Short Takes
June 19th 2020
Air New Zealand said this week it would resume nonstop flights between Auckland and Shanghai Pudong from June 22. Read More » The once weekly service with 787-9 equipment was scheduled to depart Auckland on Monday evening and fly from Shanghai on Wednesday afternoon, with passengers travelling on these flights subject to government border controls at both ends of the journey.
AirAsia Group CEO, Tony Fernandes, said this week the company's Malaysia affiliate would return to its full domestic network from July, following the government's easing of some restrictions on interstate travel that had been in place to curb COVID-19. He told reporters in Malaysia there was strong demand for air travel in the country.
The Myanmar Department of Civil Aviation's (DCA) this week released its final report into a May 12, 2019 incident at Myanmar National Airlines when an Embraer E190 XY-AGQ landed at Mandalay without its nose wheel extended. The report concluded the probable causes of the accident was that maintenance actions were not carried out per the instructions in the manual as well as poor workmanship in the servicing of the nose landing gear strut.
Sydney Airport's monthly traffic report published today showed its three terminals handled 92,000 passengers in May, a 97.4% decline from 3.5 million in the prior corresponding period. The number of domestic travellers fell 97.2% to 62,000, while international travellers were down 97.7%, at 29,000. "We expect the downturn in passenger traffic to persist until government travel restrictions are eased," the company said in its Australian Securities Exchange filing.
Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) director-general, Chula Sukmanop, told reporters in Bangkok this week the country may extend the temporary ban on international flights that has been in place since late April beyond the current June 30 end date, local media reported. Sukmanop said any lifting of the ban would depend on an all clear from health authorities and also if foreign governments would allow Thais to enter their countries. International travel could initially be limited to those flying for business.
Cebu Pacific Air this week extended the suspension of international flights to July 31. The Philippines LCC grounded all international services on March 18 in response to government regulations on controlling COVID-19. It had planned to resume international flights on July 1.
