AVIATION’S WOES TO IMPACT 46 MILLION JOBS WORLDWIDE. Of the 88 million jobs worldwide that depend fully or partly, directly or indirectly, on aviation, 46 million are likely to be lost temporarily or permanently, according to a 30 September report from the Geneva-based Air Transport Action Group.
Airlines, airports, and aircraft makers alone will trim payrolls by about 43 percent this year, lopping about 4.8 million jobs, the report said.
Another 26 million jobs could vanish from tourism and 15 million from companies that sell goods and services to airport retailers and shops that cater to tourists and travelers.
The economic activity that aviation supports could plummet by 52 percent, costing the global economy $1.8 trillion, the report warned.
About 58 percent of tourists arrive at their destinations by air.
Air travel will return to pre-pandemic levels no sooner than some time in 2023 and probably not until 2024, industry analysts and executives have said.
REGAL ENTERTAINMENT GROUP CLOSES ALL U.S. AND U.K. THEATERS. The second-largest movie theater chain in the world, as well as in the U.S., will suspend operations indefinitely at its 536 U.S. theaters and 127 in the U.K. on 8 October, leaving as many as 45,000 employees jobless.
After being shuttered since March, many of the chain’s theaters reopened in August to show “Tenet,” a major Warner Brothers thriller. Due to varying state and local restrictions, however, only about two-thirds of theaters opened.
Theaters in New York City and Los Angeles have remained under mandated closure, shutting down two essential markets.
The $200-million flick grossed only $41.2 million in the U.S. during its first five weeks, leading MGM to again delay the release of its new “No Time to Die” James Bond film from next month until April 2021.
More than a dozen other films, including “Black Widow” and “Wonder Woman 1984,” have either seen their releases delayed or skipped theaters and were released on video, as was Disney’s “Mulan.”
With no blockbuster to draw audiences, Regal has decided to leave theaters dark for at least the next several months.
Regal is unable to offer audiences “the breadth of strong commercial films necessary for them to consider coming back to theaters against the backdrop of Covid-19,” the company said.
Cineworld Group, Regal’s heavily-indebted parent company, reported revenues plunged 70 percent during the first six months of this year, leaving the company with a loss of $1.6 billion. Cineworld’s share price dove 42 percent on 5 October following the Regal announcement.
On 30 September, the National Association of Theatre Owners, the Directors Guild of America, and the Motion Picture Association sent a letter to Congress pleading for aid for the industry.
Ninety-three percent of movie theater companies have lost more than 75 percent of their second-quarter revenue compared to last year, the letter said, and, without aid, 69 percent of small and mid-size theater companies will go bankrupt within the next few months, costing two-thirds of related jobs, or about 150,000 in the movie exhibition industry.
TWO MORE SHALE OIL PRODUCERS GO BUST. Oasis Petroleum and Lone Star Resources have been the 37th and 38th U.S. oil firms to file bankruptcy this year, putting the industry on track for the most bankruptcies since 2016.
Oasis, which worked the shale fields of west Texas and North Dakota’s Williston Basin, presented a plan already approved by its creditors to reduce its debt by $1.8 billion. The company has secured $450 million in loans to keep operating.
Lone Star, a player in Texas’s Eagle Ford shale beds, also presented the bankruptcy court with a pre-approved deal with creditors to pare its $626 million in debt by more than 60 percent.
During the first eight months of 2020, 36 producers collectively toting $51 billion in debt declared bankruptcy.
SHELL CUTS JOBS. Royal Dutch Shell, the oil giant with more than $300 billion in annual sales before the economic shutdown, will cut 7,000 to 9,000 workers or about 10 percent of its workforce.
In June, Shell wrote down the value of its petroleum reserves by as much as $22 billion as the economic shutdown and surge in renewable energy slashed global oil demand.
Shell says it will use the money it saves with the layoffs, plus its oil and gas profits, to invest in “lower-carbon products” and it will no longer measure success by the number of barrels or cubic feet of gas it produces.
