Portugal’s ailing state-owned airline TAP on Thursday posted an annual loss of E1.2b as passenger numbers fell by almost three quarters last year due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global travel. The airline received a E1.2b rescue loan in 2020 from the state, which holds a 72.5% stake, allowing it to keep operating and end last year with a cash position of about E520m euros, TAP said. “Both the operation and the results in 2020 were severely impacted by the drop in activity as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, with passenger numbers falling 72.7%, after growing for four consecutive years,” the company said. It is the third year in a row the airline has posted a loss, after ending 2019 in the red by E95.6m.<br/>
star
Airlines are not obliged to compensate passengers if a flight is diverted and lands at a different airport than initially planned, the EU’s top court ruled on Thursday, after a customer sued Austrian Airlines over such an incident. However, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg said the carrier must offer to cover the cost of a transfer either to the original destination airport or to another nearby destination agreed with the passenger. “The diversion of a flight to an airport serving the same town, city or region does not grant the passenger a right to compensation for cancellation of a flight,” judges said. The ruling came after a customer sued Austrian Airlines for 250 euros ($301) in 2019 after his flight landed in Schoenefeld airport outside Berlin with a delay of nearly an hour instead of the city’s central Tegel airport.<br/>
Ethiopian Airlines Group announced that it has joined hands with BGI Health Ethiopia, a subsidiary of China’s biotech giant, the BGI Genomics, to launch high-end COVID-19 testing laboratory at its main hub and the continent’s busiest airport, Addis Ababa Bole International Airport. The testing center is opened to revitalize the passengers’ business by creating seamless travel experience that includes COVID-19 testing to passengers that are departing or transiting via Addis Ababa. The state-of-the-art COVID-19 testing lab is equipped with cutting-edge technologies to provide quick and accurate testing for passengers. Currently, the lab has a capacity to carry out 1,000 COVID-19 tests a day with a potential to grow further after expansion. Regular test results can be obtained within three hours, leading to a convenient travel arrangement by reducing waiting time for testing and result collection.<br/>
There will be smiles under the masks at the national carrier on Friday, as Air New Zealand predicts it will be the busiest day of flying since Covid-19 closed the borders. It says 42,000 flyers have been booked across the airline’s 520 flights on Friday as the long weekend and school holidays coincide with the start of this week’s trans-Tasman bubble. Onboard one of the services will be Air NZ boss Greg Foran, who is heading across the ditch to Sydney on his first international flight since becoming CEO last year. Air New Zealand general customer manager Leeanne Langridge says it will be a “bumper day” with Auckland-Wellington the busiest route with around 5500 customers.<br/>