by JORDAN CHONG  

December 1st 2020

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AUGUST

There was a fatal accident in the Asia-Pacific this month, when an Air India Express 737-800 crashed while attempting to land at Calicut International Airport at Kozhikode. Read More » VT-AXH was operating repatriation flight IX1344 from Dubai, with 184 passengers and six crew on board, when it over ran the runway and came to a stop in a valley. Both pilots were among the 21 people killed in the tragedy.

Separately in India, the rumour mill was in full churn with unsubstantiated reports grounded full-service carrier, Jet Airways, had found a buyer, or buyers, but they were not from the industry.

JAL reported a net loss of 131 billion yen (US$1.3 billion) for the three months to June 30, compared with a net profit of 19.9 billion yen in the same months in 2019. Revenue fell 78%, to 348.8 billion yen. The commentary in the company’s financial results made for sombre reading. Recovery of international passenger demand was “unforeseeable” given many countries still showed no sign of slowing down the spread of COVID-19, it said.

Domestic passenger demand had been gradually recovering, but Japan was struggling to resume economic activities because of infection prevention measures. It would take more time for the domestic market to make a full recovery, JAL predicted.

Qantas posted a net loss of A$2 billion for its 2019-2020 financial year, to June 30, a A$2.8 billion turnaround from 2018-2019’s A$840 million net profit. Revenue dropped by 20%, to A$14.3 billion.

Qantas’s Joyce said the Flying Kangaroo was an airline that “can’t really fly to many places” for now, and added 2020-2021 would be another tough year.

Air New Zealand (Air NZ) reported a full-year net loss of NZ$454 million (US$319 million) for 2019-2020, its first annual loss in 18 years. The carrier expects to be in the red again in 2020-2021. CEO Greg Foran mirrored the view of his peers when he said the outlook for passenger demand was uncertain and highly dependent on the removal of travel restrictions in New Zealand and around the world.

“We absolutely are not seeing a ‘V’ recovery or even a ‘U’ recovery. It’s more like an ‘L’, he said. “It’s a question of how long the bottom of the ‘L’ takes to ramp up.”

In Thailand, Nok Air sought clearance from the Central Bankruptcy Court to commence a business rehabilitation plan. The LCC intended to complete its rehabilitation process “in time to return to full service post the COVID-19 pandemic”.