United will boost flights modestly in September as it resumes service on more than 25 international routes and begins skewing its network toward leisure traffic. The September schedule will amount to 37% of last year’s level, a slightly higher portion than the plan for August, United said Friday. Destinations in Mexico and the Caribbean are among those that will be added back as business traffic lags because of the coronavirus pandemic. Domestically, United will fly 40% of its September 2019 schedule, adding 40 daily flights. The company will bolster its service to Hawaii, which has extended 14-day quarantine rules to all visitors through Sept. 1. United plans to resume flights from the US mainland to Hilo and Kauai. “We continue to be realistic in our approach to building back our international and domestic schedules by closely monitoring customer demand and flying where people want to go,” said Patrick Quayle, United’s VP of international network and alliances. The airline also extended a waiver on change fees and award travel redeposit fees for reservations through Aug. 31.<br/>
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As air carriers worldwide are caught in a “race against time” while trying to stay afloat as global travel is nearly completely wiped out, Singapore Airlines appears to be better positioned than its peers, according to one analyst. “Everyone ... is battling this,” said Brendan Sobie, an independent analyst at Sobie Aviation, on Thursday. Comparatively, Singapore Airlines “is in a better position,” he said, citing the Singapore flag carrier’s liquidity position, which in his opinion was better than “virtually anyone in the global airline industry.” “What that means is they can survive a prolonged downturn, come out of hibernation very strong in a few years and potentially take advantage of consolidation,” Sobie said. Asked if SIA will need to return to the market soon to secure more funds as it seeks to tide through this period, Sobie said the 11 billion Singapore dollars raised would be “sufficient for some time” and could last more than a year. “The other thing to keep in mind is ... they have an additional 6 billion (Singapore dollars) that they can raise through mandatory convertible bonds ... which they announced already as part of their liquidity measures,” he added. Sobie’s view was echoed by Nomura analysts, who said in a July 29 note that Singapore Airlines’ recent rights issue has “strengthened” the carrier’s balance sheet. Looking ahead, Sobie said SIA is set to become “much smaller for the next few years” and is expected to take a “very long time” to recover fully to its normal size.<br/>
Air Canada escalated a fight with the government of PM Justin Trudeau over the country’s stringent travel rules, threatening to suspend more routes and cancel orders of locally made planes. CEO Calin Rovinescu lambasted the government during the airline’s Q2 earnings call Friday, saying that current restrictions -- especially a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all travellers coming into Canada, regardless of origin -- are preventing a recovery. Among top global competitors, Air Canada is at an additional disadvantage because the government opted against airline-specific financial aid, he said. “Without government industry support and as travel restrictions are extended, we’ll look at other opportunities to further reduce costs and capital, including further route suspensions and possible cancellations of Boeing and Airbus aircraft on order,” Rovinescu said. That includes the A220, the former Bombardier jetliner taken over by Airbus that is manufactured in Quebec, he added. The salvo is the latest display of growing tensions as airlines ask to loosen travel restrictions that have changed little since March, even as the Covid-19 outbreak eases in Canada. Trudeau has retorted that he’s putting safety first. “Canada needs to find a responsible way to coexist with Covid-19 until there is a vaccine,” Rovinescu said. The company said revenue dropped 89% in Q2 and expects capacity to be down 80% in Q3 from a year ago. Previously it had anticipated a 75% capacity drop. The industry will take at least three years to recover and will shrink, the airline predicted.<br/>
THAI expects the Central Bankruptcy Court to allow for a rehabilitation process after a hearing next month on its restructuring proposals, its legal advisor told a shareholders meeting on Friday. "We have not had any obstacles so far because creditors have been cooperative," Kitipong Urapeepatanapong said. The court accepted the airline's petition for bankruptcy protection in May, giving it an automatic stay on debt repayments and setting Aug 17 for its first hearing. THAI would restructure debt worth around 245b baht. Kitipong expects the court to accept the airlines' request and appoint a committee to design the rehabilitation plan. After the plan is drawn up, it will be submitted to creditors and the court for approval next year, he said. Rehabilitation administrators can begin restructuring in May or June 2021 in a process that could take up to seven years. While some countries have not accepted the automatic stay, but airplane lessors have been supportive due to the pandemic, THAI Acting President Chansin Treenuchagron said in a separate briefing. Chansin said he was confident he had the support of between 70% and 80% of creditors, with holdouts mostly being individual corporate bonds investors.<br/>
EgyptAir has decided to suspend all scheduled flights to Kuwait as of Saturday until further notice. The carrier detailed in a statement that such a step comes after the decision of the Kuwait’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to suspend flights with 31 countries, including Egypt, over the coronavirus outbreak.<br/>