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Qantas and Air New Zealand said Saturday they were suspending direct flights from their countries to mainland China in response to travel restrictions imposed in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. The Australian national carrier’s direct flights from Sydney to Beijing and Sydney to Shanghai will be halted from Feb. 9 until March 29, it said in a statement published Saturday. Air New Zealand said its Auckland to Shanghai service would be paused during the same time as the Qantas flights. Qantas said flights from Australia to Hong Kong would not be impacted by the change, it said, as it also warned the February 9 date would be reviewed and could be brought forward depending on demand from customers. The decision was made after Singapore and the US Friday announced toughened measures to enter their countries for people who had recently traveled through mainland China, Qantas added. “These entry restrictions pose significant logistical challenges for rostering crew to operate mainland services, leading to the need to temporarily suspend these flights,” the airline said. Air New Zealand Chief Operational Integrity and Standards Officer Captain David Morgan said the decision was made as a result of the travel restrictions and a decline in forward bookings for the next two months.<br/>

German cabin crew union Ufo and Lufthansa Friday agreed on dates for further talks in a dispute over pay and working conditions among other issues and added there would be no strikes from now until at least the end of negotiations. In a joint statement, they said they had also agreed that roughly 22,000 cabin crew would get a special payment of E1,500 in their next paycheck. A spokeswoman for Lufthansa said strikes would not happen at any of the group's airlines, including Germanwings and Eurowings, during the mediation period. Industry experts expect the mediation to take about two months but the conciliation process could take much longer. Since the autumn, Ufo has organised three short strikes, forcing Lufthansa to cancel many flights.<br/>

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa has authorised investigators to probe allegations of maladministration, corruption or unlawful conduct at SAA dating back to at least 2002. Ramaphosa’s order to refer the allegations to a special investigation unit has been disclosed in a declaration in the official government gazette. The declaration states that the airline or the South African state may have suffered losses, as a result of alleged practices, which could be recovered. No specific allegations are detailed in the document. Procurement and contracting of Airbus aircraft, as well as maintenance, are among the matters being referred to the investigation unit, the presidential declaration states. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Airbus. The in-depth authorisation covers the sourcing of services to support the implementation of the loss-making airline’s turnaround plan, and the scrutiny of any payments which were “not fair, competitive, transparent, equitable or cost-effective”. Ramaphosa’s declaration – dated 20 December 2019, but published in the gazette on 31 January – also points to potential concerns of maladministration relating to travel rebate benefits, payments by the carrier to vendors, and other areas.<br/>