BADLY HIT SECTOR. An American Airlines plane is seen from a terminal of Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on March 17, 2020. Photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP
"This is worse than 9/11 for the airline industry – they are ground to a halt," US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.And airlines warned that"Most airlines in the world will be bankrupt" by the end of May, market intelligence firm CAPA warned. Italy's government said it would take over Alitalia, the former flag carrier already mired in bankruptcy negotiations since 2017.
"The government is actively discussing how to support airlines," said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov."75% of the airlines we have looked at have less than 3 months of cash to pay their fixed costs," Pearce said., like banks in the 2008 financial crisis."The world will get through this crisis," he said."And when it does it will need a functioning air transport sector. Without financial relief that is not guaranteed.
"This funding needs to be available under similar conditions as those that will be considered for airlines," Lammers wrote.