American Airlines and United said they were beginning furloughs of over 32,000 workers on Thursday as hopes faded for a last-minute bailout from Washington. Both airlines told employees, however, in memos seen by Reuters on Wednesday that they stood ready to reverse the furloughs, which affect about 13% of their workforces before the pandemic, if a deal was reached. Tens of thousands of other employees at those airlines and others including Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines have accepted buyouts or leaves of absence aimed at reducing headcount as carriers battle a health crisis that has upended the global travel industry.<br/>
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Members of the public will be able to go behind the scenes at SIA's training centre, have a meal on a grounded Airbus A-380 plane or recreate the experience of dining on board in the comfort of their homes. These new initiatives were announced by SIA Tuesday, as the carrier seeks new ways to engage customers. It also said it will not be launching flights to nowhere. SIA was looking into launching such flights that would depart and land at Changi Airport. But the idea was criticised by environmentalists who said it would cause unnecessary pollution. A movement to suggest alternatives quickly gained traction, with more than 2,000 ideas collated and submitted to SIA earlier this month. SIA said it decided on its new offerings based on a market study and comprehensive review. "(SIA) considered factors such as the attractiveness of the initiatives to SIA's customers and members of the public, the environmental implications, and their financial viability," it said. Senior lecturer Boey Yew Tung of Nanyang Technological University's Nanyang Business School said the new initiatives will bolster SIA's standing. "Reinforcing brand awareness and recall are important tactics for companies, especially when they cannot actively present themselves to the public when their regular mode of operations is severely curtailed," he said. He added that the training centre tours will likely be especially popular, based on observations from air shows and other open-house tours.<br/>
Air NZ has called time on its last interregional route, and a smaller airline has swooped in to fill the void left by the national carrier. At Air New Zealand’s annual meeting on Tuesday chairman Dame Therese Walsh told shareholders all domestic routes were up and running again. However, its Hamilton-Palmerston North-Wellington service did not resume after New Zealand’s Covid-19 lockdown from March to April. An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said the last service from Hamilton to Palmerston North was on March 27. It resumed services to all 20 ports on its domestic network in June, she said. “However, we have not resumed services on our Hamilton-Palmerston North-Wellington route due to insufficient demand for our 50-seater Q300 aircraft.” Nelson operator Originair seized the opportunity presented by Air New Zealand’s departure, and from October 19 will operate direct weekday services between Palmerston North and Hamilton. Origin Air managing director Robert Inglis, who started Air Nelson which was later bought by Air New Zealand, said Palmerston North-Hamilton was primarily a business market, and those customers would like a double daily peak time morning and evening service.<br/>