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[hamhamham1] 23/4/2020 14:37

True charges per passenger like tax would be less but then the fixed cost per plane for other services at airport would stay the same. 50% increase would be about right maybe.

[loganair] 23/4/2020 13:35

Do not have to increase the price of the ticket by 50%.

1. Every passenger is charged a passenger handling fee by the airport, therefore this would not be charge on the empty middle seat.

2. Less weight, so less fuel is need.

I was shocked to hear how a passenger said they could not afford to lose the £64 they had paid for two adult tickets on Wizzair especially when many people will spend more then that on a night out down the pub.

3. Need to get back to a situation when "Everyone can not fly". I knew it was the end for the flying industry when 15 years ago I saw painted on the fuselage of an aircraft "Now Everyone Can Fly."

[hamhamham1] 23/4/2020 12:59

O'Leary is such a funny one. If you have to leave the middle seat free, just charge more.
I.e. instead of 3 x £50 seats, you sell 2 x £75 seats and leave the middle one empty. It's not rocket science!
If someone wants to fly, if it's £50 or £75, it doesn't matter, they'll still book it.

[take_that] 23/4/2020 12:58

This is what is required of BA aircraft to help combat C-19:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYkg8dbV7Ng

[loganair] 23/4/2020 12:05

The airline will not return to flying if middle seats must be kept vacant says Ryanair CEO.

Ryanair planes won’t return to the skies if the airline is forced to leave the middle seat empty, Michael O’Leary, has said.

O’Leary said that Ryanair had already told the Irish government that if it imposes the restriction, then “either the government pays for the middle seat or we won’t fly”.

[loganair] 23/4/2020 09:48

Virgin Atlantic Owes Delta $200 Million, Won’t Receive Cash From U.S. Shareholder.

Delta will not be providing Virgin Atlantic any financial assistance. It is Delta expecting cash: Virgin has to pay Delta $200 million related to their joint-venture, the airlines agreed earlier this year.

The $200m Virgin Atlantic owes Delta stems from them combining their joint-venture into the larger Delta-Air France-KLM JV, which resulted in a change of performance.

“Certain measurement thresholds were reset from the previous joint venture with Virgin Atlantic, reducing the value Delta would have received over the original term,” Delta said. “To compensate Delta for this reduced value, we entered into a transition agreement with Virgin Atlantic.”

Delta did not specify when the $200m would be due, but it was listed as an outstanding invoice as of March 31.

[qantas] 23/4/2020 09:47

Please do your own research as always.

[loganair] 22/4/2020 22:13

The co-owner of Virgin Atlantic Airways said it is unable to invest more in Richard Branson's struggling British airline, and raised the possibility it could face going through insolvency proceedings.

Delta Air Lines, which owns a 49 per cent stake in Virgin Atlantic, can't help out because it is consumed with its own problems.

"With our crisis in cash, we need to protect our own business. That's where our focus is," Bastian said.

"I trust Virgin will work through its challenges with the government. If they are required to go through an administration process in the UK, I'm confident they could re-emerge."

The blunt commentary offers a window into the peril facing Branson, who has swiftly become the highest-profile victim of an airline-industry crisis that is only just getting started.

Virgin Australia, another carrier he founded, entered administration this week after failing to obtain a state bailout, and beleaguered Virgin Atlantic has seen resistance to its request for hundreds of millions of UK-backed loans.

Branson's Virgin Group controls Crawley, England-based Virgin Atlantic, and has said it lacks the resources to get through the coronavirus pandemic.

The 69-year-old entrepreneur is struggling to convince governments to rescue his brands, given his own highly visible wealth and long-time residency in the West Indies, which has led him to be viewed as a tax exile.

While restructuring is possible under Britain's administration process, it more often leads to insolvency than Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US.

Britain has yet to decide on Virgin Atlantic's weeks-old application for hundreds of millions of pounds in support.

The government has asked the airline to provide details of its efforts to seek private-sector funding and hired Morgan Stanley to assess its profitability, viability and contribution to the British economy, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

[loganair] 22/4/2020 22:03

Delta Air Lines will need to "resize" the company in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, executives said Wednesday, as they sketched out a picture of airline industry recovery that is expected to be slow and choppy.

The message from Chief Executive Ed Bastian was grim.

"Given the combined effects of the pandemic and associated financial impact on the global economy, we believe that it could be up to three years before we see a sustainable recovery," Bastian said.

Other leading airlines have already signaled that job cuts will be needed given the expected slow recovery in air travel.

[loganair] 22/4/2020 21:49

The European Commission will next month present a set of rules for the safe reopening of air travel when coronavirus lockdowns end, including social distancing in airports and planes.

EU Transport Commissioner Adina Valean said on Wednesday that measures under consideration would include the wearing of masks and disinfection of planes and airports.

“All this should be part of those guidelines and probably by mid-May we can put forward this strategy we are working on,” Valean said.

In Canada, regulators started requiring passengers on Monday to wear a non-medical mask or face-covering during the boarding process and flights.

The EU’s Valean said it was impossible to say when the industry could resume operations but noted that she expected social distancing requirements to remain in place for as long as there is no COVID-19 treatment or vaccine.

“We expect the crisis to stay with us and the virus to stay with us,” she said.

[npp62] 22/4/2020 21:12

Agree again. Unfortunately Trump is a priceless knut of the highest order!

[npp62] 22/4/2020 21:09

Absolutely agree.

[m1k3y1] 22/4/2020 20:23

Nothing will change as long as the likes of Trump are only interested in money.

[careful] 22/4/2020 20:18

This debate is just warming up.
In times past there was smog and filthy air caused by coal burning power stations and every home burned coal to keep warm.
No more chimneys and smog is rare.

Then we were used to going to the pub only to come out smelling of smoke because smokers were polluting the air.
No more smoking in public places, a step in the right direction.

Recently we have been alerted to the harmful effects of diesel fumes with a huge drive towards electric vehicles.
Also carbon emissions from power stations and aircraft.

Now the virus, the World is about to change. It may be a good thing if travel is restricted.

Overpopulation is the problem the last one that needs solving. The World will not be able to support over 8bn people each enjoying the energy consumption that we have enjoyed.

[m1k3y1] 22/4/2020 20:17

Ryanair boss says airline won't fly with 'idiotic' social distancing rules

[smithys2019] 22/4/2020 20:05

Stale air is recirculated 5-10 times as often when compared to an office. The air conditioning units MUST have hepa filters on meaning that any nasties should be filtered out. It’s to primarily stop legionnaires, but relevant to NCOV too.

[m1k3y1] 22/4/2020 18:47

Plastic screens are a ridiculous idea and would protect no one.
Where did this nonsense come from ?

Quote "We must stop breathing in each others stale air."

and how do you propose that this is achieved when countries like America, India, china etc are polluting the air we breathe quicker than it can be cleaned.

You only have to look at the comparisons of the air in countries like china to see the effect that lockdown has had on the atmosphere.

We are all breathing everyone else's pollution.

[loganair] 22/4/2020 18:08

As a parent with a 5 year old, wishing to have a sleep on the flight and putting his head on my lap...how is this going to work if there are plastic screens separating us.

Having plastic separators will also greatly increase the cost of flying and also increase weight which means more fuel will need to be carried.

For some reason I've always had problems with my sinuses on Boeing aircraft why I dislike flying on them whereas no such problems flying on Airbus, BAE, ATR or any other aircraft manufacturer.

On the whole Boeing's are built to be as cheap as possible and extremely poorly built aircraft down to a very low standard as are the Air conditioning Systems on the Boeing's.

[careful] 22/4/2020 17:37

Good points but some freedoms will need to be sacrificed.
Screens should be compulsory for all.

The trouble is with air that has been passed through the engine, and despite filtering, it is not really trusted.
Some people are sensitive to it, particularly after long flights.

The expense and development that the Boeing Dreamliner went to in order to avoid using cabin air that was bled from the engine was proof that the problem was recognised.

We shall be more aware of the air we breath after this panic.

[loganair] 22/4/2020 17:16

The air breathed on an aircraft is already filtered up to a very high standard and often, therefore unless sitting with in a few feet then no problems.

Plastic separation screen between passengers, very difficult as would need to be easily removable by cabin crew when family members are sitting next to each other as would not work with a parent sitting next to their toddler.

Flying is supposed to be an enjoyable part of any holiday is why if possible I always fly KLM, Swissair or Lufthansa and I do not want to fly with plastic screens all over the place, personally I prefer not to fly if this was to become the case.

[careful] 22/4/2020 16:57

Interesting picture in the daily telegraph today.
A possible solution to the cramped un hygienic seating we have all tolerated when travelling by air.

They show see through plastic separation screen between passengers.
This problem can be solved, it looks plausible.

The next generation of aircraft will also need more width, a departure from the simple circular fuselage, to a flatter elliptical design.

Air conditioning must be tackled for aircraft and cruise liners, in fact all buildings too.
We must stop breathing in each others stale air.

All of these problems are solvable, some good will come out of this pandemic.

[arai] 22/4/2020 16:31

And it starts to tick the green agenda box as well

[loganair] 22/4/2020 15:38

Just image a person who lives with in a 45 min commute of London. They now discover that they can do most their work form home.

When the lock down is finished, this person really only needs to commute into London twice a week, they can sell their expensive home and move out to a 90 min commute and with the same money can buy a home 3 times better as they are now further away from London.

Or this person can stay in the same house, traveling every day to London.

If many of a companies work force can work from home 3 times a week and only need to come into the office twice a week then the company doesn't need just big expensive offices.

[smithys2019] 22/4/2020 15:14

You don’t get to walk the factory floor with video conference though. Apple have a design shop representative live on the shop floor when they are setting up production lines for example. Lots of other examples less extreme than this too.