American Airlines on Wednesday said it will send furlough notices this week to about 13,000 employees as a second round of federal payroll aid is set to expire next month and travel demand remains in tatters. “The vaccine is not being distributed as quickly as any of us believed, and new restrictions on international travel that require customers to have a negative COVID-19 test have dampened demand,” American’s CEO Doug Parker and President Robert Isom wrote in a note to staff. The latest $15b Congress approved for US carriers late last year required airlines to recall the employees they furloughed in the fall and maintain payroll through March 31. It was the second round of Covid aid for the industry; Congress gave airlines $25b last March to keep them from cutting employees through the fall. Airline labor unions are now seeking $15b more in federal payroll support for the industry to keep jobs through Sept. 30 and American’s Parker and Isom said they back another round of aid. “We are fully behind our union leaders’ efforts to fight for an extension and we will lend our time and energy to support this effort in every way we can,” they said. The furlough notices will go to 4,245 flight attendants, 3,145 fleet service workers, 1,850 pilots, 1,420 maintenance workers, 1,205 in passenger service, 100 dispatchers and 40 instructors, according to a American Airlines securities filing.<br/>
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Qantas has announced it has come to an agreement with Brisbane-based Alliance Airlines to utilise three of its Embraer E190 aircraft, and cash in on an expected post-COVID surge in domestic tourism. Under the new three-year deal, Alliance will operate three E190 regional aircraft, based in Darwin and Adelaide, on behalf of Qantas’ regional offshoot, QantasLink. The agreement also includes the possibility of expanding Qantas’ access to Alliance aircraft by a further 11 E190 regional jets, dependent on market conditions. Initial routes touted under the deal include Adelaide-Alice Springs, Darwin-Alice Springs, and Darwin-Adelaide. The E190s will replace Qantas’ Boeing 737s currently tackling these routes, in a bid to increase frequency of flights.<br/>