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Japan’s ANA Holdings plans to raise up to Y332.1b ($3.2b) through a new share offering to survive a collapse in travel demand caused by the global pandemic. ANA’s share sale, its first since 2012, comes as Japan’s biggest carrier is forecasting its largest ever annual loss of Y510b. American Airlines and Japan Airlines have also issued equity to shore up their balance sheets even though the move will dilute the stakes of existing shareholders. ANA said Friday it planned to use Y200b of the funds to buy Boeing 787 aircraft. The share sale will be 72% aimed towards domestic investors. The share offering comes despite Japanese carriers faring better than some international rivals during the coronavirus crisis. ANA’s equity ratio — which measures shareholders’ equity as a proportion of total assets — fell from 41% last March to 32% at the end of September, but that is still much higher than global peers. <br/>

In cooled warehouses on the fringes of Frankfurt airport, Deutsche Lufthansa AG is preparing its depleted fleet for the gargantuan task of airlifting millions of doses of the vaccines meant to end the global pandemic. Lufthansa, one of the world’s biggest cargo carriers, began planning in April in anticipation of the shots that Pfizer to Moderna and AstraZeneca are developing in record time. A 20-member task force is at work devising how to fit more of the crucial payload onto the airline’s 15 Boeing 777 and MD-11 freighters, along with hold space in a vast passenger fleet now flying at just 25% of capacity. “The question is how we scale it up,” said Thorsten Braun, who leads Lufthansa’s part in the global effort. Laid low by a Covid-19 outbreak that’s decimated passenger demand, airlines will be the workhorses of the attempt to eradicate it, hauling billions of vials to every corner of the globe. It’s an unprecedented task, made more difficult by the carriers’ diminished state after culling jobs, routes and aircraft to survive a crisis that’s reduced air traffic globally by an estimated 61% this year. “This will be the largest and most complex logistical exercise ever,” said Alexandre de Juniac, CEO of the IATA, the industry’s chief lobby. “The world is counting on us.” IATA estimates that the equivalent of 8,000 loads in a 110-ton capacity Boeing 747 freighter will be needed for the airlift, which will take two years to supply some 14 billion doses, or almost two for every man, woman and child on Earth. It’s a tall order, given about one-third of the global passenger fleet is still in storage, based on data from Cirium.<br/>

Air Canada said on Friday it has reached a deal with its pilots to allow the airline to operate dedicated cargo aircraft, as the carrier converts several of its retired Boeing 767-300ER passenger jets into freighters. Canada’s biggest airline operates up to 100 international, all-cargo flights weekly and the deal with its pilots, represented by Air Canada Pilots Association, will expand its cargo business, Air Canada said. <br/>

Korean Air Lines' planned acquisition of the debt-laden Asiana Airlines requires approval from antitrust authorities in at least four other countries, industry sources said Sunday. According to the aviation industry sources and the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), the planned merger requires review from authorities in the US, EU, China and Japan. A failure would jeopardize the deal valued at 1.8t won (US$1.6b) that would create the world's 10th-biggest airline by fleet. In the US, combined revenue of two companies exceeding $198m for the latest financial year requires a conditional review for merger clearance from the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission. Korean Air's revenue in the passenger business for this year's first, second and third quarters reached 1.7t won, with more than 20% coming from the US market, they said. Asiana Airlines does not release revenue data by region, yet its total revenue came to 2.8t won during the cited period, they added. In the European market, combined revenue of two parties exceeding E50b for the latest financial year also requires a merger review from antitrust authorities. The combined revenue of Korean Air and Asiana Airlines for this year in the global market surpassed the 8t-won mark, according to the sources. Mergers and alliances in civil aviation in the European market are considered to be more tricky, the sources said. In China, combined revenue of two companies in the global market exceeding 10b yuan also requires merger clearance from the authorities, according to the sources. In Japan, Korean Air's revenue for the latest financial year in the country exceeds 20b yen, meaning the deal requires a merger review, they said. Also, the sources said further review may be needed in other Southeast Asian countries.<br/>

Air NZ expects cargo revenue for the coming financial year to exceed previous years’ levels, after being awarded four more months of cargo flights under a government scheme. Under the International Air Freight Capacity scheme, the New Zealand government will provide financial assistance to all carriers operating cargo flights, to ensure “continuity for aviation freight in and out of New Zealand”. Air New Zealand says the financial support will add between NZ$100m ($70.4m) and NZ$145m to its cargo revenue over the four-month period, which begins 1 December. “With the certainty of the next four months of this arrangement, the company expects cargo revenue for [Financial Year 2021] to exceed [Financial Year 2020] levels,” says Air NZ. Still, the carrier, which has been awarded an average of 55 flights a week, expects that it will still be in the red for the financial year ended 30 June 2021, despite the increase in cargo revenue. It reported an NZ$87m loss for the year ended 30 June, its first loss in 18 years, as the coronavirus outbreak torpedoed travel demand. <br/>