Japan Airlines (JAL) has raised the prospect of reducing its summer bonus to staff due to the impact of the coronavirus on its bottom line, NHK has reported. The proposed summer bonus reduction of two months of wages to one month has been put to employees and would require the approval of unions representing workers. Read More »
Tokyo Narita Airport's monthly traffic statistics published late last week showed the airport handled 141,021 passengers in April, down 96% from 3.6 million in April last year. The number of aircraft movements fell 67%, to 7,283, from 21,768 aircraft movements in the same month a year ago.
South Korean carrier, Jeju Air, has begun charging a no-show penalty fee of 200 yuan (US$28) today for customers who held tickets for flights departing China but had not cancelled or changed their bookings after deciding not to travel. The airline said on its website the temporary introduction of the penalty was "due to increasing duplicate booking and no-shows during the COVID-19 period". Bookings needed to be changed or cancelled before closure of check-in of the flight, the LCC said.
International cargo capacity, measured by available cargo tonne kilometres (ACTK) fell 42% in April as a consequence of the sharp cuts in passenger operations caused by the coronavirus pandemic, new figures from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) show.
With demand, or cargo tonne kilometres (CTK), down by 27.7% in the month, IATA director general and CEO, Alexandre de Juniac, warned the severe capacity crunch in air cargo was "damaging global supply chains" and leading to longer shipping times and higher costs.
Airlines in the Asia-Pacific recorded a 28.1% fall in demand for international air cargo and capacity decreased 42.5%. IATA said the large Asia-North America market recorded less of a decline in demand, at 7.3%, due to the rise in movement of personal protective equipment (PPE).
The Hong Kong government has extended the compulsory 14-day quarantine for those travelling from mainland China, Macau and Taiwan to the Special Administrative Region until July 7. Rules that require international arrivals from all other locations to undergo the two-week isolation period will remain in place until September 18. Hong Kong is still closed to non-residents arriving from overseas by plane.
Hong Kong’s secretary for food and health, Professor Sophia Chan, said in a statement on Tuesday the government was considering a mechanism to allow a gradual relaxation of compulsory quarantine requirements for people arriving from specific countries and places after assessing the relevant public health risks.
It would include putting countries into two categories, with those arriving from Category 1 countries subject to compulsory quarantine arrangements and those arriving from Category 2 countries being excluded from compulsory quarantine arrangements if they met certain conditions, such as obtaining a negative COVID-19 test result.
Thailand’s prime minister, Prayut Chan-o-cha, said yesterday the country was planning to allow international travel to certain countries as part of a “travel bubble” once it was safe to reopen borders. “Once the situation improves, we will allow travel between countries with which we have an agreement. There won’t be free movement because we don’t want another outbreak that could hurt both the origin and the destination,” he said, the Bangkok Post reported.
Scheduled international passenger flights into and out of Thailand are prohibited until June 30 as part of the country's efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
