ANA HOLDINGS INC., parent company of All Nippon Airways, said on Friday the board had approved plans to raise up to 332 billion yen (US$3.2 billion) in fresh capital through the issue of new shares to Japanese and overseas investors.Read More » The proceeds will fund the acquisition of 787 family aircraft and pay down long-term debt, ANA HOLDINGS INC. said. The capital raising is expected to be completed by January 2021.
Japan Airlines (JAL) said on Friday it had adjusted its December domestic schedule in response to a new wave of COVID-19 cases in the country. The oneworld alliance member said it had cancelled another 414 flights in the month, increasing cancellations in December to 4,029, from 3,615 previously. JAL planned to operate 85% of its normal schedule in December, based on the updated schedule, with the figure rising to 95% for the first five days of January 2021.
China and Japan are allowing business people to travel between the two countries from today. The easing of travel restrictions was agreed at a meeting of Japan's foreign minister, Toshimitsu Motegi, and China's foreign minister, Wang Yi, earlier this month. Also, individuals with resident status in either country are to be permitted to travel between China and Japan.
Air New Zealand (AirNZ) said in a regulatory filing on Friday it "still expects to make a loss" in 2020-2021. The unchanged outlook was included in an announcement that the airline had been awarded four more months of flying cargo routes under the New Zealand government's International Air Freight Capacity (IAFC) program. Air NZ plans to operate about 55 cargo flights a week from tomorrow to March 31, adding NZ$145 million in revenue over the four-month period to the company’s coffers. "With the certainty of the next four months of this arrangement, the company expects cargo revenue for fiscal 2021 to exceed 2020 levels,” the airline said. Cargo represented half of AirNZ’s monthly revenue compared with 10% pre-COVID-19.
The Star Alliance member flew 672,000 passengers across its domestic network in October, down 25.2% from 898,000 a year ago. The October figure was up 2% from 658,000 in September, when the airline had social distancing requirements aboard domestic flights for 15 days due to COVID-19. Domestic load factor was 78.8% in October, compared with 67.7% in September and 87.1% 12 months ago. International passengers were down 96% year-on-year.
Qantas said today some 2,000 staff would lose their jobs after the airline pushed ahead with outsourcing ground handling work at 10 Australian airports. The restructuring is forecast to save the airline group A$103 million (US$76.02 million). It will increase job losses at the airline group since the start of COVID-19 to 8,500. Australia's Transport Workers Union (TWU) had submitted a bid on behalf of employees to keep the jobs in-house, but Qantas domestic and international chief executive, Andrew David, said the proposal was "well short of what the specialist external providers were able to come up with".
Cebu Pacific Air (CEB) said on Friday it would conduct a pre-departure COVID-19 antigen testing trial for passengers flying from Manila to General Santos from December 3 to December 14, in partnership with the General Santos local government and the Philippine Airport Diagnostic Laboratory (PADL). Passengers have to arrive at the airport five hours before departure to be tested. Those who tested negative would proceed to bag-drop counters or the departure gate.
CEB said individuals who tested positive would be referred to another facility for confirmatory RT-PCR testing. "We look forward to the results of this pilot so we can pave the way for a more confident restart of non-essential travel and a standardization of requirements across all Philippine destinations," CEB vice president for marketing and customer experience, Candice Iyog, said.
Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC) said last week its C919 aircraft had moved a step closer to certification after it received its type inspection authorisation (TIA) from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). The TIA meant the C919 flight mechanism was in place and the aircraft structure had been verified, COMAC said. The manufacturer expected the C919 to receive its airworthiness certificate in 2021.
India's Vistara said on Friday it would start a second nonstop service to London Heathrow from January 16, 2021 with a new three times weekly Mumbai-London flight operated by 787-9s. The airline, a joint venture between Tata Group and Singapore Airlines (SIA), flies five times a week from Delhi to London Heathrow under bilateral air travel bubble arrangements between India and the UK.
Airports of Thailand Public Company Ltd (AOT) said late last week it expected air traffic at its six airports would remain below 2019 levels, representing passenger traffic before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, until 2023. AOT is predicted to handle 47.9 million passengers in fiscal 2021, from October 2020 to September 2021, increasing to 110.9 million travellers in fiscal 2022. Its six airports - Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Hat Yai and Phuket – processed 72.6 million passengers in fiscal 2020, down 49% from 141.9 million a year earlier.
