Delta expects to add about 1,000 flights in August but not many more for the remainder of the year, CE Ed Bastian said in an internal memo on Thursday that mentioned a resurgence of COVID-19 in parts of the country. Airlines including Delta have added back some summer capacity after modest improvements in domestic travel demand in May and June, but analysts say a spike in cases in some states, which have prompted three Northeast states to order quarantines for some travelers and Disneyland to delay its reopening, could dampen the recovery. Bastian said Delta continues to see slow but steady increase in passenger volumes two weeks into the summer travel season, but warned that the airline expects overall demand this summer to be only 25% of last summer's revenue. "While it's encouraging to see flights returning (...) we likely remain at least two years away from a return to normal," Bastian said.<br/>
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The Dutch government has reached a deal with France to contribute E3.4b to an Air France-KLM bailout that had strained relations between the airline group’s state shareholders, sources said. The agreement will see the Netherlands issue direct loans and guarantees to KLM and appoint a trustee to its board, two people with knowledge of the matter said. Air France-KLM and the French finance ministry declined to comment, but the Dutch finance ministry later announced a Friday morning news conference to “detail the financial aid package for KLM”. A statement that briefly appeared on the group website also mentioned its E3.4b value. <br/>
Aeromexico said Thursday that in July it will operate twice as many domestic flights as it did in June and expects to increase its international operations four-fold over the same time. Aeromexico said last week it was analyzing its options for an orderly restructuring of its short- and medium-term financial commitments, adding that it had not decided whether to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US. The company said that in July it will add more flights to New York, Los Angeles, Madrid, Amsterdam, Paris and Seoul and will resume its operations from Mexico City to Austin, Tokyo and Sao Paulo. “With these adjustments, the airline expects to have operated 6,000 flights in July,” the company said. In Q1, Aeromexico reported a net loss of 2.5b pesos ($109.6m), hit by a weak economy as well as the coronavirus outbreak. It had total liabilities of 116.6b pesos as of March 31, according to its Q1 results.<br/>
About 440 Japanese nationals with business ties in Vietnam will arrive in the Southeast Asian nation by Saturday after being barred from entry for months due to travel restrictions enacted to fight the coronavirus pandemic. A chartered flight by Vietnam Airlines took the first group of 150 Japanese to Van Don International Airport in northern Vietnam on Thursday. All arrivals will be required to undergo coronavirus tests and quarantine in hotels for two weeks. Vietnam and Japan agreed on June 19 to resume mutual travel in phases. Japanese employees stationed in the Southeast Asian country and engineers on long-term stays are now allowed entry into Vietnam. Vietnam had allowed entry to about 70 Japanese nationals as a special case last month. Vietnam suspended entry to all foreign travellers in March in response to the pandemic.<br/>