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United pilots Monday approved a deal that will allow 2,800 of them to avoid being furloughed should Congress fail to extend a payroll support program created as part of the Cares Act. The deal will enable United to reduce the number of employees it will furlough come Thursday without Congress’ help to less than 12,000, according to the airline. United, which employs 79,000 people, received $5b in the first coronavirus relief package, which President Trump signed into law in March. “Our members understood that in order to protect pilot jobs, we needed to approve this agreement,” said Capt. Todd Insler, chairman of the United Air Line Pilots Association master executive council. “I am proud of our pilots for showing the unity and resolve needed in the face of uncertainty.” Under the agreement, existing hours will be spread across the pilot group, which means most pilots will temporarily work fewer days and make less money. But the deal ensures that all 13,000 United pilots will keep their jobs, Insler said. Without the deal, roughly 2,800 United pilots would have been furloughed this year and an additional 1,100 risked being furloughed in 2021. The announcement comes as airline executives and workers continue to pressure Congress to reach a deal to extend payroll support for front line workers through the end of March. If no agreement is reached more, than 33,000 airline employees will be furloughed Thursday.<br/>

South Africa’s National Treasury wants strict conditions attached to any guarantees it provides for loans to the country’s embattled state airline, according to two people familiar with the matter. Treasury and Department of Public Enterprises officials met Saturday to discuss ways to restart South African Airways, the people said, asking not to be identified because the talks are private. Representatives of two South African banks attended the talks, they said. SAA halted operations and sought bankruptcy protection in December. The carrier’s administrators say 10.5b rand ($613m) is needed for the airline to resume operations. Finance Minister Tito Mboweni is prepared to provide guarantees on 4 to 5b rand of that amount, subject to stringent criteria, the people said. It’s unclear where the funding would be sourced from and there’s no agreement yet on any bailout, the people said. President Cyril Ramaphosa has backed the airline’s rescue, they said. National Treasury spokeswoman Mashudu Masutha-Rammutle and SAA spokesman Tlali Tlali referred requests for comment to the DPE, whose spokesman Sam Mkokeli didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Treasury guarantees may encourage private lenders to provide financing to SAA, the people said. Any government funding may also help ensure a future equity-partner deal, which is currently envisaged by the end of the year, the people said. Ethiopian Airlines Group is in talks with SAA about providing assistance, people familiar with the situation have said. The Addis Ababa-based carrier is seeking control, possibly in the form of a management contract, and that may be a sticking point, the people said.<br/>

Air New Zealand has tapped into $110m of a near billion-dollar Government loan over the past month. Chair Dame Therese Walsh says with travel restrictions still on the outlook for the airline remains uncertain. The airline today also apologised again for poor customer service over refunds and credits. "We know that Air New Zealand will continue to be a smaller business for some time to come. Although a month has now passed since we announced our annual results, a high degree of uncertainty still remains," she said at the company's annual meeting. Air New Zealand booked a NZ$454m after-tax loss in the year to June 30, its first full-year loss since 2002. The airline went from flying 330,000 passengers a week last year to just 8000 during the April lockdown. Given the uncertainty surrounding travel restrictions and the level of demand as these restrictions lift, Walsh said the airline was currently not able to provide specific 2021 earnings guidance. "However, each of the scenarios we are currently modelling suggest we will make a loss in 2021." She told the virtual meeting that its available liquidity as at September 25 was about $1 billion, comprising $215m of cash on hand and $790m remaining on the Crown standby loan facility. The loan, negotiated in March, was for $900m with an interest rate of between 7 per cent and 9 per cent. She said the airline would draw down it as necessary in order to reduce interest charges.<br/>

Greek carrier Aegean Airlines’ saw its earnings collapse by 64% in the first half and is warning that the “least predictable winter ever” lies ahead. The airline made a net loss of E159m ($185m) in the January-June period, including a E68.5m charge from ineffective hedging – “mainly due to the large portion of fuel-hedging contracts for the duration of 2020 being rendered ineffective by the significant reduction in flight activity”. The number of flights operated by the carrier in Q2 was down 82%, including falls of 95% and 92% in the months of April and May respectively, while passenger traffic fell 92%. “The last seven months have been a constant strife for flexibility, resilience and efforts to develop our viability forward in what is certainly the most difficult period the global airline industry has ever faced,” states Aegean CE Dimitris Gerogiannis. “Due to travel restrictions the second quarter of the year was a period with essentially zero activity. Our efforts were primarily directed towards cost management as well as establishing and implementing strict protocols for the safety of our passengers and crews.” By the end of June, with travel restrictions partially lifting, Aegean had begun to rebuild its activity with its network expanding to 84 destinations from Athens and 52 from its regional bases. But when Covid-19 cases began surging higher again in August, demand for air travel once again begin to fall back. “As a result, we operated less than 50% of our scheduled activity in August with particularly low load factors for the period,” notes Gerogiannis.<br/>

Lufthansa intends to keep its Boeing 747-8s in service while grounding all its Airbus A380s amid a stepped-up fleet-reduction effort and a wider industry trend toward smaller long-haul twinjets. On 21 September, the carrier disclosed its decision to retire 150 aircraft by the middle of the decade – 50 more than previously announced. Eight parked A380s have been “removed from planning” and will only be reactivated in the event of an “unexpectedly rapid market recovery”. Lufthansa had previously put all its 14 A380s fleet in storage in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and accelerated a retirement plan by withdrawing six of them with immediate effect. Lufthansa Group CE Carsten Spohr said last week the airline had also accelerated the phasing-out of 14 ageing 747-400s, moving the timeframe forward to 2025 from the end of the decade. But he says the 747-8s will remain in service to serve as “our flagship… after the crisis”. He says “we love to operate” the 747-8 and describes the four-engined jet as “the most efficient aircraft” in Lufthansa’s fleet. Cirium fleets data shows that Lufthansa has 19 747-8s, 11 of which are listed as being in storage. Spohr says the aircraft are “more or less brand-new” and cites belly-freight capacity that is “a lot” higher than the A380’s as a reason to keep the 747-8 in service.<br/>