EU regulators approved on Wednesday a state grant of E120m for Greece’s national carrier Aegean Airlines to help the airline with damage suffered during the coronavirus crisis. The support consists of a direct grant of E120m, an amount that does not exceed the estimated damage directly caused to the airline between March 23 and June 30, the EU Commission said. “This measure will enable Greece to compensate Aegean Airlines for the damage directly suffered due to the travel restrictions necessary to limit the spread of the coronavirus,” the European Union’s antitrust chief, Margrethe Vestager said. <br/>
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Lufthansa has struck a cost savings deal with its pilots which will avert layoffs until March 2022. The German carrier says the deal agreed with pilots’ union Vereinigung Cockpit will mean existing cost-saving measures – notably short-time working and the suspension of collective pay increases — will continue in the coming year. It adds these savings are supplemented by additional measures. As part of the agreement Lufthansa is ruling out layoffs of pilots for operational reasons at the mainline German carrier operation, as well as Lufthansa Cargo, Lufthansa Aviation Training and a sub-group of Germanwings pilots until March 2022. Last month the carrier reached a similar deal with the Verdi union providing employment protection for ground staff in 2021 in return for concessions. In the summer it struck a long-term savings deal with cabin crew represented by the UFO union. Lufthansa, which says the deal with pilots is still subject to approval by the respective bodies, adds that the agreement provides more predictable conditions in 2021 for the two sides to continue negotiations over “sustainable solutions” for once the crisis collective agreement expires.<br/>
Taiwan’s EVA Airways sacked a New Zealand pilot on Wednesday whom the government has blamed for the island’s first locally transmitted case of COVID-19 since April 12 because he failed to follow disease prevention rules. Taiwan has kept the pandemic well under control thanks to early and effective prevention methods and widespread use of masks, with all new cases for more than the last 250 days being among travellers arriving on the island. But the government was jolted by Tuesday’s announcement of the domestic infection of a woman who is a friend of a New Zealand pilot confirmed to have been infected earlier this week having flown routes to the United States. The case has ignited public anger, with one Taiwan television station calling the pilot a “public enemy”, after the government said he had not reported all his contacts and the places he had been, nor worn a face mask in the cockpit when he should have. EVA Air said a meeting of its discipline committee had found the pilot had contravened government regulations, including the communicable disease transmission law, and they had decided to terminate him, effective immediately.<br/>
Credit rating agencies here and overseas are still maintaining a cautious stance regarding their ratings for Korean Air and its affiliates, saying there remain uncertainties over the air carrier's owner Hanjin Group's plan to acquire Asiana Airlines. Moody's Investors Service said Thursday its review for upgrading Hanjin International's ratings will focus on the completion of Korean Air's proposed equity issuance scheduled for March next year, the progress in its proposed acquisition of Asiana and the company's plans to address the near-term debt maturities. The US rating agency began to consider upgrading the credit rating of the wholly owned Korean Air subsidiary which manages the Wilshire Grand Center building in Los Angeles, after the announcement of the historic aviation deal last month. "The review for upgrade reflects our expectation that the proposed acquisition, if completed, will significantly improve Korean Air's scale and competitive position," Moody's analyst Sean Hwang said. "Additionally, Korean Air's planned equity raising and increased importance to the Korean economy will substantially mitigate the risk associated with Asiana's poor liquidity and financial leverage."<br/>
Air NZ plans to classify flights as “red” or “green” to remove the risk of transit passengers infecting others with Covid-19 when a trans-Tasman bubble opens. Air New Zealand CE Greg Foran said Thursday he expected a quarantine-free trans-Tasman bubble to open in Q1 2021, as indicated by the Government. That’s despite doubt being cast over the opening date, following a recent outbreak of Covid-19 in Sydney’s northern beaches. The airline was “taking a stab” that the bubble would open in February but appreciated that date was likely to move depending on conditions at the time, he said. “We’ll adjust accordingly as things become clearer,” Foran said. He expected a New Zealand-Cook Islands bubble to also open in Q1 as indicated by the Government. The airline had been working with authorities, airports and border control to figure out logistics such as how to manage customers transiting through Australia from other countries, he said. Customers who travelled between New Zealand and Australia or New Zealand and Rarotonga were generally going to be Covid-19 free, he said. “We call those green flights,” Foran said. “When we have flights where we have transit passengers then they’re going to be red flights.”<br/>