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United has told two regional airlines, ExpressJet and CommutAir, that it will drop its contract with one, according to a pilot union letter seen by Reuters, in a potentially mortal blow to the losing carrier as the coronavirus pandemic guts demand. ExpressJet and CommutAir each work exclusively for United and the plan would mean one would lose its major source of revenue. United has minority stakes in both companies, which operate Embraer SA E145 50-seat planes that bring passengers from smaller markets to destinations that United itself serves on larger jets. United is among US major airlines that, until early this year, were expanding their domestic networks through contracts with regional airlines, which have a cheaper workforce. Now the coronavirus pandemic is forcing carriers to scale back growth plans and flights. United, in an emailed response, acknowledged that its relationship with regional airlines will change. "We’ve been clear for months now that we expect to be a smaller airline in response to the historic impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on our business. That means we’ve cut our schedules and our costs across the operation – and we do anticipate it will continue to impact the relationships we have with our regional partners," United said.<br/>

Panama’s Copa Airlines said Monday it would resume flights on Sept. 4, with about 3% of its capacity, if the Central American country’s government does not again extend a ban on international travel. The airline said it set that date for the restart to “maintain some flexibility” in the event the travel ban is extended and to minimize the impact on passengers if adjustments to itineraries are needed. “If we resume operations in September, we project that we will do so with approximately 3% of all existing operations prior to the impact of COVID-19,” the airline said. Copa suspended all operations from March 22, making it the first Latin American carrier to take such a measure to weather the coronavirus crisis. Initially, Copa expected to resume flights with 10% of capacity. Copa, which has 102 aircraft, has said it will definitively retire all 28 of its Embraer 190 and Boeing 737-700 planes, accounting for nearly 30% of its fleet.<br/>

Lufthansa has reinstated flights between Frankfurt International airport and New York City’s John F Kennedy International airport after four months of suspension due to the coronavirus global health emergency. The airline says on 27 July it will fly an Airbus A330-300 five times weekly between its largest hub and New York City, beginning the same day. At the end of August, it will operate daily flights on the route for the remainder of the summer schedule, which ends on 24 October. During the crisis, Lufthansa maintained regular service on the Frankfurt-to-Newark route, but had suspended operations at John F Kennedy. Newark Liberty International airport also serves the New York City metropolitan area. It sister carriers Swiss International and Austrian Airlines had also kept operating flights between their home bases Zurich and Vienna, respectively, and the New York City region during the crisis. Brussels Airlines plans to resume flights to John F Kennedy airport at the end of the summer, Lufthansa Group says. “As the world gradually begins to open up, the desire to travel has increased and there is an ever-growing necessity to see family and friends, as well as conduct important business trips. Lufthansa is continually evaluating additional connections globally,” says Larry Ryan, Lufthansa Group’s senior director of sales for the USA.<br/>

TAP Air Portugal is planning to operate 700 flights per week in September, bringing its network to around 40% of its pre-coronavirus level. That will mark an increase of 200 weekly flights from the 500 it plans to operate during August. TAP’s network ramp-up comes after an early July announcement that the Portuguese government had increased its stake in the carrier – with Azul founder David Neeleman selling his interest – in a bid to prevent bankruptcy. The airline had suspended most of its flights on 1 April and temporarily laid off 90% of its employees.<br/>

The administrators of South African Airways want the government to set aside 16.4b rand ($998m) that it’s guaranteed to pay creditors. The Treasury says the current structure of its guarantees should suffice. The administrators want an agreement for the money to be paid into an escrow account -- the last outstanding issue that needs to be resolved before the carrier’s business-rescue process can be finalized -- to be signed on Monday, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions aren’t public. “The government guarantee provide the necessary legal comfort that should SAA not be in a position to settle maturing debt, then government will settle this debt,” the Treasury said in a response to queries. “The existing government guarantees are legal agreements between lenders and government and any amendments thereto will have to follow a due-diligence process.” The disagreement is likely to further delay the implementation of a rescue plan for the airline and could scupper it, pushing the carrier into liquidation.<br/>

Air NZ is working with the Government to develop a voucher system which Kiwis would need to access in order to return to New Zealand, the airline says. The national carrier has just had to extend a booking freeze by 11 days because the Government’s quarantine facilities cannot cope with a surging number of Kiwis wanting to return home in light of a worsening coronavirus pandemic and the prospect of being charged for quarantine costs. Air NZ chief commercial and customer officer Cam Wallace said the Government was looking to set up a voucher system which passengers would need to access in order to return to New Zealand, regardless of which airline they flew with. His understanding was that it would be up to customers to obtain vouchers before booking an airfare home. Failure to do so would result in passengers not being allowed to board a flight to New Zealand. “We would only carry you if you had both your voucher and the ticket,” Wallace said. “That would be the process for managing the amount of people that come into the country on any given day.” The airline expected the system to be in place within a month, he said. At the request of the Government the airline put a three-week hold on new inbound international bookings from early July until July 29, to ensure quarantine were not overwhelmed. Other carriers were ordered to do the same. Now Air New Zealand has extended that freeze to August 9.<br/>