Airline COVID-19 capacity, network, staff cuts 29APR

Unions approve rescue plan of South Africa’s Comair

Comair business rescue plan gets thumbs-up

Lufthansa mulls further fleet cuts, including all A380s

Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt Int'l) is contemplating cutting its fleet beyond the 100 aircraft announced earlier this year in a move that could see all A380-800s and B747-400s permanently phased-out, Bloomberg has reported citing internal sources.

Besides the A380s and the B747-400s, the German carrier would also potentially retire the bulk of its A340-300s and some narrowbody aircraft. The details of the proposed cuts have yet to be firmed.

According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, net of the cuts announced earlier this year, Lufthansa still has eight A380-800s which it tentatively plans to return to service going forward. The airline also owns seventeen A340-300s and thirteen B747-400s.

However, Lufthansa was not looking to retire all of its quadjets, as it would keep both the B747-8s (of which it currently operates 19) and at least some of the A340-600s (twelve). In August, the carrier said in an internal memo that the outright retirement of all of its quadjet aircraft was also on the table.

According to sources, a...

IAG announces €2.74bn capital increase amid poor bookings

IAG International Airlines Group has announced a fully underwritten capital increase to raise EUR2.741 billion euros (USD3.24 billion) to bolster its finances and help it withstand a prolonged downturn in air travel. It will issue 2,979,443,376 new shares, it said in a statement on September 10.

The move, which shareholders approved on September 8, will give the shareholders the opportunity to subscribe to three new shares for every two they own.

IAG, which owns British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, LEVEL, and Vueling Airlines, will issue the shares at EUR0.92 (USD1.09) each, representing a 35.9% discount based on the closing price on September 9. The Reuters news agency described it as “a heavily discounted rights issue.”

Qatar Airways Group, IAG's biggest shareholder with a 25.1% stake, “has irrevocably undertaken to subscribe for its pro-rata entitlement under the capital increase,” the statement said.

IAG, which has vowed to avoid any state aid, initially revealed the plan for a rights issue on July 31. It said that the increase in shares necessary...