Lufthansa lowered its capacity forecast for flights this year as hopes dwindle for an early summer travel rebound, but the German airline's cost-cutting drive narrowed quarterly losses. The group, which includes Austrian Airlines, Swiss and Eurowings, also stepped up warnings to German unions that it is ready to use forced dismissals to cut more jobs. The travel industry has suffered many false starts to a hoped-for recovery, beset by new restrictions, virus variant outbreaks and a sluggish European vaccine rollout. Lufthansa said it expects to fly at about only 40% of its pre-pandemic capacity in 2021, trimming the 40%-50% guidance issued less than two months earlier. The group predicted a gradual demand pick-up in April-June and a "significant market recovery" in the second half, citing moves by the European Union towards opening up transatlantic travel to vaccinated US visitors. "We know that bookings shoot up wherever restrictions are loosened and travel becomes possible again," CE Carsten Spohr said. Lufthansa's quarterly sales came to E2.6b, down 60% on a year-earlier period that was only partially impacted by the onset of the pandemic.<br/>
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United Airlines’ CE Scott Kirby says the carrier will not turn a profit until business travellers and long-haul international travellers return in greater numbers. Kirby says that while people have become accustomed to remote work, companies and employees will not maintain the work-from-home trend forever. “The pandemic has not changed human desire to be together and to connect,” he says. “Business travel is not about transactions, it’s about building relationships. We need to get back to about 65% of business demand and international long-haul demand to get to break even.” That can be achieved at the “end of this year, sometime early next year”. For the moment, ahead of the busy summer vacation travel season, the airline is beefing up its domestic schedule to leisure destinations that offer outdoor activities, such as beaches, theme parks and national parks. <br/>
South African Airways’ plane-maintenance division is cutting jobs to help navigate the crisis that’s gripped the air-travel industry throughout the coronavirus pandemic. The restructuring is unavoidable in light of reduced demand from its airline customers, SAA Technical said in a statement. While the state-owned company didn’t specify how many employees would be affected, Derek Mans, a representative of the Solidarity union, said about 60% of a total workforce of just over 2,000 could be eliminated. The move comes more than a year after SAA, the national carrier and SAA Technical’s main customer, last flew a commercial flight. The airline has been mired in bankruptcy proceedings and its own major job-cuts plan, while international travel restrictions to contain the spread of Covid-19 have hampered efforts to resume even a partial service.<br/>
China’s three biggest airlines on Thursday reported wider losses for the first quarter when COVID-19 cases rose, but the industry’s quick recovery, helped by the country’s fast containment measures, is expected to bolster full-year results. China Eastern Airlines recorded a net loss of 3.8b yuan ($587.50m) in Q1, up from a 2.7b yuan loss in the previous quarter, while Southern Airlines saw losses deepen to 4b yuan from 3.4b. Air China recorded a loss of 6.2b yuan, up from 4.3b in Q4, likely weighed by its investment in Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways. A resurgence of COVID-19 cases in January caused a substantial setback for domestic travel, as the Chinese government called for people to not to travel for the week-long Lunar New Year holidays, usually the busiest time of year for the airlines.<br/>