Administrators at national airline South African Airways received 1.3b rand ($85.36m) from the Department of Public Enterprises last week, a spokeswoman for the administrators said on Wednesday. The money would be used to pay accepted and signed voluntary severance packages, employees who accepted a three-month back pay deal, and post-commencement creditors, spokeswoman Louise Brugman said.<br/>
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The French government is suspending Ethiopian Airlines for four days over a failure to ensure passengers have had negative coronavirus tests, the transport ministry announced Wednesday. "Several shortcomings were noted on the arrival in France of flights of the Ethiopian Airlines company," the ministry said. "It is up to the company to check that each passenger on board has a document showing a negative PCR (Covid-19) test," it added. France warned the Ethiopian flag carrier on Tuesday but, after fresh shortcomings on Wednesday, it "decided to suspend flights by the company from Thursday January 28 to Sunday January 31 inclusive," the statement said. French government spokesman Gabriel Attal had earlier Wednesday said Paris wants to consider a Europe-wide "strengthening of border rules" and "sanctions against airlines" outside the European Union which do not ensure the necessary virus checks on passengers.<br/>
THAI is considering another extension on the deadline to submit its restructuring plan, this time until the end of February or beginning of March. On 5 January, the carrier said it had been granted a one-month extension to a previous deadline of 2 January to submit its rehabilitation plan, with the new deadline being 2 February. In a 26 January update on its restructuring, it says its rehabilitation planners are considering an additional one-month extension “according to the legal framework”. On 13 January, the carrier’s president Chansin Treenuchagron said it was working “diligently” on the plan to ensure it would be submitted by its “specified timeframe”. Thai’s planners are considering extending the deadline again after having discussions with creditors “from several classes”, the company says in its latest update. An extension would ensure the airline can “generate an optimal financial plan”.<br/>
Air New Zealand is backing the government announcing it will implement a biofuels mandate that will help Aotearoa reduce carbon emissions in the transport sector. The airline's CEO Greg Foran was at the government's announcement on Thursday with PM Jacinda Ardern, Minister for Climate Change James Shaw and Transport Minister Michael Wood. Foran said pursuing biofuels is a necessary step in reaching New Zealand's shared net zero by 2050 goal. "COVID-19 has had a huge impact on our airline, but it has not slowed our commitment to decarbonising our business. We see today's announcement as a major step forward for the wider transport sector, and we're supportive of a national strategy for decarbonising the economy, accompanied by appropriate policy settings and investment," he said. The announcement also addressed other transport industries and their use of renewable energy, too.<br/>