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American Airlines announced Friday that it will resume full flights starting July 1 amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The airline will continue to notify passengers when their planes are full and allow them to switch to less crowded flights at no extra cost through Sept 30. Passengers with flights booked through Sept 30 can also change their flights, including adjusting origin and destination cities, without incurring a travel change fee but will have to pay for any difference in the fare. Starting June 30, American said it will begin asking customers during the flight check-in process whether they have been free of Covid-19 symptoms for the past 14 days. Travellers will be able to complete the coronavirus symptom checklist using self-service machines at airports or during online check-in. The airline is continuing to require passengers and employees to wear face masks on flights unless they have a medical reason not to. “Our customers trust us to make every aspect of their journey safe. We won’t let them down,” said Alison Taylor, American’s chief customer officer. “We will continue to refine and update our practices based on the latest information from health authorities and our own Travel Health Advisory Panel.”<br/>

American Airlines Group expects to have between 10% and 20% more workers than needed in July 2021, CE Doug Parker told employees at a town hall this week, and said that avoiding furloughs will be difficult. Weathering a sharp hit to business due to the coronavirus pandemic, American and other US airlines have warned of furloughs in October, which is when government payroll aid for airlines expires, but said they were hoping to avoid them. "It's going to be even harder than I thought," Parker said at an employee town hall on Wednesday, adding that "revenue is not coming back as fast as we'd like." As of the end of last year, American had 133,700 employees, more than any other US airline. In October, American expects to have between 20% and 30% more workers than needed, Parker said, while adding that furlough decisions could revolve more around the July 2021 forecast of 10% to 20% excess workers, with potentially less pain for pilots than other employees such as flight attendants. "It really makes zero sense to go furlough a pilot in October if you're going to need that pilot again in July," Parker said, noting the costly training needed to bring a pilot back from a furlough. American's management has shared the job numbers with unions and was working on solutions, Parker said. The number of extra flight attendants is expected to be in the higher ranger, Parker added.<br/>

British Airways has reportedly laid off 350 pilots and placed 300 others in a “pool” for re-hire “when needed.” The Sun on Sunday reported that the deal between BA and pilot union The British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) is still waiting to be finalised but is a “relief” for the airline, after fears of strikes. “Constructive talks are ongoing with BALPA to save as many jobs as possible,” BA said. This comes shortly after BA announced plans to cut 12,000 jobs and implement pay cuts for 36,000, after experiencing its steepest ever downturn in 2020 as a result of COVID-19. Planes were grounded in March by lockdown measures in an attempt to curb the pandemic. BALPA succeeded in preventing BA from implementing a “last in, first out” policy that would mean workers hired most recently would lose their jobs first. Captains and first officers placed in the pool do not currently have an aircraft to operate on and will remain on half-pay until they are needed again, the report said. Other crew members will take a 15% pay hit, only getting 7.5% back when “pooled” pilots return — up to two years later. The rest of their pay cut will be permanently lost. According to The Sun’s report, the majority of pilots being pooled will be Boeing 747 jumbo jet first officers, and the aircraft, which was a part of BA’s fleet for half a century, will likely be grounded forever.<br/>

BA has taken delivery of its first Boeing 787-10, almost six months later than originally scheduled. The airline has orders for 12 of the stretched variant and had originally been expecting to receive the first -10 in January. The initial aircraft made its first flight from Boeing’s Charleston, South Carolina plant in January and FlightGlobal understands that several delivery targets were missed. The aircraft was finally ferried to BA’s London Heathrow base overnight on 27-28 June. The airline is configuring its Rolls-Royce Trent 1000-powered 787-10s with 256 seats in four classes. The cabin layout comprises eight seats in first class, a 48-seat business cabin, 35 seats in premium economy and 165 in economy. In November last year, BA stated the twinjet’s initial route would be between London and Atlanta.<br/>

IAG is reviewing its planned E1b acquisition of Air Europa because of the harsh economic climate caused by COVID-19, the CEO of IAG-owned Iberia was quoted on Sunday as saying. There has been speculation that IAG could look to walk away from the acquisition of Spanish carrier Air Europa, announced last November, or try to negotiate a lower price. Luis Gallego, CEO of Iberia and due to take over as IAG chairman in September, said in an interview with El Pais newspaper published on Sunday that the deal still made sense but the environment was much more difficult. "We continue to see the strategic value (of the acquisition). The problem is that we are in a moment of crisis in the aeronautical industry," Gallego said. "What we are doing is analysing the viability of that operation in this context, not from the strategic point of view but to see the alternatives we have to carry it out because I do think that strategically it makes perfect sense." Gallego added: "We are talking about how we can do this operation given the environment, where companies have trouble surviving."<br/>

Iberia will reduce the size of its fleet, the number of destinations it flies to and how frequently as the coronavirus pandemic continues to drag on demand, its CEO said. Luis Gallego also told El Pais that Iberia wants to extend a temporary layoff scheme for workers, known as ERTE, until December. "In Iberia, we will be smaller, but we will exist, something that it is not clear other airlines will be able to say," Gallego said in the interview, published on Sunday. "Smaller, unfortunately, with the capacity adapted to the demand. We will have fewer planes, fewer flights and fewer destinations." The airline has been losing E7m per day as lockdowns to curb the spread of coronavirus have grounded planes, he said. Iberia will withdraw 17 Airbus A340-600 planes from its fleet, he said. Gallego, who will take over as chairman of IAG in September, said demand in the airline industry was not expected to return to 2019 levels until 2023 or 2024.<br/>

A local directors' group has expressed concerns about Hong Kong's plans to send two "observers" into the boardroom of Cathay Pacific Airways as part of a government-led $5.03b bailout of the carrier. "We are very concerned about the observers," said Roy W.K. Lo, deputy president of the Hong Kong Independent Non-Executive Director Association. "It is not good for observers to sit beside the board members. They shouldn't have any impact on the board. If they do, the whole corporate governance structure will collapse." Unlike most Asian flag carriers, Cathay Pacific has always been under private-sector control. The airline's unexpected HKD39b package, unveiled June 9, has led to questions about how much of a role the authorities now plan to take. Officials have insisted that the government will not be a long-term shareholder in the airline, though it will gain preference shares and rights convertible to a 6.08% stake in the airline's common stock. The government has said it is only intervening because of the extraordinary stress the aviation industry is under because of the coronavirus pandemic in order to preserve the city's role as an international transport hub. Finance Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po has said the Cathay observers are to "safeguard the interests of the government" by attending board meetings and voicing opinions without voting as the government does not intend to "interfere with the operation and management" of the company. He has said the representatives will be "seasoned, business professional leaders" rather than government officials.<br/>