Virgin Atlantic has announced plans to resume scheduled passenger flights from the UK on 20 July. The carrier, whose future has been in the balance since the coronavirus outbreak, will restart operations with flights from London Heathrow to New York, Los Angeles, Orlando, Hong Kong and Shanghai. It said it would soon announce more destinations for August as countries begin to relax travel restrictions. It said it would continue dedicated cargo operations. Virgin said additional measures would be put in place at airports and onboard aircraft to ensure safety, including health questionnaires, temperature screening and packs including masks and hand sanitiser for passengers. Juha Jarvinen, Virgin Atlantic’s CCO, said: “As the Covid-19 crisis stabilises and demand slowly returns, we are looking forward to welcoming our customers back onboard and flying them safely to their favourite destinations. To ensure the health and safety of our customers and our people, we’re introducing new measures at every point in the journey to offer peace of mind when taking to the skies with us.”<br/>
unaligned
A deadly Pakistan International Airlines crash that killed 97 people in May has put a plan to revive the company, which has more accumulated losses than any other publicly-traded carrier in Asia, in jeopardy. The state-run airline, known as PIA, had just posted its first gross profit in eight years, was starting to fly again after a two-month nationwide lockdown, was on the verge of reviving a direct route to the U.S., and had proposed revival plans to the government. But the Airbus A320 jet crash into a residential neighborhood in Karachi has reignited questions about its viability. “It’s possible that PIA becomes the last choice for travellers,” said Khurram Schehzad, CEO at Karachi-based advisory Alpha Beta Core Solutions. “The public sector airline has a bad reputation with timing and service in the past, and this would impact the airlines business even more. Many people would be inclined to fly competition, for now.” The malaise at the airline stems from frequent labour strife, changes in leadership -- the airline has had six chief executive officers in five years -- and red tape. That in turn has added to the woes of the carrier, which last reported a net income a decade and a half ago, and has suffered 52 safety-related incidents in the 54 years of its existence, according to data from Aviation Safety Network.<br/>
Virgin Australia's billionaire co-founder Richard Branson wants to invest up to A$100m in the collapsed airline to maintain a minority ownership stake alongside one of two private equity bidders when it emerges from administration. Branson's Virgin Group owned 10% of Virgin Australia when the coronavirus pandemic grounded its fleet and forced it into voluntary administration in April owing $6.8b. The Virgin Group has signalled it wanted to "play a role" in the airline's future but it has not been clear if that would include owning some of the carrier, or simply maintaining the Virgin brand and the associated licensing fees, which were around $15m a year. With the race to buy the airline this week narrowing down to two contenders - Cyrus Capital Partners and Bain Capital - sources close to Virgin Group and the sale process confirmed Branson's investment vehicle has told both bidders it wants to invest alongside them and own a stake in the carrier. Branson's group has flagged it would be willing to inject $50-$100m into the new company, according to two sources, giving it a stake of around 10% to cement its ongoing involvement, secure a seat on the board and give it a level of influence over the airline's strategy, the sources said.<br/>
A collective wage agreement aimed at saving airline Lauda’s Vienna base has been agreed by business and labour groups who will now need the approval of parent company Ryanair. Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary had threatened to close Lauda’s main hub in the Austrian capital and instead bring in Ryanair jets unless staff agreed to a pay cut and a new labour agreement. Lauda said on Friday it was shutting down its Vienna base after failing to reach a pay agreement with the union in a move expected to involve the loss of around 370 jobs. But Austria’s Vida union and the Chamber of Commerce (WKO), which represents businesses in negotiations with unions, said in separate statements on Thursday that they had struck a deal. “After long and difficult negotiations and repeated attempts by the WKO to bring about a compromise, a solution for a collective wage agreement was achieved on Wednesday night,” the WKO said. The Vida union said the deal lasting until 2023 involved a gross monthly wage of 1,440 euros ($1,613) for flight attendants and 2,000 euros for co-pilots. Lauda management and Ryanair have yet to give their approval, Vida said.<br/>
AirAsia Group is set to reduce its workforce by up to 30% as founder Tony Fernandes considers selling a 10% stake in the airline to raise cash. Desperately trying to stave off a cash flow crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic which has decimated the region's travel and tourism industry, AirAsia will also slash remaining staff salaries by up to 75% in an attempt the save the airline. The retrenchment will include cutting 60% of AirAsia's cabin crew and pilots for both AirAsia and its medium-haul affiliate AirAsia X. AirAsia Group operates through Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, India and the Philippines. Almost all of the company's 20,000 employees have been individually re-evaluated since January based on salary scale and performance, with the lay-off expected to continue through to the end of July. Multiple sources have told Nikkei that the airline -- in which Fernandes continues to hold a majority stake -- may also sell 10% of the company's paid-up shares to raise cash, with South Korea's SK Corp reportedly leading a trio of multinationals expressing interest.<br/>
Low-cost carrier Zipair Tokyo's first flight took off with only cargo on board instead of people due to the dearth in demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic. For the time being, the carrier, set up by Japan Airlines, will run four round-trip flights per week between Narita Airport and Bangkok. It initially planned to debut as a passenger service on May 14. In a rare move, however, JAL decided to let it transport only cargo after passenger demand evaporated in the wake of international travel restrictions imposed for the pandemic. Zipair's debut flight Wednesday left Narita carrying machine components and chemical products. The airline doesn't know when passenger flights will begin. Zipair believes it can cover flight costs to some extent by sticking exclusively to cargo. It may consider operating extra flights if demand is high. "We are thinking positively and hope to effectively use this time until the launch of passenger flights," Zipair President Shingo Nishida said.<br/>