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United has asked its employees to not use duct tape to restrain unruly passengers. In a memo sent to employees last Friday, United flight attendants were urged to “please remember that there are designated items onboard that may be used in difficult situations, and alternative measures such as tape should never be used”. As pandemic restrictions lift, flight attendants across the US have been grappling with an unprecedented rise in unruly passenger behavior. The United memo came soon after American Airlines flight attendants restrained a woman with tape after she tried to open the plane’s doors during a flight. Shortly after that incident, duct tape was used on Frontier Airlines, when attendants restrained a man in his seat after he acted aggressively and allegedly grabbed an attendant’s breasts. The United memo also said “the overwhelming majority of our customers have been on their best behavior … and returned to our flights with confidence and enthusiasm”. In instances of disorderly behavior, United said, employees should resort to standard de-escalation measures, including using “the huddle process … which involves discussing the situation with the captain, customer service representative and ground security coordinator for evaluation and solutions”.<br/>

Lufthansa said it was organising three special flights to bring evacuees from Afghanistan to Frankfurt, with the first passenger jet, an Airbus A340, to take off from Tashkent later on Tuesday. Two further flights to Frankfurt, from Tashkent and Doha, are planned for Wednesday, a spokesperson for the German airline said. US forces have secured Kabul airport and started an airlift to fly out diplomats and civilians after the fall of the Afghan capital to the Taliban. Commercial airlines are then ferrying evacuees on from airports in the region.<br/>

A fresh wave of coronavirus infections in several parts of China in late-July failed to dampen domestic traffic growth for the country’s three largest carriers. The ‘Big Three’ — comprising Air China, China Eastern and China Southern — each carried more domestic passengers in July compared to June, as well as the same period a year ago. This was despite a fifth wave of infections — caused by the more infectious Delta variant — sweeping across several parts of China and leaving several cities, including the infection epicentre of Nanjing, under lockdown and with many others imposing stricter social gathering measures. The first case from the current wave — an airport worker in Nanjing — was discovered on 20 July. Days later, the airport, a key air transport node in China, was completely shut, with other airports imposing more stringent pre-departure and post-arrival measures to manage the crisis. China Eastern also warned that the pandemic “still has a significant impact” on its airline business. Still, the tightened measures in the last week of the month did little to dent domestic traffic numbers in July, traditionally a peak travel period in China in summer. Air China carried 7.6m domestic passengers for the month, a 23.5% increase compared to June and a 31% uptick year on year. On a year-on-year basis, the Beijing-based carrier reported a 37% increase in traffic, with capacity rising 33%. Domestic passenger load factor for the month was 74.6%, 2.4 percentage points higher year on year. <br/>

Singapore Airlines Group reported a drop in passenger load factor for July, even as it flew more passengers in the month and significantly grew capacity. Load factor for the group’s carriers — comprising mainline carrier SIA and low-cost arm Scoot — fell 5.3 percentage points year on year to a dismal 16.3%. This was despite a four-fold increase in passenger numbers — to around 151,000 passengers — and capacity growing by nearly six times year on year. Mainline operator SIA flew 128,800 passengers in July, a significant jump from the 29,300 passengers carried in the same month last year. Capacity, measured in ASKs, jumped more than five-fold year on year, while RPKs for the month quadrupled compared to 2020. SIA’s passenger load factor fell 5.1 percentage points, to just 17.6%, with the sharpest decline reported in the South West Pacific and East Asia regions. The group’s cargo operations performed relatively better in the month — cargo load factor was up 2.6 percentage points to 87.2%, led by an uptick in load factors to the Americas and West Asia and Africa regions. <br/>

Asiana Airlines saw its operating profit fall 17.5% to W94.9b ($81.1m) in Q2, as higher fuel costs weighed on performance. Revenue for the three months ended 30 June rose 14% year on year to W934b, according to the airline. The driver behind rising quarterly revenue was the airline’s cargo business, which generated revenues of W708b. This was an increase of 11% from Q2 2020, and is the airline’s strongest quarterly cargo revenue on record. It adds that it increased cargo routes to the Americas, Southeast Asia, and Japan during the year. In addition to its main deck freighters, the airline is operating Airbus A350s modified to carry cargo. In addition to traditional cargo items such as IT gear and e-commerce, the airline is transporting medical supplies such as diagnostic equipment and masks amid the continued coronavirus pandemic. Foodstuff are also a key element of its cargo business, with 5,000t of cherries and 7,000t of eggs transported from the USA. The airline’s second quarter passenger revenue doubled year on year to W64.5b on the back of increased demand for domestic travel. Noting that vaccination rates are key to international travel, Asian is “closely monitoring” the status of international routes. “The reason we achieved a surplus in the midst of difficulties in the global airline industry due to COVID-19 is thanks to the dedicated efforts of our executives and employees who continue to take unpaid leave and return wages,” says the airline.<br/>

Malaysia’s aviation regulators have proposed to approve the merger between Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, noting that the move “would not infringe” local laws. In findings released on 17 August, the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) took the view that there were “significant economic efficiencies or social benefits” with the merger, while noting that it would “have limited unilateral effects” on airfares. Mavcom scoped its analysis on one direct route between South Korea and Malaysia — Seoul-Kota Kinabalu — given that both Korean Air sister company Jin Air and Asiana low-cost arm Air Seoul operate the route. Jeju Air, a low-cost carrier unaffiliated to the merger, is the third Korean carrier to operate direct flights between both cities. The commission found that although the post-merger market share on the route would be high — based on 70-80% share in a pre-pandemic setting — it “would have limited unilateral effects as the parties will not be able to increase the airfares above competitive levels”. This is because South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport regulates airfares set by the country’s carriers. “The commission also notes that the…route is a relatively thin route. Given the nature of the route where majority of the passengers are non-time sensitive, there is limited impact on the passengers as they would always have the option to choose one-stop services instead,” Mavcom adds. <br/>