Airlines and airport operators said they are taking steps such as suspending dividends, selling and leasing back airplanes and flying cargo on empty passenger jets as they grapple with a cash crunch and plunging demand caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
“It’s now fair to call this the single biggest shock that global aviation has ever experienced,” Qantas Airways Ltd Chief Executive Alan Joyce said in a memo to the airline’s 30,000 staff on Tuesday.
The Australian carrier announced plans to cut international capacity by 90% and domestic capacity by 60% until at least the end of May, grounding the equivalent of 150 planes in response to new travel restrictions.
