Airlines say they've already seen a surge in bookings, following the Prime Minister's announcement of the road map out of lockdown, BBC.com reported. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that a global travel taskforce would put forward a report on how to return to international travel on 12 April. The government would then make a decision on removing restrictions on international travel. However, this would not happen until 17 May at the earliest. Tui reported that they had had their best day of bookings in over a month, with strong interest in Greece, Spain and Turkey for the summer.
Resources Per Country
- Albania
- Austria
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Gibraltar
- Greece
- Guernsey
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Isle of Man
- Italy
- Jersey
- Kosovo
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Macedonia
- Malta
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Montenegro
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Russia
- San Marino
- Serbia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- Vatican City
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Lawyers representing defunct Belgian airline ChallengeAir moved on Friday to seize Air Namibia’s headquarters after the state carrier failed to honour a 10 million euro ($12.14 million) settlement agreement reached last month to save it from liquidation, Reuters reported. Air Namibia survived liquidation attempts by creditor ChallengeAir SA in January when the two firms reached the settlement agreement minutes before liquidation proceedings were due to kick off.
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A British judge on Friday blocked the release of internal HSBC documents relating to U.S. fraud allegations against Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, Reuters reported. Meng is facing charges of bank fraud in the United States for allegedly misleading HSBC about Huawei’s business dealings in Iran, causing the bank to violate U.S. sanctions. She has been under house arrest in Canada since being detained at Vancouver airport in 2018 and has become one of the most high-profile figures in a trade war between China and the United States.
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The Commercial Court of the Republic of Kalmykia has completed bankruptcy proceedings against a firm believed to be formerly controlled by William Browder’s Hermitage Capital Management, according to court records, RASPINews.com reported. The court has granted a petition lodged by Kirill Nogotkov, a bankruptcy manager of the former Browder’s company. In November 2019, the Sixteenth Commercial Court of Appeals upheld recovery of 388,400 rubles ($5,200) from HSBC Bank and HSBC Management in favor of Dalnaya Step, denying granting its claim in full.
German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz warned next year’s federal budget will be a “challenge,” while pledging not to cut investment or welfare spending, Bloomberg News reported. Scholz, who is running as the Social Democrats’ candidate for chancellor in September’s election, is due to present a draft 2022 budget next month. His comments highlight the fiscal conundrum facing the next government, which polls suggest will again be led by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc after she steps down.
Renewed COVID-19 lockdowns are pushing Air France-KLM deeper into the red, the airline group warned on Thursday, as it chalked up a 7.1 billion euro ($8.5 billion) net loss for 2020 and postponed a key mid-term profitability goal, Reuters reported. The airline group expects to fly 40% of its pre-crisis capacity in January-March, as tougher travel curbs in France and beyond widen losses from the 407 million euros in negative earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) recorded in the fourth quarter.
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444 businesses declared bankruptcy in Belgium last month, resulting in the loss of 1,002 jobs according to the latest figures from Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, the Brussels Times reported. Of those jobs, 629 were full-time, 209 were part-time, and 164 were employers. In terms of a regional breakdown, the majority of bankruptcies came from Flanders with 219, followed by Wallonia with 136 and 89 in Brussels. This more or less reflects the variance in the number of overall businesses in each region.
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The British government announced it intends to extend the power (granted through the Corporate Governance and Insolvency Act) to make temporary amendments or modify the effects of corporate insolvency and governance legislation for an additional year until April 2022, Accountancy Daily reported. The government laid the regulations on 11 February 2021 in Parliament ahead of the power expiring on 30 April 2021. The government last updated the rules in December 2020, announcing a number of covid-19 related measures to support businesses.
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British consumer spending fell over the past week and the proportion of people on furlough and who are working exclusively from home increased, as the country remained in a coronavirus lockdown, official figures showed on Thursday, Reuters reported. Debit and credit card spending - as measured by Bank of England CHAPS payment data - was 28% below its level in February 2020 during the week to Feb. 11, representing a greater shortfall than the 24% shortfall reported the week before. Businesses said 20% of their staff were on furlough between Jan. 25 and Feb.
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Ireland’s government said it’s exploring the creation of a so-called third force in banking, should NatWest Group Plc opt to exit the Irish market, Bloomberg News reported. Irish officials have been war gaming the bank’s exit, with one possibility that state-owned Permanent TSB Group Holdings Plc might acquire some of Ulster’s loans. AIB Group Plc is also in negotiations on buying some of the assets. NatWest is reviewing Ulster Bank, with a decision set to be announced as soon as Friday.
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