Hong Kong and Singapore announced today their bilateral air travel bubble (ATB) would commence on November 22. The ATB will allow passengers to travel between the two countries without completing quarantine on arrival. Read More » They also will not have any restrictions placed on their travel itineraries. The scheme requires all passengers to have tested negative to COVID-19 within 72 hours of departure and not have visited places other than Hong Kong and Singapore in the 14 days before travel.
The scheme will commence with one designated ATB flight a day for the first 15 days and then increase to two flights a day, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government said in a statement. Each designated flight, which will not be allowed to transport transit passengers, will carry no more than 200 ATB passengers. Flights will be allocated equally between Singapore-based and Hong Kong-based airlines. The ATB scheme will be suspended for two weeks if the seven-day moving average of the daily number of local COVID-19 cases was more than five originating from either Singapore or Hong Kong.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) CEO, Goh Choon Phong, said: "This air travel bubble arrangement is an important step for Singapore and Hong Kong, as we rebuild from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and supports the ongoing recovery of the airline industry. It paves the way for us to open up in a safe and calibrated way with the necessary testing protocols in place and provides a promising model for other bilateral arrangements around the world."
SIA group planned to operate designated ATB flights with Singapore Airlines, using A350-900s. SIA said the airline group's non-ATB flights, which allowed transit passengers and were subject to quarantine and other requirements, would be operated by its LCC, Scoot.
Filipino LCC, Cebu Pacific Air (CEB), today reported a net loss of 5.5 billion pesos (US$114 million) for the three months to September 30, a deterioration from 375 million pesos a year ago. COVID-19 and government imposed travel restrictions, particularly in Metro Manila. hammered its bottom line, the LCC said. Revenue fell 89%, to two billion pesos, CEB said in a regulatory filing to the country’s stock exchange. CEB said “given the volatile nature of this situation and the uncertainty as to when operating and demand conditions will improve, it will be premature to provide any guidance with respect to expected impact for full-year 2020".
CEB carried 210,000 passengers in the September quarter, down 96% from 5.5 million in the same months a year earlier. Capacity, or available seat kilometres (ASK), declined 94% year-on-year, Passenger load factor fell 31.9 percentage points, to 53.2%.
China Southern Airlines (CSA) said in a regulatory filing to the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong yesterday it had received approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) to sell short-term corporate bonds to professional investors. The bond sale, which was flagged in October, aims to raise up to 10 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion).
Asia Aviation Public Company Ltd, the parent company of Thai AirAsia, yesterday reported a net loss of 1.8 billion baht (US$60 million) for the three months to September 30, compared with a net loss of 417 million baht in the prior corresponding period. Total revenue fell 75%, to 2.4 billion baht, Asia Aviation said in a regulatory filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand.
Asia Aviation said Thai AirAsia resumed operations on all domestic routes during the September quarter. Seat capacity on domestic flights had risen from 59% of pre-COVID-19 levels in July to 96% in September and will continue to improve in the period ahead. "Thai AirAsia is planning to add domestic capacity above pre-COVID levels in quarter four this year, supported by the opening of an operational base in Suvarnabhumi Airport. The new base will enhance domestic routes and flights to match with government schemes and encourage demand, including cargo services at Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi Airports," Asia Aviation said.
Figures from the Osaka Regional Immigration Bureau showed Osaka Kansai Airport had 5,318 foreigners arriving in October, more than double the 2,467 recorded in September. Despite the month-on-month improvement, which some attributed to a relaxation of immigration restrictions for business travellers and international students, the October figure represented less than 1% of the 650,000 foreign arrivals in the same month in 2019.
Federal Court of Australia Justice John Middleton yesterday approved the transfer of all 8.3 billion listed shares in Virgin Australia (VA) to new owners, Bain Capital. Deloitte, the administrators for VA, said in a regulatory filing to the Australian Securities Exchange it expected the transfer of the shares – which an independent expert said had no value, meaning all shareholders would receive nothing – to be made on Tuesday, November 17. The share transfer represented one of the final steps to complete the sale process, after VA went into voluntary administration in April with debts of about A$7 billion.
