Debt in the Airlines Set to Ruin Industry's Prospects [Flickr]

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'A lot of failures' due to debt: IATA

Till 2020, the airline industry had merrily seen almost one decade of sustained profitability. Today, the industry is on life-supporting debt. As per the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the total government aid to carriers at present is more than $120 billion- mainly in loans and in wage support, equity, tax deferrals, and cash injections. The total airline debts have bloated from $430 billion worldwide at the end of 2019 to $550 billion today.

Total airline debt situation

The year 2019: five times, The year 2021: 17-18 times airlines' cash flow on average

No business can sustain itself with such a debt liability. The sector will earn mainly for the lenders and will be left with almost nothing for itself. That is why many firms chose to go insolvent instead of being crushed by debt.

Besides, airlines carry huge liabilities. IATA has estimated the value of airline refunds owed for cancelled flights between March and June 2020, at $35 billion. The airlines also have to necessarily bear the fixed costs - roughly 60 billion in the same period. The companies, barring Southwest, neither have any adaptive business models nor adequate credit lines or cash supplies to be prepared for that.

Also Read : The Aviation Dilemma: Embrace Insolvency or Bail Out

IATA has stated the airline debt situation can see a 'lot of failures' in 2020. ncairways.co/debt/

source https://www.flickr.com/photos/165450454@N07/50053087023/

How To Provide Online Education For Free During COVID-19 And Beyond [Flickr]

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One of the hardest-hit sectors globally during COVID-19 is the education sector. Education institutions, teachers, and students had to bear the brunt of the impact of the pandemic. Online learning seems to be the best bet during these difficult times when many countries have imposed a lockdown.

Prior to COVID-19, a few e-learning platforms such as Byju’s began to be widely used by students to access different courses. As a matter of fact, the online education market was projected to reach $350 billion by 2025 owing to the increasing investments in education technology. However, most of the educational institutions continued with the traditional ways of teaching prior to COVID-19. Subsequently, the usage of virtual classrooms, online learning software, and video conferencing tools began to surge during COVID-19.

COVID-19 has come as an epiphany for all such institutions that didn’t transform digitally with time. Many of them have had to resort to online learning platforms with insufficient training, little preparation, and no planning. The result is poor user experience, problems in communication, and an unconducive atmosphere for sustained growth.

Integration of IT in Education

Integrating IT in education is not only the need of the hour but is also the future of education. There is no industry that hasn’t been disrupted by the advancements in technology, and the time is right for the education industry to leverage the opportunities offered by the latest technologies. ncairways.co/education/

source https://www.flickr.com/photos/165450454@N07/50046660262/

Lockdowns Ease, Airlines Takeoff, But a Long Way to Go [Flickr]

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The corona induced measures for lockdowns are now slowly being eased by the governments. Earlier, the coronavirus had forced the world economy to a standstill, the aviation sector saw a painful definite slump in business during the past two months. Now, as the lockdowns are being eased, skies are clearing up, various airlines slowly are adding back their flights and travellers have started arriving at airports.

The airline industry has really been grounded during lockdowns for months after a fall in passenger demand forced American Airlines, United Airlines and others to sever flight schedules. They were among the hardest hit companies as the coronavirus sharply shut down overseas markets and then thrust the world into a pandemic-induced slump.

Air travel had plunged to levels unseen since the early years of the business jetliner days in the 1950s. The industry had to take a $25 billion bailout pack from the U.S. government to survive as it grounded flights and cut staff. When it saw revenues of major airlines being quickly drying up, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway unloaded all of its holdings in the major airlines.

Aviation analysts do not foresee passenger traffic to get back to 2019 levels anytime soon after lockdowns. But the airlines look to salvage some lost damages during the key summer travel season

Also Read: Southwest acknowledges Berkshire Hathaway takeover rumours

Last week, American Airlines stated that following month it will run 55% of the U.S. ncairways.co/lockdowns/

source https://www.flickr.com/photos/165450454@N07/50014732166/

Airport Takeovers Witness Crash Landings and Grim Prospects [Flickr]

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In December 2018, in one of the world’s top airport takeovers, the French giant Vinci had bought a 50.01% stake in UK’s second-busiest airport, Gatwick. In 2009, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), had bought the whole airport for just £1.5bn.

In 2006, GIP had bought London City airport in London’s Docklands for £750m. Later it sold it to a Canadian-led consortium of pension funds for £2bn, more than 40 times its earnings. By 2019, Gatwick had paid its shareholders £1.5 billion since 2009.

Gatwick Airport

Vinci had then become the world’s second-biggest airport operator. It paid investors, led by GIP, £2.9bn for the stake. At that time, the Brexit warning aided Vinci to get 50.01% stake in for ‘reasonable’ £2.9bn.

Investors generally assumed that airports were a safe bet for predictable cash flow and high returns. Infrastructure was the hot ticket for global investors because it was viewed as a long-term, stable asset class to provide inflation-linked cashflows. Insanely high prices used to be paid in such airport takeovers in the past. Investors competed for anything with predictable cash flow, such assets changed hands for huge sums in the hunt for attractive returns. High networth individuals - bankers, CEOs, executives and politicians - used to regularly meet and celebrate in luxurious hotels of the world to make deals worth trillions.

Then by the end of the last decade, covid-19 hit.

Nearly all sectors of the economy came crashing down. ncairways.co/airport-takeovers/

source https://www.flickr.com/photos/165450454@N07/49991767501/

Furloughs send shock waves in the aviation industry [Flickr]

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Furloughs send shock waves in the aviation industry ncairways.co/aviation-furloughs/

source https://www.flickr.com/photos/165450454@N07/49965719627/