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Air Canada has suspended more than 800 employees for not being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in line with federal rules. The vast majority of Air Canada's 27,000 cabin crew, customer service agents and others have received both shots, CE Michael Rousseau said Tuesday. “Our employees have done their part, with now over 96% fully vaccinated. The employees who are not vaccinated or do not have a medical or other permitted exemption have been put on unpaid leave,” he said on a conference call with investors. The layoffs are “across the company” rather than concentrated in any particular job, spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said in an email. The proportions align with those at WestJet, where fewer than four per cent of workers - less than 300 out of 7,300 - are unvaccinated, the company said in an email. PM Justin Trudeau announced last month that as of Oct. 30, Ottawa would require federally regulated air, rail and shipping companies to establish mandatory vaccination policies for employees. Air Canada sees hope on the horizon as revenues soared over 2020 levels last quarter amid stronger sales for winter, despite continuing to operate far below pre-pandemic capacity and at a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars. Domestic leisure bookings have bounced back, prompting a recall of more than 10,000 laid-off employees since the start of the year - 6,500 of them since July. But business travel remains down across the board due in part to the persistence of remote work, executives said Tuesday.<br/>

Air Canada sees hope on the horizon as revenues soared over 2020 levels last quarter, despite continuing to operate far below pre-pandemic capacity and at a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars. Domestic leisure bookings have started to rebound, but business travel remains down across the board amid the persistence of remote work. "We're witnessing a strong rebound in VFR (visiting friends and relatives), and leisure traffic remains strong, specifically within North America, across the Atlantic and to sun destinations," COO Lucie Guillemette told investors on a conference call Tuesday. "We were pretty confident that come 2022 corporate Canada returns to their offices and business travel should return. But no doubt that for us, business has lagged a little bit." Revenue nearly tripled year over year to $2.10b in the quarter ended Sept. 30 alongside an 87 per cent boost in capacity. But revenue and capacity remained more than 60% and two-thirds below Air Canada's third-quarter figures in 2019 respectively as COVID-19 fallout continues to damage carriers' bottom lines. "There's no textbook on this type of recovery, or any in the history. There's no doubt we're very encouraged by what we see. And there's no doubt that the length of the recovery has moved in from the consensus of 2025 to at least 2024 and maybe 2023," CE Michael Rousseau said.<br/>

The Southern District of New York has approved Colombian airliner Avianca's reorganization plan, Avianca said Tuesday, which will allow the company to complete its Chapter 11 bankruptcy process before the end of the year. Avianca, along with rival Chile's LATAM Airlines, were the two largest carriers in the region before the coronavirus pandemic, but both were sent into bankruptcy restructuring when the virus upended air travel, amid especially strict restrictions in Latin America. Avianca had already posted several years of losses before the pandemic began, and went through a boardroom coup in 2019 led by United Airlines. "Avianca announces that today, after presenting certain additional documentation that had been required by the court, the tribunal of the Southern District of New York confirmed the company's reorganization plan," the company said. "The airline expects to successfully complete that process and emerge from Chapter 11 before the end of the year as a financially stronger and more efficient airline." Avianca will have significantly less debt and more than $1b in liquidity when it finishes the bankruptcy process, the statement said.<br/>

Emirates and TAP Air Portugal are further expanding their existing codeshare arrangement by adding 23 more destinations to the partnership starting from November 2. This brings the total number of destinations where customers can enjoy seamless connectivity to over 90 points. TAP Air Portugal will place its code on popular Emirates flights to four additional Asian destinations – Hanoi and three Japanese gateways – Narita, Osaka and Haneda, subject to government approval. Emirates will place its code on TAP Air Portugal operated flights to 19 additional destinations via Lisbon. They include Belem, Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Fortaleza, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Maceio, Natal, Porto Alegre, Recife, Salvador, Praia, Sal Island, Sao Vicente, Conakry, Ponta Delgada, Porto Santo, Terceira and Dakar. On the deal, CCO Adnan Kazim said: "The further expansion of the Emirates – TAP Air Portugal partnership attests to the strong collaboration of both airlines and our shared commitment to provide customers with seamless connections to and from Portugal. By leveraging our mutual networks through codeshare flights, we enable our customers to travel to more places on a single ticket with a one baggage policy and fare conditions. We look forward to bringing more benefits to our customers through this partnership." <br/>

Croatia Airlines recorded 11% more flights over the course of the first nine months of this year, with a 20% increase in turboprop activity offsetting a slight reduction in jet operations. The carrier operated a fleet of 13 aircraft – including seven Airbus single-aisle jets and six Bombardier Q400s – and conducted 11,728 flights over the nine months to 30 September, of which 69% were with Q400s. Croatia Airlines says there was a “slight recovery” of the market during the third quarter, owing to the effect of the tourism season, but it says this was “well below” the pre-crisis levels in 2019. The carrier turned in an operating loss of Kn147m ($22.6m) for the nine-month period, and a net loss of Kn167m – an improvement on 2020 but still far from profitability. Although “some positive developments” were achieved in the second and third quarters, it says, the reduced demand could “again raise the issue of maintaining liquidity”, given the uncertainty over the duration of the situation. Maintaining stable liquidity in the face of revenue reduction is the “most significant” business risk posed to the carrier, it adds. Croatia Airlines has been working with consultants to define strategic initiatives and draw up a business plan to recover from the crisis over the next three years.<br/>

Flights between London and Luxor resumed on Tuesday, two years after a halt induced by the Covid-19 pandemic. The newly reopened London-Luxor route will consist of a weekly flight carrying 140 passengers each way, the flights' operator, EgyptAir, said. In September, the UK removed Egypt from its red list of prohibited destinations. Flights between London and the Red Sea resort cities of Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada have also resumed after a six-year hiatus following a 2015 terrorist attack which downed a passenger jet over the Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people on board. Egypt’s Tourism Minister Khaled El Anany, who is currently attending the World Travel Market’s Tourism and Travel Expo in London, lauded the return of British tourists during a speech at the Egyptian wing of the event.<br/>

Air Congo – the new joint venture between Ethiopian Airlines and the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo – is to debut in early December with a fleet of 10 aircraft comprising a mixed fleet of turboprops, narrowbodies, and wide-bodies, says Ethiopian Airlines CEO, Tewolde GebreMariam. “We just signed [an agreement] with the government of DRC, which owns 51% of the airline and 49% is with us. The fleet will comprise DHC-8-Q400s, Boeing B737s, and two B787s,” he said. Ethiopian would provide all the necessary equipment, management, and operational support to get the new airline off the ground, he said, including aircraft, pilots, technicians, and leadership. “We have the AOC, the aircraft," Tewolde added without specifying whether the AOC is a greenfield document or an existing one with an existing airline. While the DRC – the third-largest population in Africa with 100m inhabitants – presented a significant market opportunity for Ethiopian, the real driver for the venture was not the return on investment. “It is to support our hub Addis Ababa,” he disclosed. “We want to expand inter-African routes further because the connectivity [within the continent] is still not well. Ethiopian Airlines is like the Lufthansa Group of Africa,” he said.<br/>