SkyTeam carrier SAS is reinforcing its Swedish domestic network through its recently-agreed partnership with Braathens Regional Airways. SAS will open new routes to Halmstad, Kalmar and Salen beginning in January next year. The carrier, which describes the domestic market as “challenging”, says the wet-lease agreement with BRA will allow it to strengthen connections within Sweden. Along with the new routes it will provide higher frequency operations to several destinations. BRA will fly several aircraft on SAS’s behalf enabling greater capacity and improved connections with Stockholm Arlanda airport. “This partnership strengthens Swedish infrastructure, connecting local communities to the world and fostering greater global accessibility and opportunities,” says SAS chief Anko van der Werff. Routes benefiting from higher-frequency service include Malmo, Gothenburg, Visby, Ronneby and Angelholm-Helsinborg.<br/>
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Dutch airline KLM announced a “painful” round of cost-cutting and other measures Thursday aimed at boosting the carrier's finances as it continues to recover from the COVID pandemic that grounded planes worldwide. CEO Marjan Rintel said KLM, along with many other airlines, “is suffering from high costs and shortages of staff and equipment. Our aircraft are full, but our capacity is still not back to pre-corona levels.” The Dutch carrier is part of the Air France-KLM group that had a E7.1b loss in 2020 as the global pandemic grounded planes and halted travel plans worldwide, causing a 67% slump in passenger numbers. KLM said the package of measures is intended to improve its operating result by 450 million euros ($497 million) in the short term. It did not reveal if the changes would lead to staff cuts, but said it aims to “protect jobs across the company as much as possible.” “This is painful for every KLM colleague, but it is necessary, and it has to be done now,” Rintel said in a statement. The cost-cutting will also help clear the way for investments in rejuvenating KLM's fleet to buy quieter and more fuel-efficient planes, said chief financial officer Bas Brouns. Among the planned measures, KLM said it wants to increase productivity, reduce the impact of pilot shortages and achieve a better balance between European and long-haul flights and look at the option of outsourcing some maintenance. It also is reconsidering or postponing many planned investments and exploring options to outsource, divest or halt “activities that do not directly contribute to flight operations.”<br/>
Garuda Indonesia and Japan Airlines will launch a joint venture arrangement in 2025 following clearance by Japanese authorities. The two airlines signed the joint business agreement after receiving anti-trust immunity from Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MILT), say the carriers in a joint statement. The agreement will see the pair cooperate commercially between Indonesia and Japan from the second half of 2025. It also includes domestic connections in the two countries. “We are excited about the opportunities the joint business provides for both airlines,” says JAL president and group CE Mitsuko Tottori. “We are confident that with this partnership, we will be able to deliver important benefits to our customers and to grow the business between Japan and Indonesia…we expect to launch this joint business relationship in the second quarter of 2025 to provide additional travel benefits for our mutual customers.” During the 2024 winter schedule, JAL will operate 26 flights weekly from Tokyo Narita to Jakarta. Garuda, for its part, will operate daily services from Jakarta to both Tokyo Haneda and Tokyo Narita, as well as twice daily services on the Bali Denpasar-Tokyo Narita route. The pair already place their code on services between the two countries, as well as on some domestic routes.<br/>