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United said Friday it was adding more than 480 daily flights to its US schedule in June to meet summer travel demand that is expected to rise as more people receive COVID-19 vaccines. Airlines are seeing an uptick in bookings as accelerated vaccination efforts encourage leisure travel with friends and family after months of pandemic-linked restrictions. "As leisure travel continues to return this summer, we are adding more flights to our June schedule," said Ankit Gupta, vice president of domestic planning and scheduling at United. The company said it plans to fly 67% of its domestic schedule and 60% of its overall schedule compared to 2019 June.<br/>

Few industries were hit as hard as airlines when the coronavirus pandemic hit the US last year. To stop what looked like the imminent collapse of a major employer, the government stepped in with $15b in support. “We thank Congress and the administration for quickly passing legislation to protect the paychecks of tens of thousands of United Airlines employees,” said Frank Benenati, the United Airlines spokesperson. A year on, the $5b United received from the $2.2t Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (Cares Act) has helped the airline hand back billions to shareholders and millions to executives. But for 2,500 United catering workers who struggled through the pandemic, it’s a different story. The company is now weighing plans to outsource their jobs to a contractor. Jenkins Kolongbo has worked at United Airlines in Newark, New Jersey for four years as a food catering employee. In 2018, Kolongbo and his coworkers voted to unionize against the background of an aggressive anti-union campaign by United. Workers voted to join the Unite Here union with a 72% vote in favor. Now Kolongbo and 2,500 catering workers at United Airlines at five airports, Newark, Denver, Houston, and Honolulu could lose their jobs. “The company was not being fair and the best way to articulate and push for most of our rights is by having a union,” said Kolongbo. Story has more.<br/>

The EC said Friday it had authorised a loan of E462m from the Portuguese government to airline Transportes Aereos Portugueses (TAP) to compensate for damage suffered during the pandemic. The airline, similar to others across Europe, incurred significant losses due to travel restrictions in Portugal and destination countries, the Commission said. “This measure will enable Portugal to compensate TAP for the damage it suffered as a direct result of the travel restrictions that Portugal and other destination countries had to implement to limit the spread of the coronavirus,” EU antitrust commissioner Margrethe Vestager said.<br/>

Turkish Airlines has once again taken the lead in Europe in terms of flight numbers and has been ranked one of the world's top 10 airlines with regard to capacity and performance. As of April 22, operating 711 flights, Turkish Airlines took the lead, “flying more than twice as many flights as the airline in second place,” according to the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol) data, the carrier said Saturday. Official Aviation Guide (OAG) data also showed that the flag carrier was among the top 10 airlines globally in terms of capacity and the leader in Europe. “I believe, just like 2020, we will conclude 2021 as the airline that showed the best management in the face of the pandemic,” said Ilker Aycı, Turkish Airlines’ CEO.<br/>

Ethiopian Airlines Group will be conducting trials of IATA Travel Pass, a digital travel mobile app to enhance efficiency in testing or vaccine verifications.<br/> As travel restarts, travellers need accurate Covid-19-related information like testing and vaccine requirements which vary among countries. The IATA Travel Pass initiative helps verify the authenticity of test information presented by travellers which is essential for ensuring the safety of passengers while complying with entry requirements of countries. The trial will be conducted on flights out of Addis Ababa to Washington DC and Toronto as well as on flights out of London and Toronto to Addis Ababa, effective April 25.<br/>

Japanese airline ANA Holdings said Friday its full-year operating loss would be narrower than previously forecast, though still hefty amid the coronavirus travel slump, due to steeper cost cuts and deferred tax assets changes. ANA forecast it would post a 465b yen ($4.31b) operating loss for the financial year ended March 31, narrower than its last estimate of 505b yen, made in October. The airline said that though passenger demand had declined due to the pandemic, the new forecast reflected cost reductions from reducing the scale of operations and cutting fixed costs by decreasing aircraft and selling expenses. ANA last year raised $3.2b of equity, much of which it said would be used to fund its orders of fuel-efficient Boeing Dreamliner jets.<br/>

A former airline CEO who refused to allow female staff to take menstrual leave protected by employment law has been fined almost $1,800 by a court in South Korea. Kim Soo-cheon, the ex-head of Asiana Airlines, turned down 138 requests from 15 flight attendants in 2014 and 2015. Kim claimed the employees did not provide proof of menstruation. Since 1953, women in South Korea have been allowed to take one day off a month if they have painful periods.A lower court first found against Mr Kim in 2017. He had argued there were "many suspicious cases" when employees requested leave around holidays or days off, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reports. However, the court said that asking employees to prove they were having their period could "infringe upon privacy and human rights". The ruling was upheld by a higher court.<br/>