December 17th 2021

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April

Former British Airways and IAG CEO, Willie Walsh, officially took his seat as International Air Transport Association (IATA) director general this month. Read More » He succeeded Alexandre de Juniac, who stepped down after nearly five years in the role. Walsh said his goal as director general was to ensure the airline lobby group was a “forceful voice supporting the success of global air transport”.

A new variant of COVID-19, Delta, tore through India and brought the nascent recovery of the country’s airlines to an abrupt halt. New daily infections rose from about 70,000 at the start of April to almost 400,000 by the end of the month, eventually peaking in May.

In addition to anaemic domestic demand that resulted in a 27% month-on-month decline in passengers, a host of countries announced new bans or extended quarantine requirements for all international flights from India.

There was a scathing assessment of the Boeing 777X wide-body program this month from the president of one of the aircraft’s largest customers, Emirates Airline. Sir Tim Clark said the 777X was in a state of disarray telling reporters the Dubai-headquartered airline may have to wait until 2025 to receive the first of 115 777Xs it has ordered. This time frame for delivery of the type to the Gulf carrier would be five years later than scheduled due to certification delays.

Despite the depressed market conditions, airlines were continuing to upgrade their fleets with next generation aircraft. One such customer this month was LCC, Tigerair Taiwan, which received the first of 15 A320neo family aircraft it has on order.

The pandemic also has proved no barrier to individuals wanting to start an airline. This month, South Korea’s Aero K commenced scheduled domestic flights. It became the country’s eighth operating LCC.

The uncertainty about the recovery path from the pandemic was highlighted by Air New Zealand’s announcement it would delay a planned capital raising by three months, to September 30, due to evolving circumstances related to the global impact of the pandemic.

The financial restructuring of Nok Air was pushed back by at least a month after the country’s Central Bankruptcy Court gave the Thailand-based LCC another extension to submit its business rehabilitation plan.

Qantas Group CEO, Alan Joyce, told a CAPA online event the airline group was sticking to its timetable for a restart of international travel by October 2021 despite the slower than expected rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in Australia. Was he right? No.

However, there was one international route that opened this month, with Australia and New Zealand allowing two-way quarantine-free travel between the two countries.