Australian airline, Qantas Airways has secured $550 million in debt funding against three of its Boeing 787-9 aircraft.
This new funding follows a previous $1.05 billion raised in March against seven of its Boeing 787-9s.
According to the airline, they now have “sufficient liquidity to respond to a range of recovery scenarios, including one where the current trading conditions persist until at least December 2021”.
However, the airline is still anticipating a net cash burn rate of $40 million per week to the end of June this year.
Therefore, the airline’s 20,000 employees who are on temporary compulsory leave will continue to stay away at least to the end of June. It has also extended flight cancellations to the end of July.
The airline has also suspended plans of launching the world’s longest direct flights due to the suspension of international travel as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. The debut was initially scheduled for 2023.
Read Also: Qantas Airways Completes the World’s Longest Commercial Flight
This comes even as airlines worldwide are struggling to remain afloat in the wake of coronavirus. The virus has seen international passenger flights suspended, and fleets grounded. Several airlines are resorting to; cargo business, asking for state bailouts, entering voluntary administration, or implementing staff layoffs.
Read Also: Airlines to Lose $253 Billion due to COVID-19
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) estimates that airlines worldwide could face losses amounting to $253 billion by September this year due to COVID-19, with passengers reducing by 1.2 billion
Earlier on in March this year, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported that airlines worldwide needed $200 billion (KSh20.8 trillion) capital injection for them to remain afloat in this COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, 75% of the airlines only had cash to cover three months of their fixed expenses.
Qantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia and is the largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the third oldest airline in the world, after KLM and Avianca.
The Qantas Group is currently operating around 5% of its pre-crisis domestic passenger network, and around 1% of its international network.
See Also:
