Capa Live News Today

Analysis CAPA Founder and Chairman Emeritus, Peter Harbison, delivers an address on the environmental sustainability pressures facing the global aviation industry before and after the Covid-19 pandemic. At this month’s CAPA Live Summit, screening on Wednesday 10-Mar-2021 and addressing the theme of sustainability, Mr Harbison says finding a balance between survival of the world and survival of the aviation and travel industry is “not an easy equation...One is an existential threat, and the ...

Technology is by far the most important overall factor for cutting carbon emissions, embracing both aircraft and engine technology and sustainable aviation fuels. Aircraft/engine technology: upcoming aircraft and future aircraft Aircraft/engine technology improvements includes both evolutionary change to upcoming aircraft (i.e. aircraft models already available or in the pipeline that are more efficient than most of the installed fleet) and next generation future aircraft types. The modelling e...

Analysis Saudi LCC flyadeal turned three years old in Sep-2020 and pre-pandemic was about to reach 10 million passengers, but despite the setback is already back to 90% of its frequencies, flying domestically. Plans to start flying internationally have been pushed back to summer 2021; flyadeal will stay within the region to start with. There is likely to be some overlap with its sister airline Saudia, but as they have very different customer demographics, they see a role for both airlines.  Th...

Analysis International recovery will take longer than Sir Tim Clark, president of Emirates Airline, first thought. With the focus now on controlling the spread, it’s not possible to think of operating fleets at the levels they had hoped. Apart from the US, Sir Tim does not see the sector-specific aid that needs to go into the perfectly good businesses to help them survive. They have good business models – just no passengers. Sir Tim believes it’s a good time to sort out a lot of the issue...

Analysis African airlines were grounded for the period from Mar- to Sep-2020, and with no aid forthcoming it has been difficult for many airlines. As a result "the African airline industry has been severely damaged". Ethiopian Airlines could see that there was an opportunity with cargo demand and made a quick decision to build up capacity. That has helped the airline manage its cash flow without any bailout money or borrowing, and without any lay-offs or any salary reduction. The airline is ope...

Analysis EasyJets CEO, Johan Lundgren, doesn’t estimate operating more than 10% of 2019 levels in the first quarter of 2021. Mr Lundgren maintains that they have to be flexible, as there is plenty of demand, but the restrictions need to be lifted. Operating across Europe means the airline can move assets and fly to different places where the demand is. The CEO reports that the airline has a number of scenarios, but they want to wait as long as possible before putting them on sale. Mr Lundgren...

Analysis Airlines have responded differently to the way that the pandemic has affected the demand for goods, to the changing nature of those goods, and the way that they are supplied. Several of them have risen to the challenge to a greater degree than others. One of them is Qatar Airways, which was already the second largest cargo carrier by FTKs (2019). By being one of the first movers in converting passenger aircraft for full freighter operations and seeking out new markets, Qatar Airways ha...

Mr Shah reiterated that Azul’s competitive strengths had served the airline well during the pandemic.  One advantage the airline has cited is its fleet flexibility. Its fleet ranges from nine Cessna Caravans to 271-seat Airbus A330s.  Azul fleet summary, as of mid-Jan-2021 Source: CAPA Fleet Database  That flexibility has allowed Azul to optimise aircraft deployment as markets come back online. It can initially place a Cessna or ATR turboprop on a route, and in some cases enough demand can...

Premium Analysis Allegiant Air is joining other ultra low cost and low cost operators in concluding that it has certain advantages in recovering from the COVID 19 pandemic – a focus on leisure passengers and a favourable cost structure.  Additionally, Allegiant believes its balance sheet is well fortified as 2021 gets under way, and does not see any major competitive shifts in the market it serves.  And where it does face competition, Allegiant believes its pricing structure will emerge as ...

Analysis The question of air cargo – how it has been affected by the pandemic, in what way(s) it has actually benefitted from it, its growing importance (along with e-commerce), and how it can contribute to global vaccination programmes – was discussed during the most recent session of CAPA Live in Dec-2020, during two sessions. The full sessions are available ‘on demand’ to subscribers to CAPA Live. To become a subscriber, you can apply to gain a free pass here. The text below contain...