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Delta told staff Monday that it expects to hire more than 1,000 pilots by next summer, the latest move by an airline to cater to a rebound in travel demand. Delta in April said it would resume hiring midyear as bookings began to recover from the coronavirus pandemic slump, starting with about 75 pilots from June through August. “This is exciting news both for the pilots looking to join Delta and those of you already on the seniority list because it means career progression opportunities as we continue our recovery, account for scheduled pilot retirements and position for network expansion,” John Laughter, head of operations, said in a memo. The carrier is planning for a continued recovery in air travel and to avoid staffing problems. Delta canceled hundreds of flights over Thanksgiving and Christmas because it didn’t have enough pilots ready to fly. Over the weekend, American Airlines canceled more than 300 flights due to staffing shortages and other issues, and said it planned to trim its schedule through mid-July by about 1% to avoid straining its operations. Delta told pilots on Monday that it would add 13 crew schedulers and a supervisor to answer pilot calls and questions.<br/>

Air France-KLM is seeing demand return for intra-European travel this summer amid the unlocking of travel restrictions across the region, but uncertainty persists for the group’s key long-haul operations. The European airline group’s CE Ben Smith said that Air France-KLM expects to have “healthy levels of capacity this summer in Europe, as well as domestic France”, which should see it achieve 60-65% of 2019 levels overall in the third quarter. Smith is also “very hopeful” that the US government will open its borders to non-citizens soon, following the recent decision of the French government to allow travellers from that country with relatively light-touch restrictions. “We’re seeing very strong bookings coming out of the United States into Europe, we’re seeing strong bookings from our home markets in Europe to Greece, to Italy, to Spain and to Portugal,” Smith states, adding: “[For] a lot of holiday routes, we’ve added incremental flying over and above what we operated in 2019.” He also notes “huge volumes” travelling to French overseas territories, and that the group’s low-cost unit Transavia is planning to operate capacity “in excess of what we operated in 2019”. Smith says he is “pleasantly surprised how quickly leisure demand and visiting friends and family demand have come back, and I do believe that business traffic will return and will return quite strongly”.<br/>

Traditional airlines need more time to recover before full competition for airport slots is restored, the head of Air France-KLM said on Monday, drawing a sharp response from Wizz Air counterpart Jozsef Varadi. The suspension of the “use-it-or-lose-it” rule has allowed major carriers to preserve airport access during the coronavirus crisis despite the collapse in traffic, sparking protests from low-cost rivals keen to expand into once-congested airports. Airlines were required to use 80% of pre-crisis take-off and landing slots or forfeit them to rivals. Major carriers are now pushing to extend a lower threshold and other accommodations through the coming northern winter season. “It was logical to give airlines a break on the use-it-or-lose-it rule,” Ben Smith said in a joint panel appearance with Varadi at the Paris Air Forum, adding that the time is not right for its return. “We don’t see our industry in a position yet to put that in place.” The Air France-KLM CE also cautioned against allowing budget rivals to “take advantage” of the crisis by expanding into crisis-hit national markets using crew on lower-cost foreign contracts. But Varadi, founding CEO of Hungary-based Wizz, said the suspension of slot rules discriminated in favour of state-backed carriers and undermined the European single market. France recently raised its stake in Air France-KLM to 28.6%.<br/>

Garuda Indonesia suffered a net loss of US$2b last year, the airline's top executive told parliament, a figure highlighting the dire financial situation faced by the nation's flagship carrier during the coronavirus pandemic. The number was revealed in a presentation by CEO Irfan Setiaputra to lawmakers at a parliamentary hearing on Monday. Garuda has yet to officially release full-year results for 2020, but a $2b net loss would mark its biggest since 2005, the oldest available data on Quick-Factset. The company, majority-owned by the government, posted net income of $6.9m in 2019. The revelation comes on the heels of the Indonesia Stock Exchange's decision on Friday to halt training in Garuda shares until further notice, after the company defaulted on coupon payments on its $500m sukuk, or Islamic bond. In its statement announcing the decision, IDX said the carrier's inability to pay the coupon "indicates that there are problems in the continuity of the company's business." Setiaputra's presentation also showed 2020 sales coming in at $1b -- a marked decrease from $4.5b the year before -- as well as negative equity of $1.9b, meaning total liabilities exceed total assets. "Regardless of whether we opt for the suspension of debt payment obligations or [general] restructuring, we have to start [procedures] this year," Setiaputra told lawmakers. "In the process of making proposals to creditors ... there is a high possibility that we will submit proposals with financial consequences, and debt to equity [transactions]. We [will] ask for permission if the proposal requires political support from the parliament." <br/>

Garuda Indonesia has returned 20 unused planes to lessors and is negotiating to return 7 others in a bid to reduce its fleet and cut costs, the company’s deputy head said on Monday. Garuda only flies 41 planes of the 142 in its fleet, Dony Oskaria, the firm’s deputy chief executive officer, told a meeting with a parliamentary committee. “The negotiation process is not easy. We want to return 101 planes but it will take time,” he said, adding the company is currently offering early termination, lease holiday or pay-by-the-hour scheme. <br/>

Three Vietnamese banks have pledged to lend 4t dong ($173.8m) to Vietnam Airlines to help the troubled flag carrier weather the impact of the pandemic and avoid bankruptcy, state media reported on Monday. Vietnam Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Bank, Saigon - Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank and SeABank (would make the interest-free loans this month and early next month, the Lao Dong newspaper cited the central bank as saying. The report said a plan for Vietnam Airlines to issue new shares to its existing shareholders to raise funds would be ready by year-end. State media last week cited the Ministry of Planning and Investment as saying the airline would likely make a net loss of 10 trillion dong in the first half of this year and was on the brink of bankruptcy.<br/>