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Lufthansa has apologized to a group of around 100 orthodox Jews who were prevented from boarding a connecting flight to Budapest after a smaller number of them allegedly misbehaved traveling from New York to Frankfurt. The airline said it “sincerely apologizes” after a larger group was denied boarding on May 4th after a small number of orthodox Jews didn’t comply with security policies on the previous flight. While Lufthansa didn’t comment on the alleged security incidents, cabin crew and passengers on many airlines have clashed over the need to wear masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus. “We apologize to all the travelers unable to travel on this flight, not only for the inconvenience, but also for the offense caused and personal impact,” Lufthansa said in a statement. “What transpired is not consistent with Lufthansa’s policies or values.”<br/>

Troubled airline SAS is cancelling 4,000 flights this summer due to a lack of staff and delayed aircraft deliveries, Swedish financial daily Dagens Industri reported on Tuesday. The group, which is struggling with weak demand and tough competition, launched a cost savings plan in February and plans to raise new capital, but progress has so far been limited. SAS had previously planned for 75,000 flights in the May-August period, but around 4,000 of those would now be cancelled, a spokesperson told Dagens Industri. SAS, in which Sweden and Denmark each hold a stake of around 22%, was not immediately available for comment.<br/>

South Africa’s decision to sell a majority stake in the country’s loss-making national airline represents an ongoing financial risk to the state as the terms were skewed heavily toward the buyer, the National Treasury said. The finer print of the deal that saw the Takatso Consortium take a 51% shareholding in South African Airways last year represents a “contingent liability,” the Treasury said in a document emailed to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts that was later withdrawn. That’s partly because Takatso -- made up of a local jet-leasing company and private-equity firm -- has the right to assess whether any ongoing liabilities in SAA be settled by the government, the Treasury said in the document seen by Bloomberg. The emergence of the concerns came as Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan was set to appear before the public-accounts committee. Gordhan, a former finance minister, had made the removal of SAA from the state roster a key tenet of his role overseeing he Department of Public Enterprises, which also counts debt-laden utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. among its responsibilities. The terms “may result in the state providing funds in excess of its shareholding,” the Treasury said. While the letter was withdrawn, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said at the hearing that the National Treasury didn’t participate in the sale process and the substance of the “letter stands.” The department said it wouldn’t comment further on the document because it had been withdrawn and referred questions to the DPE.<br/>

African airlines are clubbing together to negotiate better prices and a steady flow of jet fuel, a move to help stave off a potential crisis caused by supply issues and soaring costs. A committee has been formed—including major carriers such as South African Airways and Kenya Airways—to secure deliveries for 12 months starting in July, African Airlines Association Secretary-General Abderahmane Berthe said during a briefing in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. “We are in the last round of negotiations, the process will end in June,” he said. The talks started even before a weekend of turmoil in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, where airlines threatened to stop flying until further notice in response to surging fuel prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. They later called off the plan after the government agreed to hold talks with The Airline Operators of Nigeria trade group to try and seek a resolution. Nigeria has 23 carriers, mostly very small. In South Africa, the country’s airports operator said some airlines have been cancelling flights due to fuel-supply issues and pledged to remedy the situation. Jet-fuel prices have escalated to an average of almost 30% of operating costs for African airlines from 20% previously, Kenya Airways Chief Executive Officer Allan Kilavuka said during the Nairobi briefing.<br/>

Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines have been granted conditional approval for a partnership that aims to grow traffic between Singapore, Malaysia, and other markets, said the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore on Tuesday. The agreement, which the two airlines signed in October 2019, involves both parties working together in areas such as joint sales and marketing, as well as revenue sharing. It also includes expanded code sharing to grow traffic between the two countries, as well as between Singapore or Malaysia and markets such as Europe. Under a code-share agreement, airlines can sell seats on each other's flights to provide passengers with a wider choice of destinations. CCCS added that it has granted conditional approval of the partnership after accepting a set of proposed commitments from both carriers. It had also conducted public consultation during its assessment. Under the commitments, both airlines will have to subject the arrangement to CCCS for further review when a series of indicators signal sustained recovery and normality of aviation activity on overlapping direct routes between Singapore and Malaysia, such as between Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Kuching. CCCS said these proposed commitments would provide sufficient safeguard to ensure that the business arrangement between both airlines is implemented only during recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the pandemic, competition on these overlapping direct routes is limited even without the arrangement between both airlines. Any impact on competition which may happen is also mitigated, CCCS said. It noted concerns raised by third parties about the agreement between the two airlines. But it added that the commitments by the airlines will allow better assessment of these concerns, as well as the competition impact and benefits of the arrangement, when there is sustained recovery in the aviation sector.<br/>

ANA will return its three Airbus A380s to service on the Tokyo Narita-Honolulu route on 1 July, making it the third Asia-Pacific carrier to reactivate the double decker type. The carrier’s special “Flying Honu” A380s will operate two frequencies weekly from Narita to Honolulu, says ANA. The move sees ANA become the third Asia-Pacific carrier to re-start normal A380 operations as the region emerges from the coronavirus pandemic. Qantas and Singapore Airlines have already returned the type to service as restrictions on international travel have eased. The aircraft originally entered service with ANA in May 2019. The three aircraft feature distinct liveries designed to reflect the natural beauty of Hawaii. July will also see ANA increase services to Honolulu from Tokyo Haneda, with five services weekly using Boeing 787-9s. ANA, noting growing demand for international travel, will boost frequencies on its international schedule from 1 June to 30 June. It will operate 1,464 flights across 37 routes during the month, up from 1,385 flights in May. In addition, ANA will resume its Haneda-London service in June. “With the recent easing of travel restrictions in Japan and other countries, there has been an increase in demand, mainly on North America and Asia routes,” says ANA. “While flights from/to select European cities have been suspended since March, we have now adjusted our operations and will resume the Haneda-London route starting June.”<br/>

Air New Zealand says it is hiring 200 more staff to its embattled contact centre – but training them all up will take eight weeks. Since the borders reopened in March, allowing Kiwis to travel overseas without having to quarantine on their return, customers have been facing hours-long waits to speak to airline staff, with the airline's social media pages inundated with complaints. Air New Zealand says it has been struggling to keep up with the massive increase in customer calls. The airline’s chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty said pre-Covid, one in eight customers would call prior to travel, but now there were hearing from one in three. The average call time was also up by approximately 50 per cent, to around 16 minutes, due to the more complex enquiries brought about by Covid-19 and the changing travel requirements. One of the key reasons people were calling now was for new bookings, seeking assistance for using credits or multiple forms of payment, and enquiring about specific routes. Customers preparing to travel also wanted reassurance they would meet the requirements for their destination. “The demand has come back a little quicker than what we have anticipated,” Geraghty said. In the initial stages of the pandemic, Air New Zealand did reduce staff numbers in its contact centre, Geraghty said. But it ended up having to hire more to deal with enquries about changing schedules and cancelled flights, flight credits and refunds. “We also had some short-term staff employed in the contact centre to help us through other peak periods of demand as we we’ve worked through the pandemic,” Geraghty said. “But now we need to recruit at much larger numbers to help us with the demand we’re seeing come through.”<br/>