Short Takes
June 26th 2020
Figures from the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) released this week showed the region's airlines carried 785,000 passengers in May, a 97.5% reduction from 31.1 million in the prior corresponding period. Read More » Capacity, measured by available seat kilometres (ASK), was down 92.5% in May from the same month a year ago, while demand, or revenue passenger kilometres (RPK), fell 97.3%. Although passenger numbers were up from those recorded in April, AAPA director general, Subhas Menon, said the prognosis for the industry, as well as tourism and trade, remained grim.
Singapore-based LCC Jetstar Asia said this week about 180 jobs, representing a quarter of its workforce in the city state, would be cut and five A320s withdrawn from the fleet in response to the coronavirus pandemic, local media reported. Jetstar Asia CEO, Bara Pasupathi, said it was a difficult but necessary decision and there was "no doubt the travel market will look very different moving forward". "It is imperative we change and adapt," Pasupathi said. The fleet reduction would leave Jetstar Asia, which is 51% held by Singapore's Westbrook Investments and 49% by Qantas, with 13 A320 family aircraft.
Emirates Airline chief operating officer, Adel Ahmad Al Redha, told the Reuters news agency today the carrier would need to redefine parts of its operating model in a post-coronavirus pandemic environment, including re-examining its network, fleet and reliance on transfer traffic through its Dubai hub. "Surely what used to work for us in the past is not going to work for us going forward,” Al Redha said.
South Korean regional carrier, Hi Air, has purchased two ATR 72-500 turboprops to join two of the type already in its fleet, ATR said this week. The two aircraft are from ATR's asset management portfolio and will be delivered in August and October to the airline. "At Hi Air, we believe that increasing regional connectivity in Korea will benefit passengers, communities and businesses and we look forward to continuing this mission with the support of ATR," Hi Air CEO, Youn Hyung Kwan, said in the ATR statement.
Japanese carrier, All Nippon Airways (ANA), announced this week it would provide real-time quotes for all available cargo capacity through its partnership with e-booking platform cargo.one. "The COVID-19 pandemic has been a catalyst for the increased digital sourcing and booking behaviour of freight forwarders and has encouraged our companies to join together with an even stronger bond," ANA executive vice president, Toshiaki Toyama, said in a statement.
