United Airlines will pare service to China due to “a significant decline in demand for travel” amid the outbreak of a virus that has claimed more than 100 lives. Two dozen flights to Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai will be suspended starting Feb 1, United said Tuesday. The plan includes flights from United’s hubs in Chicago, San Francisco, Washington and Newark, New Jersey, although some service to China will continue. “We will continue to monitor the situation as it develops and will adjust our schedule as needed,” said United, which has the most capacity to China among US airlines. The last of the 24 flights being halted will operate Feb 9. United gets about 7% of passenger revenue from China, said an analyst at Raymond James. <br/>
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South African Airways’ business-rescue team said it’s been given access to ZAR3.5b (US$239m) from the state-owned Development Bank of Southern Africa to avert the airline’s collapse. The team will immediately draw down ZAR2b from the facility, they said Tuesday. SAA has already canceled some flights this month to save cash after the govt missed a deadline to provide the money as part of the terms of its bankruptcy protection. SAA's business-rescue experts have until the end of next month to provide a turnaround plan, but the National Treasury has been reluctant to commit further state funds as part of that strategy. At stake is an airline with more than 5,000 employees, as well as thousands more at suppliers and associated companies. <br/>
THAI has said that the new coronavirus outbreak has affected its business only to a small extent, as most of its flights are to destinations in Europe, airline president Sumeth Damrongchaitham said. “Compared to other airlines, THAI has only a few flight routes to China, while our average cabin factor in January is at 80%,” he added. “We estimate that the new coronavirus will affect the airline’s business in the first 3 months of 2020, which is a relatively short period compared to outbreaks of other diseases, such as SARS, which had affected our business for the whole year,” said Sumeth. Sumeth added that he and deputy transport minister Thaworn Senniam will inspect the cleaning and disinfecting processes of THAI’s planes at Suvarnahbumi to assure the passengers that they will be safe from coronavirus. <br/>
The govt’s move to divest stake in Air India seems to have evoked a lukewarm response from the global airline majors. While Emirates said that it does not intend to acquire equity in Air India, SIA said that it does not comment on any “specific investment opportunities including India.” A spokesperson for Air France KLM refused to comment on the airline’s position, and Monday evening. Ronojoy Dutta, CE of IndiGo said “No comments” when asked whether IndiGo will participate in Air India’s divestment. These responses come less than 24 hours after the govt released the Preliminary Information Memorandum inviting entities to acquire a 100% stake in Air India and Air India Express and a 50% stake in Air India SATS Airport Services. <br/>
Azul is to sub-lease its entire fleet of Embraer 195s to LOT and US start-up Breeze Aviation, in order to accelerate a transition to the more fuel-efficient E195-E2 variant. The airline has disclosed a letter of intent for the sub-lease of 18 firm aircraft and 14 options to LOT, subject to the Polish carrier’s corporate approvals. LOT had already previously acquired 7 E195s from Azul. Azul says it will also sub-lease up to 28 E195s to Breeze – the parent company of an as-yet-unnamed Salt Lake City-based start-up that is also controlled by David Neeleman. All 53 of Azul’s E195s are to be phased out by the end of 2022, although the airline’s CFO Alex Malfitani said that this would “most likely” occur by 2021. <br/>