Japan Airlines (JAL) will cease the social distancing practice of blocking the middle seat on board its aircraft, a practice in place since late April. “As of June 30, the carrier will terminate this procedure as new key measures against COVID-19 have since been implemented to provide customers with a safe and secure travel experience,” JAL said. Read More »
In its latest schedule update, published today, JAL said there had been a recovery of about 30% in travel demand on its domestic network since the government lifted domestic travel restrictions on June 19. "Looking further ahead, at the latter half of July, a recovery of 50% is expected for the JAL Group," it said.
The oneworld alliance member planned to operate 66% of flights scheduled from July 17 to July 31. The numbers represented a 34% cancellation rate; below the 49% cancellation rate currently.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) said yesterday it planned to ease restrictions on international flights into and out of the country from tomorrow (July 1) for passengers in one of 11 eligible categories. Thailand has banned scheduled international passenger flights since April 3 to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.
The applicable categories, published in a "notification on conditions for international flight permit to Thailand", included Thai nationals, non-Thai nationals who were a spouse, parents or children of a Thai national, non-Thai nationals with a residence permit or valid work permit (including their spouse and children), as well as non-Thai nationals who were students at approved educational institutions in Thailand, non-Thai nationals in need of (non-coronavirus) medical treatment in Thailand and non-Thai nationals permitted to enter "under a special arrangement with a foreign country".
Other categories are persons invited [to Thailand] by the country’s prime minister, crew members, carriers of necessary goods and those from diplomatic missions, consular affairs and international organisations.
Tokyo Narita Airport's latest monthly traffic report has reported the airport handled 89,640 passengers in May, down 97.5% from 3.58 million 12 months earlier. International travellers declined by 98%, at 53,535/ Domestic passengers was 94% lower at 36,105. Total aircraft movements fell 66%, to 7,545.
Tokyo Haneda Airport's latest traffic report published late last week showed the airport's international terminal handled 29,828 passengers in April, 1.9% of the 1.56 million in the same month a year earlier. Total aircraft movements dropped 87.4% to 940.
Perth Airport said late last week 155,413 passengers passed through its terminals in May, down 86% from May a year ago. Perth Airport CEO, Kevin Brown, said the airport had lost about 2.3 million passengers since the coronavirus outbreak, with the figures to "continue to grow in the months ahead". Brown said Perth Airport was "doing everything we can to cut our costs and keep as many people in jobs as possible without compromising safety, security or operations", with runways and terminals open 24 hours a day to support fly-in/fly-out services, cargo operations and repatriation flights.
