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Jeffrey Goh, CEO of the world’s largest global airline alliance, Star Alliance, says airlines should prepare for the recovery in the aviation industry.<br/>

Air Canada said Friday it would add capacity during the start of 2022 as pandemic travel restrictions relax, after reporting a smaller fourth-quarter loss due to strong advance ticket sales despite a December Omicron outbreak. Canada's largest carrier, which lost C$3.6b in 2021, is adding flights and bringing back staff amid hopes for a further easing of government restrictions. Shares rose around 2% in morning trade. Canada's largest provinces are reopening businesses and removing vaccine passport curbs as coronavirus cases drop and after facing mass protests against the measures. "If bars and large public events can open at full capacity and if some provinces such as Quebec and Ontario can put an end to the vaccination passports, there is no reason to single out travel," Rousseau told analysts. Air Canada said it would increase its available seat miles capacity by 243% during the first three months of 2022, compared with the same quarter in 2021, although it was down 44% from 2019 levels.<br/>

Air Canada now intends to make good on taking delivery of 12 ordered Airbus A220s that it had previously intended to cancel. In November 2020, amid the pandemic, Montreal-based Air Canada said it was “cancelling” orders for 12 of the Airbus narrowbodies. The airline “will not be purchasing” the jets, Air Canada said at the time. That is no longer the case. “We plan to add 12 more A220s to the fleet,” Air Canada chief financial officer Amos Kazzaz says on 18 February. “These are the 12 aircraft that we had previously determined that we would not be purchasing.” In financial filings, Air Canada notes it decided in January to “proceed with the purchase” of 10 of the 12 jets. It decided last year to purchase the other two. Air Canada expects to receive six of the dozen A220s in 2024, and the remaining six in 2025, Kazzaz says. With 27 A220-300s already in its fleet and another 18 on order, Air Canada plans eventually to operate 45 of the jets. The carrier placed the 45-jet order in June 2016, then in November 2020 said it would not take 12. Despite the intention, Air Canada appears never to have actually cancelled the deals – Airbus has kept them in its backlog.<br/>

Lufthansa will not impose compulsory job cuts, the German airline said on Friday, as it cuts costs nearly two years into the coronavirus pandemic that left the industry reeling. The company said voluntary redundancy programmes and part-time solutions would reduce numbers in a socially responsible manner. "We have worked hard in recent weeks and months to avert compulsory redundancies for the cockpit staff of our core brand despite the pandemic's serious impact," Lufthansa executive board member Michael Niggemann said. Lufthansa did not say how many of its core brand's 5,000 pilots will be leaving. Earlier company information suggested there was a surplus of about 1,100. Lufthansa said it was still looking for new jobs for pilots from its low-cost carrier Germanwings, which was grounded in April 2020. Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr has brought up layoffs several times during negotiations with the Vereinigung Cockpit pilots union during the pandemic.<br/>

Lufthansa Group said it would suspend service to Kyiv and Odessa, starting Monday, as concerns grew over whether Russia would invade Ukraine. “The safety of our passengers and crew members is our top priority at all times,” the airline group said Saturday. “Lufthansa continues to monitor the situation closely and is in close contact with national and international authorities.” Lufthansa also owns Austrian, Swiss and Eurowings. Swiss will also suspend service to Kyiv starting Monday through at least Feb. 28. The airline does not fly over Ukraine to reach other destinations, a spokesman said. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines suspended Ukraine flights last week. Ukrainian International Airlines had said it would need to send five of its planes to Spain after a dispute over insurance coverage, but later said it was operating its flights as scheduled. Another Ukrainian carrier, SkyUp Airlines, said one of its Ukraine-bound flights from the Portuguese Island of Madeira was forced to land in Moldova last weekend after the company that leases its jets said the carrier couldn’t enter Ukrainian airspace.<br/>

Scandinavian airline SAS has cancelled Tuesday's Oslo-Kyiv flight, its weekly flight to Ukraine, a company spokesman said on Sunday, citing the Ukraine crisis. SAS will also avoid Ukraine airspace until Feb. 27 and will make a decision on it's March 1 flight at a later date, he added.<br/>

Turkish Airlines will operate 388 direct weekly flights to 47 cities in 29 countries from Antalya, Dalaman, Bodrum-Milas and İzmir during the upcoming summer, carrying Turkey to the centre of tourism in the region. Turkish Airlines expects that with short travel times along with high comfort, these direct flights will be an important factor when it comes to decision of foreign tourists, an airline statement said. Turkish Airlines Chairman of the Board and the Executive Committee, Prof Dr Ahmet Bolat stated: “Our tourism destinations are centres of attraction for the region with their unparalleled natural beauty and trusted tourism standards. Flight demands from all over the world are increasing even more as the summer season is approaching. As the flag carrier airline, we are aiming to bring foreign tourists with Turkey as their destination to the south of our country with direct flights and the comfort of Turkish Airlines. We will continue to proudly fly our flag while contributing to the economy of our country with our direct flights.”<br/>

China’s three largest carriers reported mixed domestic traffic results in January, as the Omicron variant of the coronavirus damps air travel demand. The ‘Big Three’ — comprising Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines — all saw modest increases in capacity and traffic during the month. However, only China Southern reported a rise in passengers carried, with its two compatriots seeing a slight dip in numbers. Air China carried 4.3m domestic passengers in January, 1.3% lower year on year. Domestic traffic for the month rose 2.5%, with traffic increasing 1%. Compared to December, the Beijing-based airline carried 2.9% more passengers, while capacity and traffic rose 10.7% and 4.1%, respectively. Shanghai-based China Eastern carried close to 5 million passengers in January, a decline of about 2.6% year on year. On a month-on-month basis, the figure is about 4% higher. The carrier saw capacity increase 7.4%, while traffic inched up 0.2% year on year. As for China Southern, it carried 6.6m domestic passengers in January, representing a 10.5% increase year on year. Traffic and capacity climbed 22.5% and 19%, respectively. Against December, the Guangzhou-based carrier saw domestic passenger numbers rise about 8%, with traffic increasing 12.6% and capacity 16.3%. In January, the carriers grappled with a spike in local infections, but any further hit to traffic was offset but an increase in demand at month’s end, in the lead up to the Lunar New Year holidays. <br/>

Air India has won a nod of an appeals court in Quebec to challenge a Canadian court order that allowed foreign investors in Bengaluru-headquartered Devas Multimedia to seize its funds to recover compensation for a failed 2005 satellite deal with Antrix Corporation, a commercial arm of ISRO. In a February 11 ruling, Judge Christine Baudouin agreed with Air India that the court should take a closer look at the claim brought by three Mauritius investors and the German major Deutsche Telekom to identify the airline as an alternative to Government of India to facilitate recovery of compensations awarded by international tribunals over the failed satellite deal. "Without expressing an opinion on the merits or on the chances of success in appeal, I am satisfied that the present matter is one that should be submitted to the court," Judge Baudouin wrote in a brief order. She set a hearing in the case for May 13. Earlier this month, a US federal court for the southern district of New York stayed proceedings to identify Air India as an alter ego of India and to find its assets in the US to facilitate recovery of compensation awarded by international tribunals. Story has full details.<br/>

Asiana Airlines’ cargo business provided a significant boost to the carrier’s earnings, helping the carrier eke out a modest profit after a loss-making 2020. For the year ended 31 December, the carrier posted an operating profit of close to W457bn ($383,000). This compares to a W63b operating loss reported in 2020. Asiana reported a net loss of W280b, narrowing 2020’s W398b loss. Revenues for the year rose nearly 16% to W4.1t, despite weak passenger travel demand, particularly on the international network. Domestic revenue, however, saw a modest increase of 21% year on year. A large part of full-year revenue came from Asiana’s cargo business, which saw takings soar 47% year on year to a record W3.1t. Asiana attributes the strong performance to a spike in demand on the back of congestion in the global logistics supply chain. While the carrier has a fleet of dedicated freighters, it added a series of temporary freighters — by modifying existing passenger aircraft — in 2020 and 2021. These include Airbus A350-900s and A330s. “By first putting the converted cargo-only airliners…on routes to the Americas and Europe, which have relatively high profitability, we increased the load volume of electromechanical and mechanical parts, semiconductors and manufacturing equipment, e-commerce goods to increase the sales of those routes in the previous year,” states the carrier. <br/>

THAI is reportedly planning to launch direct flights between Bangkok and Riyadh in May. Nond Kalinta, the airline's chief commercial officer, said THAI has filed a plan for the flights to the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand. He said the company is evaluating potential inbound passenger and cargo traffic to determine the frequency of the flights. The move follows the signing of the bilateral agreement to fully restore diplomatic ties between Thailand and Saudi Arabia. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is also preparing to launch tourism marketing campaigns to attract Saudi tourists.<br/>