24left

Further to @YEG USER's posts

March 24, 2020 3:21 pm - Global/ The Canadian Press

QUOTE:

"Up to 600 Air Canada pilots will also go on unpaid leave in the coming months due to the fallout from the virus, their union said Tuesday.

Captain Michael McKay, head of the Air Canada Pilots Association, said the union agreed to a plan late Monday for a maximum of 600 pilots on furlough.

The pilots have also agreed to reduced pay across the board and “simplified contract language” to allow them to retire earlier, he said.

“Like all Canadians, the more than 4,400 pilots of Air Canada and Air Canada rouge have been deeply affected by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, personally and professionally, with the precipitous drop in passenger demand and the challenging operating environment,” McKay said.

He is joining other unions in calling on Ottawa for financial relief for the aviation industry.

Due to the complexity of pilot training, the precise number of positions immediately affected at the country’s largest airline remains unclear, he added."


https://globalnews.ca/news/6725938/w...offs-covid-19/

24left

As I wrote previously.... For those of us who remember what rows of parked aircraft looked like not so long ago......


2:44 PM · Mar 24, 2020















Panorama view



.

HerpaYvr

Mmmm Love the pictures

Parking Rouge alongside or with Mainline almost implies they are all equal

YEG USER

I look at the panorama view with the 1 plane in the new livery in the middle and have to do a double take. If it weren't for the rouge planes mixed in, I'd swear I was looking at an old photo from when AC was switching the livery from the early 2000's livery to the blue/green one.

24left

Not sure if this post belongs in this Financial thread, since it's also "financial". Anyway.....


Full article

https://viewfromthewing.com/air-cana...-unusual-time/
,

24left

March 24 2020

"We are working around the clock to help our customers. A video message from Calin Rovinescu, President and Chief Executive Officer, on Air Canada during the COVID-19 crisis."

24left

7:48 PM · Mar 24, 2020

yhzflyer

OK. How about giving us our money back?

YZF_Elite

Interesting thread. I am a little late to the discussion perhaps.

My sense is that once it finally has the ability to do so, the government will be so anxious to get funding out the door quickly that you’ll probably find that it comes simply as a medium term interest free or very low interest loan with few if any conditions.

Furthermore, portions could potentially be written off later, much to the frustration of more fiscally conservative minded Canadians.

I think the ~2008 auto bailout is an analogous situation.

If there Is a wage subsidy of some kind, perhaps airlines will also seek to take advantage of that too.

My $0.02.

Bohemian1

I see the pending US bailout legislation (as it pertains to airlines) has many of the same strings attached as suggested by Mr. Adam Smith .

So now it will be interesting to see what happens North of The Border.

Adam Smith

It probably depends on the size of the package. The bigger it is, and the more that the airline industry is getting a disproportionate share of the funds (relative to other sectors of the economy), the more strings the government should, and probably will, be attaching.

I'm not quite sure whether those two thoughts are meant to go together or not. I think they do, so I'll address them together.

The big difference between airlines today and GM/Chrysler in the financial crisis is that GM/Chrysler had been crappy businesses for a while. Even before the recession, they had too much debt, their wage/benefit costs were far too high, and there were all sorts of other problems with the businesses. AC, on the other hand, has done a great job on the fundamentals of the business, and the company has been doing extremely well the past few years. WestJet and Transat have also done well, as evidenced by the takeover offers last year.

As for forgiving the loans, possible, but let's hope not. If the government is going to provide funds without the intention of being repaid, I would prefer something more transparent like a wage subsidy to ensure the funds go directly to the people who really need it while also not pretending that at some point the money might come back.

Indeed. Hopefully AC reads the US news

Nothing I've seen in the US about forcing airlines to provide refunds to customers, unfortunately, but perhaps that will be buried in the details somewhere.

Transpacificflyer

Air Canada (and West Jet) are needed for national security. Canada will do what is needed to keep the airlines and their remaining skilled personnel.
As we currently know ,Canada is undergoing critical shortages of medical equipment and we are paying the price of that. This tragic lesson will not be lost on the government, nor on the general public. There is no way that Canada or its population will allow the loss of its airlines, not after what we are going through now. I think Canadians will accept supporting the airlines even if it means subsidies and/or higher airfares and/or the the loss of landing rights to some countries because of it. More importantly, I expect a shift in Canadian public opinion to support Canadian businesses and jobs such that AC will be able to rebound. The big change coming will be an appeal to Canadians to fly a Canadian airline and to travel in Canada, giving employment to Canadians.

24left

Worth a listen to the captain's onboard message. With thanks to @Lights_a_blur for telling me about this.

I flew with Captain Wiseman on Nov 13 2015, AC 103 B789 YYZ-YVR. He took the time to speak with some of us.

Link to tweet with audio plus a screen shot below.

yulred

If they’re so essential, why bother with loans? Why not just nationalize them and be done with it? Much easier to keep afloat that way. Not that I think any Canadian airline is “too big to fail”. The raw materials for a new airline are already in place of any of the incumbents fail.

As an aside, this notion of support for “Canadian” airlines might be just a tad bit overstated. Lots of Canadians are pretty unhappy right now about being forced to extend interest free loans to airlines in exchange for credits while their own job situation may be in jeopardy. Don’t get me wrong - I can see why it makes sense from an airlines perspective; just don’t think consumers like being screwed like that, no matter which flag is painted on the tail.

Stranger

On one aspect, AC should not be in as bad a situation as other major airlines: they don't have as many planes on order, apart from the remaining Maxes and the 223, or at last those they do have on order are pretty much needed. With the 320s and maybe the E90s crying to be retired.

This said, they may well be praying for the Max return to be delayed indefinitely...