Last week it was the return of the world's longest flight -- Singapore to New York JFK. This week comes another new aviation record: the world's longest flight in a single-aisle aircraft.
Air Transat flight TS690 flew transatlantic from Montreal, Canada, to Athens, Greece, on Monday -- a journey of 7,600 kilometers, or 4,754 miles. So far, so normal -- except the eight-hour, 32-minute flight was performed in a narrowbody Airbus A321neoLR. It was the longest commercial flight that a single-aisle aircraft has been used for. The only problem: headwinds. They meant that for the return flight, the plane needed to refuel at Paris Charles de Gaulle. Winter weather conditions mean this is more likely to happen than in the summer.

Estonia’s flag-carrier Nordic Aviation Group (Nordica) reached an agreement with LOT Polish Airlines to obtain LOT’s 49% share in Xfly (previously Regional Jet). The deal makes Nordica the sole owner of its regional subsidiary Xfly. Despite the “breaking up”, commercial cooperation between Nordica and LOT would continue.

“As a result of the pandemic and significantly reduced demand for air connections, today we are completing this special journey,” Rafał Milczarski, the CEO & President of the Management Board of LOT Polish Airlines, said, adding that the four years of mutually beneficial cooperation is over.

In November 2016, Poland’s flag-carrier LOT acquired a 49% of share in Nordica’s subsidiary Xfly, previously called Regional Jet. The two airlines outsourced flight operations services from Xfly, shared a ticket sales platform, and worked together in operating flights between Tallinn and Warsaw.

As Nordica is striving to survive COVID-19 pandemic, the airline received approval for a state-aid package, which included a state-guaranteed loan of $8 million and capital back-up by $22 million in October 2020.

On February 26, 2021, IAG reported a net loss of €6.9 billion ($8.4 billion) after tax in 2020 compared to a net profit of €1.7 billion ($2.1 billion) after tax in 2019. The airline’s financial results also disclosed the operating loss of €7.4 billion ($9 billion) in 2020 compared with a profit of €2.6 billion ($3.2 billion) in 2019.

On February 18, 2021, Air France-KLM reported its net loss of €7.1 billion ($8.6 billion) in 2020, as a result of continued negative impacts to passenger demand due to COVID-19 crisis.

The airline’s financial statement disclosed €4.5 billion ($5.4 billion) annual operating loss and its net debt which widened to €11 billion ($13.3 billion). The airline’s passenger numbers, which were crucial for the airline's financial performance, slumped by 67%.

On December 3, 2020, SAS Scandinavian Airlines reported a SEK10.2 billion ($1.2 billion) loss before tax for the financial year from November 2019 to October 2020. In comparison, the company reported a profit of around SEK800 million ($95 million) the year before. It said that the COVID-19 measures were the most significant contributor to the deficit.

To increase the liquidity, the company started the process of retiring 21 aircraft earlier than planned, including 15 Boeing 737, five Airbus A340 and one Airbus A330 aircraft. In August 2020, SAS also had an agreement with Airbus to delay the arrival of eight A320neo and two A350-900s.

In October 2020, Denmark and Sweden, currently the largest owners of SAS, secured the rescue plan to restore the company's equity by $1.5 billion (SEK14.2 billion).

The improved cargo performance could not prevent the carrier posting an operating loss of $530 million for the full year and a net loss of $836 million. That compares with an operating profit of $585 million and net profit of $788 million in 2019.

Its joint-venture leisure carrier SunExpress turned in a full-year loss of $198 million after a deterioration in revenues of more than $1 billion, to $564 million – a contrast in performance with 2019 when the airline made a profit of $62 million.

Norwegian made a net loss of NKr23 billion ($2.7 billion) in 2020, dramatically deepening one of NKr1.61 billion in 2019, as its long-haul low-cost business model was devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Amid an 82% cut in available seat-kilometres, revenue tumbled to NKr9.1 billion, from NKr43.5 billion in 2019.

The company’s results were heavily impacted by NKr12.8 billion in fourth-quarter impairments as it adapted its fleet to a smaller network. From a fleet of 131 aircraft at the end of 2020, it aims to operate a maximum of 53 jets this year, depending on the progress of the pandemic, and is currently using just 10. Fourth-quarter capacity was slashed by 96%.

In November, Norwegian entered into an examinership and restructuring process that it hopes will enable it to reduce its fleet, cut its debt and secure new capital as part of its transformation into a Norwegian domestic and European short-haul carrier. Noting that this effort is “on track”, the airline warns that without a successful exit from the process it would be “highly likely that the company will enter into liquidation and/or bankruptcy proceedings during the second quarter of 2021.”

As part of its transformation the carrier hopes to reduce its debt to around NKr20 billion and raise NKr4-5 billion in new capital. In 2020 it slashed net debt by NKr18 billion, mostly through equity conversions.

the company’s net loss for the year amounted to Rb96.5 billion [$1.3 billion],” states the SkyTeam member, which had made a profit of Rb5.3 billion in 2019. Revenue almost halved, falling from from Rb552 billion to Rb228 billion.

Europe’s biggest budget operator Ryanair carried 500,000 passengers in February, compared with 10.5 million a year ago, while Wizz flew a little under 400,000 passengers, compared with over 3 million in February 2020.

Over the rolling year during this period Ryanair carried 32.7 million passengers, a fall of almost 80% on the 153.8 million it carried in the 12 months to February 2020.

Wizz passenger levels are down 72% for the same rolling year, down from 41 million to 11.5 million.

Czech Airlines’ insolvency petition sets out the scale of the company’s financial problems, which it partly attributes to the inability to source rescue funding from the Czech government.

The company has 266 creditors, with the total liability to suppliers amounting to Kc809 million ($37.1 million) as of 25 February, its petition to a Prague municipal court states.

But the petition, seen by FlightGlobal, adds that there is a debt of nearly Kc1 billion to “hundreds of thousands” of passengers who are owed for the cancellation of flights.

“[Czech Airlines] is unable to meet these obligations owing to a lack of liquid funds,” the petition states, adding that the company’s liabilities exceed the value of its assets.

“For this reason the [company] is also in a state of over-indebtedness.”

It is blaming the need to file the petition on a combination of the impact of the pandemic, an absence of support from the Czech government, and the competitive pressure from other better-funded carriers.

“Virtually all of the [airline’s] competitors have received significant state aid,” it says.

The petition puts the company’s revenues last year at Kc1.69 billion compared with Kc8.5 billion in 2019 and over Kc9 billion in 2018.

Air France will significantly scale back its domestic network in a bid to cut costs and reach environmental goals required by its bailout deal. The changes will mean that the airline’s domestic network out of Paris Orly Airport will shrink drastically, with routes to cities like Lyon and Bourdeaux canceled and replaced by train services. Here’s more on these changes.

Air France has been offering a Flight + Train service for some years now, connecting several destinations to its hubs in Paris. However, the airline’s €7bn ($8.3bn) bailout package last year requires it to take steps to reduce its environmental footprint further, starting with cutting domestic connections.

Under the bailout conditions, Air France cannot compete with the high-speed TGV trains on routes under 2.5 hours. This means routes like Paris Orly to Lyon, Bourdeaux, Nantes, and more have been axed. However, connecting flights through Paris CDG are still allowed under the rules, keeping some services in the air.

While the decision might be mandated by the bailout loan, Air France doesn’t see it as completely negative. The airline operated its domestic network at a loss of €200mn ($238mn) in 2019, finding it hard to compete with the cheaper and efficient rail network.

This comes with the benefit of significantly reducing emissions in the future since trains are much more environment-friendly. Considering the threat of climate changes, governments are moving quickly to reduce emissions where possible, with the aviation industry being a significant polluter.

In February 2021, the number of passengers serviced at Riga International airport fell to the lowest level since flights were resumed in May 2020, according to the airport's data published March 11.

24,000 passengers were serviced in February, with the number of travelers decreasing by 95.1% compared to last year. In particular, transit flows continue to decrease – the number of travelers using the airport as a transit center to travel to other destinations represented only 14% of the total passenger volume.

In total, during the first two months of 2021, Riga airport serviced 74.4 thousand passengers, 92.7% less than during the corresponding period of last year.

The majority, or nearly 75%, of the passengers serviced by Riga airport were transported by the national airline airBaltic in February, 6.7% by the German airline Lufthansa and the Irish low-cost airline Ryanair, 3.6% by the Finnish airline Finnair, while 1.9% by the Hungarian low-price carrier Wizz Air.

During the first two months of the year, 2,825 aircraft arrived and landed at Riga, 77.4% less than last year during this period. Passenger flights have decreased by 88.2%, while the number of cargo and other flights has increased by 39.5% and 30.8%, respectively.

In January this year, only slightly more than 50 000 passengers were served at Riga airport – 90.4% fewer travelers than in January 2020. Meanwhile, in 2020, only 2.01 million passengers were served at Riga airport, 74.2% fewer than a year earlier.

Air Serbia is increasing the frequency of its flights from Belgrade to New York JFK due to increased demand. This is despite the travel restrictions imposed between Serbia and the US as a result of the pandemic.

“The addition of another weekly flight to New York, despite the coronavirus pandemic, is a clear indicator that our transatlantic connection functions well and that it represents one of Air Serbia’s strongest routes. The United States is a very important market for us, and we are glad to provide a continuous and strong flight connectivity, not just to Serbia, but also the broader region.”

Air Serbia first launched flights to New York JFK five years ago and has been flying there continuously up until the pandemic struck and Belgrade Airport was closed. Still, the interruption only lasted for less than three months.

As Simple Flying reported at the time, Air Serbia was the airline with the highest load factor at JFK’s Terminal 4 in September 2020. At 67%, it carried a higher load than any other airline to the Big Apple.

Wizz Air Abu Dhabi was first announced in 2019 with a target launch date in the second half of 2020. The timeline slightly shifted, with the launch postponed from mid-October to mid-November and then to mid-January.

The airline’s launch has been impacted by the global health crisis and travel restrictions to some of its planned destinations. Athens and Thessaloniki have been the main services operating thus far.

Ryanair’s CEO Eddie Wilson has said the airline would continue to fight state-aid for national carriers to the very ‘last resort’. Following appeals of EU Commission approval for French, German, and Swedish government aid, it has its sights set on the Portuguese bailout of flag-carrier TAP – which could end up reaching over €3 billion before its restructuring process is complete.

The fact that Ryanair is unhappy with a state-supported bailout of a national airline should come as a surprise to no one. Over the past year, the Irish low-cost carrier has brought court cases against government support to Air France, SAS, Lufthansa, and Finnair. The airline has filed no less than 16 lawsuits against the European Commission related to state-aid since the beginning of the pandemic.

The latest round of discontent is directed towards the government support for Portuguese flag-carrier TAP Air Portugal. The European Commission first approved the €1.2 billion ($1.435 billion) bailout in June last year. Ryanair has now vowed to appeal the decision and fight what it calls ‘illegal state aid’ to the very ‘last resort’.

For 2021, the Portuguese government has budgeted another €500 million ($606 million) to help its struggling airline. It has already sought approval from the Commission for the funds to be granted as ‘interim aid’ while the airline undergoes restructuring. The plan, submitted in December, involves 2,000 job cuts by 2022, 25% pay cuts, and another €2 billion in state-guaranteed funds to cover expenses until 2024.

Eddie Wilson is skeptical about the airline’s potential of ever being able to repay the funds and that keeping TAP alive will end up being all at the expense of the tax-payers.