Aston Martin furloughs workers as production suspended March 30, 2020 UK sports car-maker Aston Martin said today it would furlough some of its workers after the coronavirus crisis forced it to close factories. Under the government scheme employers can claim for 80 per cent of wage costs of up to £2,500 for staff they place on leave. The company suspended production at its Gaydon and [...]
Easyjet founder blasts board over call for state aid, tells firm to raise cash March 30, 2020 Easyjet’s founder and largest shareholder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou has blasted the airline’s calls for state aid, saying companies as big as Easyjet “do not deserve charitable gifts”. Instead, the carrier should look to raise cash through an equity raise, he said, saying government loans “would only postpone the problem, [they] do not cure it”. In [...]
Coronavirus: Carnival shares plummet as firm extends cruise suspensions March 30, 2020 Carnival’s luxury cruise operator Cunard today said that it would extend the suspension of all its voyages by a month to 15 May due to the coronavirus pandemic. Carnival, also the operator of two coronavirus-stricken Princess cruises, has already temporarily suspended several of its ships due to concerns over the rapidly spreading Covid-19 crisis earlier [...]
Coronavirus: Mercedes-designed ventilator gets approval for NHS use March 30, 2020 Mercedes’ F1 team has designed a ventilator along with engineers and clinicians at University College London (UCL) that has been approved for use by the NHS. Around 100 of the breathing aids, which were designed and produced within 100 hours of engineers’ first meetings, will now be distributed to UCL’s hospital for clinical trials. The [...]
Coronavirus: Scottish flier Loganair confirms it will seek state aid March 30, 2020 Scottish airline Loganair has confirmed that it will join other UK carriers in seeking a government bailout, its chief executive has said. The regional carrier, which earlier this month agreed to take on a number of collapsed carrier Flybe’s routes, has recently suspended all of its passenger operations. Chief executive Jonathan Hinkles said this morning: [...]
Rail operators awarded new contracts for Great Western and Southeastern franchises March 30, 2020 First Group and Go Ahead Group have been awarded new contracts to run the Great Western and Southeastern rail franchises respectively with just a day to go before the existing deals run out. The new contracts will run concurrently with the emergency measures the government put in place last week to protect the rail industry [...]
Easyjet grounds all airplanes over coronavirus March 30, 2020 Easyjet has grounded its entire fleet of more than 300 aircraft in the wake of “unprecedented” travel restrictions over the global coronavirus pandemic. The budget flyer warned today “there can be no certainty of the date for restarting commercial flights”. It has grounded its entire fleet of commercial aircraft and put its cabin crew staff [...]
Airlines ask grounded staff to answer NHS volunteer call March 30, 2020 Virgin Atlantic and Easyjet have written to grounded staff members asking them to help in the NHS’ new Nightingale hospitals in a bid to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. Easyjet has already contacted all 9,000 of its employees, including 4,000 or so cabin crew staff trained in CPR, whilst Virgin will begin writing to 4,000 of [...]
State could be landed with £8bn rail pension deficit March 29, 2020 Taxpayers could be on the hook for £8bn of railway pensions after the government effectively nationalised a portion of the rail system after coronavirus hit demand. The Telegraph reported that the massive government intervention could shift the pension deficit of franchises from the private sector to the public sector. The Department for Transport (DfT) last [...]
Coronavirus: Government urged to take ‘every possible step’ to bring UK tourists home March 29, 2020 Foreign affairs select committee chair Tom Tugendhat has written to foreign secretary Dominic Raab seeking assurances that the government has taken “every possible step” to return UK citizens stranded abroad to the UK. Although the exact number is unclear, there are currently hundreds of thousands of British tourists stuck overseas due to the coronavirus outbreak. [...]
