December 1st 2022

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March

There was much sadness this month following the fatal crash of China Eastern Airlines (CEA) MU5735, registration B-1791, flying from Kunming to Guangzhou on March 21. Read More » The aircraft lost altitude and crashed in mountainous terrain 130nm from its destination. There were no survivors among the 123 passengers and nine crew members. A preliminary report, issued in April, said there were no issues with the aircraft, dangerous goods, radio communications and control command between the flight crew and air traffic control before the 737-800 deviated from cruise altitude. The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder have been recovered.

India became the latest Indo-Pacific nation to reopen its border after the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation approved the resumption of scheduled passenger flights.

In contrast, China kept its borders closed to international travel and Hong Kong maintained compulsory hotel quarantine of three weeks for all travellers into the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). Cathay Pacific, which has no domestic market to fall back on and heavily relies on transfer traffic from China, was particularly impacted by the HKSAR policy. The airline group, Cathay Pacific and LCC HK Express, reported a second consecutive year in the red, although the 2021 net losses of HK$5.5 billion (US$706 million) were an improvement from the HK$21.6 billion loss in the year ago period. Cathay Pacific group chair, Patrick Healy, said it had been an extremely challenging start to the year, given the HKSAR government’s tightened quarantine requirements for Hong Kong-based aircrew.

China’s closed border prompted the International Air Travel Association (IATA) to shift its June annual general meeting from Shanghai to Qatar.

Philippines-headquartered LCC, Cebu Pacific, reported a 24.9 billion peso (US$476.1 million) net loss for 2021 against a 22.2 billion peso net loss in calendar 2020. Malaysia-listed Capital A (formerly AirAsia Group) posted a net loss of 3.1 billion ringgit (US$743.8 million) for calendar 2021, a narrowed net loss from 5.1 billion ringgit a year earlier.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) and DHL Express launched a partnership in which SIA flies five 777F freighters between Singapore and North America via intermediate points in North Asia on behalf of the air courier company.

Embraer launched a passenger-to-freighter (P2F) conversion program for its E190 and E195 regional jet family, with entry into service for the E190F and E195F scheduled for 2024.