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THAI operated its last international service out of Suvarnabhumi International Airport Wednesday, before the flag carrier goes into an "operational hibernation" because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Flight TG920 bound for Frankfurt, Germany took off at 5.15am on Wednesday, more than five hours later than usual. The flight took off with a grim warning in its wake. The IATA published an analysis which shows that airlines may burn through US$61b of their cash reserves in Q2, which ends on June 30, while posting quarterly net losses of about $39b. THAI and several other Thai-registered airlines have made the painful decision to halt their flights this month, although some continue to run limited domestic services. However, experts said flights are likely to be grounded for as long as the Covid-19 outbreak is uncontained. THAI announced on its webpage that it is suspending flights until May 31. In the meantime, the national carrier's top executives have scheduled meetings to turn the financially-ailing airline -- once a profitable state enterprise -- around. The airline is reportedly looking to introduce deep pay cuts across the board, adopt new austerity measures and downsize the operations of its affiliated businesses.<br/>

Air China has joined a growing list of airlines in warning of an operating loss “in the short term”, as the coronavirus outbreak continues to wreak havoc. Discussing the outlook for 2020 in its full-year results, the Air China group noted the impact that the outbreak has had on passenger travel demand. This was particularly so after the Lunar New Year, in late-January, when it saw domestic travel demand plummet. “Global travel restriction has also reduced the demand for international routes,” it adds. “[A] loss may be incurred inevitably in the short term,” the carrier said, but did not elaborate. To mitigate the outbreak’s impact, Air China says it is working to optimise capacity resource distribution, strengthen its cost control and improve its yield management. For 2019, Air China posted a full-year profit of CNY14.6b, an increase of 2.1% year-on-year. The carrier is the only Chinese carrier so far to have raised the red flag on the outbreak’s impact on profitability — compatriots China Southern and China Eastern, in their respective annual results discussion, did not offer any similar insights. <br/>

Air India has been praised for flying a number of flights to rescue Indians stranded in coronavirus-affected countries. Now, a group of pilots have alleged their safety was compromised - a charge the airline denies. Air India's fleet has long been used by the government to help Indians in crisis. This has included everything from delivering relief materials during natural calamities to airlifting citizens from Middle Eastern countries during the 2011 Arab Spring. But this time, as Covid-19 sweeps across the world, crew members have made several allegations about serious shortcomings with regards to ensuring the safety of crew and passengers on recent rescue flights. In a letter seen by the BBC, the Executive Pilots Association, a body that represents senior long-haul pilots of the airline, says they have been given "flimsy" pieces of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that "tear and disintegrate easily on rescue flights". The letter, which has been sent to the airline and the aviation ministry, adds that "disinfection processes [for aircraft] are short of international industry best practices".<br/>

Air NZ is slashing the number of regional routes as it struggles to deal with the effects of the coronavirus, with demand down 99% from normal. The airline says it will operate a limited domestic schedule from April 3 to enable essential travel only and to keep air freight moving. Overall, domestic capacity will reduce by 95% from pre-Covid-19 levels. Story lists airline's domestic schedule. Air NZ is taking 7000 flights off the future schedule. CRO Cam Wallace says the airline would usually fly more than 400 domestic flights daily prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. "Domestic travel is still an option but is extremely limited while New Zealand is at Alert Level 4 and we have updated our schedule to reflect this. In the coming weeks we will be operating a limited number of flights a day using our A320 jet aircraft, as well as our ATR and Q300 turboprop aircraft," said Wallace. "Kiwis are respecting the Government's essential travel only advice, however, we still ask customers to please check they qualify to travel under the essential services list before booking a ticket or going to the airport." The airline has set up a dedicated Covid-19 information hub on its website. On Wednesday, the airline had just one plane flying during the normal morning rush-hour, and it was empty. Air NZ has also reduced its international network to just 11 routes. <br/>

Turkish Airlines has extended the cancellation of its flights from April 17 to May 1 over the coronavirus outbreak, its CEO Bilal Eksi said on Wednesday, adding that limited domestic flights would continue. Turkish Airlines said on Saturday it had halted all international and domestic flights due to the virus, apart from 14 domestic flights to certain cities, as Turkey ramped up measures to contain the outbreak that has killed 277 people. “Our international and domestic flights, which were halted until April 17 as previously announced over the coronavirus outbreak have been stopped until May 1 until further notice,” Eksi wrote on Twitter. “Our 14 limited domestic flights will continue.”<br/>