Germany stood by its E9b bailout plan for Lufthansa, daring the airline’s disgruntled top shareholder to shoot it down at a pivotal vote this week. With Lufthansa fighting for survival after the coronavirus outbreak punctured a decades-long global travel boom, billionaire Heinz-Hermann Thiele is threatening to block the rescue plan -- which would dilute his 15.5% holding and influence -- at a shareholder meeting scheduled for Thursday. But with the government signaling it’s unwilling to alter the package, the onus is on the 79-year-old investor to decide whether to support a deal he considers faulty or potentially trigger its rejection. The alternative would lead Lufthansa into uncharted waters, forced to reconfigure its survival plan with cash reserves running low and the threat of insolvency looming. The government stands firm on the agreed package, which will be the basis for the shareholder vote, German economy ministry spokesman Korbinian Wagner said Monday. The German government explained the terms of the rescue to Thiele in a meeting attended by Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr and the two ministers who brokered the bailout, according to a state official. The parties didn’t discuss what would happen if the package wasn’t approved by shareholders, the official said. German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said the government had a “friendly” discussion with Thiele and Lufthansa, adding the deal is “good and balanced”. Story has more.<br/>
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The German government Monday held last-ditch talks about a E9b Lufthansa bailout on Monday, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said, as Berlin politicians seek to resolve a standoff with a key shareholder in the airline. Billionaire investor Heinz Hermann Thiele, the airline’s biggest shareholder, has threatened to block the bailout unless its terms are adjusted. Asked about the meeting, Scholz said the conversation had been good, “The proposal that is now up for vote at the shareholder meeting is a good, carefully weighed, proposal, agreed with the company’s management, with the supervisory board, with the European Commission. This will be taken into account, I think, by the shareholders.”<br/>
The US DoT Monday accused the Indian government of engaging in "unfair and discriminatory practices" on charter air transportation services to and from India and issued an order requiring Indian air carriers to apply for authorization prior to conducting charter flights. The order will allow US officials "to scrutinize charter flights by Indian carriers on a case-by-case basis." The department said it "seeks to restore a level playing field for US airlines" under the US-India Air Transport Agreement. The Indian government, citing the coronavirus, has banned all scheduled services and failed to approve US carriers for charter operations, the department said. The Indian embassy in Washington did not immediately comment. The order is effective July 22. The department previously accused China of unfairly denying US air carriers the ability to conduct flights and also demanded China seek preapproval for some charter flights. The US government said Air India has been operating what it calls "repatriation" charter flights between India and the United States in both directions since May 7. Air India is advertising flights "that would constitute a rate of 53% of the scheduled services it operated before the onset of the current public health emergency," the department said. "Considering this rate of flying, and that Air India is selling tickets on the market, the charters go beyond true repatriations, and it appears that Air India may be using repatriation charters as a way of circumventing the GoI-imposed prohibition of scheduled services."<br/>
Air Canada said Monday it had closed two additional financing deals for net proceeds of C$1.23b ($909m), as it shores up funds to meet expenses amid the coronavirus crisis. Canada’s largest carrier said it had raised C$5.5b of liquidity since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in Q1 of 2020. “The fact Air Canada was able to add C$1.23 billion to its liquidity ... without utilizing any of its previously disclosed unencumbered assets leaves the airline in an excellent position to access additional funds should the need arise,” Air Canada Treasurer Pierre Houle said.<br/>
South Africa plans to oppose an application by regional airline Airlink to put South African Airways into provisional liquidation and prevent a meeting of SAA’s creditors to discuss a restructuring plan, the government said on Monday. Airlink was a franchisee of state-owned SAA for over two decades, an arrangement that allowed SAA to sell tickets and fly passengers on Airlink flights. SAA still owes some fees to Airlink, making the latter an unsecured creditor. SAA went into a form of bankruptcy protection in December and since then state-appointed administrators have been trying to see what they can salvage. SAA’s creditors were due to meet on Thursday this week to consider a proposed business rescue plan for the airline. The restructuring plan, which would involve laying off about 90% of staff, leaving just 1,000 jobs, will cost at least 10 billion rand ($575.5 million). That is on top of the 20 billion rand that has been spent keeping the airline afloat over the past three years. But the Department of Public Enterprises said on Monday it had been notified of a court application by Airlink to stop the meeting taking place and that unions had separately taken action to stop the meeting.<br/>
Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and Scoot passengers flying from selected cities in China, Japan and South Korea can now transit through Changi Airport. The approved cities are Hong Kong, Chongqing, Guangzhou and Shanghai in China, Osaka and Tokyo (Narita International Airport) in Japan, and Seoul in South Korea, SIA announced on its website on Saturday. This is in addition to transit flights from selected cities in New Zealand and Australia that were announced on Jun 11. Story has updated list of approved cities. SIA announced on its website that the transit flights are only for outbound journeys from the approved cities. "Passengers will not be able to transit from other points in the SIA Group network through Singapore into these cities." Transfers in Singapore are also only allowed on flights between airlines within the SIA Group, namely SIA, SilkAir and Scoot. Currently, transfers to and from flights operated by other airlines are not permitted. SIA had on Jun 11 announced that transit and non-transit passengers will be kept apart at Changi Airport "to ensure the health and safety of our customers and staff". If the transit time is less than 75 minutes, passengers will be ushered directly to their boarding gate.<br/>
Air NZ may no longer be allowed to use cabin crew who have crewed flights to Australia to also crew domestic flights within New Zealand, director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield says. The possible policy change was signalled after a flight attendant approached Stuff to raise concerns about the practice. An Air NZ spokeswoman confirmed on Friday that there would be "an incredibly limited number of A320 and 787 crew who may have been rostered on to fly both domestic and international routes throughout the alert levels". A Health Ministry spokesman initially defended the practice, describing Australia as a "low risk" country. But Bloomfield said the ministry had been talking to the airline over the past 48 hours "around Australia, because what is clear is people are coming from high risk areas, converging in Australia and then coming across [to New Zealand]." "We have had several cases now on those flights. One of the measures could be to make sure those crew are solely on international routes, not also flying domestic routes," he said. Another option was for trans-Tasman cabin crew to be required to follow the same protocols as crew flying to and from Los Angeles, which would mean they would need to self-isolate for 48 hours and take a Covid test on their return. Bloomfield said the ministry was expecting to "confirm some further arrangements" with the airline. PM Jacinda Ardern said Monday that Health Minister David Clark would meet with Air NZ Monday evening "to reinforce just how important it is that airline crew uphold ... expectations". However, it was not clear whether or not that meeting was related.<br/>