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British Airways intends to return its Airbus A380s to service, making it an exception to a trend away from operating the four-engined superjumbo among its European peers. BA CE Sean Doyle explained that the A380 “works very well in a number of larger markets”. The type is therefore “an important part of our fleet, and at the minute our plans are to obviously fly [it again],” he says, without discussing a timeline for its return. Pre-crisis, the Oneworld operator’s 12 A380s – which are all currently in storage – had been deployed to destinations including Johannesburg, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Singapore. Elsewhere in Europe, Air France has said it will not return its A380s to service, while Lufthansa has all-but-confirmed that it will follow suit. Further afield, reports suggest that Etihad Airways is the latest carrier to cast doubt on the A380 being seen in its livery again.<br/>

Qantas has seen its domestic market share increase from pre-pandemic levels, at the expense of rival Virgin Australia, which entered — and subsequently exited from —administration amid the coronavirus outbreak in 2020. In a report on domestic airline competition, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) says Qantas’ market share as at December 2020 was at 74%, up from the 60% share it held in December 2019. Compared to September 2020, however, Qantas saw its market share dip slightly, down from 76% that month. The ACCC also notes that Qantas retained the lion’s share on flights between regional destinations, at close to 90% in December 2020. This was comparable to its pre-pandemic market share. Qantas also operated more routes — 114 domestic routes — in December 2020 than it did the previous year, the only Australian carrier to have reported network growth from pre-pandemic levels. <br/>

Qantas has told about 7500 workers from its mothballed international division they will receive $500 a week for the next seven months as part of the federal government’s $1.2b aviation support package. The airline’s CE of international, Andrew David, informed staff at a town-hall meeting in Sydney on Thursday about the program, which will act as a safety net after the $500-a-week JobKeeper scheme that ends this month. The payment will go to international Qantas and Jetstar pilots, crew and other employees who are stood down from work until Australia’s international border reopens and they return to work, which Qantas expects to happen in late October once the COVID-19 rollout is completed. The cost of the government payments for 7500 Qantas workers over seven months will run to about $112m. A Qantas spokesman said the airline and government had not decided how the $500 wage payment would apply when employees return to work or training before October. The payment could either cease and Qantas would start paying the employee’s wages, or the government payments could convert to a wage subsidy as happened with the JobKeeper scheme.<br/>

American Airlines is investigating whether US climate envoy John Kerry broke the rules and took off his mask on a recent flight. According to the Tennessee Star, Kerry was photographed without a mask as he sat first-class on a flight between Boston and Washington. “Masks are required on board our aircraft,” American Airlines said. “Our team works diligently to make sure customers are wearing masks properly as they travel with us, and flight attendants pass through the cabin several times during flight to ensure compliance. The crew did not observe Secretary Kerry without a mask, and they were not alerted by other customers to a non-compliance issue. We continue to review the matter and we are reaching out to Secretary Kerry to underscore that all customers are expected to wear masks for the duration of their trip.” The envoy said on Twitter on Wednesday if the mask slipped, it was only briefly.<br/>