ANA Holdings is making all-out efforts to plow through turbulence triggered by the coronavirus pandemic and fly high again through a new restructuring plan worked out in an unusual manner. With the global airline industry hit hard by the international health crisis, ANA suffered a year-on-year plunge of more than 90% in the number of passengers carried and anticipates its worst-ever net loss of 510b yen ($4.91b) in fiscal 2020 through March. In the spring of this year, Shinya Katanozaka, ANA's president and CEO, stood dumbfounded at an unprecedented sight -- a nearly empty airport lobby. All Nippon Airways is the core of the ANA group. Aviation has repeatedly experienced steep drops in passenger demand for flights following "event risks" such as natural disasters, war and terrorism. Whenever Katanozaka walks through an airport, ANA employees know who he is and speak to him out of concern about their future as other airlines, especially those in the US and Europe, are resorting to workforce cuts. In a message to employees, Katanozaka moved to assuage such fears. "We will protect jobs," he said, stressing airline employees, who are responsible for the safety of flights and passengers, cannot do that "if they are worried about their jobs." But it is not easy to promise job protection when no exit from the pandemic is in sight. Still, Katanozaka made that tough decision. "We are in a war," ANA executives and other senior officials all say. Indeed, airlines are in a critical life-or-death situation. They must figure out how to overcome the impact of the pandemic while protecting jobs. Agility holds the key to dealing with that dual task as a delay in decision making could cause a serious blow to the company.<br/>
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Colombian investigators are probing an incident in which an Avianca Airbus A319 arrived at Bogota trailing a large quantity of entangled ribbon-like debris from its wings, stabiliser and fin. The airline says flight AV29 from Orlando to Bogota on 31 December was “hit by a hot-air balloon” during its landing at Bogota’s El Dorado airport. It had touched down at 20:09, the carrier states, and was towed at 20:59 following an inspection by firefighting personnel who found no immediate problems with the aircraft. “Passengers who had connections to other destinations were able to [meet them] without any inconvenience,” the airline adds. Precise circumstances of the incident have yet to be clarified by investigators. The aircraft, which had conducted its approach to runway 13L, had already landed when the incident occurred, the airline indicates. Video footage of the aircraft (N557AV) circulating on social media shows the debris hanging from its right and left wings, as well as the inlets of its CFM International CFM56 engines. N557AV is a nine-year old airframe having been delivered new to Avianca in early 2012.<br/>
Turkish Airlines announced on 2 January that flights from the UK to Turkey were suspended under travel restrictions due to the pandemic. Meanwhile, the flights from Turkey to the UK, and from the UK to other countries, including the transit flights, continue as planned. On Friday, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said the new virus strain was detected in 15 people who entered the country from the UK and announced that entries from the UK to Turkey were temporarily suspended.<br/>