United plans to add 1,400 flights and will prepare to use larger aircraft during Thanksgiving week, responding to late demand for travel. The week of November 23 is expected to be United’s busiest for traffic since March, the airline said Monday. The Chicago-based carrier also plans to add about 200 extra flights on peak travel days in December. Half of its Thanksgiving customers are buying tickets less than 30 days before the holiday, up from about 40% last year, United said. The airline will monitor bookings “in real-time to swap in larger aircraft when needed to accommodate last-minute demand.” United’s Thanksgiving week scheduling was planned before Pfizer reported widely successful results for a Covid-19 vaccine, driving aviation shares and the broader market sharply higher. Part of the late demand for holiday travel is driven by fares that are substantially lower than typical as airlines desperately try to fill seats during the coronavirus pandemic. Passenger volumes are less than 40% of last year’s levels. United plans to fly 49% and 52% of its November and December 2019 domestic schedules, respectively.<br/>
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Air Canada jumped as much as 29%, the most since March 25, after the airline said it burned less cash than expected in Q3 and Pfizer Inc. reported good results from tests of a Covid-19 vaccine. The shares were up 21% to C$19.13 in Toronto as of 9:46 a.m. Before the markets opened Monday, Air Canada said flight capacity will drop 75% in Q4 compared with a year earlier. But the airline will put off decisions about suspending even more routes while it talks with the Canadian government about financial aid. “I would be cautiously optimistic” about the impact of a vaccine, CEO Calin Rovinescu said in a conference call with analysts. In the meantime, the company is pressing the Canadian government for better Covid-19 testing at airports so that it can relax the mandatory 14-day quarantine for travelers coming into the country. Canada’s largest airline reported Q3 revenue of C$757m, down 86% from a year earlier, and suffered an operating loss of C$785m. The company said it expects to burn between C$1.1b and C$1.3b in cash in Q4, slightly higher than in Q3, partly because of payments it must make to end leases with aircraft owners. “The company continues to reduce its cost structure and capital commitments,” CIBC analyst Kevin Chiang said in a note. While the company’s cash burn forecast for the fourth quarter is “is a touch higher than we expected,” the overall second-half picture is better, he said.<br/>
Airbus’s A220 jetliner program suffered the biggest setback since the start of the coronavirus crisis as Air Canada canceled orders for 12 aircraft to conserve cash. The carrier will also defer the handover of the remaining 18 A220s it had been due to receive in 2021 and 2022, according to an earnings filing Monday, though it expects to take delivery of five of the type this quarter. The announcement comes as a particular blow since the A220 is a Canadian aircraft, designed and launched by Bombardier before being sold to European rival Airbus. The modest size of the A220, closer to a regional jet than many airliners, had also been expected to help the model ride out the pandemic relatively unscathed. “We are working very closely with all our customers, and in particular with Air Canada, as we navigate through the crisis, to be ready for when traffic does return,” Airbus spokesman Stefan Schaffrath said.<br/>
Ethiopian Airlines Group is in early-stage discussions over plans to help manage South African Airways and expects to submit a proposal to the bankrupt carrier this week. “First we would like to send our proposal and then we will start more detailed discussion, if they accept,” Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde GebreMariam said on Monday in an emailed response to questions about a possible management contract. He didn’t provide detail of the terms of the submission.<br/>
More than 50 organisations have expressed interest in SIA's training programmes launched last week which will see the national carrier's trainers work with companies to design courses and instruct their employees in areas such as customer service. SIA CE Goh Choon Phong provided the update Monday, as he laid out the group's business strategy after it reported nearly $3.5b in losses for the six months to September last Friday. He said the new training programmes were one of SIA's innovations to cope with the impact of the coronavirus on the airline. This, together with cost-cutting measures and other ventures to increase revenue, like the hugely popular A-380 dining experience that was quickly sold out recently, has enabled the airline to reduce its bleeding from a rate of about $350m a month in July to $300m now. Goh said: "We will continue to be very nimble and flexible to see what other opportunities the market may bring... The market is very dynamic at the moment." The losses suffered in the six months to September have been primarily attributed to the massive fall in passenger numbers since Covid-19 hit. The group was operating at about 9.5% of pre-Covid-19 passenger capacity last month, and hopes for it to return to 16% by the end of the year. It has relied on the transport of cargo to mitigate the fallout, even removing seats on planes to increase storage space on flights that are half-empty. Goh said he remained hopeful that with new Covid-19 quick-testing regimes, more passenger flights could take to the skies.<br/>
Members of the E tū aviation union are "incensed" after hearing the news that a multi-million-dollar share offer has been given to Air NZ's CEO, as well as offers to the executive team. On Friday, the New Zealand stock exchange showed CEO Greg Foran issued with rights to around $2.03m worth of shares. Six other members of the executive team were also issued rights of a lower value. Jennifer Sepull, Cam Wallace, Gregory Foran, Leanne Geraghty, Carrie Hurihanganui, Jeff McDowall and David Morgan are all named in documents provided to the NZX on Friday. With around 4000 of the airline’s crew having already lost their jobs this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, workers have described the airline’s actions as “tone-deaf”. "I've never seen crew so upset as they were over the weekend. It's just another kick while they're already down as crew numbers are being decimated," one worker is quoted as saying by E tū. E tū Head of Aviation Savage says union members are foregoing pay increases and not collecting contractual performance bonuses to help the airline save money. "For the board and the executives to take the share options at this time will do nothing to rebuild the airline's performance. Workers are incensed - it's rubbing salt into an already painful wound," Savage said. Savage said the union will be taking up the issue of the share offers with Finance Minister Grant Robertson.<br/>