Lufthansa Group is focusing on ramping up capacity in Thailand this year with the aim of hitting 61% of the available seat kilometres reached in 2019, thanks to a positive outlook on leisure travel demand. Stefan Molnar, general manager for Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and the Mekong region for Lufthansa Group Airlines, said that this target was achievable as border reopenings had created stronger demand. The average load factor in Thailand in March and April increased to 79%, from only 33% for the whole of 2021. "As Songkran is coming, people start to fly again, both inbound and outbound, which leads to an optimistic outlook for this year," Molnar said. He said the group is now offering daily Lufthansa flights from Bangkok to Munich from March 28, daily flights via Austrian Airlines to Vienna, and four weekly flights to Zurich with Swiss. Flights to Zurich will be increased to five and then six a week in June and July, respectively.<br/>
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Air Chathams is likely to drop its Covid-19 vaccination requirement for passengers on some flights while Air New Zealand and Sounds Air have extended their domestic vaccination policies to the end of April 30. Last week Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said from April 4 the Government’s vaccine pass requirements would be removed and become optional for businesses. Air Chathams COO Duane Emeny said it would probably drop the requirement to show a vaccine pass or negative test for all its flights except for those departing mainland New Zealand for the Chatham Islands, because that community was in a different phase of the pandemic to the rest of New Zealand. It was also a more vulnerable community with limited health services, he said. The change in policy was still to be signed off by the board, he said. Air New Zealand said its domestic vaccination policy had been extended until April 30, after it had initially been set until March 31. The policy requires all domestic passengers aged 12 or over to show proof of vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test result taken within 72 hours of departure. Sounds Air chief executive Andrew Crawford said it would keep its vaccination or negative test policy in place until the end of April. “The question we asked is why wouldn’t we,” Crawford said.<br/>