Signature Aviation flight activity slumps 77% in April

Signature Aviation - formerly BBA Aviation - reported a slump in April flying activity on Friday amid the coronavirus lockdown but said there had been an improvement in May.

Flying activity slid 77% year-on-year in April. Still, this improved to a 66% decline in first 13 days of May, Signature said.

The FTSE 250 provider of global aviation services said it was cash flow positive by $6m in April and had total facility headroom and cash of $425m by the end of the month.

Chief executive officer Mark Johnstone said: "Encouragingly, we have seen some early signs of an improvement in flight activity in the US in May. Our business continues to have attractive fundamentals and medium-term prospects, and our ability to both manage cost in a timely manner and deliver robust cash generation has contributed to the group being cash flow positive in the month of April."

He said this was "a robust outcome given the extraordinary impact of market conditions on our income."