Who will survive the Asia-Pacific network carnage?

For Asia-Pacific airlines profitable international flying has evaporated. In some cases, the same fate is hitting domestic networks. Orient Aviation reports on the flight and staff purges, announced to March 30, that the region’s airlines have enacted to survive the COVID-19 outbreak.

April 1st 2020

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The AirAsia Group grounded most of its fleets on March 28 and will suspend all flights, with the exception of skeleton services to Indonesia and Thailand, from the same date. Read More » Its joint ventures elsewhere in the region are being operated near to suspension point.

AirAsia Philippines has stopped flying until April 14 and AirAsia India has suspended flights until the Indian government lifts its travel ban. AirAsia Indonesia and AirAsia Thailand have stopped flying international routes but will continue to operate limited domestic services. Thai AirAsia X suspended operations for three months from mid-March.

Malaysia Airlines has grounded 65% of its fleet and is operating at 20% capacity with some domestic services being maintained. More capacity reductions are expected at the time of writing.

Singapore Airlines has cut 96% of capacity originally scheduled up to end-April. This resulted in the grounding of around 138 SIA and SilkAir aircraft, out of a total fleet of 147. The Group’s low-cost unit, Scoot, will suspend most of its network, resulting in the grounding of 47 of its fleet of 49 aircraft. SIA is in discussion with aircraft manufacturers to defer aircraft deliveries. Executives, including board members, are taking salary cuts and unpaid leave. Talks are underway with unions to apply similar measures to staff.

Cathay Pacific Airways has reduced passenger capacity by 96% in April and May. Cathay and Cathay Dragon have at least 120 aircraft idling on the ground at any given time, which accounts for more than half of their fleet. In addition, the group cut more than three quarters of weekly flights in March. Cathay Pacific asked their 27,000 employees to take three weeks unpaid leave.

Vietnam Airlines has suspended all international routes until April 30. All domestic routes have been suspended until further notice with the exception of one return flight a day between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang-Phu Quoc.

Qantas Airways and its budget subsidiary, Jetstar, have suspended scheduled international flights. They also have cut 60% of domestic operations. More than 150 aircraft will be temporarily grounded, including all of Qantas’ A380s, B747s and B787-9s and Jetstar’s B787-8s. Up to 20,000 staff are on unpaid leave and executives are taking significant pay cuts.

Virgin Australia, has cancelled all international flying and 90% of domestic operations and stood down 8,000 of its 10,000 staff. It has grounded the fleet of its budget arm, Tigerair Australia.

Air New Zealand has cut its long-haul capacity by 85% and imposed employee redundancies as it shrinks to a skeleton operation in response to the coronavirus. Domestic services have been reduced by about 30%, while flights to Australia and the Pacific islands have became very limited.

Korean Air has suspended 10 of its 12 European routes and fellow Korean carrier, Asiana Airlines, has scrapped its eight European routes. In the second week of March, KAL has grounded more than 100 of its 140-strong fleet.

Among Korea’s seven budget operators only two are operating internationally. One of these, Jin Air, is flying Seoul to Tokyo and Osaka.

Thai Airways International (THAI) has suspended all international flights at least until the end of May. It also has shut down its overseas offices.

Thai Lion Air suspended operations from March 25. All cabin crew have been stood down. Pilots are being kept on the payroll, but at a monthly salary reduction of 40%. THAI Smile, Thai AirAsia and Bangkok Airways have suspended international flying.

Budget carriers, Jetstar Pacific and Vietjet Air, suspended operating routes to and from ASEAN countries, including Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia, from March 20.

Garuda Indonesia is one of the few airlines to resist significant cuts in flights. Its president director, Irfan Setiaputra, said on March 26 the airline would be operating as usual despite taking a hit from the coronavirus outbreak. “We are still operating normally. The airline has not yet closed many routes or flight schedules or laid off employees. Not yet,” he said.

Philippine Airlines suspended all international flights from March 26 until at least April 14. It had suspended all domestic flights on March 17, following a government decision to impose a month-long quarantine period until mid-April.

Air Astana and FlyArystan suspended most flights at least until April 15, saying they will only operate flights for the purpose of repatriating the citizens of Kazakhstan or providing foreign citizens with the opportunity to leave the country.

Both of Japan’s major operations, Japan Airlines (JAL) and All Nippon Airways (ANA) have significantly reduced international flying as well as domestic operations. For example, JAL has cut flights on international routes from the country by about 64% between March 29 and April 30 and cancelled 1,468 flights on 60 domestic routes. At press time, ANA had reduced its international flying schedule from March 29 to April 24 by 3,813 flights on 68 routes, including comprehensive services to all major Mainland and southeast Asian destinations and its Australian, European, Indian and North American routes ex Japan.

In the Gulf, both Emirates Airline and Etihad Airways have grounded their fleets and ceased operations. Qatar Airways is continuing to operate flights so that as many Qatari nationals as possible can get home safely, but has said its cash reserves are running out.

China is the most affected country in the region from the coronavirus. China Southern Airlines, the largest airline outside the U.S. by fleet size, has cancelled an estimated 70% of all flights. Its most popular route, Guangzhou - Beijing, has been trimmed from 15 daily round trips to two. It’s fleet of five A380s has been grounded since February. China Eastern Airlines and Air China were in similar positions. However, since the easing of restrictions in China all carriers have begun increasing capacity, but Hainan Airlines, the fourth largest airline in China, has suspended international flights.