Air Canada announced Tuesday the suspension of 17 US and international routes until the end of April and layoffs of 1,500 workers, citing a drop in demand for travel after a tightening of public health restrictions to slow the spread of new Covid-19 variants. The cancellations to be phased in over the coming days will affect flights between Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Boston, New York, Seattle and Washington as well as Bogota, Sao Paulo, Dublin, Dubai, Tel-Aviv, London, Hong Kong and Narita. Canada's flagship airline said it will "also temporarily reduce its unionized workforce by 1,500 employees and an as yet undetermined number of managers." The decision is another blow to employees of Air Canada, which has slashed more than half its workforce -- or about 20,000 jobs -- since the start of the pandemic, including 1,900 in January.<br/>
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Singapore Airlines is swapping some of its Boeing wide-body jetliner orders for the larger 777X, giving a boost to the model as part of an agreement to slow near-term deliveries from the US planemaker. The airline will pare commitments for the Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner by 14 planes, while adding 11 777-9s to its existing order, according to a statement Tuesday. The change brings Singapore Airlines’ total orders to 31 for Boeing’s largest aircraft, a vote of confidence in the heir to the manufacturer’s iconic 747 jumbo. The move, combined with an earlier agreement to defer Airbus deliveries, will delay more than S$4b ($3b) in capital spending, Singapore Airlines said. With the latest agreement, Singapore Airlines’ expenditure on aircraft will fall every year until March 2024. For the current fiscal year, its spending will drop to S$2.8b from S$5b. The carrier didn’t provide further detail on delivery timing by aircraft type. “We are honored that Singapore Airlines is reaffirming its commitment to the 777-9,” Boeing said.<br/>
A 41-year-old SIA cabin crew member who was on a turnaround flight to the United Arab Emirates is the fifth person on that aircraft to have tested positive for the coronavirus. All five have also tested preliminarily positive for the more infectious B117 strain of the coronavirus, the Ministry of Health said Tuesday. The flight attendant, who is Singaporean, was among 11 coronavirus cases confirmed by MOH on Tuesday. The new cases, all imported, take Singapore's total to 59,732. The four other passengers, all dependant's pass holders, were confirmed positive for Covid-19 earlier this month. They include a three-year-old girl and a one-year-old boy. "In view of her recent travel history, and the possibility that she might have been infected on board the flight, we have preliminarily classified this case as imported," said MOH. Meanwhile, all the identified close contacts of the patient have been isolated and placed on quarantine, it added.<br/>
Thai Airways has decided to ground three kind of aircraft in its fleet, namely Airbus A-330-300, Airbus 380 and Boeing 747, as part of its rehabilitation plan. The carrier explained that this decision was made based on the current and expected situation of the airline industry. The airline also plans to bring the number of pilots in its workforce down to 905, and to achieve this it is considering laying off 395 pilots. Thai Airways said it does not plan to hire more pilots between 2021 and 2022. <br/>