JetBlue Airways will cut more than 1,280 flights from Thursday through mid-January in anticipation of more Covid-19 infections among pilots and flight attendants, while cancellations continued to climb around the country. New York-based JetBlue and other airlines, including United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines, have canceled more than 8,000 flights since Christmas Eve, according to airline data firm FlightAware, as carriers were hit with bad weather and a surge in sick calls from crews. The disruptions cap another rocky year for travel as airlines at times struggled to ramp up flying to meet a resurgence in demand after a paltry 2020. More than 1,100 flights were scrubbed nationwide on Thursday, according to FlightAware. JetBlue canceled 175 flights or 17% of its schedule. United, meanwhile, canceled 192 flights, or 9% of its mainline schedule, while regional airline SkyWest dropped 198, or 8%. Seattle-based Alaska Airlines canceled 95 flights, 14% of what it planned to fly. Delta said it scrapped 250 out of its 4,179 scheduled mainline and regional departures on Thursday because of weather and the omicron variant of Covid. It plans to cancel between 200 and 300 through the weekend. Delta, United and others have offered staff extra pay to pick up shifts to mitigate the disruptions. “This past week has been one of our most difficult operating periods during the pandemic,” three JetBlue department leaders wrote Tuesday in a note to staff, which was seen by CNBC. “The exponential growth in Omicron cases over just a couple of days is at a level that no one could reasonably prepare for.” The planned flight cuts are slightly below 10% of JetBlue’s daily schedules.<br/>
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WestJet is dealing with so many employees out sick with the Omicron variant that it is being forced to cut 15% of its scheduled flights through to the end of January. WestJet spokeswoman Morgan Bell confirmed via email that the airline has seen a 35% rise in active COVID-19 cases among staff in recent days, with 181 employees currently testing positive for virus. In a statement Thursday, WestJet's interim CE Harry Taylor said the airline has seen a significant increase in delays and cancellations impacting its business over the past 72 hours. “We could not have anticipated the rapid and unpredictable impact of the Omicron variant on our people and operations, coupled with prolonged frigid temperatures across Western Canada and global staffing shortages,” Taylor said. “Despite all contingency planning, in addition to hiring back thousands of WestJetters to safely support peak operations, we find ourselves no longer able to predictably resource our planned schedule due to Omicron impact.” As a result of the staff shortages, WestJet will remove about 15% of flights from its schedule through Jan. 31. Prior to the cuts, which will be implemented over the next few days, the airline has been operating 450 flights per day. The move is a “last resort,” Taylor said, but reflects the reality of the service level WestJet can now “realistically deliver.”<br/>
Scandinavian long-haul start-up Norse Atlantic Airways has secured an air operator’s certificate from the Norwegian civil aviation regulator. Norse Atlantic obtained the approval as it seeks to commence transatlantic operations from spring next year. The airline recently took delivery of its first aircraft, a Boeing 787-9, in Oslo. Founder Bjorn Tore Larsen says the carrier is “one important step closer” to opening services between Europe and the USA. Its initial flights will depart from Oslo. “We’ve had a good and constructive dialogue with Norse throughout the process of issuing a Norwegian AOC,” says Norwegian civil aviation authority chief Lars de Lange Kobberstad. The airline was founded in March this year, shortly after budget carrier Norwegian – struggling to emerge from a restructuring process – opted to ditch its long-haul, low-cost division which used a fleet of 787s. Norse Atlantic will begin services with 15 787s, among them aircraft which were formerly part of the Norwegian fleet.<br/>
Israel’s government said on Thursday it would give additional aid to El Al Airlines to help compensate for the reimposition of a COVID-19 entry ban on foreign tourists and restrictions on overseas travel by Israelis. Israel’s flag carrier will receive tens of millions of dollars from the state and El Al’s controlling shareholders to help it weather the pandemic, and the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, according to a Finance Ministry statement. The aid will be given over the next few months, and Israel’s other main airlines, Arkia and Israir, will also be offered a similar deal, the ministry said. El Al has been pressing the government for another aid package, with Israelis barred by the government from travelling to dozens of countries, including the United States and Britain, and an entry ban on foreigners back in force. “The new outline will allow (airlines) to overcome the pandemic while maintaining the principle that state aid will be provided along with external capital to strengthen their capital structure,” said Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman. “I hope that in the coming month we will open the skies to those entering and leaving.”<br/>
PIA has resumed direct flights to Iran after a gap of five years, an official said on Thursday. PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez Khan told local media that the first flight departed from the Pakistani city of Lahore to Mashhad in Iran on Wednesday night, and returned to Lahore on Thursday. The official said the resumption of the flight aimed at facilitating pilgrims, tourists and strengthening people-to-people contacts between the two countries, adding that the passengers would have the facility of good quality and cost-effective air travel. PIA's CEO Arshad Malik said Thursday that Iran and Pakistan had agreed on increasing efforts to enhance air cooperation between the two countries. According to the CEO, the PIA is also scheduled to start its direct flights from the southern port city of Karachi to Mashhad on Saturday.<br/>
Tigerair Taiwan has applied to the Taiwan Stock Exchange to list its shares on the main board and hopes to raise more capital before international travel resumes in 2022, the low-cost subsidiary of Taiwan’s China Airlines has revealed. According to a list of such applications on the bourse’s website, the carrier lodged its request on December 28, declaring its share capital at the time of the application as TWD4b new dollars (US$144.2m). As per the rules of the stock exchange, the application said that “if the public has any opinions or doubts about the initial application for a stock listing for Tiger Airways, they may express them in writing before January 12.” The airline currently falls short of the requirements for the main board, which are stricter than for the bourse’s emerging stock board, as it posted a loss last year due to Covid-19. However, it should be eligible under relaxed listing rules for companies affected by the pandemic, the exchange told the Taipei Times newspaper. The revised rules mean that the review committee judges an applicant by its financial results from every year apart from the coronavirus-impacted ones. Tigerair Taiwan had said in December 2019, just before the outbreak, that it would debut initially on the emerging board - a preparatory market not open to public subscription - with the intention of moving to the main board in a formal IPO towards the end of 2020. This plan echoed a filing that China Airlines issued in July 2019 announcing that Tigerair Taiwan would file an IPO application the following year.<br/>
AirAsia Group will complete its renounceable rights issue to shareholders on December 31, raising 974.5m ringgit (US$233.3m) and “providing a strong injection to support the overall group fundraising strategy,” it said in a Bursa Malaysia filing on December 29. The AirAsia parent announced the fundraising initiative in July, saying at the time that it would raise up to MYR1.024b ringgit (US$245m), with the funds to be diverted to the group’s working capital and operational costs, as well as to boost the group’s efforts to diversify through its AirAsia Digital businesses. The cash call involves seven-year redeemable convertible unsecured Islamic debt securities, based on two RCUIDS with one warrant for every six AirAsia shares held. Each RCUIDS security is also convertible to one new AirAsia share on a one-to-one basis. The latest filing said that the RCUIDS and warrants would be listed on December 31. Proclaiming that the “airline recovery is well underway” and that AirAsia Group’s “fundraising strategy is on track to provide sufficient liquidity through 2022,” group CEO Tony Fernandes said: “After the most challenging two years in commercial aviation history, the end is finally within reach. We have survived the pandemic. We have restructured, relaunched, and are now in a stronger position to recover faster.”<br/>