Asiana Airlines said Tuesday all of its employees will take unpaid leave as air travel demand has plummeted due to the spreading coronavirus outbreak. Some of about 10,500 employees are set to take 10 days of unpaid leave starting Wednesday. Others will join the cost-cutting measure later in a way that does not affect flights. Asiana had 4,078 crew members as of Feb 1, accounting for 39% of its total workforce of 10,538, according to the airline. Asiana also said it will cut wages of its CE, executives and heads of departments by 40%, 30% and 20%, respectively. "We are desperately trying to come up with and implement measures to overcome a crisis of a massive operating loss this year," Asiana CE Han Chang-soo said. <br/>
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Air NZ is reducing its capacity to Hong Kong and further reducing its Shanghai service due to the impact of coronavirus on customer demand. Hong Kong services, currently operated by Cathay Pacific as Air NZ gets its Rolls Royce engines repaired, will resume on Air NZ aircraft from March 29 and would be adjusted from 7 return services per week to 4 return services per week from April 21 to May 31. Its Shanghai route was currently suspended until March 29 and its reinstatement would depend on a change in status of international travel restrictions. To substantially reduce the volume of travellers coming from China, foreign travellers who left or had transit through mainland China after Feb 2 are being refused entry to New Zealand. Air NZ says it remains committed to its Shanghai and Hong Kong services. <br/>
Air Canada revenue and net profit rose slightly in 2019, but results were tempered by the ongoing grounding of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft and the start of the coronavirus crisis in Asia, the airline says. Full-year 2019 revenue at the carrier rose to C$19.1b (US$14.4b) from $18b in 2018. Adjusted net income rose to $917m from $738m a year earlier, the carrier reported Tuesday. Facing the continued grounding of what is effectively 25% of its fleet and the suspension of flights to China and Hong Kong, the airline has had a rocky start to 2020 as well, airline executives say. Air Canada expects the effects of these two operational challenges as well as higher charges for maintenance and employee benefits to cost it more than $200m in Q1 of 2020. <br/>
THAI’s stake in Nok Air has been diluted from 16% to 13.3% after the budget operator completed a Bt1.55b (US$49.7m) capital-raising exercise. In a Feb 18 disclosure, THAI says it waived the right to subscribe to 142m Nok shares, which were priced at Bt2.50 each and would therefore have cost Bt354m. Nok’s share exercise, which ended Feb 7, followed an extraordinary general meeting in January, at which shareholders gave approval for the issuance of 888m new shares to raise the registered capital from Bt3.31b to Bt4.2b. Last year, Nok raised Bt2.3b when it undertook a similar exercise. THAI likewise waived its right to subscribe to those shares, and its Nok stake was diluted from 21.8% to 16%. <br/>
Venezuela’s decision to suspend TAP Air Portugal’s flights to Caracas is “completely unfounded and unjustified,” Portuguese foreign minister Augusto Santos Silva said Tuesday. “I can't see any kind of justification” for the 90-day suspension, Santos Silva said. Venezuelan authorities took the step Monday after TAP last week carried opposition leader Juan Guaidó and his uncle home from an international tour aimed at ousting president Nicolás Maduro. Guaidó's uncle was arrested upon landing and accused of trying to bring a small amount of explosives into Venezuela. Portugal ordered an official investigation into that allegation, and Santos Silva said it hasn't finished yet. The suspension is a “hostile act” against Portugal, Santos Silva said. <br/>