Avianca Holdings plans to add dozens of routes using smaller aircraft as it plots its emergence from bankruptcy later this year, the airline’s CE said. Colombia’s largest carrier is expanding with 50 direct routes between secondary cities in coming years, said CEO Anko van der Werff. Using narrow-body planes, it will target tourist spots such as Punta Cana, Cartagena and Cancun, offering a new level of cheaper fares to capture demand for leisure travel that’s leading a rebound after the pandemic crippled the airline business. “You already see the theme of leisure and beach traffic emerging,” he said. “In a nutshell, we’ll be more efficient.” Latin America’s second-largest airline before the Covid-19 pandemic, Avianca filed for Chapter 11 in May, citing the impact of government lockdowns that forced it to ground its fleet. It raised $2b under its bankruptcy plan, including funding from United, Salvadoran air mogul Roberto Kriete’s Kingsland Holdings and Citadel, the hedge fund founded by billionaire Ken Griffin. After the bankruptcy restructuring, Avianca will offer cheap fares to some destinations where it faces competition from low-cost carriers -- including through its hubs in Colombia and El Salvador. But the airline has no plans to relinquish its position as a major carrier, van der Werff said.<br/>
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Thai Airways International is challenging some $7.4b in claims from dozens of aircraft lessors and engine service provider Rolls-Royce Holdings, saying it isn’t liable for the monies because they concern future expenses and were incurred after the airline received bankruptcy protection from a Bangkok court. Thailand’s flag carrier, which is undergoing a court-supervised restructuring to trim debt and return to profit by raising fresh capital, is disputing around 192b baht ($6.3b) claimed by 48 lessors including BOC Aviation and SMBC Aviation Capital, and another 33b baht that Rolls-Royce says it’s owed for maintenance services, according to a copy of the debt rehabilitation plan. A spokesperson for Thai Airways declined to comment. Representatives from BOC Aviation, and Rolls-Royce and SMBC Aviation in Europe also declined to comment. The disputed amount is more than half of Thai Airways’ total liabilities of 410b baht. Yet an amicable settlement with creditors is key for the airline to stave off bankruptcy. <br/>
Eight domestic airlines rated as being in critical financial health have been boosted by the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT), which says they aren't going bankrupt and it still has faith they can stay in business. The alarming assessment of their plight merely reflected a time last year when every airline in the world was severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, CAAT director-general Suttipong Kongpool said on Wednesday. Without the devastating impact of the pandemic, these airlines would have not been classified as being in such dire financial straits, he said. The eight airlines are Thai Airways International Plc (THAI), Thai Smile Airways, Nok Air, AirAsia X, VietJet Air, Thai Lion Air, Asia Atlantic Airlines and City Airways, which are all registered in Thailand. The airlines have met the CAAT and it has agreed to consider their request to relax four regulations to help them cope better with the pandemic. Story has details.<br/>
Ethiopian Airlines on Wednesday announced partnership with the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) for the implementation of the African Union Trusted Travel Pass to make continental travel easier and safer amidst the COVID -19 pandemic. The Trusted Travel Pass program will ensure country regulations regarding COVID-19 travel requirements are met with minimal room for error and hassle to the travelling public, the Ethiopian Airlines said. The Africa CDC, the specialized healthcare agency of the AU, has mobilized a broad multi-stakeholder public private partnership with the help of its strategic partners, with the objective of addressing current challenges in accessing accurate health information, high costs and inconvenience in cross border travel, and poor data for health policy and biosecurity planning. Getinet Tadesse, the chief information officer at Ethiopian Airlines, said the carrier is offering new digital opportunities to its passengers so as to fully and safely restore air travel.<br/>
EgyptAir announced on Wednesday that it will operate three weekly flights between Cairo and Germany's Dusseldorf as of July 2. The decision comes as part of the company's efforts to link Cairo to pivotal destinations across the globe, EgyptAir reported. The three flights will take the total number of weekly flights between Egypt and Germany up to 19. <br/>