There have been large scale flight cancellations in Beijing after authorities re-introduced rules restricting the movement of people in parts of the city in response to a fresh outbreak of the coronavirus linked to a food market. Local media reported approximately 1,200 flights, representing about 70% of all scheduled services, were cancelled into and out of Beijing's two major airports, Capital and Daxing today, the bulk of which were domestic services. Read More »
Singapore’s minister for transport and coordinating minister for infrastructure, Khaw Boon Wan, said yesterday the planned construction of Terminal 5 (T5) at Changi Airport would be pushed back by two years due to COVID-19. "We will do a thorough study on air travel demand and the design of T5, including the possibility of re-designing certain parts [of it] to make sure air travel will be safe. Hence, there will be a pause of two years in T5’s implementation. This is the prudent thing to do in the current circumstances," Khaw said on Facebook.
Australia's trade minister, Simon Birmingham, has poured cold water on the prospect of reopening the border to foreign visitors later this year, saying it was "more likely" to be in 2021. "I do, sadly, think that in terms of open tourist-related travel in or out of Australia, it remains quite some distance off, just because of the practicalities of the volumes that are involved and the need for us to first and foremost keep putting health first,” Birmingham told a National Press Club audience in Canberra today.
The number of air travellers keen to hop back on a plane once the coronavirus pandemic subsides has fallen since April, new figures from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) show. The survey, conducted in the first week of June, found 45% of respondents intended to return to flying within a few months of the pandemic subsiding, down from 61% in IATA's April survey. Some 36% said they would wait six months before travelling, up from 21% in the April survey.
Separately, the airline lobby group has called for the suspension of rules regarding take-off and landing slots, or the 80/20 use-it-or-lose-it rule, to be extended until March 2021. "That will give airlines the flexibility they need to focus on meeting passenger demand as it evolves and free them from the burden of trying to protect what their schedules might look like a year from now," IATA director general and CEO, Alexandre de Juniac, said in a statement overnight. Already the rules have been waived for the northern hemisphere summer scheduling season, which runs to October 31.
Japan Airlines (JAL) said today its first class lounges at Tokyo Haneda and Tokyo Narita airports would partially reopen on July 1 following a "careful review of scheduled operations for July 2020". JAL said on its website the two lounges, which have been closed since April 27, would feature temporary service changes such as replacement of the self-service buffet with a full-service bar and a meal offering and keeping the kids room closed.
Kuala Lumpur International Airport's (KLIA) monthly traffic report, published late last week, reported the airport handled 88,000 passengers in May 2020, down 98.1% from 4.7 million 12 months ago. The number of international passengers fell 99% to 32,000. Domestic travellers were 95.7% lower at 56,000.
New Zealand recorded 1,721 visitor arrivals in April 2020, a decline of 99.4% from 307,409 in the same month a year earlier, figures from Statistics New Zealand published last week showed. The country has kept its borders closed to foreign arrivals since mid-March as part of efforts to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
