Shanghai has leapfrogged London to become the most connected city in the world.Read More » International travel restrictions introduced by governments to combat COVID-19 have re-ordered global air connectivity rankings, figures from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) showed. London dropped to eighth place on the table. Shanghai was one of five cities in China to make the top 10 alongside Beijing (2), Guangzhou (3), Chengdu (4) and Shenzhen (6). "The important point is the rankings did not shift because of any improvement in connectivity. That declined overall in all markets," IATA senior vice president member external relations, Sebastian Mikosz, said. "The rankings shifted because the scale of the decline was greater for some cities than others. There are no winners, just some players that suffered fewer injuries."
Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) will inject equity into Zhuhai Airport and work towards achieving "greater synergy" between the two airports, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) chief executive, Carrie Lam, said in her policy address yesterday. The HKSAR government also has given the green light to building automated car parks at the Hong Kong end of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, providing travellers with a more streamlined process for departing from Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA).
Cathay Pacific CEO, Augustus Tang, welcomed the "deepening cooperation between HKIA and Zhuhai Airport to establish a globally competitive world-class airport cluster, leveraging their complementary strengths". “We are greatly encouraged by the focus placed on enhancing the overall transportation network and capacity, connecting HKIA and the various transport links and infrastructure of the airport island," Tang said. "We also welcome measures that greatly facilitate ‘land-to-air’ transit travel for passengers from the Greater Bay Area to fly via HKIA."
Philippine Airlines (PAL) was planning a debt restructuring with court protection from creditors in efforts to survive the coronavirus pandemic, local media reported, citing comments from the country's finance secretary and management communications with staff. The airline's parent company, PAL Holdings, said in a regulatory filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange there was no definite decision yet made about the debt restructuring. "The instruction from the board is to continue to study the best options for the airline as of this time," PAL Holdings said. Management and stakeholders were continuing to work on a comprehensive "recovery and restructuring plan", PAL said.
IATAregional vice president Asia Pacific, Conrad Clifford, has repeated the association's call for more government support for airlines as the coronavirus pandemic pushes a number of carriers to the edge of a financial cliff. "There is a very real risk airlines will fail, particularly medium-sized smaller airlines, as we go into 2021," Clifford told reporters during an online briefing yesterday. "It is something we need governments to be aware of and to help us with."
Brazil's National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) said overnight it had cleared the 737 MAX to resume commercial operations. The regulator will apply the same requirements set out by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) last week that cover the reconfiguration of the flight control system, review of procedures in the flight control manual and revisions to pilot training, among other matters. "The FAA Directive of Airworthiness, released on 20/11, was adopted by ANAC. It has automatic force in Brazil and should be fulfilled immediately by airline operators wishing to operate the model," ANAC said.
Earlier this week, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said it intended to approve the 737 MAX's return to service "within a matter of weeks" after publishing a proposed airworthiness directive for public consultation. Requirements to clear the aircraft to fly differed from the FAA in two areas – the approved pilot response to a stick-shaker alarm and a restriction on the use of the autopilot for certain high-precision landings, the agency said. "EASA made clear from the outset we would conduct our own objective and independent assessment of the 737 MAX, working closely with the FAA and Boeing, to make sure there can be no repeat of these tragic accidents, which touched the lives of so many people,” EASA executive director, Patrick Ky, said.
