Four of Virgin Australia's (VA) five major shareholders – Etihad Airways, HNA, Nanshan and Singapore Airlines that together hold about 80% of the airline's stock – have ruled out investing more capital in the airline group, the Australian Financial Review reported on April 15. Read More » The newspaper said the fifth major VA shareholder, Sir Richard Branson's UK-based Virgin Group with a 10% stake, was a "maybe" regarding a possible equity injection in VA. The airline group is seeking A$1.4 billion in government support and exploring options to raise capital and restructure debt.
India has extended a ban on all domestic passenger flights until May 3, the country's Ministry of Civil Aviation announced in a circular on April 14. The decision to keep the domestic flight suspension that began on March 23 in place came as the Indian government said restrictions on the movement of people in a nationwide lockdown would continue for a further three weeks.
On April 14, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) again revised up its estimate of the impact on airline passenger revenues from the coronavirus pandemic to US$314 billion. The figure represented a 55% reduction compared with passenger revenues in calendar 2019 and was US$62 billion worse than the airline lobby group's previous forecast of US$252 billion.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam said in a statement on its website on April 14 the country's airlines would not allowed to start selling tickets for domestic services when the country's 15-day social isolation policy ends on April 16 without permission from local authorities. The government was expected to announce if social distancing rules would be extended later on Wednesday.
Taiwan-based China Airlines carried 219,944 passengers in March 2020, a massive 83% reduction from 1.3 million in the prior corresponding period, the SkyTeam alliance member's monthly traffic report published this week showed. Revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) tumbled 70.3%. Load factor dipped 35.7 percentage points to 42.5% as the coronavirus pandemic decimated demand for travel.
Fellow Taiwanese carrier, EVA Air, said it flew 239,376 passengers in March 2020, down 78.2% from 1.1 million in the same month a year earlier. The Star Alliance member's monthly traffic report, published this week, said RPKs were 66.1% lower in March and load factors fell 36.1 percentage points to 47.1%.
Malaysia Airlines said on April 14 it would reinstate some domestic flights between Peninsula Malaysia and the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, as well as an intrastate route in Sarawak, following requests by the two state governments. The airline will operate one return flight a week on the Kuala Lumpur-Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur-Kuching and Kuala Lumpur-Miri routes with 737-800s. Its sister carrier, MASWings, will resume flying between Kuching and Sibu in Sarawak with ATR 72 turboprops.
HK Express said on April 15 it would extend its short-term suspension of its network to June 18, 2020, subject to developments in the fight to contain the COVID-19 virus. Ticket sales remain available for flights beyond June 19, 2020, the LCC said.
