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Air Canada is calling on the federal government to ease restrictions that force travellers to quarantine for two weeks upon arriving in Canada. The airline released a letter Wednesday addressed to Transport Minister Marc Garneau and Health Minister Patty Hajdu, urging the government to “consider a science-based approach” to easing travel restrictions prescribed under the Quarantine Act. Last month, the federal government extended the emergency order that outlines mandatory quarantine rules for all travellers entering Canada until Aug. 31. Under the Quarantine Act, anyone entering Canada by air, land or sea will be required to isolate for 14 days if they have COVID-19 or suspect they do. Those without signs or symptoms of the virus will have to quarantine for 14 days. Air Canada’s chief medical officer Dr Jim Chung said the government should replace the quarantine restrictions “with more proportionate, evidence-based measures that can achieve public health objectives, while causing less detriment to other public interests and allowing for a measured restart of aviation, similar to what is occurring in other countries.” Story has more.<br/>

The SIA Group recorded a 99.3% year-on-year decline in passenger carriage in June, according to its operating results published Wednesday. Overall results improved marginally from May despite travel demand continuing to be severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic as flights slowly began resuming last month. As border controls and travel restrictions remained in place around the world, overall passenger capacity was cut by 95.1% and the passenger load factor fell to 12.2%, said the group. This was an improvement over May's overall passenger capacity of 96.2% and passenger load factor of 8.6%. SIA's capacity was 94% lower compared to last year's, with only a "skeletal network" of flights in operation, connecting Singapore to 24 metro cities. This was an increase from a capacity of 95.6% and 14 cities in May, as transfers via Changi resumed. The passenger carriage of SIA's regional arm SilkAir decreased by 99.7% against a 97.5% cut in capacity in June, compared to May's 99.8% decrease against a 99.6% cut in capacity. <br/>

SIA flew just 13,900 passengers in June, down from nearly 1.9m the same period a year ago, and the group is now expecting a material operating loss for Q1 of its financial year. "Our current view is that the recovery trajectory will be slower than initially projected, and will have a material impact on our revenue generation capability in FY20/21," SIA said. The group noted the gloomy outlook posted by industry experts, including the IATA and ICAO. Industry forecasts are that it will take two to four years before passenger traffic numbers return to pre-pandemic levels. While Singapore and selected cities in China have established a green travel lane, SIA said the the global lifting of border controls has been slower than earlier expected. In addition, the lower oil prices are expected to have an impact on the group's profits for the first quarter of FY20/21, which ended in June. This is because the lower capacity projection has reduced expected fuel consumption, causing more fuel hedges to be deemed ineffective under applicable financial reporting standards, SIA said. These hedges consequently need to be marked-to-market, and the marked-to-market impact as at June 30 will be recognised in the profit and loss statement for Q1, it said. With jet fuel prices remaining relatively low, marked-to-market losses are expected to be recorded. "Accordingly, the SIA Group expects to report a material operating loss for the first quarter of FY20/21," it said. It added that more details will be provided on July 29, when a business update for the first quarter of the financial year will be announced.<br/>

TAP is unlikely to succeed alone and must be open to consolidation with other airlines in the medium term, the country’s infrastructure minister said Wednesday. The government sealed a deal on July 2 with the company’s private shareholders to increase its 50% stake to 72.5%, avoiding a full-scale nationalisation. But infrastructure minister Pedro Nuno Santos said the government did not exclude that in the future TAP could reopen its capital to other airlines and that consolidation could happen in the medium and long term. “It is difficult for TAP to succeed in this global market alone,” Nuno Santos said. “TAP was coveted by several very important airlines in the aviation sector, namely Lufthansa, but it was not the only one,” he said, referring to the situation before the pandemic. TAP asked for state aid in April after suspending almost all flights and laying off 90% of staff. “TAP will have to reduce routes, personnel costs, number of planes,” Nuno Santos said.<br/>

Austria will lift its travel warning for Lombardy, the region at the centre of Italy’s novel coronavirus outbreak, because of a fall in infections, Austria’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. The relaxation could pave the way for the resumption of flights between Lombardy’s capital Milan and Vienna, since such travel warnings come with a ban on direct connections. It will, however, make little difference for those travelling by land as Austria lifted controls at the shared border a month ago, three months after they were introduced when Italy’s outbreak worsened. “The epidemiological development of the province, which was hit first and particularly hard by the pandemic, now makes this step possible,” Austria’s Foreign Ministry said, adding that the travel warning would be lifted on Thursday. In recent weeks Austria has seen an increase in infections connected to Balkan countries, and has introduced travel warnings for Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, as well as European Union member states Bulgaria and Romania. Those warnings have also meant a ban on direct flights, which flag-carrier Austrian Airlines, part of Lufthansa, said was “an enormous challenge”, particularly for passengers with connecting flights.<br/>