United plans to involuntarily furlough 16,000 employees on October 1, a day shaping up to be one of the darkest in history for the workforce of the US airline industry. The date is the first after the expiry of government protections linked to the federal bailout of the industry earlier this year. The number of expected furloughs put out by United on Wednesday is sharply lower than the 36,000 warning notices the company sent to employees in July. Thousands of workers had embraced voluntary departure programmes, both permanent and temporary, since then, the company said. United employed 96,000 people at the end of 2019 but CE Scott Kirby has been signalling since March that the airline will have to shrink because of the pandemic. Executives are still working out exactly how many people will work there after October 1. The US Transportation Security Administration said 516,000 passengers passed through checkpoints on September 1, down 75% from a year earlier. “In an environment where travel demand is so depressed, United cannot continue with staffing levels that significantly exceed the schedule we fly,” United said in a memo to employees. “Sadly, we don’t expect demand to return to anything resembling normal until there is a widely available treatment or vaccine.”<br/>
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China will begin allowing direct flights to Beijing from eight countries, starting 3 September. Flights from Thailand, Cambodia, Pakistan, Greece, Denmark, Austria, Sweden and Canada will be “restored to Beijing”, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said Wednesday. The first flight will be on 3 September from Phnom Penh and operated by flag carrier Air China. Since 23 March, all flights to the capital have been diverted to designated “first entry points”. As of 1 September, 511 international passenger flights have been diverted to a first point of entry, the CAAC says. Despite the gradual relaxation, the civil aviation regulator made clear it is not letting its guard down. “In order to further improve the prevention and control of the [Covid-19 pandemic] after the flights resume, the Civil Aviation Administration will take more stringent prevention and control measures on all direct international passenger flights to Beijing, based on the strict implementation of the flight circuit-breaker policy,” it said. If more than three cases of Covid-19 are reported on the same flight, the CAAC will reimpose the diversion to a first entry point, outside of Beijing. It added that it would “strictly control” passenger load factors, though it did not disclose the permitted maximum load factor for these flights.<br/>
The Transport Ministry on Tuesday submitted the findings of a probe into alleged irregularities involving THAI to the Finance Ministry for further action. The report was submitted by Khomkrit Wongsomboon, head of a panel set up by the Transport Ministry to examine factors that played a major part in landing the struggling airline deep in the red. According to Khomkrit, irregularities were found in air ticket sales, overtime payments to technicians and the procurement of Airbus A340 planes in 2003-2004 among others, which contributed to huge losses. Overtime payments should not exceed 1,500 hours annually but about 200-300 technicians picked up 2,000-3,000 overtime hours. Salaries and expenses for technicians were estimated at 2.4b baht annually and overtime payments were also around 2b baht. Khomkrit said the Transport Ministry is leaving the matter in the hands of the Finance Ministry because THAI is no longer a state enterprise and therefore is not under its supervision.<br/>
Lufthansa will ramp up flight operations on its Frankfurt-Dubai route in September by 30%, an increase of eight flights compared to the month of August. The addition of new flights follows the airline’s resumption of scheduled services from the UAE in early July in view of the steady growth in demand for intercontinental travel. There will be a total of five flights a week from September 3 to 13 and four weekly services as of September 14, the company said. The Dubai-Frankfurt service will depart at 1:15 am on all days excluding Wednesday and Friday during the period between September 3 and September 13 and on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday in the second half of the month. Meanwhile, flights from Lufthansa’s largest hub in Germany will depart at 2:30 pm on all days, with the exception of Tuesday and Thursday, during the first half of September and on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from September 14-30. “The recent revelation by the authorities in Dubai that the emirate’s main airport has been witnessing a massive increase in passenger numbers, with more than 20,000 travellers daily, is truly encouraging and underscores the need and importance of our flight services for the UAE,” said Heinrich Lange, Senior Director Sales, Gulf, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Lufthansa Group.<br/>
Oscar Munoz is living proof of the American Dream. Born into a Mexican-American family, Munoz is a first-generation college graduate. And he went on to become the first Hispanic CEO of a major US airline. Munoz, now the executive chairman of United, said that even though "bias exists" in the US, the American Dream is still within reach. "Despite the facts that point otherwise...I have to believe that," Munoz said. "We have to believe in this country with all of its great history, with all of its great sort of melting pot and historical success." After five years leading United, Munoz was still one of Corporate America's only Hispanic leaders when he stepped down as CEO in May. Diversity is also lacking in C-suite positions that often lead to the top job. For instance, just one of the Fortune 100 CFOs is Hispanic, according the Corporate Governance Research Initiative at Stanford Graduate School of Business. "I long for the day when someone like me is not the exception, but the expectation," said Munoz, who is a marquee speaker at L'ATTITUDE, a national initiative focused on helping executives understand the US Latino cohort driving the modern economy. Munoz, an icon in the airline industry who previously worked as CFO at a division of AT&T, urged Corporate America to give people with diverse backgrounds opportunity. Story has more.<br/>
Cam Wallace, the Air NZ executive who has largely been the public face of the airline during the coronavirus pandemic, has resigned. Air NZ CE Greg Foran said the chief commercial and customer officer, who had been at the airline for 19 years, would not be immediately replaced. “Cam has advised me today that given the airline is now effectively a domestic carrier for the foreseeable future that he is resigning to pursue opportunities that meet his global career ambitions,” Foran said. Wallace leaves Air NZ on September 30 and will provide consultancy support to Foran until the end of 2020. Up until recently Wallace held the role of chief revenue officer and was touted as a possible replacement for previous Air NZ CE Christopher Luxon, who left the company in late 2019 to pursue a career in politics. Instead, Foran, the former president of Walmart US, was given the top job. Foran had no previous aviation experience and, since starting in the role in February, has been faced with the worst financial crisis ever to have hit the aviation sector and Air New Zealand. Following an exodus of executives from the leadership team Wallace’s role expanded from chief revenue officer to chief commercial and customer officer. His role oversaw the management of about 1500 to 2000 staff.<br/>
Covid-19 has halted four decades of work that made Changi Airport and Singapore Airlines world-beating institutions, but Singaporeans can be confident that they will thrive again, PM Lee Hsien Loong said in Parliament on Wednesday. While the pandemic may be a monumental test of the nation's spirit, Singapore will emerge stronger and more united than before, PM Lee pledged as he delivered his rallying call during the debate on the President's Address. Recalling Singapore's difficult birth, Lee said the country had faced each major storm since - such as the Asian Financial Crisis and Global Financial Crisis - not knowing whether it would survive. "Each time, the dire circumstances became the occasion and the platform for ambition and daring, and each time, we transcended ourselves and built again," he said at the end of his speech on Singapore's response to the present crisis that has severely crippled the aviation and tourism sectors as well as related industries like retail. The pandemic's impact on air travel has reduced Changi to deathly silence while Jewel too went dark during the circuit breaker. But as in all previous crises, Covid-19 will be the occasion for Singapore to do better, said Lee. "Do not doubt. Do not fear. Jewel will shine again. Changi will thrive again. SIA will be a great way to fly once more," he said. "Our economy will prosper anew."<br/>