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American Airlines Group and its flight attendants agreed to change the carrier’s onboard food service to maximize the amount of time that passengers keep their face masks on. Effective Jan. 26, the first three courses of meals in first class will be served at once, rather than separately, on some cross-country flights and routes to Europe, Asia and South America. In coach on those flights, beverages will be offered only with meal service, according to a memo sent to flight attendants Friday. On domestic trips of 1,500 miles or more, a second beverage service will be made on-request. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants proposed the new standards, which are temporary, to help reduce contact between flight attendants and passengers while travelers face coverings are off. Federal rules meant to limit spread of the new coronavirus require passengers to wear masks during flights unless they are eating or drinking.<br/>

Qatar Airways has escalated a dispute with Airbus by releasing a video showing apparent damage to its aircraft, the latest salvo in a growing quarrel after the jet maker scrapped a separate $6b order. Images released by the Gulf airline on Friday appeared to show damage to the surface of its Airbus A350 widebody aircraft, including paintwork peeling off the body. Qatar Airways said it had “serious and legitimate safety concerns”, and listed a series of problems including defects that had left the lightning protection systems exposed and damaged, and damage around rivets on the aircraft fuselage. The escalation from Qatar Airways came hours after Airbus scrapped a $6b order for new aircraft from the airline, in a rare move by an aircraft manufacturer. The European plane maker confirmed on Friday that it had rescinded a contract for 50 of its popular A321neo aircraft by the Gulf carrier. Unilateral cancellations of orders by Airbus or its US rival Boeing are extremely unusual. In the few cases when it has happened, it has been because payment deadlines have not been met, or an airline has entered insolvency. “Cancellations are remarkably unusual in this industry. Cancellations where the original equipment manufacturer initiates it are extremely unusual indeed,” said Sash Tusa, analyst at Agency Partners in London. It shows just how “toxic the relationship between Airbus and Qatar Airways has become”.  In response, Qatar Airways said it would stick to its contractual obligations, and said Airbus had “taken the apparent decision to expand and escalate this dispute”. The move comes as the two companies are embroiled in a legal battle in London’s High Court over the quality of the A350 aircraft. Qatar last month announced it was suing Airbus over what it described as the “accelerated surface degradation” of the A350. The airline, which operates 34 A350-900s and 19 A350-1000s, has grounded 21 of its jets on the orders of its aviation regulator. It also has another 23 on order but has halted further deliveries during the dispute.<br/>

Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd said on Monday that it expected to resume burning cash because of stricter crew quarantine measures after flagging a surprise profit in the second half of 2021 due to cost cuts and a strong cargo market. The airline forecast it would post an annual loss of HK$5.6b to HK$6.1b for 2021, well below the average HK$10.2b estimate from 12 analysts polled by Refinitiv and its HK$21.65b loss in 2020. The full-year forecast was also narrower than the first-half loss of HK$7.57b, with Cathay pointing to positive cashflow generation in the second half. However, the airline forecast it would burn through HK$1b to HK$1.5b of cash a month starting in February after the government tightened crew quarantine restrictions, forcing the airline to cut cargo and passenger capacity sharply. Cathay is operating about 2% of its pre-pandemic passenger capacity and about 20% of its pre-pandemic cargo capacity in January. The schedules listed on Cathay's website for February and March appear about as light as January, with only a handful of flights per month to destinations such as London, Sydney and Tokyo that had multiple daily flights before the pandemic. Flights to mainland China are less affected. "Until conditions improve, we are doing everything in our power to maximise capacity, and estimate that mitigation measures to increase crew resources will enable us to operate approximately an additional 5% more cargo flight capacity than we are currently operating," Cathay CE Augustus Tang said. <br/>

Qantas will cut domestic capacity by 10 more percentage points, to 60% of pre-pandemic levels, in the March quarter after the state of Western Australia indefinitely delayed opening its border, the carrier said on Friday. The opening planned for Feb. 5, was cancelled late on Thursday, with authorities in Western Australia citing health risks from a surge in the Omicron variant of coronavirus in eastern states. Qantas said, "The group retains the flexibility to adjust flying levels depending on demand and clarity on border re-opening in the weeks and months ahead." Last week, the airline had pared about a third of planned domestic and international capacity in the March quarter, to better match demand amid rising COVID-19 infections. Preparing for a surge in demand, it had recently recalled about 11,000 staff who had been idled without pay during the pandemic. The move increased fixed costs and the recent capacity cuts will squeeze revenue and reduce margins. Qantas, which ends its financial year in June, said it would give more details on the impact of the changes in half-year results late next month. Rival Virgin Australia said it would review its flight schedule to Western Australia to keep in line with the state's arrangements to re-open its borders.<br/>