The CE of South Korean low-cost carrier Jin Air said Friday he expects Chinese travel demand to recover from January following a year-long diplomatic row. Choi Jung-ho also said that Jin Air has received a number of requests from Chinese tour agencies for charter flights, which he expects to resume early next year. Chinese group tours have been unavailable since March 15, in the wake of a decision by the Seoul government to deploy an anti-missile system to which its Beijing counterpart objected. South Korean airlines’ applications to conduct charter flights from China have also been rejected since January. South Korean President Moon Jae-in will hold a summit with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping next month after the two countries agreed to mend ties in October. “A recovery in China demand will materialize in January, and we expect a meaningful recovery in February,” Jin Air CEO Choi said at a media briefing ahead of the airline’s IPO, referring to a boost expected from the Lunar New Year holidays which will land in February. He also said Japanese tour demand, which has fallen in part due to increased nuclear threats from North Korea this year, is likely to bounce back next year. Jin Air, an affiliate of Korean Air Lines, plans to raise as much as US$341.53m in its IPO planned for next month.<br/>
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Australia’s competition watchdog said Friday it would re-authorise coordination between the three Asian brands of Qantas’s budget arm Jetstar for another five years. The coordination allows the brands - Jetstar Asia, Jetstar Pacific and Jetstar Japan - to operate as a single organisation on matters such as flight scheduling, marketing and pricing, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission added. Qantas established the joint ventures due to international regulations that prevented it from owning airlines outside Australia. “The ACCC considers that continuing this coordination is likely to result in public benefits,” commissioner Roger Featherston said. The Jetstar brands are also looking at partnering with their shareholding airlines such as Qantas, Japan Airlines Co Ltd and Vietnam Airlines on passenger and cargo services within Asia.<br/>
African carrier Starbow Airlines has suspended all operations in the aftermath of the accident which damaged a newly-delivered ATR 72-500. The aircraft suffered a runway excursion at Accra's Kotoka airport during take-off on a domestic service to Kumasi. "Our operations have been suspended until further notice," Starbow CE James Eric Antwi said. He says this is a result of the 25 November accident, without elaborating on the likely duration of the suspension. None of the occupants of the ATR was seriously injured but the aircraft – which had only been delivered a couple of days earlier – sustained substantial damage after it veered off the runway. Starbow had been planning to take delivery of a second ATR. The airline also operates a BAE Systems Avro RJ100.<br/>
Travel firm Thomas Cook has bid for failed rival Monarch Airlines’ landing and take-off slots at London Gatwick airport, two sources close to discussions said, after Monarch’s administrator secured rights to sell the slots. Earlier this week the administrator won an appeal against a previous London High Court court ruling that Monarch had lost any rights over the potentially valuable slots since it was no longer capable of operating any flights. The administrator now hopes to recover money for creditors by transferring rights to use the slots at London’s Gatwick and Luton airports. “We’ve expressed an interest,” one source said, confirming that Thomas Cook had bid for slots at Gatwick but not at Luton. Thomas Cook Airlines declined to comment. EasyJet, IAG, Wizz and Norwegian have already expressed their interest in acquiring the slots at the London airports. Monarch estimates its slots could be worth around US$80m, though that is disputed by airlines such as easyJet.<br/>