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Turkish Airlines said it reached 80% load factor, carrying 6.3m passengers during May 2022, releasing its passenger and cargo traffic results for the month. The flag carrier increased its seat capacity offered to passengers by 12.6% compared to same period of 2019 due to the increasing demand despite several countries still continuing travel restrictions. Turkish Airlines GM Bilal Ekşi said: “Although our sector was almost brought to halt during pandemic, we as Turkish Airlines never stopped. We worked towards today as we knew we would be returning to our route to success even stronger. May 2022 numbers show that our goals and dreams are starting to materialize. We believe we will be meeting again above the clouds with the 6.3m passengers who chose the privileged travel experience of Turkish Airlines during May and extend our thanks for choosing us. Now is the time to talk about good things again.” Turkish Airlines was successful not just with passenger transportation but also with steps taken in air cargo sector. The volume of cargo and mail carried during May increased by 11.3% compared to the same period of 2019, reaching 144,000 tons.<br/>

Some 1,000 SAS pilots in Denmark, Norway and Sweden could go on strike from late June over disagreements on wages and ways to cut costs at the struggling Nordic airline, labour unions said, drawing a sharp rebuke from the company. "We have been negotiating for months without being able to agree," Danish Pilot Union leader Henrik Thyregod said in a statement on Thursday. "We have gone to great lengths to help SAS, and we have offered the company huge savings. But we can under no circumstances agree to deteriorations (or wage cuts) of more than 30%, which SAS demands," he said. Unions and management have negotiated since last November and the collective agreement between the airline and the SAS Pilot Group union expired on April 1. If an agreement is not possible, Danish pilots could go on strike from June 24 but would likely wait until June 29 when Swedish pilots can strike at the earliest according to local regulation, Danish chief negotiator Keld Baekkelund told Reuters. The news comes at a difficult time for loss-making SAS, which seeks to restructure its business by undertaking large cost cuts, raising new cash and converting debt to equity as part of a plan to rescue the carrier from collapse. "We think this is totally outrageous and shocking and shows a lack of understanding," an SAS spokesperson said, adding that the company was still hoping that it would not come to an actual strike.<br/>

Swiss International Air Lines has repaid a state-backed loan to support it during the pandemic ahead of schedule as it returned to a positive cash flow in the first quarter after two years of losses, the subsidiary of Lufthansa said on Thursday. The announcement adds to positive news coming from Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and other airlines as people rush to book long-awaited holidays after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions. Swiss initiated a restructuring in the summer of 2021, reducing its fleet by about 15% and cutting about 1,700 full-time jobs by the end of 2021. “The measures we have initiated are having an impact. After cumulative losses of more than 1b Swiss francs ($1.02b) over the past two years, we have now returned to financial stability,” said Markus Binkert, the finance chief of Swiss airlines. This allows Swiss to stop receiving state aid and finance itself on the capital market through the Lufthansa Group thanks to the more stable pandemic situation and the lifting of travel restrictions, Binkert said. Switzerland’s government welcomed the early repayment, saying that supporting Swiss resulted in no loss for the state. “The good relations and the mutual trust have paid off,” Switzerland’s Finance Minister Ueli Maurer said in a statement published by the Swiss Federal Council.<br/>

Japan's All Nippon Airways said Thursday that it will operate all of its planned domestic flights to and from Haneda Airport in July and August. Excluding long holiday periods, it would be the first time since March 2020 for ANA to offer Haneda flights as usual without being affected by the fallout from the novel coronavirus pandemic. The major carrier had been forced to reduce its flights due to repeated resurgences in COVID-19 cases. Passenger demand, however, has been increasing in recent months, and with Japan starting to accept foreign tourists again Friday, ANA aims to fully resume its services as it recovers from the pandemic-induced slump. The numbers of ANA domestic flights to and from Haneda in July and August are expected to exceed those of planned flights for the same months in 2020, drawn up before the start of the pandemic, by 2% and 1%, fro each month respectively. The flights for this period are also likely to exceed the actual flight numbers in the same months in 2019. Next month, ANA plans to operate 160 additional Haneda flights and will consider offering more depending on travel demand. For all domestic flights, ANA expects demand to be about 80% of the pre-pandemic level. It is slated to operate 95% of all of its planned domestic flights in July and 94% in August.<br/>

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has drawn up a budget of more than 100m baht to revive the battered travel sector, and will propose it to the Centre for Economic Situation Administration for approval. TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn said the target for this year is 7-10m international tourists. That target will double to 20m, or 50% of 2019 levels, by next year, with the majority coming from the high-value segment, he said. In 2024, arrivals should increase to 25-30m, while total revenue fully recovers to 3t baht, according to TAT. "That budget for fiscal 2023, starting in October 2022, is aimed at luring at least 10m tourists this year," Yuthasak said. The budget will be allocated to a so-called "Tourism Booster Shot", such as increasing airline seat capacity to 50% of the pre-pandemic level. TAT overseas offices have been told to start discussions and jointly work with airlines to increase carrying capacity to the country, particularly via large-sized charter aircraft. Yuthasak said co-marketing campaigns will help raise load factors to 70-80%, which will entice more airline operators to join the campaigns. The agency is already talking to Thai Airways and conducting marketing surveys to launch chartered services with other airlines to support particular markets.<br/>

Air New Zealand Friday improved its forecast for fiscal 2022, benefiting from a pick-up in demand following the opening up of domestic and international borders. New Zealand recently said it would fully reopen its international borders from end-July, and the country welcomed travelers from trans-Tasman neighbor Australia for the first time since mid-2021 in April. The airline now expects an annual loss before tax and significant items to be less than NZ$750m ($478.73m), compared to a prior forecast of less than NZ$800m. In May, the carrier said its annual loss could come in better than expected, owing to an improvement in passenger bookings for short haul and international services. Domestic demand has improved in recent weeks with business-related demand returning to about 90% of pre-COVID levels, the airline said. Air New Zealand, however, added it remains mindful of uncertain macroeconomic conditions, including COVID-19 led travel restrictions in some parts of the world and high jet fuel prices.<br/>