United briefly paused flights nationwide on Friday morning amid reports of a system outage. The airline issued a ground stop on all its traffic in the United States and Canada, according to the FAA’s website. In a statement before 8 a.m., the airline said it had “experienced technical system issues” and that all systems were working normally again. “We are aware of the issue and are working to resolve it as quickly as possible,” the company wrote on Twitter, addressing consumer complaints. “We’re sorry for the inconvenience.” Airlines occasionally pause flights, known as a ground stop, for technical reasons. Often, the stops are temporary and service resumes quickly after, though not without causing delays and possibly even some cancellations. Sometimes, a ground stop can be part of a more lasting disruption.<br/>
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United will launch flights to Lagos in Nigeria from Washington DC on 29 November. The carrier plans to fly Boeing 787s three times weekly on the route to Nigeria’s largest city from the US national capital, pending regulatory approval. This continues United’s expansion of its network in Africa, including routes already launched this year from New York to Johannesburg in South Africa and from DC to Ghanaian capital Accra. United has also announced plans to resume serving South African city Cape Town from New York on 1 December. Airlines in the USA have increased capacity and relaunched routes during 2021 but the spread of Covid-19 variants threatens their Q4 revenues, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst George Ferguson states in a research note on 17 September. Capacity growth has been slowing during the second half, and Ferguson suggests that full-service airlines may cut capacity during the fourth quarter “as large companies delay the return to office and unnecessary business trips”.<br/>
Lufthansa is to raise more than E2.1b by offering new shares to investors, the German carrier said on Sunday, and use the proceeds to repay the multibillion-euro bailout it received from Berlin in the summer of 2020. The long-anticipated capital raising, underwritten by 14 banks and due to be completed in early October, will help the Frankfurt-based airline refund the full E2.5b it has drawn from its home country’s Economic Stabilisation Fund (ESF) by the end of the year, the group added. Germany’s ESF participated in a E9b rescue package for Lufthansa last summer, which included support from the Austrian, Swiss, Italian and Belgian governments. Berlin also spent E300m on shares in the company, and now owns almost 16% of the group. Lufthansa has repaid much of what it drew from the package, including a E1b loan from the German development bank KfW. Once the ESF tranche is fully repaid, the airline will cancel the facility in its entirety, before repaying the E1.2b it owes to the remaining governments, a spokesperson said. “We have always made it clear that we will only retain the stabilisation package for as long as it is necessary,” said CE Carsten Spohr. “We can now fully focus on the further transformation of the Lufthansa Group.” After being forced to ground almost all its planes at the height of the pandemic, the group has been slowly recovering, with flights in August reaching 50% of those flown in the same month in 2019. Lufthansa said it expected a similar percentage in September and October, as demand for international and corporate travel increases, and added it was currently flying to 85% of its pre-pandemic destinations. Its cargo business has been booming in recent months, as freight capacity in the bellies of passenger aeroplanes remains restricted amid a surge in demand for air deliveries as online shopping continues to be popular.<br/>
Aegean Airlines has posted a pre-tax loss of E34.8m in Q2 ended 30 June, narrowing from a loss of E88.5m in the year-ago period. Consolidated revenue during the quarter grew 169% to E109m. Net losses came in at E33.9m, down from losses of E73.4m in Q2 2020, the Greek carrier says Friday. In the first-half period, consolidated revenue stood at nearly E153m, 18% lower while net losses after tax stood at E78.4m from a loss of E159m recorded in the first half of 2020. Pre-tax loss was at E91.8m versus a loss of E201m in the year-ago period. Cash and cash equivalents stood at E546m as on 30 June, including the E60m share capital increase completion but not including the EU approved State Aid which was received in early July. The airline carried 1.65m passengers in the first six months, down 33% year-on-year. Load factor stood at 53%, falling 20 percentage points. During the quarter, the group’s activity was at 35% of 2019 activity in available seat-kilometres, being although significantly higher relative to 2020. CE Dimitris Gerogiannis states: “Since late May, following the easing of travel restrictions, air traffic showed signs of significant recovery. We achieved for the first-time positive cash flows for the quarter, after 18 months and got on track for a summer season closer to normal."<br/>
The pandemic has grounded a lot of businesses, but Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Changi Airport have got a lift for their efforts to rebuild amid the crisis. SIA was named the winner on Thursday in the international airline category of the first Future of Travel Awards held by American magazine Newsweek. It saw off competition from other finalists Air France, Air New Zealand, Emirates and Qatar Airways. Changi Airport took the international airport prize, edging out Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Munich Airport, Zurich Airport and Galapagos Ecological Airport. Newsweek said the awards highlight those which are creating an industry that is more adaptable, sustainable, responsible, innovative and inclusive.<br/>
Air New Zealand’s Australian quarantine flights have sold out in just three minutes on Monday morning. Multiple emails from would-be travellers have said that the ticket allocation, which went live at 10am, showed all seats were sold out in about “30 seconds”, according to one frustrated customer. Australia’s hotel quarantine system is different to New Zealand’s in that travellers are allocated their place on arrival, instead of having to secure a spot when booking travel. To manage capacity, the Australian Government has a cap on the number of passengers who can arrive from overseas, with airlines receiving an allocation of passenger numbers. Air New Zealand Chief Customer and Sales Officer Leanne Geraghty says that the airline understands the frustrations of customers. “We were allocated a very limited number of managed isolation spaces to return customers home to Australia. The small number of flights that match this allocation went on sale at 10am this morning and sold out in around three minutes,” said Geraghty.<br/>