Belavia suspends Belgrade over airspace restrictions

GLOBAL AVIATION NEWS

Emirates posts first loss in 30 years

Dubai-based Emirates airline has posted a $5.5 billion annual loss, its first in more than three decades, after the coronavirus pandemic devastated the aviation industry. The carrier said it received a capital injection of $3.1 billion from its owner, the government of Dubai, to help it survive the crisis. The Emirates group was "hit hard by the drop in demand for international air travel as countries closed their borders and imposed stringent travel restrictions", said Chairman and Chief Executive, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum. "No one knows when the pandemic will be over, but we know recovery will be patchy", he said in a statement. The Middle East's largest carrier said that the fallout triggered a loss of 20.3 billion dirhams ($5.5 billion) over the financial year to March, after last year's 1.1 billion dirhams ($288 million) profit. The airline, which was forced to temporarily suspend scheduled operations last year, saw revenue fall 66% to $8.4 billion. Over the fiscal year Emirates carried 6.6 million passengers, down 88% from the same period in the previous year. "The Covid-19 pandemic continues to take a tremendous toll on human lives, communities, economies, and on the aviation and travel industry", Sheikh Ahmed said. "Economies and companies that entered pandemic times in a strong position, will be better placed to bounce back", he added. The last time the airline reported a loss was in the 1987-88 financial year, when it was starting up its operations. Like other major carriers, Emirates began announcing heavy layoffs when its fleet of A380 superjumbos and Boeing 777s was grounded. The Emirates Group's employee base - which includes ground-handling firm Dnata - was slashed by 30.8% to 75.145 employees. Before the virus hit, Emirates airline alone employed some 60.033 staff, including 4.300 pilots and nearly 22.000 cabin crew. The workforce has now shrunk to 40.801 staff. Emirates is currently flying to 157 destinations, almost its full travel network of 158 destinations in 85 countries before the pandemic.
Source: France 24

Belavia suspends Belgrade over airspace restrictions

NEWS FLASH

Belarus’ national carrier Belavia has temporarily suspended its three-weekly service between Minsk and Belgrade over a ban on the country’s airlines from entering the airspace of a number of European countries in response to the grounding of a Ryanair flight in Belarus. Ukraine’s ban on Belarus-registered aircraft resulted in Belavia cancelling services to the Serbian capital until at least June 30. “Due to EU and Ukrainian aviation bans and the inability to operate scheduled flights to Belgrade, services are cancelled from May 29 until June 30, 2021. Airline specialists are calculating possible routing options for scheduled and charter flights that are affected by the bans in order to determine their feasibility”, Belavia said in a statement. The carrier has suspended flights to more than twelve countries. The Belorussian national carrier has performed well on its service between Minsk and Belgrade, carrying a significant number of transfer passengers to Russia and former Soviet republics, with Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Georgia achieving the best results. Belavia was the first airline to restore scheduled operations to Belgrade in May 2020 following the airport’s two-month closure. “Nobody has suggested they (Belavia) were in any way involved in this", IATA Director General Willie Walsh said. "I've made clear that we condemn what the government of Belarus has done. For the hard-working people at the airline, I think you do have to have some sympathy because they didn't do anything, but they are suffering as a result", he added.