Rolls-Royce plc (Civil Aerospace, Defence and Power Systems) announced their half-year financial results for 2020.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the whole civil aerospace industry worldwide is unprecedented and a global issue. Rolls-Royce has taken swift action to deal with the sudden short-term impact of COVID-19, secure the immediate future and protect future jobs as well as innovation.
• Liquidity has been bolstered to £8.1bn
• £1bn cash savings have been implemented in 2020 including 10% salary deferral and 20% executive/senior management pay cut
• The final payment to shareholders has been stopped, no interim payment

Rolls-Royce is taking decisive immediate action to re-size the Civil Aerospace business to the new levels of medium-term demand in the civil aviation market:
• The most extensive reorganisation of Civil Aerospace in history, reducing by 1/3 to save £1.3bn
• At least 9,000 people have been impacted worldwide (which was announced in May) – about a fifth (17%) of the workforce and a third of Civil Aerospace (c,8,000 of 24,000)
• Progress in facility footprint review: proposing to consolidate 11 facilities to 6

Rolls-Royce is transforming the Aerospace business for the long-term and exploring future industrial partnerships.

There is uncertainty over the timing, pace and shape of recovery as a result of COVID-19, particularly around the easing of travel restrictions. Recovery assumptions are based on a gradual recovery in civil aviation activity commencing towards the end of H2 2020. The company has weathered the most challenging period (H1 outflow £2.8bn) £1bn outflow expected in H2, with expectations to return to positive cash flow during H2 2021.

The belief is that the worst is over in terms of widebody engine flying hours, there was an 80% drop in April (low point), were down 75% in Q2 and halved over H1; expect them to be down 55% for the year as a whole and improve in 2021 and 2022.

The expectation is that widebody aircraft engine deliveries will remain subdued at around 250 per annum for a few years.

Focus is on rebuilding the balance sheet for the longer term. £2bn can be raised through the proposed disposals of ITP Aero along with other assets also under active consideration.

Rolls-Royce has always highlighted the benefits of being a broad-based power company. The Defence business is resilient and accounts for almost 30% of H1 revenues; we saw a decline in Power Systems of 11%, but together these two divisions accounted for half H1 revenues.

The reorganisation of Civil Aerospace creates operational leverage for a positive rebound (+installed fleet represents great opportunity); The Defence business will benefit from opportunities in the US, and Power Systems is a shorter cycle business and is experiencing regional growth.

Looking ahead: the company has support from the UK Government and others focussed on low carbon transitions. Rolls-Royce is well-positioned with net-zero plans: electrification, hybrid work in Power Systems, Nuclear SMRs, Sustainable Aviation Fuels. There are substantial opportunities ahead, and Rolls-Royce will play an important role in the transition, no other company has the breadth of capabilities providing lower carbon power solutions.

Source: Rolls Royce

Accelya, a leading provider of technology solutions to the global airline and travel industry, today announced that it has completed its acquisition of Farelogix, a leading provider of SaaS solutions for airline retailing and New Distribution Capability-enabled commerce. With Farelogix, Accelya will accelerate customers’ digital transformations, and will provide a next-generation, end-to-end, Offer-to-Settlement airline commerce platform, including a full suite of innovative retailing, distribution, and fulfillment solutions.

To accelerate the delivery of Accelya’s next generation platform, the Accelya and Farelogix management teams will be fully integrated, with Farelogix CEO Jim Davidson being appointed Chief Product Officer of the newly expanded Accelya Group. The current Farelogix team will continue to operate from Miami, further expanding Accelya’s presence in North America.

“With the acquisition of Farelogix complete, we can now focus our efforts on delivering an integrated Offer-to-Settlement platform that drives revenue, increases brand loyalty, and reduces costs for airlines worldwide,” said John Johnston, Chief Executive Officer of Accelya. “Accelya is growing its global footprint and capabilities, welcoming over 300 skilled Farelogix employees while strengthening our leadership team in critical roles. We look forward to working with the talented Farelogix team to deliver on our shared vision.”

Jim Davidson added, “There has never been a greater need in our industry for creativity, rapid innovation, and new technology choices for airlines as they work through this time of COVID-19, recovery, and the future of airline retailing. We have had tremendous interest and support from across the industry and with the completion of the acquisition by Accelya, we can execute our vision to deliver these essential, pro-airline solutions needed by our current and future airline customers.”

Accelya’s leadership in financial, back-office settlement, and revenue management — together with Farelogix’s proven solutions for NDC and offer/order management — can realize the vision of a new airline commerce platform spanning the entire lifecycle from offer to settlement. Together, Accelya and Farelogix are uniquely positioned to accelerate innovation across the full spectrum of current and future industry processes, providing airlines with flexibility and choice as to how and when they adopt new retailing strategies.

Source: Accelya

Basis Technology announced that SITA — a software provider that is owned by 400 members of the air transport industry — has selected Rosette name matching for its contact tracing solution. Governments will be able to open borders and keep track of who came in contact with confirmed cases of COVID-19 while traveling.

SITA’s Intelligence and Targeting system lets a contact tracer find out whether any person newly diagnosed with COVID-19 travelled in the past 30 days. Displaying airplane seating charts to contact tracers, SITA identifies potentially exposed airline crews and passengers by quickly pinpointing travelers who booked tickets with, or sat in proximity to, a person diagnosed with COVID-19. Within minutes, contact tracers can notify those people via phone or email obtained from travel records. The European CDC states, “The availability of passenger locator data, particularly for airline passengers, is extremely important for the success and effectiveness of contact tracing operations for communicable diseases.” The ECDC estimates up to seven hours of contact tracing are required for each case. This tool is designed to drastically reduce that time, enabling governments to reopen borders with the confidence that new cases can be quickly contained.

“We integrated Rosette name matching from Basis Technology into our SITA Intelligence and Targeting border management system a few years ago. It gave us better results out of the box and was quicker to deploy with a lower cost of ownership,” said Ricardo Letosa, Senior Product Manager at SITA. “There was no question we would use Rosette for contact tracing as well because you don’t check into a hospital with your passport number. When you have no common identifiers between health and travel records besides name and date of birth, you have to go with the best name matching you can get, and for SITA that is Rosette from Basis Technology.”

“We are thrilled to be part of SITA’s response to COVID-19. The airline industry has been hit hard, and we hope this software will help world governments reopen their borders and make air travelers feel safe again,” said Carl Hoffman, CEO of Basis Technology. “Contact tracing is an important tool to contain the spread of COVID-19 as countries reopen. It is vital that we give the contact tracers every possible tool to be successful.”

Source: SITA