Virgin Australia placed its shares in a trading halt on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on April 14. Read More » The airline, which has disclosed previously it was seeking up to A$1.4 billion in government support, said it requested the trading halt as it "continues to consider the issues brought about by the COVID-19 crisis including discussions with respect to financial assistance and restructuring alternatives which are ongoing".
Korean Air intends to resume limited domestic service on nine routes in May that have been suspended amid the coronavirus pandemic, schedules posted on the airline's website show. The routes being reinstated include seven destinations from Jeju and two from Seoul Gimpo. Domestic services from Seoul Incheon remain suspended.
Fiji Airways CEO, Andre Viljoen, said in a statement on April 12 the airline has carried 88 tonnes of exports including seafood, herbs and other fresh produce as exports on freighter services, as well as repatriated 1,157 people to Australia, New Zealand, United States, Singapore, Japan and Samoa, since all international services were suspended in late March.
Japan Airlines [JAL] said on April 10 it had cut another 1,555 domestic flights from its schedule between April 12 and 19 "in response to the expected decline in travel demand" following the government's decision to implement a state of emergency in six prefectures across the country. The schedule change represented an average of 194 flights per day.
The launch of JAL's low-cost carrier, Zipair, has been postponed until further notice due to the global impact of COVID-19, the airline said in a statement on April 9. Zipair's inaugural service between Tokyo Narita and Bangkok had been scheduled to take off on May 14.
Still in Japan, All Nippon Airways [ANA] said on April 13 it had further reduced its international network from April 25 to May 15, with 3,128 flights on 67 routes affected. The Japanese carrier has also reduced its domestic schedule.
Taiwan's Minister of Transportation and Communication [MOTC], Lin Chia-lung, said in a Facebook post on April 10 he had an open mind about a possible change of name for the country's flag carrier, China Airlines. Lin noted there had been calls for China Airlines to change its name in the community to end confusion about the airline's origins, he said the company needed to keep in mind the views of its shareholders and the Taiwanese people.
Still in Taiwan, Taoyuan International Airports Corporation [TIAC] Lin Hsiang-sheng told the UDN website temporarily shutting down one of the airport's terminals was under consideration as passenger numbers dip to less than 1,000 a day, compared with about 130,000 a day normally.
Singapore Airlines' [SIA] low-cost carrier subsidiary, Scoot, said on April 14 it would update its refund policy to offer the option of both a full cash refund and a credit voucher valid for 12 months, which would be worth 120% of the original fare. The policy applied to bookings made on or before 15 March, 2020 for flights scheduled to depart between 23 January and 31 May 2020 that have been cancelled, Scoot said.
AirAsia founder and Group CEO, Tony Fernandes, said in an open letter published on April 11 the airline group was "doing everything possible to reduce costs during this time so we can come back fighting as fast as possible". Fernandes said AirAsia was "one of the few airlines world over who has kept all of our staff on", with employees taking temporary pay reductions of between 15% and 75%, depending on seniority, to share the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the business.
Australian Tourism Minister, Simon Birmingham, told Nine Newspapers on April 11 it was "very difficult to predict" when bans on international travel bans currently in place would be lifted. The report said Australians might have to wait until 2021 to again be allowed to travel overseas, with restrictions on flying domestically expected to be eased first.
Still in Australia, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Michael McCormack, told reporters over the weekend the government was considering providing subsidies to Qantas and Virgin Australia [VA] to operate some domestic flights. The talks with the two carriers followed Virgin Australia's decision to operate only six Melbourne-Sydney nonstop flights a week and Qantas's move to have just three aircraft in service for domestic flights.
