Lufthansa’s cabin crew voted in favor of a E500m savings pact, its union said late on Friday, a day after talks with ground staff collapsed. Members of the UFO union agreed to two collective agreements, and also voted in favor of clarifying rules around state wage support and severance payments, according to the statement. The results come after talks with the Ver.di labor group broke down on Thursday, as Lufthansa attempted to secure a 20% reduction in personnel costs from the 24,000 employees represented by the union representing some of its ground crews. The airline is trying to eliminate 22,000 full-time jobs and trim its fleet by at least 100 planes to reduce costs and repay the roughly E9b it received in state aid.<br/>
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United’s flight attendants union will head to expedited arbitration with the company next week in a last-ditch effort to stop some 689 non-US based cabin crew, including 230 in Hong Kong, from losing their jobs on October 1. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA wanted the crew relocated to London to ensure they retained their jobs. Some 151 of the 840 originally at-risk staff would retain their jobs as they were eligible to work in the US, but must relocate. United announced the closure of overseas cabin crew bases, which also affected Tokyo Narita and Frankfurt, in June. A ruling on the fate of the staff, which is binding, is expected in mid-September. “When the crews were hired, during the criteria for hiring and a pre-hire contract, it did not specify a criteria for flight attendants was to hold a US passport,” said Kimberly Johnson, the union’s chief representative in Hong Kong. Among the non-locals in Hong Kong are US citizens, mainland Chinese, Taiwanese, Thai, Canadian, Australian, French, Dutch, British, Filipino, Indian, Japanese, Malaysian and Nepalese nationals who have worked for United for at least 25 years, some for 30, and hold permanent residency in the city.<br/>
SAS said Friday its main owners had approved a revised rescue plan after it made changes to a key part of the deal earlier this month to appease holders of its debt. The airline in June agreed a 14b Swedish crown ($1.6b) plan with top shareholders including Sweden and Denmark to shore up its finances amid the coronavirus-related collapse in air travel. But it was forced this month to revise terms of a proposed debt to equity swap in an attempt to secure the agreement of enough debtholders, a condition of unlocking cash injections from Sweden and Denmark. Terms were tweaked for the conversion of 1.5b crowns ($172m) of hybrid notes into common shares, and an option was introduced for holders of a 2.25b crown bond to accept either new commercial hybrid notes or shares. SAS said the revised plan was also supported by its third largest shareholder, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. It added that holders of 53% of the hybrid notes and 42% of the bonds now supported the plan, which still has to be approved at noteholder meetings scheduled for Sept. 2. “The future of SAS depends on a successful outcome of the revised recapitalisation plan, as well as delivery on 4 billion crowns in efficiency improvements,” SAS chairman Carsten Dilling said. “The board strongly encourages bond, hybrid and share holders to vote in favour of the proposals...as there are no other available alternatives.”<br/>
THAI shares were suspended by the bourse on Friday after auditors declined to sign off on its financial statements for the six months to June 30. Auditor Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Jaiyos Co Ltd said it could not reach a conclusion on the statements due to issues including a lack of liquidity and debt defaults which created "material uncertainty" and may affect the value of assets and liabilities. Thai Airways is under bankruptcy protection and is due to submit its rehabilitation plan to the bankruptcy court on Monday. The airline said losses from operations since 2013 had resulted in a capital deficiency. Thai Airways booked losses of 22.68b baht ($730.4m) and 5.35 billion baht Q1 and Q2, respectively, according to a delayed earnings report released late Thursday. The collapse of travel and tourism due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus slashed revenue by 23.7% to 38b baht in Q1, Acting President Chansin Treenuchagron said Friday.<br/>
Japan’s two major air carriers will substantially reduce their domestic flights next month due to weak demand amid a resurgence of novel coronavirus infections. JAL said Friday it will suspend 5,353 flights scheduled for Sept. 11 to 30, accounting for 31 percent of all domestic services originally planned for the period. The move will affect 75 routes, including those between Tokyo’s Haneda Airport and Itami Airport near Osaka and between Haneda and Fukuoka airports. JAL will reduce its domestic flights by 8,223, or 32 percent, throughout September, for which the number of seat reservations is still standing at around 30% of the year-before level. The airline is also planning a roughly 30% cut in domestic flights in the latter half of August. ANA announced Thursday that it will reduce the number of flights by 10,445, or 45%, on 99 domestic routes next month after cutting 25% for August. Even for flights during the four-day weekend through Sept. 22, the peak demand period in the month, reservations have so far decreased by over 50% from a year earlier, the core unit of ANA Holdings said.<br/>
The ball is back in the court of HDC Hyundai Development in deciding the fate of Asiana Airlines after full-service carrier’s parent Kumho Industrial and creditors compromised to allow four-week new due diligence on the airliner to reassess buyout value. HDC Hyundai Development has demanded a 12-week-long due diligence instead of finalizing the buyout deal first signed in December. Creditors made it clear that it cannot be asked to wait until the end of the year. Four weeks could give HDC Hyundai an idea of the additional losses and the extra cost it would have to put in after acquisition. If HDC Hyundai Development sticks to its original 12-week due diligence, the buyout is no longer savable. Creditors have already finished due diligence on the airliner for seven weeks and finds HDC Hyundai Development’s argument for delaying the deal too weak. HDC has proposed Kumho a tete-a-tete between CEOs, but without including the head of Korea Development Bank, the main creditor, any agreement would be of no use, said a creditor source.<br/>
Jetstar will suspend all flights here and Air NZ will slash its domestic services through Auckland next week following the announcement alert levels around the country be stay in place for 12 days longer. The continuation of level three in Auckland and level two for the rest of the country for a full two weeks means the number of passengers the airline can carry will fall further. Jetstar said tonight that following the Government announcement and the implications this has for air travel, it would temporarily suspend domestic flights from Wednesday August 18 until at least the end of Wednesday, August 26. "Once restrictions lift, we have the ability to resume flying quickly and look forward to returning to the skies as soon as possible," the airline said. The Qantas subsidiary was contacting impacted customers about their options which includes the option to move their flight or cancel their flights and receive travel credits. Air New Zealand says it "will endeavour" to operate its current schedule as planned throughout the weekend and on Monday August 17 to allow people seeking to return home to do so. From Tuesday it will operate a reduced domestic schedule to and from Auckland. There will be 13 weekly returns to Christchurch, 3 to Gisborne, 7 to Kerikeri, 3 to Napier, 3 to Palmerston North, 3 to Tauranga, 7 to Wellington and 7 to Whangarei. The remainder of the network - which is under level 2 - is unchanged.<br/>
Canada's two largest airlines and two largest airports are welcoming Transport Canada's long-awaited Flight Plan for Navigating COVID-19 as a major step forward in restarting Canada's air travel industry by confirming the country's biosafety standards. Flight Plan contains international, proven best practices for proactively protecting air travellers at all stages of the journey and provides the framework for restarting the aviation sector in Canada. It encompasses such measures as health checks, face coverings, touchless technology and cleaning protocols, all of which are in effect at Air Canada, WestJet, Toronto-Pearson and YVR. "By aligning the Canadian aviation sector with best international practices for customer health and safety, the Government of Canada has now established the necessary science-based preconditions that assure customers of the highest levels of safety for air travel and for reopening Canadian aviation across provinces and to the world," said Calin Rovinescu, President and CE of Air Canada. "Our Air Canada CleanCare+ program encompasses the measures recommended in Flight Plan and, as part of our evolving layered approach to biosafety, we remain committed to working with governments and other stakeholders to continue strengthening biosafety for all travellers. This is an important step to enabling business and the economy to safely restart alongside COVID-19, particularly the airline industry, which is a key economic driver."<br/>