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Royal Caribbean Loses | $1.3 Billion in Three Months

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Royal Caribbean has posted a loss of $1.3 billion in the three months to 30 September as the cruise industry continues to haemorrhage cash.

The cruise line said its average monthly cash burn is between $250 million to $290 million as it awaits the resumption of services. It said it expects to re-start global cruise operations in a ‘phased manner’.

Quantum of the Seas is expected to resume cruising from Singapore in December with initial voyages operating with reduced occupancy, modified itineraries and ‘enhanced health protocols’.

“We continue to aggressively manage our spend and take opportunistic actions to bolster our financial position,” Executive Vice President and CFO Jason T. Liberty said.

“Moreover, we are optimistic that with the gradual resumption of cruise operations, our cash flow from operations will sequentially improve, driven by an increase in the inflow of customer deposits.”

Royal Caribbean said bookings for the first half of 2021 is ‘aligned with the Company’s anticipated staggered resumption of cruises’ while sales for the second half of 2021 are within historical ranges.

Prices are down slightly year-over-year ‘when including the negative yield impact of bookings made with future cruise credits’.

The cruise line said more than 65% of its 2021 bookings are new with future cruise credits accounting for the rest.

Europe’s Busiest Airport | Charles de Gaulle Overtakes Heathrow

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LONDON: Heathrow Airport announced this morning that it would begin to cut frontline jobs after the government’s 14-day quarantine measures meant traffic numbers were no longer sustainable.

Paris has overtaken Heathrow as Europe’s busiest airport following a sharp drop in passenger numbers at the London travel hub.

Heathrow’s chief executive John Holland-Kaye called on the government to introduce pre-departure coronavirus tests and to create an airbridge with the US as the number of travellers using the airport continued to fall.

He warned that Frankfurt and Amsterdam airports were “gaining ground” after Paris Charles de Gaulle overtook Heathrow as the continent’s major airport for the first time ever.

Heathrow passenger numbers in the nine months ended 30 September were down 68.9 per cent to 19m, compared to 61m in the previous year.

Revenue fell 58.7 per cent to £951m and losses widened from £76m to £1.5bn.

Holland-Kaye said: “Britain is falling behind because we’ve been too slow to embrace passenger testing.

“European leaders acted quicker and now their economies are reaping the benefits. Paris has overtaken Heathrow as Europe’s largest airport for the first time ever, and Frankfurt and Amsterdam are quickly gaining ground.

“Let’s make Britain a winner again. Bringing in pre-departure Covid tests and partnering with our US allies to open a pilot airbridge to America will kickstart our economic recovery and put the UK back ahead of our European rivals.” 

France Announces | 2nd National Lockdown From October 30

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PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron today announced a new nationwide lockdown, claiming that 400,000 people will die of coronavirus if the country does nothing to control a second wave that will be ‘more deadly than the first.

The national measures will take effect from Friday morning, October 30 until December 1 and are considered to be ‘more flexible’ than the country’s first lockdown, with all public services, schools and essential workplaces to remain open.

But people on the streets will still have to carry documents justifying their reason for leaving home – that will be subject to police checks – and bars and restaurants will close. State-approved for leaving home include buying essential goods, seeking medical attention or taking a daily one-hour allocation of exercise.

Macron called the new restrictions ‘heartbreaking’ but said he ‘could never standby and see hundreds of thousands of its citizens die.’

He told the country: “I decided that it was necessary to insist on a lockdown throughout the country from Friday. We’ve already reached 58 per cent capacity in IC units. In numerous places we have seen lifesaving operations delayed. And 9,000 patients will be in ICU by mid-November – that’s our maximum capacity in France.”

The measures will be in place until at least December 1, when they will be reviewed. Macron says that non-essential shops would be allowed to open within the next 15 days if the situation improves. Currently France’s daily infection rates stand at around 35,000 – which must fall to 5,000 for this to happen.

Macron said: “The virus is spreading across France at a speed that even the most pessimistic did not predict.

‘As elsewhere in Europe, we are overwhelmed by a second wave that will probably be more difficult and deadly than the first,” Macron said.

‘If we did nothing… within a few months we would have at least 400,000 additional deaths,” he said.  

France on Tuesday reported 523 new deaths from coronavirus and 33,417 new confirmed cases over the previous 24 hours, the highest daily death toll since April, when the virus was at its most severe.