China Southern, the country’s largest airline by passenger numbers, will suspend direct flights to and from London from Dec. 24 to Jan. 7, state radio reported on Wednesday. Countries across the globe are shutting their borders to Britain after the emergence of a highly infectious new coronavirus strain. China Southern has been operating one weekly flight between its hub Guangzhou and London.<br/>
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Korean Air and the Korean Air Labour Union have agreed to freeze wages and keep 70% of employees on furlough during the first half of 2021 as the airline continues to cut costs to cope with the impact of Covid-19, the Yonhap News Agency reported. The same percentage of the company’s approximately 18,000 employees, about 12,600 employees, have already been taking unpaid leave since April. The management and the union have agreed to maintain these conditions until at least June 30, 2021, as the alternative would be mass redundancies. “We are faced with an unprecedented emergency situation due to the fallout of Covid-19,” the union explained. “The labour union and the management are sharing the burden by selling assets, cutting costs, and keeping furlough programmes to maintain employment.” However, the union insisted that 50% of this year’s bonus for “family month” - the month of May in South Korea - be paid by the end of 2020, which Korean Air promised to do. Simultaneously, the management assured the union that “there is no review on the separation of MRO” from the company, in response to a flurry of recent local media reports claiming that Korean Air had been considering the sale of its maintenance business. Korean Air has, however, now completed the sale of its inflight catering and duty-free business to Seoul-based private equity firm Hahn & Company for KRW990.6b won (US$895m), the Maeil business newspaper reported.<br/>
The new Italian airline being established to replace Alitalia has outlined plans to commence operations in April 2021 with an operation about half the size of its predecessor’s, according to media reports in Italy. Citing an 18 December press conference held by the new public company, which set out a five-year plan for the carrier, Corriere della Sera reports that Italia Trasporto Aereo (ITA) hopes to begin operations with 52 yet-to-be-determined aircraft, of which 43 would be for short- and medium-haul operations and the rest for long-haul routes. More than 60 destinations would be served from next year, covering domestic and international routes, according to the report. Alitalia had just over 100 aircraft going into the pandemic – a level the new business hopes to reach by 2025. Some 5,200-5,500 people would be employed by ITA, around half the 11,000 who worked at Alitalia, although the report notes much depends on negotiations with unions. Services would end from Milan Malpensa, with the city’s Linate airport preferred, the report suggests. The main hub would continue to be at Rome Fiumicino.<br/>