This week’s featured link
Norwegian doubles 2019 underlying operating result before ownership costs and achieves cost-reduction target – Norwegian Press Release
Even though Norwegian has released its most recent results, I’m not going to write them up because it’s just more of the same. The airline continues to try to turn the corner and become profitable, and it’s the same story as last quarter. What really matters is… does Norwegian have enough cash to survive the winter? Things do look more encouraging with cash rising to NOK 3.096 billion (~$335 million) at the end of last year from NOK 2.934 billion the year prior at the beginning of the quarter, but the airline is far from out of the woods. Cash is king right now, but that debt is going to be crushing down the line if things don’t improve.
Two for the road
Air France-KLM takes €126m charge for A380 withdrawal – FlightGlobal
There isn’t much sadder than seeing a young airplane head to the graveyard… except seeing an airline take a huge charge to make it happen. Air France has already retired the first of its 10 A380s, and the rest will be gone within 2 years. When a French company takes a big charge to retire an Airbus airplane, you know things are not going well for that aircraft type.
The Pleasures of Plane Spotting at the Proud Bird – Los Angeles Magazine
I love a good article from a non-avgeek talking about the joys of planespotting.