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Garuda Indonesia will return nine leased Boeing 737 800NG aircraft ahead of schedule, as part of an agreement to end a bankruptcy lawsuit, the company's chief executive Irfan Setiaputra said Monday. Garuda and its lessor, Aercap Ireland Limited, signed a global side letter agreement on July 28 to stop legal proceeding, following Aercap's bankruptcy lawsuit in June at the New South Wales Supreme Court, Garuda said separately in a stock exchange filing. The nine aircraft are the total number of jets leased from Aercap, Irfan said in a text message, adding that details of the return were still being discussed with the lessor. "The company agreed, among other things, to fly and relocate nine leased Boeing B737 800NG aircraft to an approved location," the filing issued at the weekend said. Separately, Garuda has been brought to an Indonesian court after failing to pay a debt to an air cargo firm PT My Indo Airlines. Garuda has been trying to return surplus planes due to the travel disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, seeking early termination, lease holidays or pay-by-the-hour schemes in a bid to reduce its fleet size and cut costs, company executives told a parliament hearing. As of June, Garuda had returned 20 planes to lessors and was negotiating to return more. Garuda is only flying 41 planes of the 142 in its fleet due to low demand for travel caused by the pandemic.<br/>

Korean Air has operated 10,000 cargo-only passenger flights as of Sunday, the airline said on Monday, as it pivoted to the cargo business amid a decline in air travel demand during the pandemic. The airline first flew a passenger flight carrying only cargo on the Incheon-Ho Chi Minh route in March last year. Since then, it has operated such flights on 65 routes to North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, China and Japan, transporting 400,000 tons of cargo around the world. Some 40 tons of cargo are transported every round trip on average, the airline explained. The figure comes as Korean Air began using passenger aircrafts for cargo transport after most flights were suspended following the COVID-19 outbreak. What began as 38 flights in March last year has now increased to 800 a month, according to its current operation, helping the airline deliver an operating profit for fourth consecutive quarters from the second quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2021. The increase in number was possible through close cooperation with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and aircraft manufacturers, as well as by utilizing overhead bin space using “cargo seat bags” -- a safety device that can load cargo on passenger seats. Removing seats also helped enable cargo floor loading, the airline added. “We expect cargo-only passenger flights to play a more vital role in the second half of the year, when the volume of import and export cargo typically increases,” said a Korean Air representative.<br/>