Ukraine said on Monday about 10 airlines had stopped flying there amid US warnings of an attack by Russian forces massed on its border, but insisted its air corridors were still open and flying to the East European country was safe. Lufthansa said it was halting flights to Ukraine from Monday, joining KLM which has already done so. SAS also suspended weekly flights while Air France has decided to cancel Tuesday flights between Paris and Kyiv as a "precautionary measure". "The current cancellation of flights by a number of foreign airlines is dictated solely by the information aggravation of the situation, and not by real changes in flight safety," Infrastructure Minister Oleksander Kubrakov told a news briefing. He did not name the airlines and said that "the state is working to replace cancelled flights". Kubrakov said Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) had already opened ticket sales and increased the capacity of aircraft on additional flights from Kyiv to Munich and Geneva, which Lufthansa was unable to operate. UIA said 13 planes were still active. The airline has a total of 26 aircraft in its fleet but nine of those left the country last week for storage sites in Europe - including seven on Feb. 14 alone, according to Flightradar24 tracking data. The exodus came after two Ukrainian airlines disclosed problems in securing insurance for some of their flights as Russia masses a huge military force on its border. <br/>
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VistaJet parent Vista Global Holding has struck an agreement to acquire German charter firm Air Hamburg for an undisclosed fee. Founded in 2006, Air Hamburg has become a fixture of the European business aviation industry, last year accumulating 35,000h across 18,800 flights. VistaJet expects to see flight hours across the combined business rise by 30% this year following the acquisition, which is expected to close in the first half of 2022, subject to regulatory approvals. VistaJet will gain access to Air Hamburg’s fleet of 44 contracted aircraft, including two Embraer Lineage 1000Es and a trio of Dassault Falcon 7X trijets. The acquisition also includes a European Union Aviation Safety Agency-approved Part 145 maintenance base at Karlruhe/Baden-Baden airport, alongside an executive handling division and VIP lounge at Hamburg airport; 650 employees will also transfer across. Floris Helmers, CE of Air Hamburg, adds: “This is an incredible opportunity to remain at the top of the growing business aviation market. This cooperation between two of the largest operators means increasing our stability and securing further growth for our business.” Thomas Flohr, Vista’s founder and chairman, adds: “Air Hamburg is an impressive, well-established and profitable business with a long-standing track record in best-in-class client service – like Vista, it is known for its reliability and consistency throughout a scaling fleet and high utilisation.”<br/>
Analysts from the UK’s Institute of Economic Affairs think-tank have argued that governments could have helped contain the pandemic by allowing a “natural collapse” of the airline industry, rather than permitting huge bail-outs. The institute has published a study – entitled The Future of Transport After Covid-19 – which looks at the impact of the pandemic, and changes to consumer behaviour, on various transport modes, including aviation. It highlights the relaxation of European Union state-aid rules, which enabled large rescue packages to be dealt to airlines, but says this amounted to a “contradiction at the heart of government policies”, given the role of air transport in conveying the contagion. “Vast amounts of taxpayers’ money have been spent bailing out aviation when this sector was central to the spread of the virus,” says the study. “Effectively, governments have been subsidising the pandemic.”<br/>
The number of passengers using Dubai’s main airport should double this year as borders reopen, though a recovery to pre-Covid levels may take until 2024, according to the chief executive officer of the Gulf hub. Customer traffic at Dubai International Airport is expected to hit 57 million in 2021, spurred by global moves to free up travel for vaccinated passengers, Dubai Airports Chief Executive Officer Paul Griffiths said in a Bloomberg Television interview. That compares with 29.1 million people last year. “We’ve reached that inflection point where the lockdowns have done their job,” Griffiths said. “I think the urge to travel, when people have the confidence and the disposable income, having not done so for a long time, will be very marked.” The reopening of markets such as Australia is particularly welcome for a global crossroads that relies on connecting the Asia-Pacific region with the rest of the world via a stop in Dubai. But with countries including China still closed, the forecast for 2022 puts volumes at roughly where they were a decade ago. Griffiths said it may take 18 months beyond year-end to reach 2019 levels. Dubai attracted 86.4m travelers that year, making it the world’s biggest international airport, a status that reflected the dominance of home carrier Emirates on globe-spanning long-haul routes.<br/>
Asian airlines are ramping up overseas flights as borders begin to open around the region, hoping for clearer skies ahead after the turbulence of the coronavirus pandemic. The aviation industry was hit hard as most international travel ground to a halt in the face of COVID-19, but is now pushing to get more planes back in the air as countries start to ease tough restrictions on people's movements. Helping blaze a trail, Singapore Airlines in mid-February relaunched its route from its home airport to Bali in Indonesia. It plans to reconnect to the United Arab Emirates this Thursday, followed by Hong Kong a day later. And starting March 4, it will resume flights to Manila in the Philippines, along with Bangkok and Phuket in Thailand. Rival carrier Garuda Indonesia has also been revving up its operations, restarting flights from Japan to Bali on Feb. 3, as well as from Sydney to the same resort island. Elsewhere, Thai Airways has started offering a special promotion for its Japan routes by teaming up with the Tourism Authority of Thailand. The move includes a 3,000 yen ($26) discount for travelers heading to Bangkok. These steps come as nations gradually reopen their borders as they push to get their economies back on track. By early March, Singapore plans to triple the daily entry quota for its quarantine-free "vaccinated travel lanes" for air arrivals from about 25 countries to 15,000. Indonesia has been allowing foreign tourists into Bali since mid-October, while Thailand resumed its quarantine-free entry program for inoculated travelers in early February. Vietnamese budget carrier Vietjet Aviation on Tuesday said it would double its round trips between Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok to six per week from March. The airline said it would initially offer a 50% discount for fares on the route. Over in the Philippines, Cebu Air, which operates Cebu Pacific, is also accelerating its return to international travel after the country started accepting fully vaccinated tourists from Feb. 10.<br/>
One of the last air links between two key Asian financial hubs has been severed, with Hong Kong banning Singapore Airlines’s budget carrier Scoot from flying to the city for two weeks after passengers tested positive for Covid on arrival. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines services from Amsterdam are also prohibited from Feb. 21 to March 6, Hong Kong’s Department of Health said in a statement Monday evening. The ban was imposed after a passenger on a Feb. 18 flight tested positive on arrival in Hong Kong, while two others failed to comply with travel requirements. Scoot confirmed its daily TR980 flight from Singapore to Hong Kong has been suspended. The Hong Kong government said four Scoot passengers tested positive within the seven-day period of Feb. 13 to 19. A Feb. 22 service by Cathay Pacific’s HK Express unit is now the sole flight from Singapore to Hong Kong remaining this month. The route was one of the busiest in the world before the pandemic hit. SIA was on Feb. 16 blocked for two weeks from flying to Hong Kong, which has become increasingly cut off as it tries to gain control of its worst outbreak since the pandemic began. More than 7,500 new cases were reported Monday and the government is considering tighter social-distancing measures.<br/>
John Menzies said Monday Kuwait's National Aviation Services has sweetened its takeover proposal for the British airport services company to about GBP559m ($761.75m). After rejecting three proposals from NAS, the Edinburgh-based company said it is willing to back the latest potential offer of 608 pence a share, subject to certain terms. NAS, a unit of Kuwait's Agility Public Warehousing, has built its stake in London-listed Menzies to about 19% by buying shares at 605 pence apiece in the past week. The Kuwaiti firm will not raise its proposal unless a third party tables an offer for the British company, Menzies said, adding it would now allow the Kuwaiti firm to access its management and due diligence information. Menzies is among the biggest providers of fuelling, ground handling and maintenance services, operating in around 37 countries globally. It had suffered heavy pandemic-driven losses in 2020 but has since recovered on cost controls and restructurings. NAS, which offers airport services in emerging markets, believes that a combination with Menzies would allow both groups to expand into more markets and benefit from scale as the aviation industry bounces back from the pandemic.<br/>
SIA Engineering sank back to the red in its third-quarter earnings, as a rise in costs — caused by a drop in government wage support — outpaced revenue recovery. For the three months to 31 December 2021, the MRO unit of Singapore Airlines reported an operating loss of S$7.8m ($5.8m), reversing the S$1.1m profit it made in 2020. Revenue for the quarter rose nearly 34% year on year to S$140m, amid a 65% increase in flights handled in SIAEC’s Singapore base. The “continuing recovery trend” — led by gradual reopening of international borders — is “encouraging”, notes SIAEC. Its base maintenance division saw an increase in checks compared to the same quarter in 2020, “but the work content of these checks was lighter as a higher proportion of the checks performed were for young new-generation aircraft”. The company also notes that business activity at its engine joint ventures in the region have also picked up. However, any upswing in revenue was offset by a sharper rise in expenses: at about 43% year on year to S$148m. SIAEC attributes the cost increase to a reduction in wage support measures. Despite making an operating loss, SIAEC posted a net profit of S$33m, compared to the S$7.7m net profit it made in 2020. <br/>