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South African Airways’ maintenance subsidiary has withdrawn services to its parent after the struggling airline failed to pay money owed to the unit, an SAA spokesman said Saturday. Administrators took control of SAA in December after almost a decade of financial losses, and have been trying to keep it afloat as the coronavirus pandemic compounds its problems. Spokesman Tlali Tlali said SAA Technical, a subsidiary of SAA that provides vital maintenance services including inspections required before a flight can take off, had informed the airline of its decision in a letter. “SAA Technical... as a company registered on its own is pursuing its commercial interests,” Tlali said, adding that meetings would take place over the weekend to try to resolve the issue. He added that while SAA was not operating commercial flights, it has been doing repatriation flights for South Africans stuck overseas due to the pandemic and some charter flights. Those services could be interrupted if SAA Technical does not restore its services.<br/>

Air NZ is extending status for its Airpoints Elite, Gold and Silver members for another 12 months. Because of travel restrictions some members had been unable to meet the status points threshold to retain their membership. The top tier of Airpoints members got a 12-month extension in March and those who hold Elite, Gold or Silver tier status as at January 31 next year will get a further extension. Eligible Elite members will receive one banked year (or if a member already has one or more Elite Banked Year(s) in their Airpoints account, one additional Elite Banked Year) on January 31, 2021. Eligible Gold and Silver Members will be given an additional year at the tier status they hold on that date which will automatically be applied should they not retain their tier status. The frequent flyer additional status extension must be used by March 31, 2023, and if not used by this date, will expire. The airline's GM of loyalty Kate O'Brien told Elite flyers that "we appreciate flying in 2020 is unlike anything we've experienced" and something no one could have expected.<br/>

ANA Holdings is considering issuing 200b yen ($1.9b) in shares to bolster its finances as the downturn in air travel drags on, the Nikkei newspaper reported. “We do not comment on speculative information. The story is factually wrong,” ANA said. Like other airlines, ANA has had to slash flights as countries imposed travel restrictions to halt the spread of the coronavirus. So far the carrier has relied on loans from its banks and government financial aid to cope with the slump.<br/>

EgyptAir announced on Sunday that it resumed direct flights from Cairo to new five destinations worldwide to include Muscat in the Sultanate of Oman, the Jordanian capital Amman, Kigali in Rwanda, Johannesburg in South Africa, and Entebbe in Uganda. The company added that two flights per week will operate from the Cairo International airport to Muscat starting on October 8, adding two other weekly flights would head to Amman starting from October 4. As of October 8, the company will operate one flight a week to Kigali and Johannesburg. Meanwhile, only one weekly flight to operate from Cairo to Entebbe starting from October 9. As yet, the number of the company’s world destinations increased to 47 stops. The company also stated that three directs flights per week from Alexandria to Dubai would be resumed on October 9.<br/>

Almost eight months and an ongoing global pandemic after suspending services, direct SAS flights to Shanghai are set to resume on September 29, the company has confirmed following approval from Chinese authorities. SAS suspended flights to China on January 31 due to fears that the novel coronavirus could spread outside of the Asian country. “With the reopening of the route, SAS is aiming to meet demand for business travel and air freight services between Scandinavia and China,” the company said. Due to ongoing uncertainty regarding restrictions and potential changes in travel advice, SAS is offering travellers the option to change a planned journey or ticket for a SAS Travel Voucher up to 16 days prior to departure. This applies to all international travel until January 15. While the January 31 suspension applied to direct flights to both Shanghai and Beijing, the service to the Chinese capital is still awaiting approval and is not expected to resume until the end of October.<br/>

Government involvement has become “the new normal” for the world’s largest long-haul airlines amid the Covid-19 pandemic, in the view of Lufthansa Group chief Carsten Spohr. Spohr said Lufthansa “was a big fan of liberalisation and privatisation”. He likened the German carrier’s privatisation in 1997 and subsequent growth to British Airways’ privatisation a decade earlier and its later merger with Iberia to form IAG. But Spohr adds: “Covid turned that trend around, and we have to accept that.” The German government has taken a 20% shareholding in Lufthansa Group as part of a E9b financial support package aimed at preventing insolvency. This has not put Lufthansa out of line with international peers, Spohr points out. Citing government shareholdings in Air France-KLM and the part-ownership of IAG by state-owned Qatar Airways, he says the German stake in Lufthansa is “at the very low side of my global competitors”. He acknowledges that pure short-range operators have received much less support from governments. But when it comes to intercontinental operations, he argues, “we are all in a similar range here among the European legacy carriers. That’s the new normal for the three players in Europe.”<br/>