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ANA Holdings swung to a slightly narrower than expected quarterly operating loss on Friday but kept its forecast for a record full-year loss as fresh coronavirus travel restrictions hit the industry. ANA reported an operating loss of 81.4b yen ($779.10m) for the quarter to Dec. 31, from a 40.7b yen profit a year ago, slightly better than an average 83.8b yen loss estimated by three analysts in a Refinitiv poll. It maintained its full-year forecast for a record operating loss of 505b yen. That compares with an average 472b yen loss forecast by 10 analysts in a Refinitiv survey. CFO Ichiro Fukuzawa said this was due to bigger-than-planned cost cuts and a strong demand of international freight services. He added that the airline is currently not thinking of selling assets other than aircraft. Comparing Q3 “to results from earlier in the year provides a clear indication that our recovery is already underway”, Fukuzawa said. However, ANA said domestic traffic had begun to decline in December when a fresh wave of COVID-19 cases in Japan undermined an earlier recovery and led the government to end a subsidised tourism campaign.<br/>

The ANA Group will make use of bellyhold cargo of flights at Okinawa island’s Naha airport in its plans to revamp the island’s logistics hub into a new network model. The move, announced on 29 January, comes amid an ongoing suspension of freighter flights to and from the island through 2021, says ANA, which is working with the local Okinawa prefecture government in its efforts to develop the Naha logistics hub. In a bid to “transform Okinawa into the node of a logistics network” which will connect international points with domestic destinations, ANA will in the interim “expand the usage” of bellyhold capacity of passenger aircraft, both within the group’s carriers, like low-cost unit Peach Aviation, as well as other foreign carriers flying into Naha. Through a management contract it previously established with operators at Naha, ANA says will “oversee cargo operations” and will “create a network utilising the cargo capabilities of passenger flights”. However, as international carriers continue to suspend their flights into the city amid the coronavirus outbreak, ANA says it will operate its freighters between Okinawa and its Tokyo hub, “to maintain the logistics supply chain until global conditions allow for the resumption of international flights”. “Once international flights resume, by utilising the cargo space of passenger flights to and from Naha airport, it will be possible to transport cargo to a wide range of destinations more frequently and to expand delivery for smaller volumes as well,” the carrier states.<br/>

United notified 14,000 employees that their jobs will be at risk in April after the second round of federal payroll support expires, saying the coronavirus pandemic still weighs heavily on the travel outlook. The new notices cover every work group except pilots, United said. Last month, US airlines recalled furloughed workers after Congress renewed federal aid for the industry through March 31. “Despite ongoing efforts to distribute vaccines, customer demand has not changed much since we recalled those employees,” United said in a message to employees Friday. The warning underscores the uncertain outlook at airlines, which are still reeling from an unprecedented decline in air travel because of the coronavirus pandemic. American Airlines Group may have to issue a second round of furlough notices when federal aid expires, CEO Doug Parker told employees in a meeting to discuss the carrier’s Q4 loss. At United, a spokeswoman said the carrier would strive to lower the actual number of job cuts, just as it did last fall after initially sending federal WARN Act notices to 36,000 employees in July. The Chicago-based company ended up laying off 13,000 people in October when the first round of payroll aid ended.<br/>

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is introducing sweeping new restrictions on international travel in a bid to stem the spread of new variants of Covid-19 into the country. The country’s largest airlines have agreed to suspend flights to the Caribbean and Mexico for three months, Trudeau said. Travelers coming into Canada will now be tested on arrival and will have to quarantine at designated hotels for as long as three days to await results. The new measures add to existing requirements that include evidence of a negative test before boarding the flight and 14-day quarantine after arrival. Under the new rules, passengers who test negative at the airport can isolate for the remainder of that two-week period at home. Those who test positive will be required to stay in a public health facility. Four airlines -- Air Canada, WestJet Airlines, Air Transat and Sunwing -- are part of the agreement, Trudeau said. The cancellations will go into effect on Jan. 31 to April 30. Air Canada fell as much as 7.9%, hitting its lowest point since Nov. 13, but pared losses after the airline said the impact on cash burn would be “not material given the already reduced levels of passenger traffic.” Air Canada was down 5.4% to C$19.89 at 2:29 p.m. in Toronto. The measures represent a significant escalation of travel restrictions at a time when many residents typically would be heading to warmer destinations to escape winter. <br/>

Portuguese airline TAP said it will suspend more operations than previously planned in February after additional travel restrictions were announced to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. TAP will suspend 93% of its operations in February compared with the same month last year, the Lisbon-based carrier said in a regulatory filing on Sunday. It had previously planned to have a 73% reduction. Portugal, which is facing one of the world’s worst outbreaks, on Thursday announced restrictions for citizens wanting to travel abroad by air and land.<br/>

SAS and Apollo, one of the biggest tour operators in the Nordic region, have extended their longstanding charter flight collaboration for a further three summer and winter seasons until 2024, with an option for an additional extension to 2026. This latest deal represents the Scandinavian carrier’s largest-ever contract with a charter operator, worth around SEK3.4b kronor (US$408m) over the first three years, SAS said Thursday. In a normal summer, REWE Group-owned Apollo typically carries about 650,000 people mainly to southern European destinations. Under this contract, SAS will connect Apollo customers from 24 locations across Sweden, Denmark, and Norway to 51 destinations around Europe. The airline and tour operator remain each other’s main partner for charter flights.<br/>

While benefiting from a faster recovery in domestic travel than other international carriers, China's three big state-owned airlines warned Friday that they expect combined net losses of up to $6b for 2020. China Southern, China Eastern and Air China estimate net losses for last year to be between 31.2b yuan and 38.8b yuan ($4.85b and $6.03b), compared with profits of 12.2b yuan in the pre-pandemic year of 2019, according to separate announcements after trading hours. Despite faring better than many international peers in terms of passenger numbers, Chinese airlines were unable to avoid the red ink spilled by carriers worldwide in a year when pandemic-induced lockdowns froze travel. The Chinese aviation industry "faced unprecedented and severe challenges," Wang Jian, company secretary of China Eastern, said in a statement. "The market demand and willingness of passengers to travel have dropped significantly." The three airlines are dual listed in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Air China, the national flag carrier, served 68.69m passengers, a 40.3% decline. Story has more.<br/>