Lufthansa’s supervisory board has refused to approve a E9b bailout package proposed by the German government, after the EC sought to force the airline to give up coveted slots at Frankfurt and Munich airports. Following a meeting on Wednesday, the stricken group said it would put off calling the extraordinary general meeting required to get shareholders’ approval for the deal. The EU competition authority’s demands, the supervisory board said, “would lead to a weakening of the hub function at Lufthansa’s home airports” and the resulting economic impact had to be “analysed intensively”. However, it added that it still saw the bailout from Berlin as “the only viable alternative for maintaining solvency”. The German company, which includes the Austrian, Brussels, Swiss and Eurowings airlines, has been seeking state aid in four European countries after its operations were reduced to just 1% of normal volumes in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. After securing E1.4b from Switzerland last month, Lufthansa reached an agreement with its home government on Monday. As part of the package, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s administration will take a 20% stake in Europe’s second-largest airline, which was only privatised in 1997, and maintain the right to up that share to just over 25% to block any attempt at a hostile takeover. It will also nominate two people to sit on the company’s supervisory board. However, the EC, under pressure from Ryanair, which has threatened to challenge the bailout, wants Lufthansa to loosen its grip on its two main hubs before it waves through the deal.<br/>
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United is reshuffling its management team to help the airline prepare for the near-term uncertainty of travel demand, new CE Scott Kirby told employees on Wednesday, as restrictions to keep the coronavirus from spreading are lifted. With stay-at-home orders easing across the US, airlines have pointed to slight improvements in air travel demand that had virtually disappeared in April. Still, the outlook remains uncertain. "Demand could be down 30% or it could be down 70%," Kirby said. Under the changes, Jon Roitman, currently United's senior vice president of airport and network operations, will replace Greg Hart as chief operations officer effective June 1. Hart will be taking a step back to focus on medium- and long-term issues including innovation on safety, hygiene, and operating efficiency as airlines prepare for drastic changes in the travel industry following the coronavirus outbreak. Hart will also be tasked with developing a more nimble cost structure, including labor costs.<br/>
The administrators of South Africa’s bankrupt state-owned airline said they see a “reasonable prospect of rescuing” it. The administrators, known locally as Business Rescue Practitioners, have been at loggerheads with Pravin Gordhan, the minister of Public Enterprises, after they said they wanted to wind the airline down. He accused them of squandering money and a lack of transparency. “Discussions are now being held between the BRPs and the shareholder to possibly restructure the airline,” the administrators said. “An announcement in this regard will be made in due course as well as an agreed timeline for the consultation on the business rescue plan.” The administrators said to rescue the airline they will need “unequivocal commitment” and “the requisite funding.” The government has said there is no more money available for SAA. The airline has been unprofitable since 2011 and has been surviving on government bailouts. In the statement, the administrators rejected allegations made by Gordhan and labor unions. They said they had cut operational costs by 500m rand ($29m) a month and said they hadn’t been able to submit a rescue plan because the coronavirus outbreak had “nullified” their assumptions.<br/>
Thai Airways International Wednesday said it appointed board members as rehabilitation planners in a bankruptcy court submission. The court accepted the airline’s request for bankruptcy protection earlier in the day, setting the first hearing for August 17. It gave creditors until three days before then to submit objections. The rehabilitation committee comprises the flagship carrier’s chairman Chaiyapruk Didyasarin, acting president Chakkrit Parapuntakul and three newly appointed board members, including its former CEO, Piyasvasti Amranand. EY Corporate Advisory Services Limited will also participate. The court’s decision to agree to bankruptcy protection prompted local rating agency TRIS to downgrade the airline’s senior unsecured debentures to default because the airline was given an automatic stay on debt.<br/>
Turkish Airlines, which halted nearly all of its passenger flights as a result of the coronavirus crisis, may delay the delivery of some Boeing and Airbus planes, its chairman was quoted as saying on Wednesday. The carrier plans to begin some domestic flights on June 4 and some international flights on June 10 as airlines worldwide try to get planes flying again after a global travel slump. But Turkish Airlines chairman Ilker Ayci said that the impact of the coronavirus could last up to five years and that it would take a while to reach 2019 load factor levels. Turkish Airlines had received half of its order for 25 Boeing 787-9 planes, he said, adding that the delivery of the rest could be delayed. The airline is in talks to take delivery of Airbus 350-900s that are ready from an order of 25, and that it was working to delay the delivery of the rest, he said. “We are trying to lighten the serious loads that could arise. We are getting our narrow-body planes.” Ayci said Turkish Airlines would no longer offer free in-flight food and drinks on domestic flights and other flights shorter than two hours.<br/>
Air Canada is seeking government approval to add five new destinations in Europe and South America to its air freight network starting 1 June, seeking to take advantage of demand for cargo capacity even as passenger travel demand remains stagnant. If approved, the Canadian flag carrier would operate air freight deliveries from its hub in Montreal to Bogota, Lima, Amsterdam, Dublin and Madrid. The carrier added that scheduled commercial flights could support cargo capacity, but it has not operated passenger flights to those cities since March, according to Cirium schedules data. Air Canada on 27 May announced it would operate the air freight routes with four Boeing 777-300ER aircraft and three Airbus A330-300s that have been converted to carry cargo in passenger cabins. Air Canada says it has operated 1,200 cargo-only flights since the end of March when airlines began to trim capacity as Canada and other nations began quarantine restrictions. The carrier says it is seeking opportunities to add additional all-cargo flights.<br/>
SAS said on Wednesday it would resume some of its suspended flights in the first half of June as a growing number of countries start to ease COVID-19 travel restrictions. “This primarily includes domestic flights within and between the Scandinavian countries, but flights to New York, Chicago and Amsterdam from Copenhagen are also set to resume,” the Swedish-Danish airline said. “SAS’ decision to resume flights and scale up existing services in all three countries means that SAS is set to double its capacity in June, from the equivalent of 15 to 30 aircraft in service,” it added. The airline said the resumption of some flights in June meant that it would double its capacity, from the equivalent of 15 to 30 aircraft in service.<br/>
Over 92 flights of Air India scheduled between May 28 and May 31 have been cancelled because of limited operations at airports and strict quarantine rules. The cancellations are because of unavailability of slots at major airports, officials said. There were 354 departures and 288 arrivals on the third day of the resumption of the domestic services with a total of 47,917 passengers travelling at various airports, civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri said. Limited domestic services to Calcutta will resume on Thursday with 10 arrivals and 10 departures on a daily basis. Similarly, Bagdogra airport will also only 10 departures and 10 arrivals daily from May 28. This has led to a situation where available slots are few but contenders are many. Chennai airport also has set a limit of up to 25 arrivals. At Mumbai airport, the second busiest airport of the country, only 25 departures and 25 arrivals are permitted.<br/>