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The sudden halt in global travel belted Singapore Airlines in Q4 and left it in the red for the year, it reported Thursday. It is SIA's first annual net loss in its 48-year history. The airline recorded a net loss of S$732.4m in the three months to March 31, a stark reversal of the S$202.6m profit in the same period last year. Revenue was hammered as well, falling 22% to $3.2b. Full-year net loss came in at $212m, down from earnings of $683m in the previous year, on turnover of $16b, a fall of 2.1%. Operating profit for the year fell 94.5% to $59m, down from $1.07b. The airline has set up an internal task force "to review all aspects of our operations" so that it will be ready to ramp up when air travel is out of the doldrums. "This includes any modifications to our in-flight products and end-to-end service delivery to provide additional health and safety assurances to our customers and our crew," said SIA. The sudden turn in fortunes came in the last quarter. SIA had, in fact, racked up a strong performance in the preceding nine months, driven by robust passenger traffic numbers and business transformation initiatives. But once fears about the virus took hold, passenger traffic declined sharply. As a result, it swung into an operating loss of $830m in Q4, a reversal of the $253m profit a year earlier. SIA said the prospects of recovery will depend on the easing of border controls and travel restrictions. "There is no visibility on the timing or trajectory of the recovery at this point, however, as there are few signs of an abatement in the Covid-19 pandemic," it said.<br/>

Singapore Airlines said Friday it would slash capital spending by 12% to $5.3b from a previously planned S$6b in the financial year ending March 31 as it grapples with the coronavirus crisis. The airline's update from its last estimate in November was provided in presentation slides released ahead of an analyst and media briefing to discuss its full-year results. SIA Thursday evening reported its first-ever annual loss, citing poor fuel hedging bets and the collapse in demand driven by the coronavirus pandemic, saying the timing of any recovery was uncertain. The latest capital spending budget reduces the amount spent on new aircraft by $600m and on other items by $100m. The airline said it was negotiating with aircraft manufacturers to adjust the delivery stream for orders placed in the past because of the current market conditions. Singapore Airlines and regional arm SilkAir have cut 96% of passenger capacity through the end of June, and low-cost arm Scoot has cut 98%.<br/>

Asiana Airlines said Thursday it will resume flights on 13 international routes next month as the coronavirus outbreak seems to have passed its peak. The move comes on the heels of its bigger local rival Korean Air's similar plan. Asiana plans to restart flight services on 13 international routes ― one to Seattle and 12 to Chinese cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai ― from June 1, while increasing the number of flights on six other routes to cities like Frankfurt, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the company said. "The decision is aimed at meeting business travel demand though leisure travel demand has yet to recover amid the virus fears," a company spokesman said. The move will help raise Asiana's flight utilization rate to 17% in June from 8% a month earlier, the statement said. Asiana offered flight services to 64 cities in 21 countries through 75 international routes as of Jan. 1. In its self-rescue measures, Asiana had all of its 10,500 employees begin taking unpaid leave for 15 days a month in April until business circumstances normalize. Asiana's executives have also agreed to forgo 60% of their wages. Its bigger rival Korean Air also plans to resume flights on 19 international routes next month.<br/>

Lufthansa plans to resume flights to destinations including Los Angeles, Toronto and Mumbai next month as it begins to restore some of the capacity grounded by the coronavirus crisis, the German airline group said on Thursday. Group airlines that had brought operations to a near halt will operate about 1,800 weekly flights to 130 destinations by the end of June, Lufthansa said. Its shares rose 2.4%, the biggest gain on Germany's benchmark DAX. The announcement comes as carriers make tentative plans to return aircraft to service amid uncertainty over passenger demand, new health rules being drawn up and quarantine measures in some markets. Airline capacity inched 0.8% higher in Western Europe this week, according to OAG data. "People want to and can travel again, whether on holiday or for business reasons," Lufthansa sales chief Harry Hohmeister said. Tickets for the newly available routes went on sale on Thursday. Lufthansa will restore services from Frankfurt and a smaller number from Munich as it returns to European destinations including Majorca as well as 13 intercontinental routes. The SWISS, Eurowings and Brussels Airlines subsidiaries are also restoring some flights. <br/>

Deutsche Lufthansa has to be bailed out by the German government and needs protection against a potential foreign takeover, Hesse’s PM, Volker Bouffier, told daily Rheinische Post in an interview Friday. “It is right that we have to help Lufthansa. It needs to stay in Germany,” Bouffier said, adding that the government needs to prevent competitors from China, the US or the Middle East from secretly buying shares in the airline. The leader of the German state of Hesse, where Lufthansa has its primary hub, said the company will have to halt dividend payments for some time following a capital injection, and must accept that federal officials will have a say on bonuses. But the government will refrain from meddling with day-to-day business decisions, he added. Bouffier’s comments come ahead of an expected deal over a E9b bailout by the German government to rescue the airline from the coronavirus pandemic. Germany leaders are currently engaged in last-minute debates over the details of the transaction.<br/>

Greece's largest carrier Aegean Airlines said Thursday it will gradually restart flights from Athens to some major European destinations by the end of May, ending a suspension prompted by the new coronavirus pandemic. Aegean suspended its international flights on March 26 as a result of flight restrictions related to the coronavirus crisis. The carrier said it will restart operations from its Athens hub to Munich, Zurich, Frankfurt and Geneva, initially with a reduced timetable. It will also add more flights to Brussels - the only international destination that had not been suspended. Aegean will increase flights in its domestic network from May 18-25, adding capacity to destinations including Heraklion and Chania in Crete, Thessaloniki, Alexandroupolis and the islands of Rhodes, Corfu, Lesbos, Chios and Samos. "Aegean is willing to gradually and with extreme cautiousness restore its network while fully respecting the tremendous national effort to control the COVID-19 outbreak within the country," the carrier said.<br/>

Air NZ will be moving its regional heavy maintenance facility from Nelson, resulting in the loss of 89 jobs in the region. The airline put forward the proposal in order to cut costs last month, and after consulting with unions and stakeholders on Thursday this week confirmed the proposal, despite a 16,000-strong petition against the move. Turboprop heavy maintenance will be moved to Christchurch airport, while line maintenance will continue in Nelson. Heavy maintenance work will start moving to Christchurch later this year, but the process is expected to take more than six months. Air New Zealand said the disruption from covid-19 meant that “for the foreseeable future Air New Zealand will be a much smaller airline requiring fewer maintenance demands”. “Demand for aircraft maintenance contract work has deteriorated, including in Nelson. Following consultation and a review of alternative feedback and options, there were considerations to increase maintenance demand in Nelson, however, due to runway constraints (being too short to allow Air New Zealand A320 and A321 aircraft) additional maintenance is unable to be relocated to Nelson.” Heavy maintenance of turboprop aircraft, ATR and Q300 planes, will move to Christchurch, with just line maintenance retained in Nelson at Air New Zealand Regional Maintenance.<br/>