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United Airlines has operated a series of cargo only flights between Guam International and Majuro in the Marshall Islands this month after the island nation in eastern Micronesia declared a state of emergency following the FAA grounding the only dedicated cargo airline that flew into the country. As reported in The Guam Daily Post, United Airlines operated cargo only flights into Majuro on April 8, 9, 11, and 13. ch-aviation research reveals the aircraft flying into Majuro from Guam, almost 3,000 kilometres to the west, were operating as UA2819 while the return legs operated as UA2820. Guam-based B737-800s ran the flights. In early February, the FAA grounded Asia Pacific Airlines, claiming none of their pilots were qualified to fly, a claim the airline disputes and has taken to the NTSB appeals process. However, Asia Pacific Airlines was the only cargo carrier flying into Majuro and it supplied the country with essential freight, including medical supplies and pharmaceuticals. The absence of those flights and the supply shortages it caused resulted in the Marshall Islands government declaring a state of emergency in March and calling on the local aviation taskforce to find a solution.<br/>

Air Canada will boost its Auckland to Vancouver seasonal service to five times a week over the peak Northern Hemisphere winter period. The airline will start with three flights a week in November before increasing to a record five flights a week from December, marking a 20% increase in capacity on the 2022/23 season. The Canadian national carrier launched the direct service to New Zealand in 2019, before it was halted due to the pandemic, but returned last year with four flights a week during the peak period coinciding with the Canadian ski season. Air New Zealand also resumed its daily direct Vancouver service in December last year. Both airlines use the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner for the 13-hour flight. Air Canada general manger Australia and New Zealand Vic Naughton said the increase in frequency reflects the success of last season’s flights and the airline’s confidence that the service will once again attract record bookings. “Last year we saw extraordinarily high demand for seats, driven in part by a desire for Kiwis to visit friends and relatives in North America,” said Naughton. “We expect that demand to only intensify this year as more New Zealand travellers seize the opportunity to visit Canada’s world-class winter attractions.”<br/>

SAS will not be using the second tranche of its $700m debtor-in-possession (DIP) term loan in Q2 of the year, due to stronger than expected development of the airline's liquidity, the airline said on Monday. SAS may, depending on the development of its liquidity, continue discussions with Apollo regarding access to the second tranche of the DIP term loan at a later stage of the Chapter 11 process. The airline will continue to pursue other financing initiatives that could boost its liquidity at a lower cost than a near-term use of the second tranche of the DIP term loan.<br/>

Global ground-handler Menzies Aviation has signed a deal with TAP Air Portugal and its own ground-handling unit Groundforce to buy a controlling stake of 50.1% in the struggling Portuguese aviation services provider, it revealed in a statement. Serviços Portugueses de Handling is also known by its trademark Groundforce Portugal, and it currently provides ground-handling services to TAP at Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Funchal, and Porto Santo. It provides ground and air cargo services to several airlines, but TAP is its main customer. TAP is also a creditor of Groundforce, and in May 2021 the airline filed to liquidate the unit, saying at the time that the application was made in light of Groundforce’s worsening financial situation. In its statement, Menzies Aviation said that the subscription agreement to buy it “is a decisive step towards the recovery of Groundforce, reinforcing the confidence of all its stakeholders in the future of this company, and also a significant milestone in strengthening handling capacity, with an impact on the entire national economy.” Once all necessary authorisations and consents are granted, a recovery plan for the company will be submitted by the insolvency administrators for review and approval by Groundforce’s Creditors Assembly, Menzies said, underlining that “for TAP, this process is crucial for the stability and improvement of the company’s operational performance.”<br/>

The planned privatisation of TAP Air Portugal has not yet been approved by the country’s council of ministers but interested would-be buyers are jostling for position, with IAG International Airlines Group already selecting legal and communications advisors ahead of the race to buy a stake in the flag carrier, the Portuguese-language site ECONews reported. The British Airways, Iberia, Vueling Airlines, and Aer Lingus parent, which also pledged two months ago to buy the remaining 80% of Spain's Air Europa, has reportedly chosen communications agency Cunha Vaz & Associados and law firm Vieira de Almeida. Air France-KLM and Lufthansa are also seen as potential buyers. An anonymous source told the news agency Reuters this week that both were also talking to possible legal and communications advisers in Portugal, and a communications agency source said there were ongoing talks between the main agencies and the three airlines. During a presentation of its 2022 results in early March, the German company said it saw the most interesting targets for mergers and acquisitions in Europe as being ITA Airways (AZ, Rome Fiumicino), for which it is in talks with the Italian government for the acquisition of 40%, and TAP. In February, the CE of the Franco-Dutch group, Ben Smith, praised the Portuguese company, saying during a news conference: “We find [TAP’s] network into Brazil extremely powerful for us.” These comments came amid media reports that the Portuguese government had begun discreet discussions with all three groups, but the companies have declined to say anything further on the issue.<br/>

Kenyan authorities reopened the only runaway at the nation’s main airport after removing a Singapore Airlines Ltd. cargo plane that aborted a takeoff. “The plane has been removed from the runway albeit an hour later than we expected,” Kenya’s Transport Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen said on Twitter. “Flights will resume shortly,” he said. The Singapore Airlines-operated Boeing Co. 747 plane, which was en route to Amsterdam, stopped on the runway about 35 minutes after starting to taxi, data from Flightradar24.com showed. The aircraft “experienced a technical issue with one of its engines,” a spokesperson for the airline said. “The aircraft’s crew safely stopped the aircraft before take-off. Some of the aircraft’s tires, however, deflated as it came to a stop on the runway,” the spokesperson said. Singapore Airlines worked with the airport authorities to move the aircraft from the runway. The process of moving the plane required evacuating 100 tons of cargo and replacing damaged tires, Murkomen said. <br/>