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Implementation of a digital identity in travel needs to work end-to-end for travelers to realize its benefits - not just at one airport or on a specific airline, but across every stage of their journey. While the travel industry has been working on implementing biometrics for some years, multiple disparate initiatives from several providers mean that travelers are required to fill in their identification details on multiple occasions. At a time when it is crucial to reduce new travel frictions caused by responses to COVID-19, and to increase traveler confidence, Amadeus and Star Alliance are announcing a milestone partnership that will allow travelers enrolled in Star Alliance Biometrics or in Amadeus Traveler ID the benefit of accessing a growing number of airports where identity verification can be utilized during their journey. By joining forces, Amadeus and Star Alliance are creating a more global, frictionless, and touchless journey for the millions of frequent flyers enrolled in the respective programs of its member airlines. Star Alliance Biometrics, launched last month, allows passengers to pass through curb-to-gate touchpoints within airports, such as check-in kiosks, bag-drop, and boarding gates, which traditionally require both passport and boarding pass, by using a secure identity management solution featuring facial recognition technology, allowing for a touchless experience at airports, an important safety feature in times of COVID-19.<br/>

Amazon Web Services (AWS), an Amazon.com, Inc. company, on Monday announced that Star Alliance, the world's largest airline alliance, is going all-in on AWS, moving all of its IT infrastructure to AWS to reduce costs and enhance performance. Star Alliance is working with Tata Consultancy Services -- an AWS Partner Network Premier Consulting Partner -- to migrate all of its data, platforms, and business-critical applications to AWS and close its data centers, which will reduce its infrastructure total cost of ownership by 25%, the announcement said. "The airline alliance is using AWS's unmatched capabilities, including analytics, security, managed databases, storage, and machine learning, to provide its 26 member airlines with real-time insights that will help improve the global travel experience for their passengers, even with the uncertainty brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic," said the announcement. "We decided to go all-in on AWS to gain the reliability and scalability we needed to support the increasing number of global travelers joining the alliance each year, but the pandemic also proved how valuable it is to have a flexible and agile infrastructure in the cloud," said Jeremy Drury, head of Digital & Technology at Star Alliance.<br/>

Indian conglomerate Tata Group is expected to swoop for Air India, the lossmaking state carrier that successive governments have tried to sell. The owner of steel plants and Jaguar Land Rover is set to make an initial bid after New Delhi sweetened the terms of the sale to attract buyers, said two people with knowledge of the situation. The 152-year-old conglomerate, a $113b-revenue group, plans to file an expression of interest for the airline before a deadline for bids closes on Monday. It comes after New Delhi revised the terms of a sale with plans to divest 100% of its equity share capital in Air India and reduce the amount of debt a buyer would have to take on. “This is the first step of a long process,” said one of the people about Tata’s EOI. Tata declined to comment. The move takes the former chairman of Tata’s holding company Ratan Tata one step closer to reclaiming Air India. Tata’s ancestor J.R.D. Tata had founded the country’s first private carrier Tata Airlines in 1932 as a courier service before it became Air India and was nationalised in 1953. Tata Group has often been touted as a potential suitor for Air India, but onerous sale conditions in the past have deterred it and other investors from bidding. Turning round Air India will incur “huge, huge costs”, said aviation analyst Ashish Nainan at Care Ratings. “It will take years for them to turn it round and I don’t think anyone has unlimited capital right now.”<br/>

JPMorgan Chase & Co. won a deal to issue cards in the US for Air Canada, the bank’s first new co-brand card partner in more than a decade. The companies plan to introduce the airline’s Aeroplan credit card in late 2021, using the Mastercard network, according to a statement Monday. The expectation is that air travel will have begun to recover by then with the advent of vaccines and promising new therapies for the coronavirus pandemic, said Mark Nasr, the airline’s vice president for loyalty and e-commerce. “We are obviously hopeful with the rollout of the vaccines that much brighter times lie ahead, particularly toward the latter half of next year,” Nasr said. “There’s a lot of evidence piling up that there’s this big latent demand for travel. It should be, in many respects, a great time to launch the co-brand.” The international air-travel market between the US and Canada was the largest in the world before the pandemic, but the border between the two countries has been closed to non-essential travel for much of the year. JPMorgan and Air Canada are focusing on consumers with roots on both sides of the border, such as the one million Canadians who have homes in the US, Nasr said. “People have been through the pandemic, feeling cooped up,” said Ed Olebe, president of co-brand cards at JPMorgan. “We’re seeing that there’s pent-up demand. If you think about the future of travel, we’re definitely bullish on that.”<br/>

Transat AT, owner of Canadian leisure carrier Air Transat, has warned investors about its ability to remain in business “as a going concern” if a planned acquisition by Air Canada falls through. “At October 31, 2020, there exists material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt on the corporation’s ability to continue as a going concern,” Transat said Monday. The warning came as Transat reports losing C$238m in Q4 of its 2020 fiscal year, which ended on 31 October. Montreal-based Transat lost C$497m in the full fiscal year. The company’s liabilities exceeded assets by C$163m on 31 October, and it held cash and cash equivalents valued at C$426m. “Our results reflect Covid-19’s devastating impact across the travel industry,” Transat CE Jean-Marc Eustache said. “The upcoming completion of the transaction with Air Canada should give us the solidity to face the crisis and capitalise on the recovery.” Due to the pandemic’s effect on travel demand, Transat suspended Air Transat’s operation entirely from 1 April to 22 July. The company recently secured up to C$250m in new short-term financing, and lenders have agreed to suspend some finance-related requirements tied to Transat’s debt. However, if lenders do not extend those suspensions beyond a 30 January 2021 expiration, Transat “could be in default of its obligations”, it warns. Transat continues working to close its planned acquisition with Air Canada. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Air Canada in August secured a huge discount. The deal now calls for Air Canada to buy Transat for C$190m, down 74% from about C$720m.<br/>

Participants in a Croatia Airlines extraordinary assembly have approved an increase in the airline’s share capital through the issue of new shares to the Croatian government. The decision was made during the assembly on Monday. Under the measure 35m ordinary shares will be issued, with a nominal value of Kn10 each, increasing the share capital by Kn350m. Croatia’s government, through the ministry of sea, transport and infrastructure, has approved not only the capital increase but also a shareholder loan to the carrier amounting to Kn250m. This brings the overall level of support to the carrier to Kn600m ($97m). The government says the combination of share capital and loan is intended to “solve liquidity problems” suffered by the airline as a result of the air transport crisis. The government says the decision will “ensure the necessary financial stabilisation” of the airline in the wake of the pandemic.<br/>

THAI has added a further eight aircraft - two A380-800s and six B777-200(ER)s - to the list of units earmarked for sale under its proposed restructuring plan. The Thai carrier previously signalled its intention to sell 22 recently active aircraft, including all ten B747-400s, all six B777-200s, and all six B777-300s. This announcement came on top of earlier, albeit dead-ended, attempts to offload six A340-600s, three A340-500s, two B737-400s, and a single A300-600R. FlightRadar24 ADS-B data indicates that all eight aircraft were retired by the end of March 2020, with the exception of B777-200(ER) HS-TJS which was reactivated for a single return flight to Tokyo Narita on December 13-14, 2020. Thai Airways owns a further four A380-800s, which were been put up for sale, although they also have been inactive since early April 2020. The carrier has highlighted, however, that the announcements are only part of a market survey to find potential buyers for the listed aircraft in accordance with its reorganisation business plan. The actual sale will only take place once the business reorganization plan is approved and with the approval of all relevant stakeholders as well as the Bankruptcy Court. Thai plans to submit its final proposal to the court before year-end or in early 2021.<br/>

All Nippon Airways launched a flight Monday between Narita Airport and Shenzhen — the first international route it has opened since March, when the coronavirus outbreak was declared a pandemic. The airline began operating the new route after Tokyo and Beijing restarted reciprocal business travel last month. The company is also targeting an increase in demand for cargo transportation as China fuels its economic recovery from the global health crisis. ANA already operates flights to Shanghai, Guangzhou and Qingdao in mainland China. The new route was originally scheduled to open in March connecting Shenzhen, which hosts many high-tech companies in a wide range of industries, with Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. But ANA changed its plan due to the virus outbreak. One round trip will be made once a week, the company said. On Monday, 13 passengers boarded the flight bound for Shenzhen. Last month, Japan and China started accepting visa applications for business travel, easing coronavirus-necessitated travel restrictions as part of efforts to help the world’s second- and third-largest economies recover. Under a bilateral agreement, the two countries allow businesspeople on short-term visits to be exempted from the usual 14-day quarantine period upon arrival if they test negative for the coronavirus and submit an itinerary of their activities in advance.<br/>

Korean Air and Asiana Airlines are launching an inter-airline through check-in (IATCI) service from Tuesday. “Preparing for the integration, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines will continue to develop services to enhance customer benefits,” Korean Air said Tuesday. This service allows passengers to receive a boarding pass and seat assignment for their connecting flight when checking in with the first airline, as well as transfer their check-in baggage to the final destination. In 2019, there were approximately 12,000 transit passengers between both full-service carriers at Seoul Incheon, according to Korean Air. It currently has IATCI agreements with 49 major global airlines.<br/>

Air NZ has set up a dedicated team to look after the large number of unaccompanied minors expected to travel to and from Auckland around Aotearoa this summer. The airline is expecting around 10,000 unaccompanied minors to travel on its domestic network between mid-December and mid-February, with the majority flying to and from Auckland. Air NZ's chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty says the airline has been looking at ways to improve its unaccompanied minor service, particularly at peak times such as school holidays which is when 80 percent of young people fly alone. "We have our award-winning Airband which children travelling alone with us receive at check-in as part of the service, the wristband is embedded with a chip which is scanned at key stages of the journey to trigger text notifications giving parents and guardians the opportunity to follow the steps in their young ones' trip," Geraghty said. "While we have always had staff looking after unaccompanied minors on their journey, given the huge number of unaccompanied minors we have travelling with us between December and February every year, we think it's important to have a group of staff solely focused on unaccompanied minors." <br/>The dedicated team will be in place at the domestic terminal at Auckland Airport from December 14 through until mid-February, with the airline looking to have further dedicated teams in place across its other domestic ports in time for the April school holidays in 2021.<br/>