(Bloomberg) -- It took 200 million pounds ($250 million) of Richard Branson’s own money to secure the rescue of his Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd.The outlay marks the latest example of the industry’s enduring capacity to shrink fortunes, although the British billionaire may not be surprised, having once said: “If you want to be a millionaire, start with a billion dollars and launch a new airline.”The airline business has long proved irresistible to a cohort of larger-than-life tycoons. From AirAsia Group Bhd’s Tony Fernandes to JetBlue Airways Corp. founder David Neeleman, some of the world’s most celebrated entrepreneurs have built fortunes shuttling people through the sky. But with air travel dwindling in lockdown, coronavirus has battered even those long hardened to the volatility and thin margins of the capital-intensive industry.The market values of 10 large, publicly traded airlines linked to prominent magnates tracked by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index have fallen in value by $14 billion since the start of the year.The crisis has already claimed plenty of victims. Earlier this year, Warren Buffett closed a losing bet on four major U.S. airlines, acknowledging that the investment had lost money for Berkshire Hathaway Inc. It was his second go-round after earlier swearing off the sector.Latam Airlines Group SA, Latin America’s largest carrier, whose shareholders include Chile’s Cueto family, sought bankruptcy court protection in New York. In March, Neeleman -- who founded companies including JetBlue and Canada’s WestJet Airlines -- unloaded more than 80% of his preferred shares in Brazilian carrier Azul SA after a margin call was triggered on a $30 million personal loan.Read more:Buffett’s Aerospace Pain Only Worsens Even With Airlines GoneMargin Call Drove David Neeleman to Dump Azul Stock in Fire SaleRichard Branson Scrambles to Save His Flailing Virgin EmpireAirlines Are Flying Blind Into Europe’s Sunny Summer SkiesThe crisis has also brought structural issues or simmering tensions to the surface. Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA’s debt load forced it into a restructuring. The discount airline, whose co-founder Bjorn Kos was a former fighter pilot who challenged giants such as British Airways on trans-Atlantic routes, remains highly indebted and has warned it will likely need to raise more capital.European budget carrier EasyJet Plc, which is just emerging from a near total fleet grounding, has also contended with internal strife. Its founder and largest shareholder, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, launched a failed attempt to oust the executive leadership and block the purchase of Airbus SE planes he argued the carrier neither needed nor could afford.Family conflict has actually helped shield South Korea’s Cho family, whose holding company Hanjin Kal Corp. owns shares in Korean Air Lines Co. and Jin Air Co. Hanjin Kal’s stock has soared 143% in 2020 because of a battle for control of the company. Shares in the individually traded airlines have declined.It’s possible the industry may recover quickly enough to stanch some losses. There have been signs that travel demand has begun to perk up, fueling hopes that the stress on beleaguered carriers will ease.But any return to business as usual is far off. Delta Air Lines Inc. slashed plans to restore some service after a resurgence in U.S. coronavirus cases undercut a nascent recovery in travel demand. Even with the restructuring, Virgin Atlantic said in a statement that it only expects to return to profitability from 2022.(Updates with details of Delta’s plans in final paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

The "Global Meat Speciation Testing Market: Growth, Trends and Forecast (2020-2025)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Tecsys Inc. (TSX: TCS), an industry-leading supply chain management software company, jumps 37% year-over-year to post its first $100 million-plus fiscal year revenue performance for 2020. The company heads into fiscal 2021 with an aggressive growth strategy centered on expanded solution integration partnerships, nimble cloud deployment and post-pandemic market demand surge for omnichannel fulfillment and consolidated services. As the Montreal-based software provider nears its fourth decade in business, it is rapidly becoming a recognized global supply chain solution provider for increasingly complex and critical ecosystems that is well-positioned to equip clients to compete for the consumer doorstep.

Passive investing in an index fund is a good way to ensure your own returns roughly match the overall market. Active...

A historic recession in Latin America will likely drag on before Brazil, the region's No. 1 economy, starts fixing a dire budget shortfall that tops the list of threats along with the persistent coronavirus pandemic, a Reuters poll showed. The number of deaths from the coronavirus in Latin America has exceeded the figure for North America for the first time since the start of the pandemic, a Reuters count showed this week. Brazil's gross domestic product is forecast to shrink 6.4% in 2020, almost the same as the last survey taken in May, according to the median estimate of 45 economists polled July 6-13.

A German court has told Tesla to stop making some claims about its 'Autopilot' driver assistance.

Austria will lift its travel warning for Lombardy, the region at the centre of Italy's novel coronavirus outbreak, because of a fall in infections, Austria's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. The relaxation could pave the way for the resumption of flights between Lombardy's capital Milan and Vienna, since such travel warnings come with a ban on direct connections.

Next Generation 9-1-1 went live Wednesday afternoon, May 20, in Elko and on Friday afternoon, May 22, in West Wendover. The successful cutover of these Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) serving as 9-1-1 call centers for the 6th largest county in the nation with a population traversing 17,000 square miles, to the new cloud-based NG9-1-1 Emergency Service Internet Protocol Network (ESInet) and Call Processing Equipment (CPE) solution marks the first of its kind. Elko County also moved from Basic 9-1-1 to NG9-1-1 with integrated location data, making this deployment even more remarkable.

Former attorney general Jeff Sessions on Tuesday lost a primary runoff for his former Alabama Senate seat, after President Trump endorsed his opponent and heaped scorn on Sessions in the months and weeks leading up to the contest.Following his appointment as attorney general in 2017, Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation to avoid an apparent conflict of interest, given that Trump-campaign officials who Sessions had worked with were under investigation. Trump publicly criticized Sessions after his recusal, and fired the former Alabama senator in November 2018.Sessions decided to attempt a return to the Senate, but on Tuesday lost the primary runoff against former Alabama State University football coach Tommy Tuberville. Sessions received 39.3 percent of the vote, while Tuberville won 60.7 percent."I want to congratulate Tommy Tuberville," Sessions said in a concession speech. "We must stand behind him in November. [Senator] Doug Jones does not need to be our voice in Washington. He wishes to see the policies of Nancy Pelosi prevail over conservative Alabama principles."The race focused in large part on Sessions' recusal. The former attorney general defended his recusal even as he voiced support for Trump and predicted he would win the general election this coming November. Trump, for his part, endorsed Tuberville and mocked Sessions when the primary finished inconclusively in March and led to the runoff."This is what happens to someone who loyally gets appointed Attorney General of the United States & then doesn’t have the wisdom or courage to stare down & end the phony Russia Witch Hunt. Recuses himself on FIRST DAY in office, and the Mueller Scam begins!" Trump wrote on Twitter on March 4.

Alithya Group inc. (TSX: ALYA) (NASDAQ: ALYA) (« Alithya »), a leader in digital strategy and technologies employing more than 2,000 highly qualified professionals offering enterprise solutions across Canada, the United States, and Europe, is proud to announce the launch of its AI-FI™ Trade Surveillance solution, hosted on Microsoft Azure.