Canadian regional carrier Porter Airlines has resumed flying to all of its 18 year-round destinations four weeks after restarting operations following an almost year-and-a-half coronavirus-driven pause. The carrier, based at Toronto’s secondary airport Billy Bishop Toronto City, says on 6 October that Fredericton, Saint John, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Timmins and Windsor were the last markets that it added to its schedule. “It’s a significant milestone in our recovery, as we return to all of our year-round markets,” says Porter CE Michael Deluce. “Over 1,000 Porter team members are now at work supporting these efforts, as we focus on recalling our complete workforce and adding more flights in the coming months.” The carrier adds that since its relaunch on 8 September, it has progressively added destinations. In addition to the six cities added to the network today, the airline also operates flights to Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Moncton, Halifax, St. John’s, and Thunder Bay in Canada and to Newark, Chicago, Boston and Washington DC in the USA. In addition to these cities, Porter serves four more destinations on a seasonal basis only - Myrtle Beach, Mt. Tremblant, Muskoka and Stephenville. <br/>
unaligned
AirAsia Group’s Malaysian unit will only allow fully vaccinated adult passengers on its flights as it prepares to resume domestic and eventually international flight services, it said on Wednesday. “AirAsia Malaysia has made it mandatory for only completely vaccinated adult guests to be allowed to board its flights, effective immediately,” it said in a statement, adding that those under 18 who have yet to be fully vaccinated will need to be accompanied by innoculated family. The budget airline’s Covid-19 mitigation plan is among the strictest in the industry. AirAsia, whose employees have been fully vaccinated since August, also requires passengers to check-in via its app to significantly reduce physical interaction in the airport clearance and boarding process, it said.<br/>
Thai AirAsia is eyeing a full rebound of domestic capacity in Q4 after seeing early signs of improvement. Santisuk Klongchaiya, CE of TAA, said the load factor in September was 87% from 75% available capacity, as airlines have to follow social distancing measures, which was cited as the reason why tickets were 20-30% more expensive per seat. The airline has resumed more domestic routes such as Krabi, Surat Thani, Phitsanulok and Sakon Nakhon in October, which tally 20 routes. Average frequency was 30 flights per day, or 25% of domestic capacity, as the airline is flying 10 planes from an aircraft fleet of 60. Santisuk said flight frequency and aircraft utilisation will double each month, while load factor in the last quarter should increase to 80%. "The airline used 30 aircraft for full domestic capacity last November and December thanks to the boom in domestic tourism," Santisuk said. "We are hopeful that domestic capacity could reach its peak in December and next January."<br/>