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* Wizz Air, IATA float empty middle seat policies
* On-board social distancing threatens business models
* Wizz Air exploring measures including passenger masks
(Updates with IATA CEO comments, detail, background)
By Sarah Young and Laurence Frost
LONDON/PARIS, April 14 (Reuters) - Wizz Air is making plans
to fly jets only two-thirds full to allow more space between
passengers, it said on Tuesday, as airlines voiced concerns that
anti-coronavirus measures could blight their profitability long
after travel restrictions end.
Wizz Chief Executive Jozsef Varadi and the head of
global airline trade body IATA both said single-aisle planes may
be required to leave the middle seats on each side vacant to
allow a degree of "social distancing" aboard.
"We would basically be blocking a third of the airplanes,"
Varadi told Reuters in a telephone interview. "A 180-seater
would become a 120-seater."
Beyond the open-ended lockdowns and travel bans that have
brought air travel to a near-halt, deep uncertainty remains over
the pace of an eventual recovery and the potential for lasting
restrictions that could pile up yet more losses.
Raising its coronavirus impact forecast to $314 billion,
IATA described "worrisome" signs of governments "doubling down
on international travel restrictions" even when lifting
lockdowns - citing developments in China and South Korea.
Alexandre de Juniac, the Geneva-based organisation's CEO,
said leaving the middle seat vacant was among likely conditions
for a resumption of air travel to be discussed with governments
in a series of coordinated meetings around the world.
Operating aircraft with more seats has been a "key element
of profitability for airlines", which typically break even above
75% seat occupancy, De Juniac said.
Taking out one-third of passengers would be a "reshuffle of
the business model," he added. "It changes the way they operate
short-haul aircraft completely."
The effect could be felt more keenly by low-cost carriers,
which typically operate at higher load factors - the proportion
of seats filled, weighted for distance flown.
But stronger balance sheets and labour flexibility could
make Wizz Air, Ryanair and easyJet better able
to withstand virus-related losses than older peers Lufthansa
and Air France-KLM. Citi analysts say
Ryanair and Wizz Air may be the only major European carriers
that can avoid raising new capital or government-backed debt.
Wizz Air, a London-listed carrier based in Hungary and
focused on central and eastern Europe, said it was cutting 1,000
jobs, about one-fifth of its total workforce.
It nevertheless reiterated plans to increase capacity by 15%
annually once markets return to normal and will take delivery of
12 narrow-body jets this year and another 30-40 aircraft in
2021-23. It has Airbus A320neo and A321neo jets on order.
Germany's Lufthansa, by contrast, last week predicted it
would be years before air travel returned to pre-crisis levels.
EasyJet has also said it would defer delivery of 24 Airbus
jets.
Besides the additional effects of a broader economic slump
on travel, airlines are nervous about passengers' readiness to
return to security lines, boarding lounges and plane cabins.
Wizz Air is exploring "all sorts of measures to put in
place, especially in the initial period", Varadi said -
including protective gear for passengers.
The airline may need to "make sure that people actually
travel in masks to protect themselves and protect their fellow
passengers", he said.
($1 = 0.9153 euros)
(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Jane Merriman and Mark
Potter)
