Cathay PacificAirways has scheduled 147 flights a week to 28 destinations in July, an increase from 65 flights a week to 18 destinations this month. The July schedule, published on the Cathay Pacific website last Friday, showed 44 flights a week to seven destinations in China, seven weekly to Taipei, eight to two destinations in Canada, 11 to three destinations in the U.S., 58 to 10 destinations in Asia, eight to two destinations in Australia and 11 flights to three destinations in Europe. Read More »
Japan Airlines (JAL) said late last week it planned to operate 53% of its scheduled domestic network for the first half of July compared with 46% currently. It has noted a "slight recovery in future travel demand" following the lifting of the country's State of Emergency and the ending of domestic travel restrictions, the airline said. The oneworld alliance member said a recent forecast for the carrier had shown a 20% recovery in demand on the domestic network this month and a predicted 40% recovery for the first half of July.
JAL rival, All Nippon Airways (ANA) however, plans to cancel 12,227 domestic flights impacting 109 routes for the month of July. The figure represented cancellation of 50.7% of the 24,134 flights on 122 routes previously scheduled for July. ANA said the flight changes were the result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Japanese LCC, Peach Aviation, intends to increase domestic flight operations to 100 flights a day on 22 domestic routes from July 22, which was "in accordance with the original business plan" developed before the coronavirus outbreak. There would be more flights added the LCC’s services in August, with 3,822 flights scheduled for the month, an increase of 552 flights from the earlier business plan. International services will be suspended until the end of August, the ANA subsidiary said in a statement.
China Eastern Airlines (CEA) and its Shanghai Airlines unit planned to operate 21 international flights a week in July, with 18 flights from Shanghai Pudong and three flights from Kunming, the airline said on its website last Saturday. The figure was up from the 19 international flights a week the two carriers are operating this month.
Air China's international schedule for July will serve 24 international routes a week: 19 from Beijing Capital, three from Shanghai Pudong and two from Chengdu. Next month’s schedule was unchanged from the Star Alliance member's June international network.
The Australian government has tasked the country's competition watchdog with monitoring prices, costs and profits in the domestic air travel market for the next three years. The Australian Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, said "a key matter covered will be the level of capacity the airlines are putting on each route and whether this is occurring in a way that may damage competition". The direction to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) was made as administrators worked to secure a new owner for the country's second largest airline group, Virgin Australia.
ACCC chairman, Rod Sims, said the commission would be looking out for any early signs of damage to competition in the domestic airline industry which could harm the long-term interests of consumers. "A sufficient level of competition provides consumer choice, and helps to maintain service levels and keep prices down over the long term," Sims said. The ACCC will release a quarterly report on its findings.
The Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) said in a statement late last week restrictions on international flights into and out of the country at all airports except for Gwadar and Turbat would be lifted next Saturday. Inbound international flights have been suspended since March 21. All domestic services were suspended on March 26 but resumed on May 15.
