The Australian government has secured dedicated cargo flights from Adelaide to Singapore operated by Singapore Airlines (SIA) under its International Freight Assistance Mechanism (IFAM).Read More » Adelaide Airport said on its Facebook page the first flight, operated by A350-900 9V-SJA as a passenger aircraft carrying cargo, took off from the South Australian capital yesterday carrying about 40 tonnes of fresh produce with a second of an expected six flights scheduled for May 13.
Still on cargo, the Australian government's IFAM has added freight capacity out of Cairns, with Qantas commencing a weekly Brisbane-Cairns-Hong Kong service today in addition to its existing Sydney-Cairns-Hong Kong cargo flight. The extra flight is in response to increasing demand for North Queensland seafood in Asia.
Korean Air (KAL) said today it planned to more than double international destinations in its route network to 32 cities in June, compared with 13 in May, to “prepare for increased travel demand after COVID-19 restrictions per country are relaxed”.
While the number of flights will increase to 146 a week, from 55 a week in May, KAL cautioned its international flights would be operating at 20% capacity compared with planned operations.
Thailand's Bangkok Airways, which suspended all domestic flights on April 7, is scheduled to resume flying on May 15 with a twice-daily service between Bangkok Suvarnabhumi and Koh Samui. And in schedules loaded into global distribution systems and reported by Airlineroute, the Thai carrier said it would start flights from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Lampang, Phuket, Sukhothai and Trat and between Phuket and Koh Samui on June 1.
United Airlines (UA) has filed an application with the United States Department of Transportation (DoT) that seeks approval for a daily cargo flight between Hong Kong and Singapore with 777-300ER equipment. The application, dated Tuesday U.S. time, said UA intended to operate the route to transport cargo, using a passenger aircraft, from May 10 as part of a U.S.-Hong Kong-Singapore routing.
Garuda Indonesia resumed domestic flights earlier today for specific categories of passengers such as state officials, private sector workers and state-owned enterprises (SOE) employees who provide health services, basic necessities, security and defence and vital economic functions, repatriated Indonesian nationals, individuals who needed emergency medical care and family members of a deceased individual. Garuda CEO, Irfan Setiaputra, said the resumption of domestic flights was based on "intensive communication with the government and relevant authorities", and added there were strict procedures in place for the screening and accepting of passengers for these "exemption flights".
Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and its affiliates, MASwings and Firefly, have introduced capacity restrictions on all flights as required under recently introduced government regulations. The airline said in a statement on its website it would limit the number of passengers on each flight to half of the maximum total capacity of the operating aircraft, introduce line markings for social distancing and observe one metre distancing between passengers, among other measures, at check in, boarding and arrival.
