United announced changes to its workforce plans Wednesday following a union lawsuit that says the carrier's previous strategy to lay off employees is illegal. The airline, which has accepted federal relief funds, said it will move thousands of full-time workers to part-time status on May 24 on a voluntary basis. The International Association of Machinists, which represents 28,000 United workers, sued Tuesday and said it's unlawful for the airline to lay off workers after accepting a CARES Act grant that bars furloughs before Oct. 1. Companies that accept some of the $25b in aid aren't allowed to cut pay or jobs for the next five months. United said it expects $5b in federal payroll help, and like most US airlines, has reduced workers' hours to reflect a decline in travel demand. United said it will instead offer a voluntary leave of absence program for workers to maintain full-time status and healthcare benefits. Additionally, reductions in hours will be voluntary and the plan will work only if enough employees agree to it. "Without a high level of participation, we will have no choice but to reconsider a mandatory reduction to 30 hours for our full-time employees," Greg Hart, United executive vice president, said.<br/>
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SIA shares, adjusted for a planned rights issue, rose on heavy trading yesterday on bets that ongoing fund raising will help the carrier survive, as lockdown restrictions ease worldwide. The shares surged the most since October 1987 in the morning, soaring 21% to $5.04. The stock pared its advance to close up 5.7% at $4.40. Some 48.79m SIA shares changed hands, making it the second-most traded counter on the Singapore bourse Wednesday. SIA unveiled in March plans to raise about $8.8b by rights issue and convertible bonds to contend with the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Investors had until Tuesday to buy the stock to be entitled to any rights. Back in March, when SIA proposed the fund raising, the theoretical ex-rights price (Terp) was $4.40 per share - assuming the completion of the rights issue at that time and calculated based on the last transacted price of the shares of $6.50 on March 25, the last trading day prior to the announcement. The Terp is now $4.164, calculated based on the stock's closing price on Tuesday of $5.91. "The reopening of economies, coupled with the billions of dollars Singapore Air has raised, will help it recover some of the lost ground," said Justin Tang, head of Asian Research at United First Partners. "The fact that investors, including Temasek, are subscribing rights and other instruments of the company shows it is not a lost cause."<br/>
Just 10 out of 200 Singapore Airlines Group's airplanes are currently taking to the skies with passengers. Of the remaining 95% of the fleet, some have been deployed for cargo-only services, while a large number of planes are parked at Changi Airport. Meanwhile, 17 planes are parked at the Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage facility in the Australian town of Alice Springs, SIA said in response to queries on Wednesday. Seven of the planes are from SIA, six are from regional arm SilkAir and four are from budget arm Scoot. A spokesman said: "The Covid-19 outbreak has resulted in significantly reduced demand across the aviation industry. To address this, SIA has reduced its scheduled capacity by 96 per cent... As a result, SIA has parked a large number of its aircraft at Changi Airport with a few aircraft parked overseas." The spokesman said that the aircraft are parked in locations where they are appropriately maintained during this period. She added: "We will continue to monitor the situation and, when appropriate, will return the aircraft to Singapore ahead of reintroducing them to our operations." SIA's seven cargo planes, however, are still operating as usual.<br/>
Australia said Wednesday that it has reached agreements with SIA and Qantas to carry foods to Asian markets as part of a government initiative to help businesses hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. From Thursday, Qantas will begin a weekly flight from the country's north to Hong Kong carrying seafood and other produce from Queensland state, while SIA will carry food from the state of South Australia. Australia's trade minister Simon Birmingham said the agreements would help re-establish direct freight routes for exporters who have been struggling to ship overseas during the pandemic. "We recognise the current Covid-19 crisis has placed immense pressure on local seafood exporters, many of whom felt the earliest impacts when overseas demand began to dry up in January," Birmingham said. The flights will fall under a A$1b government fund to support regions, communities and industry sectors affected by Covid-19. Officials did not say whether the fund would pay for or subsidise the routes.<br/>
The first of more than 60 flights repatriating thousands of Indians stranded overseas by the coronavirus lockdown is due to set off Thursday. Nearly 15,000 Indians are expected to return on special Air India flights from 12 countries over the next week. Passengers will pay their own fares and be quarantined on return. Flights from the US and UK were due to arrive back on Thursday, but were delayed as Covid-19 tests on crew were not done in time, local media reported. Instead, the first flight to return will be from Singapore, due to arrive into Delhi at 11:35 (06:35 GMT) on Friday. It leaves Delhi at 23:15 (18:35 GMT) on Thursday. India suspended all international travel in March before it went into lockdown to curb Covid-19 infections. Since then, the country has operated a few flights to bring back Indian citizens. But the latest exercise, which has been dubbed the Vande Bharath (hail India) mission, is the most organised effort so far. Eventually, about 200,000 Indians will be brought back, report local media. If successful, this would be India's biggest evacuation mission since 1990, when it rescued 170,000 civilians from Kuwait during the Gulf War. Air India, the country's national airline, will carry out the mission and fly planes to the US, the UK, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Qatar and Malaysia, among other countries.<br/>
Lufthansa unit Austrian Airlines, which has applied for E767m in emergency aid from the Austrian government, plans to cut 1,100 of its 7,000 staff by 2023, national news agency APA reported Wednesday. The airline also plans to cut salaries by 13% in that period, APA reported from an unidentified source after a meeting of Austrian's supervisory board. Austrian was not immediately available for comment.<br/>
Panama’s Copa Airlines expects to resume 40% of its usual flights by December, the company said on Wednesday, the latest carrier to predict a slow recovery in traffic due to the coronavirus crisis. Copa Airlines is currently not operating any flights because its Panama City hub is shut down. It expects to resume flights on June 1, operating just 12% of its normal schedule.<br/>