China’s aviation regulator said on Wednesday that it would suspend two United Airlines flights from San Francisco to Shanghai from the week of Jan. 24 after seven passengers tested positive for COVID-19 on a recent flight. It will also suspend China Southern Airlines from operating four flights from Los Angeles to Guangzhou from the week of Jan. 31 after 10 passengers tested positive, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said. China’s aviation regulator has in recent weeks ordered the cancellation of more than 60 scheduled flights from the US.<br/>
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Two of Europe's largest airlines have revived a spat over the environmental impact of Europe's take-off slot rules, with Ryanair accusing Germany's Lufthansa of exploiting climate concerns to stifle competition. The easing of the "use-it-or-lose-it" rule has allowed major carriers to preserve airport access during the coronavirus crisis despite a sharp drop in traffic, sparking protests from low-cost rivals keen to expand into once-congested airports. Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr told a newspaper last month that the airline still had to operate tens of thousands of additional flights in the winter to comply with European Union rules on slot usage, resulting in surplus emissions. Ryanair, Europe's largest budget carrier, hit back at the claims on Wednesday, saying Lufthansa was trying to hamper rivals in the months-old dispute over so-called ghost flights. "Instead of operating empty flights just so they can block slots, Lufthansa should release the seats on these flights for sale at low fares to reward the German and European taxpayers who have subsidized it with billions of euros during the COVID crisis," Ryanair Group CEO Michael O'Leary said. A spokesperson for Lufthansa said the German airline had never spoken about ghost flights. Spohr told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung in December that the airline would have cut even more flights if it had not been for EU measures. "What we are talking about is harmonisation of European exemptions for the use of take-off and landing rights in the current winter flight plans," the spokesperson said. Under EU airport rules, airlines must use at least 80% of their take-off and landing slots in order to keep them the following year. The EU suspended these rules at the start of the COVID-19 crisis but has started partially restoring them, rekindling concerns over empty flights as the pandemic lingers.<br/>
Turkish Airlines may hit pre-pandemic passenger numbers and load factor during this year's peak summer season, but full-year figures will not surpass 2019 levels until next year, Chairman Ilker Ayci said on Wednesday. "Turkish Airlines was one of the carriers that performed best during the high season last year. We may have a better performance this year ... compared to 2019," Ayci said. "However it won't be until 2023 that we catch up to 2019 full-year figures," he said on the sidelines of an event previewing a National Geographic documentary on the airline's move to the new Istanbul Airport in 2019. Turkish Airlines' passengers were around 45m in 2021, down 39.7% compared with 2019 before the pandemic struck. Its load factor was 67.9% last year, down by some 14 percentage points from 2019. The flag carrier, part owned by Turkey's wealth fund, will release a stronger bottom line in its 2021 financials compared with 2019, Ayci said without giving further details. Turkish Airlines 2019 profit was 4.5b liras, which was announced as $788m in its dollar-based balance sheet.<br/>
Shareholders in a satellite company pursuing the Indian government for $1.3b have won a legal victory allowing them to claim revenues from national carrier Air India, in an escalation of a long-running battle fought in courtrooms across the world. Devas Multimedia, which has been embroiled in a fight with the government since a contract it had to develop broadband wireless in the country was cancelled a decade ago, has been targeting Indian state assets for potential seizure. The company was awarded about $1.3b in international arbitration rulings, but India has refused to pay, alleging that the original competition for the broadband contract was mired in fraud. Devas shareholders, who include US investment groups Columbia Capital and Telecom Ventures as well as Deutsche Telekom, hired Jay Newman, who led hedge fund Elliott Management’s 15-year battle to force the Argentine government to pay out $2.4b on its defaulted debt, to lead its legal effort. In a Montreal court ruling on Saturday, a judge ruled that Devas shareholders were entitled to half of the money that the Canada-based IATA holds on behalf of Air India. The Iata operates a settlement system for travel agents, meaning that its offices worldwide can handle much of an airline’s global revenues. Devas shareholders argue that they can claim the assets of Air India, which is owned by the government but is in the process of being sold to Indian conglomerate, the Tata Group. Air India argued at last month’s hearing that funds going through the Iata represented about 65-70% of its revenues, and that the “continued operation of the airline is therefore put in jeopardy”. The Iata, meanwhile, told the hearing that the seizures had had a “chilling effect” on its other clients. The Iata confirmed that “as part of a commercial dispute between various parties in India, Iata had been served a third-party garnishment order on funds that Iata may be holding for and on behalf of specific Indian entities.” It declined to comment further. Story has more.<br/>
Singapore Airlines said Thursday it had raised $600m in a US dollar bond deal to help fund aircraft purchases and repay existing borrowings as it grapples with lower travel demand amid rising Omicron infections. The seven-year notes, its second US dollar bond offering, have a coupon of 3.375%. A year ago, it raised $500m in a five-year issue with a 3% coupon. The airline was aiming to raise between $500m and $750m, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. The Singapore government last month froze the sale of tickets for arriving flights under its quarantine-free travel programme for four weeks, citing the risk from the fast-spreading Omicron COVID-19 variant. Before this offering, the airline had raised S$21.6b ($16b) of liquidity during the pandemic and had untapped debt facilities of S$2.1b as of Sept. 30, according to its latest financial results presentation. Despite the fall in demand, it has been spending billions of dollars renewing its fleet to help lower fuel burn and carbon emissions.<br/>
KrisFlyer Elite and PPS Club members whose statuses are due to expire between March this year and February next year will have them automatically extended for another year, SIA said on Thursday. "This supports our members, who have been unable to fly as before due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and follows a similar extension in 2020 and 2021," the flag carrier said. Singapore started reopening its borders with vaccinated travel lanes (VTLs) last year, and currently has active VTLs with 24 countries. But amid concerns about what it called the "rapid spread" of the Omicron coronavirus variant in many countries, the Government in December froze new sales of VTL bus and flight tickets until Jan 20.<br/>