3.9 million, -49.9%;
    • Aerodom: 2.5 million, -56.1%;
    • Sweden: 568,000, -75.0%
    • Costa Rica: 480,000, -60.8%;
  • Aircraft movements: 928,775, -54.8%. [more - original PR]

Air Arabia announced (14-Jan-2021) plans to resume daily Sharjah-Doha service with A320 equipment on 18-Jan-2021. [more - original PR]

US FAA administrator Steve Dickson signed (13-Jan-2021) an order directing a stricter legal enforcement policy against unruly airline passengers, effective immediately until 30-Mar-2021. The agency will now pursue legal enforcement action against any passenger who assaults, threatens or intimidates airline crew members. The order is in response to an increase in disruptive incidents on flights. [more - original PR]