B747-8 only quadjet with future at Lufthansa - Spohr 17.09.2020 - 23:05 UTC The B747-8 is the only quadjet type with future at Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt Int'l), Group Chief Executive Carsten Spohr has said during a meeting with the staff. As reported by Bloomberg and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Spohr told the employees during an online town hall that the carrier would shortly decide the fate of its largest passenger aircraft. He underlined that the resurgence of COVID-19 cases combined with newly imposed and reimposed border restrictions wrecked passenger confidence with bookings for October currently at 10% of the 2019 level. Facing much slower than hoped for recovery, Lufthansa would most likely increase its planned fleet cuts beyond the 100 aircraft previously announced. The fuel-guzzling quadjets are expected to be the most affected by incremental reductions. According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, Lufthansa's quadjet fleet currently encompasses eight A380-800s (net of the previously announced phase-outs), seventeen A340-300s, twelve A340-600s, thirteen B747-400s, and nineteen -8s. All of them are owned by the carrier, the ch-aviation fleets ownership module shows. Earlier...

Delta to back $6.5bn bonds and loans with loyalty scheme 16.09.2020 - 14:31 UTC Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) will try to raise USD6.5 billion through bonds and a new loan facility secured by its SkyMiles loyalty scheme, it revealed in a statement and a Securities and Exchange Commission filing dated September 14. The airline said that both it and SkyMiles IP, a newly formed Cayman Islands-based subsidiary, intend to launch a private offering to eligible purchasers of senior secured notes in one or more tranches. They would then enter into a senior secured term loan facility simultaneously with the closing of the bond issue, the statement explained. The bonds and loans will be secured by the carrier’s SkyMiles programme as collateral, as well as “intellectual property and other collateral related to” SkyMiles. SkyMiles IP will lend the net proceeds from the offering of the notes and the new credit facility to Delta, after depositing part of the proceeds in a reserve account. The bonds’ and loans’ final terms and amounts will depend on market and other conditions, Delta said, and “may be materially...