Norwegian has opened a formal consultation over staff cuts at its London Gatwick base as the sustained impact of the global pandemic on air travel continues. The consultation relates primarily to short-haul pilots and cabin crew at Norwegian’s Gatwick base and potentially covers 259 roles. The airline has over 1,100 crew based at Gatwick. ”These unprecedented circumstances that we now find ourselves in require us to review the London Gatwick crew base in line with current business needs and the associated costs going forward,” the airline says. ”We have entered into consultation with our crew colleagues and unions based in the in UK and will look to find common solutions and mitigate redundancies.” Norwegian has developed a large network from Gatwick, serving both short-haul and transatlantic points from the airport - where it was the third biggest operator in terms of flights prior to the pandemic. The airline though had already begun trimming its network amid growing financial challenges even before the coronavirus crisis, and having completed a major financial restructuring in May, has since remained in ’hibernation’ mode operating around 20 to 30 aircraft on routes focused on the Scandinavian market.<br/>
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Ryanair expects Boeing's 737 MAX aircraft to return to service in the US in the next month or so, paving the way for the Irish low-cost carrier to start receiving planes in early 2021, a senior executive said on Friday. The FAA on Tuesday issued a draft report on revised training procedures for the 737 MAX, a milestone to return the plane to service. “The first of those (orders) we would hope to arrive in very early 2021. The FAA finished their test flights last week and it looks like it’s going to go back into service in the U.S. in the next month or so. EASA, the European agency, are working very closely,” said Eddie Wilson, the CE of Ryanair’s main airlines business.<br/>
Budget airlines operating in Japan have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with many struggling due to huge declines in passenger demand. AirAsia Japan will close all four routes in the country on Dec. 5. and fire all of its nearly 270 employees in stages. “We have concluded that it would be an extremely challenging feat for us to continue operating without any visibility and certainty of a postpandemic recovery path,” COO Jun Aida said earlier this month. A budget airline needs to have a seat occupancy rate of as high as some 80% to be profitable. But the pandemic has made it difficult to achieve that threshold. Jetstar Japan will suspend flights on six of its 23 Japan routes this month through late March next year. It has offered buyout packages to pilots and cabin crew members. Zipair Tokyo started operations in Japan this year, but has not carried any passenger, providing only cargo services on routes to Bangkok and Seoul from Narita International Airport near Tokyo. The Japan Airlines unit is scheduled to start carrying passengers on the Seoul route on Friday. Zipair Tokyo “was able to make the decision because it is being supported by revenue from cargo services. It would be difficult to make profits on passenger flights alone,” a company official said.<br/>
Despite market speculations over its future, AirAsia India foresees a sustained passenger demand to power its growth in the coming quarter. Accordingly, the pandemic-battered airline is in fact going ahead with the planned induction of 5 fully-owned aircraft which will bring down the average fleet age to around three years. In terms of passenger growth, the company conceded that despite directional imbalance in traffic, the trend is getting more evened out with the emergence of metro-to-metro demand. Sunil Bhaskaran, CEO and MD, AirAsia India, said: “So far as the air traffic is concerned, it has been highly directional between metro and non-metro cities, though we are now beginning to see the metro-metro traffic coming back. Passenger demographics have changed significantly with the proportion of under 29- year-olds increasing to nearly half of the total passengers and those over 40 reduced to less than half of passengers. As young India starts resuming work and planning holidays this festive season, we expect this number to further increase.” However, Bhaskaran pointed out that despite encouraging traffic growth which has been witnessed over the last few weeks, “the harsh reality is that the traffic is still only 35% of the pre-Covid levels on a year-on-year basis and we have a long way to go”.<br/>
Thai Vietjet Air plans to both grow its fleet and add staff even though domestic air travel with Thailand remains subdued amid the coronavirus pandemic. The airline says it plans to grow its fleet to 15 aircraft “by 2021”, and is in the process of hiring additional flight crew, ground crew, and pilots. The airline now has a fleet of 11 A320 family jets, all of which are leased. “The airline has recently held a Cabin Crew Recruitment Day attracting thousands of applicants in Chiang Mai, Thailand,” it says. “The event successfully created hundreds of jobs in the country as the airlines plan to increase its manpower to 1,000 from current 700 by the end of this year. Additional recruitment for pilots, engineers and other positions is also being conducted.” Thai Vietjet Air is an associate of Vietnam-based low-cost carrier Vietjet Air. <br/>
Hawaiian Airlines has said it will suspend its regional subsidiary Ohana by Hawaiian on 1 November as the carrier continues to experience economic hardship due to the coronavirus and resulting quarantine requirements. Ohana by Hawaiian, operated by Empire Airlines on ATR-42 and ATR-72 aircraft, serves routes between Hawaii’s capital Honolulu and Molokai island as well as Lanai on Maui. Earlier this year the airline already suspended its connection between Honolulu and Kapalua in West Maui. “It is an honour to provide essential transportation for the people of Lanai, Molokai and West Maui, and more recently all-cargo service within our state,” said Peter Ingram, Hawaiian’s CE, on Friday. “While we are disappointed at being unable to avoid the service suspension, this is a difficult situation for both Hawaiian and Empire Airlines as we navigate an incredibly challenging period, and we all remain committed to returning flights to communities that rely on Ohana by Hawaiian.” Hawaiian says it tried to maintain the service, but low passenger demand and onerous quarantine requirements imposed by the government of the state forced the airline to stop the flights. The airline adds that the restrictions “triggered a labour provision in Hawaiian’s pilot contract affecting the carrier’s ability to provide Ohana by Hawaiian service”.<br/>