Scandinavian carrier SAS is continuing with its fleet restructuring by seeking to cut another pair of leased aircraft. The airline, which is under US Chapter 11 protection, is looking for court permission to shed an Airbus A330-300 and an A321neo. It has identified the A330 in court papers as MSN1660, a Rolls-Royce Trent-powered airframe, delivered in 2015. The A320neo is MSN9173, delivered to SAS in 2020 and fitted with CFM International Leap-1A engines. According to a court document filed on 9 January, the aircraft each have “above-market contractual rent” attached and are “no longer required” in the fleet. “Requiring [SAS] to retain the excess aircraft would impose unnecessary costs on [its] estates with little to no corresponding benefit,” it states. Rejection of the leases, it adds, constitutes a “proper exercise” of the company’s business judgement as it will reduce costs. Both aircraft will be available for retrieval from 1 February, the document says. They are located at Copenhagen airport.<br/>
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Ethiopian Airlines will next month lift capacity on its China flights and restore frequencies to pre-pandemic levels from the start of March following the recent easing of Covid travel restrictions in the Asian country. The African carrier will be one of the first international operators to restore pre-Covid capacity levels to China since restrictions, including the requirement for visitors to quarantine, were eased earlier this month. China was a key market for Ethiopian prior to the pandemic with the carrier serving Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Shanghai. Cirium schedules data shows it has been serving all four cities since November, albeit at much lower frequencies. It will now from 6 February lift to daily its service to Guangzhou, before restoring frequency to 10 flights a week from the start of March. Ethiopian will lift frequency on its Beijing and Shanghai service to four flights a week next month and restore daily links from 1 March. It will also add back a fourth weekly flights to Chengdu, restoring to 28 its weekly China services. Ethiopian Airlines chief executive Mesfin Tasew says: ”China is one of the largest markets for Ethiopian Airlines outside Africa, and the increase in flight frequencies will help revive the trade, investment, cultural and bilateral cooperation between Africa and China in the post-Covid era.” He adds: "We are keen to further expand our service to China going forward.” Ethiopian also operates cargo flights to Guangzhou, Changsha, Shanghai, Zhengzhou and Wuhan. <br/>