United plans to close three of its four foreign flight attendant bases in October as international air travel continues to struggle because of the coronavirus pandemic. Theairline will close bases in Hong Kong, Tokyo’s Narita airport and Frankfurt, according to a company memo. United said about 840 flight attendants work in the three bases that are closing. “This was certainly a very difficult decision to make, and we recognize that closing any base places a hardship on those who live near those locations,” John Slater, United’s senior vice president of inflight services, said in the memo. “In the current and future environment, we simply are not able to sustain an Inflight Base at these locations.” Flight attendants at those locations will be given the chance to transfer to US bases, depending on work eligibility, the memo said. United also has a flight attendant base for London’s Heathrow Airport and a base for US territory Guam. “While no other base changes are anticipated [at] this time, we’ll continue to evaluate the viability of all locations based on the network schedule, government travel restrictions and restoration of demand,” said Slater.<br/>
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United is going to reinstate some of the flights it had suspended due to the coronavirus at 150 US and Canadian destinations. United's plans for July, disclosed Friday, came as the week closed with several indicators from airlines that passenger traffic continues to bounce back after stay-at-home orders dropped volume to levels not seen since the 1950s. Even with the resumption of some service, United said its domestic passenger capacity in July will still be down 70% compared to the same time last year. Still, that's an improvement from June, when it will be off 87%. The summer vacation season is usually a boom time for airlines. United also had good news for flyers who hate having to make connections: 140 nonstop routes that had been suspended are being restored. Some of the service will be resumed to cities that typically have large numbers of business travellers – New York, Boston, Seattle, and Philadelphia, among them – as more companies allow employees to go back to work. But United said it is also including some key leisure-oriented destinations like Charleston, South Carolina; Portland, Maine; various cities in Florida and Las Vegas, where major hotel-casino resorts reopened this week to the delight of gamblers and other pleasure seekers. United said it is also adding service to airports that serve national parks and wilderness areas, like Aspen, Colorado, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming, "where social distancing is a natural feature."<br/>
An emergency measure allowing Colombia’s government to take equity stakes in private companies opens the door for a bailout of the nation’s largest airline, Avianca Holdings, which declared bankruptcy last month amid an unprecedented downturn in travel. The new regulation, which permits the government to take minority positions in companies that have been impacted by the sharp economic downturn, “can be a lifesaver for Avianca,” said Carlos Enrique Rodriguez, director of equity research at Ultraserfinco SA, a brokerage. The decree announcing the measure, which was posted to the presidency’s website Friday, didn’t say how much the government is willing to invest or identify specific companies that may be eligible. But Finance Minister Alberto Carrasquilla said last month that the government would look to help the carrier “in some way.” Shareholders may be required to buy back the government stake after a certain time, according to the decree.<br/>
Singapore Airlines has raised $10b in fresh liquidity through its recent rights issue as well as through other credit facilities, as the airline industry navigates an unprecedented crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. A total of $8.8b was secured through the rights issue last Friday, and a further $900m was raised through long-term loans secured on some of Singapore Airlines's Airbus A350-900 and Boeing 787-10 aircraft,the carrier said Monday. SIA has also arranged new committed lines of credit and a short-term unsecured loan with several banks, which provide further fresh liquidity amounting to more than $500 million. "This puts SIA on a steady footing as it tackles the challenges posed by the global Covid-19 outbreak," said the airline. It added: "During this period of high uncertainty, SIA will continue to explore additional means to shore up liquidity as necessary." All existing committed lines of credit that were due to mature over 2020 have been renewed until 2021 or later, which ensures a continued access to more than $1.7b in liquidity. For the period up to July 2021, the company also has the option to raise up to a further $6.2b in additional mandatory convertible bonds (MCB), which will provide additional liquidity if needed.<br/>
Singapore Airlines will focus on recovering from the coronavirus outbreak and doesn’t plan to cut jobs at the moment, the Sunday Times reported, citing the carrier’s CEO Goh Choon Phong. Still, the airline will have to review possible job cuts, Goh was quoted as saying in the report, without providing more details. Singapore Airlines has offered its staff voluntary unpaid leave and some have taken temporary posts outside the company after it slashed most of its flights due to the coronavirus outbreak. Singapore Airlines and its SilkAir unit have restored some flights this month but are only operating at 6% of capacity as the global spread of the virus wiped out travel demand. <br/>
Air NZ will be nimbler, fly fewer passengers and routes, and may cut more jobs as it targets a return to “healthy profits” by 2022, its CE said as he navigates the airline through the coronavirus crisis. Greg Foran laid out an 800-day plan to customers and staff under which the national flag carrier will look at how to further cut labour costs, including leave without pay, reduced hours or possibly laying off more people. “We must first survive, then revive and finally thrive,” Foran said in an email to staff and customers, as he forecast revenue for the next financial year to more than halve from recent levels. Foran envisions Air New Zealand will be 70% of its pre-Covid-19 size by August 2022 and hinted at further layoffs as the second phase of a cost-cutting plan, to save around NZ$150m ($98m), began. “I am really sorry we are in a situation of needing to reduce our wages bills further, but I believe this is what we need to do with some urgency,” he said. The company has ramped up domestic capacity to 55% of normal levels as New Zealand eases curbs after containing the outbreak, but is not betting on a return to long haul flying until next year.<br/>
Croatia Airlines has held preliminary talks with Slovenian government and airport officials over potentially beginning flights from Ljubljana. The Slovenian airport has been without a home carrier since the collapse of Adria Airways last year. Prior to the coronavirus shutdown, no single carrier had a dominant presence - Aeroflot, EasyJet and Turkish Airlines were the largest operators with each representing around a fifth of ASK capacity from the airport. A spokesperson for Croatia Airlines says it is potentially interested in establishing flights from Ljubljana, the prime hub of neighbouring Slovenia. ”In that context, an initial meeting was held with representatives of the Slovenian Ministry of Infrastructure and Ljubljana Airport, but so far nothing specifically has been agreed,” the spokesperson says. Croatia Airlines has been gradually restoring its flight network since May, initially on domestic routes. <br/>
Poland plans to extend a ban on international flights until June 16 due to the coronavirus pandemic, state-run news agency PAP said late on Friday, citing a government decree. State-controlled Polish airlines LOT restarted flights between the country’s biggest cities, including Warsaw, Gdansk, Krakow, and Wroclaw, from June 1.<br/>