International airlines are starting to resume flights to China after a loosening of aviation restrictions brought in as part of the country’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Lufthansa restarted flights to the mainland this week, flying once a week between Frankfurt and Shanghai in the first regular scheduled flights operated by the German carrier since the pandemic began. “The flights between Shanghai and Frankfurt are hopefully only the first of further Lufthansa Group connections in the coming weeks and months between mainland China and our home markets Germany, Austria, and Switzerland,” said Veli Polat, Lufthansa’s head of sales for Greater China. United will resume its route between San Francisco and Shanghai, via Seoul, beginning July 8, according to a company statement, while Delta restarted its China flights this week with twice-weekly trips into Shanghai. This came after China and the US backed away from a dispute over aviation travel, in a positive development against a larger backdrop of worsening relations between the two countries. In a reciprocal arrangement, two flights per week for each airline will be permitted. Other foreign airlines will be allowed a basic frequency of one flight per week. “Resuming service to Shanghai from the United States is a significant step in rebuilding our international network,” said Patrick Quayle, United’s VP of international network and alliances.<br/>
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China's three biggest state-owned airlines Sunday took delivery of their first ARJ21 aircraft, a short haul 90-seater aircraft made by state-run Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC). COMAC said Sunday that Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern had received the aircraft, which has a 90-seat capacity, and would each take delivery of three ARJ21 aircraft this year. Last August, the three carriers announced on the same day deals to each purchase 35 ARJ21-700 regional jets from COMAC, with deliveries scheduled from 2020 through 2024. The ARJ21 entered commercial operations four years ago and is China's first domestically manufactured airliner. COMAC has two other passenger jet programmes in development - the C919 narrowbody aircraft programme which is currently undergoing flight testing, and the CR929 widebody programme in collaboration with Russia.<br/>
South Africa’s Department of Public Enterprises announced its withdrawal from a panel that was established to facilitate talks with the troubled national airline’s workers about its planned overhaul, accusing three labor unions of undermining its work and putting jobs at risk. South African Airways was placed into a form of bankruptcy protection six months ago after a succession of managers failed to restore it to profitability and Finance Minister Tito Mboweni urged an end to repeated bailouts. Administrators this month published a rescue plan that would stave off the carrier’s liquidation by securing it at least 26.7b rand ($1.5b) in additional state aid, a first step toward laying the groundwork for a new, viable carrier. The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, the South African Cabin Crew Association and the SAA Pilots Association reacted furiously to a proviso that the airline workforce be reduced by almost 80% to 1,000 people. SA Airlink, a rival domestic carrier that says SAA owes it 700m rand in ticket revenue, also objected to the plan, and a June 25 creditors’ meeting to vote on it was adjourned to July 14. By supporting a delay to the vote, the three unions had “contradicted the letter and spirit” of a compact agreed by the consultative panel’s and created uncertainty for creditors and potential investors, the Department of Public Enterprises said. “Instead of creating conditions for attracting investment and skilled South Africans, three unions have put SAA on a path towards possible liquidation.”<br/>
The government has again extended the deadline to bid for Air India by two months till August 31 as the COVID-19 fallout has disrupted economic activities globally. The divestment process for the national carrier was initiated on January 27. Issuing a corrigendum to the Expression of Interest (EoI) for sale of Air India, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) said the deadline has been extended in view of the "request received from the IBs (interested bidders) in view of the prevailing situation arising out of COVID-19." While issuing the EoI in January, the last date for bids was kept at March 17, which was later extended till April 30. This was further extended to June 30, and now till August 31. Also, the date for intimation to Qualified Interested Bidders (QIBs) has been extended by two months till September 14, the DIPAM said in the corrigendum posted on its website. "Further changes with respect to the Important Dates, if any, will be communicated to the Interested Bidders subsequently," it added. After its unsuccessful bid to sell Air India in 2018, the government in January 2020 restarted the divestment process and invited bids for selling 100% equity in the state-owned airline.<br/>
Air NZ flew 67,000 passengers in May, well short of the 1,281,000 it carried last May. The company said passenger numbers last month were down by nearly 95%. Year to date, its passenger numbers were down 19% at just over 13m. Another measure of air traffic, the number of kilometres travelled by paying passengers, was down 97% in May to 79m, compared to 2.68b. After being virtually grounded by Covid-19 lockdown and border closures, the airline has set a target to return to 13m passengers annually by August 2022, versus the almost 18m it had prior to the pandemic. While business travellers have been slow to return to the skies, the airline said last week it was increasing its domestic schedule to about 65% of pre-coronavirus levels heading into the winter school holidays. In particular, there had been more bookings and more capacity available to Queenstown than the same time last year. The airline has also returned to a single return service per week on its Auckland-Shanghai route from June 22. Air NZ is nearing the end of its financial year on June 30, and has warned it is facing an underlying loss before other significant Items and taxation of up to $120m.<br/>