GOING DOWN, GOING BUST, GOING OUT

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES REPORTS SLOWDOWN. After seeing bookings rise in August through mid-October, ticket sales slowed recently, the carrier reported.
Third-quarter revenues declined 65 percent year on year, with about 55 percent of available seats sold; the airline had forecast a 65- to 70-percent drop.
Year-on-year revenues for November and December are likely to fall below 2019’s by 60 to 65 percent, the company said.
On 1 December, Southwest will begin putting passengers back in middle seats because studies have shown that high-efficiency particulate filters on planes likely reduce airborne virus particles, the airline recently announced.
EMIRATES AIRLINE REPORTS FIRST-EVER LOSS. Dubai’s state-owned national airline lost $3.4 billion during the first six months of its current operating year, compared with $235 million in profits a year earlier.
Adding losses in its ground-handling operations, the company’s loss rises to $3.8 billion.
The airline carried 1.5 million passengers during the six months, 95 percent fewer than the same period the previous year.
Although cargo volume fell 65 percent, freight demand was up 106 percent, buoying the carrier’s revenue to 26 percent of that a year earlier.
“We began our fiscal year amid a global lockdown when air travel was at a literal standstill,” Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maltoum, the airline’s CEO, said in a statement accompanying the announcement.
 NISSAN STILL IN THE BREAKDOWN LANE. The car company reported a 32-percent decline in year-over-year U.S. sales in the period from June through August and a two-percentage-point loss of market share, to 5.6 percent.
Revenue for the quarter was off 27 percent, leading to a loss of $420.8 billion, compared to a profit of about $520 million in the 2019 period.
CAFFE NERO FLIRTS WITH BANKRUPTCY. The 23-year-old chain of coffee shops, with about 800 of its 1,000 cafés in the U.K., has made a Company Voluntary Arrangement to try to avoid outright bankruptcy.
The arrangement allows an insolvent company to come to an agreement with its creditors and keep doing business while it tries to right its finances.
OCEAN VESSELS SOLD FOR SCRAP. Shipping companies and cruise lines are selling their idled ships for scrap.
Scrapping the boats gives the companies some cash to sustain them longer into the global recession and slashes their maintenance, insurance, and other costs.
As of 12 November, 28 vehicle carriers had been scrapped, matching 2016’s record high. Twenty-two ore boats were sold for junk, compared to 12 in 2019 and two in 2018. Cruise lines abandoned 10 ships; the companies junked nine in 2018 and 2019 combined.
The figures come from VesselsValue, an online ship valuation service.
Although auto sales have recovered somewhat from the shutdown, 2020’s global new-vehicle sales are projected to be about 62 million, compared to 75 million last year, data firm Statista said in a recent report.
The number of ships being scrapped is well below the 1,996 taken apart in 2012 in the wake of the Great Recession. This year, scrap yards were shut for three months, creating a backlog of boats waiting to be torn down.
The company survived Britain’s first shutdown but the new, four-week closure of bars and restaurants pushed the chain past its financial breaking point, CEO Gerry Ford said in a statement announcing the arrangement.
GUITAR CENTER TO FILE BANKRUPTCY. The 269-store chain owned by Ares Management, a private equity firm, will file bankruptcy, the company said in a 16 November announcement.
An agreement reached with the chain’s creditors will allow the company to keep operating, suspend most debt payments, and swap some debt for equity in the reorganized business.
The company expects a quick trip through the courts and to be out of bankruptcy by year’s end, the announcement said.
On 24 October, Guitar Center missed a $45-million interest payment on a portion of its $1.3-billion debt, giving it a 30-day grace period to bring its account current.
The company has been troubled since it was taken over by Bain Capital in 2007 and then Ares in a 2014 restructuring.
The chain missed two debt payments in February of this year and underwent another restructuring in May.