All Asia Pacific news – Page 4
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NewsBeijing moves to beef up air cargo capacity
Beijing will take steps to bolster domestic and international air cargo capacity amid the global coronavirus pandemic, including support for air freight companies and logistics firms. The official China Daily newspaper quotes premier Li Keqiaing as stating that the massive reduction in global air traffic has created issues for ...
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News
Qantas Group secures $625 million against 787-9s
The Qantas Group has secured A$1.05 billion ($625 million) in a new round of debt funding to “strengthen its position as it manages through the coronavirus outbreak”. The 10-year loan bears 2.75% interest and is securitised against seven Boeing 787-9s. The jets are part of its fleet of ...
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News
Thai low-cost carriers suspend international services
Thai low-cost carriers have announced temporary suspensions of international services. Thai AirAsia says its suspension of international flights began on 22 March and will end on 25 April, and that the decision was taken “in accordance with travel restrictions being enforced by various governments and relevant health authorities”. Domestic ...
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News
India to halt all domestic passenger flights from 25 March
India will suspend all domestic passenger flights from 25 March in an effort to reduce the spread of the coronavirus in the country.
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News
Airbus sees indications of gradual Chinese traffic recovery
Airbus believes there are initial signs of air transport recovery from the coronavirus outbreak in China, from where the first contagion wave spread. Its Tianjin facility had briefly shut production when the outbreak emerged, but has since resumed manufacturing, although Chinese airline operations remain significantly affected. Speaking during ...
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News
SIA grounds almost entire fleet in ‘greatest challenge’ ever
Singapore Airlines will slash schedules and ground almost all aircraft, as the coronavirus pandemic presents “the greatest challenge that the SIA Group has faced in its existence”. Due to the further tightening of border controls globally, SIA will cut 96% of scheduled capacity until end-April and ground 138 of ...
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News
New Zealand implements four-week lockdown
New Zealand will go into lockdown for four weeks starting 25 March to halt the spread of the coronavirus. “These decisions will place the most significant restriction on New Zealanders’ movements in modern history,” prime minister Jacinda Ardern stated in a public address today. “This is not a ...
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News
Australian carriers plan capacity cut on domestic travel curb
Virgin Australia and Qantas expect further changes to their schedules after the Australian government advised against domestic travel to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Virgin Australia said in statement to the stock exchange today: “The Virgin Australia Group acknowledges the additional Covid-19 related travel restrictions announced by ...
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Analysis
Outbreak brings mixed fortunes for Asia MROs
While much has been said about how the coronavirus outbreak has affected the airline industry, what is less-known is its effect on MROs. Are MROs in Asia seeing the silver lining of the crisis, or is it also a picture of gloom for many of them?
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AirAsia reinstates Fernandes, Meranun citing independent probe
AirAsia Group reinstated Kamarudin Meranun and Tony Fernandes to their previously vacated positions on 20 March, after the low-cost carrier and its long-haul sister AirAsia X completed an independent probe into Airbus bribery allegations. The was conducted following an investigation into Airbus over corruption allegations. UK court documents list ...
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News
A330-800 test aircraft deployed to transport coronavirus supplies
Airbus has been deploying an A330-800 test aircraft to assist with coronavirus protection measures, using it to transport some 2 million masks from Tianjin in China to Europe, where they will be distributed to French and Spanish authorities. The airframer disclosed the measure as it prepares to restart – ...
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News
A321 uncontained failure spurs urgent V2500 disk measures
Operators of Airbus A320-family jets are being ordered to remove disks from certain International Aero Engines V2500 powerplants after an uncontained failure resulted in an aborted A321 take-off. The incident occurred on 18 March, says the US FAA, and involved a high-pressure turbine first-stage disk failure. While the ...
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News
VietJet suspends Southeast Asia flights
Low-cost carrier VietJet Air will temporarily suspend services on its Southeast Asian network. The suspension will commence from 20 March and affect services to Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar and Indonesia. The decision comes amid the global coronavirus outbreak, and follows Vietnam’s decision to grant no visas for ...
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News
Coronavirus rebound will take time: Air NZ chief
Air New Zealand’s chief executive believes the airline will emerge from the coronavirus crisis after agreeing to government backing on Friday, but a rebound will take time. “I’m pretty sure the airline’s going to be a little bit smaller than what it was, because it will be a bit ...
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News
AAPA calls on governments to help struggling airline sector
The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) has called on the region’s governments to “take immediate action” to help airlines amid the coronavirus pandemic. It notes that travel bans, border closures, lockdowns, quarantines, and other measures will see Asian airlines suffer revenue shortfalls of $60 billion in 2020. ...
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News
Wellington throws financial lifeline to Air NZ
Air New Zealand has secured standby funding of up to NZ$900 million ($511 million) from the government to support the airline as it battles the coronavirus outbreak. The government, which owns 52% of the airline, said on 20 March that the deal allows the carrier to keep operating and ...
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News
Deal for 83 Tejas fighters passes bureaucratic hurdle
New Delhi will acquire 83 Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) Tejas Mk-1A light fighters for the air force at an estimated cost of $5.3 billion, pending cabinet approval. The acquisition process is moving forward following the finalisation of contractual and other issues by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), according to a ...
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Analysis
All tunnel, no light for Asia-Pacific airlines
The Asia-Pacific is seen as the engine of future aviation growth, but the coronavirus pandemic has brought its airline sector to its knees. Recent days have seen a collapse in air travel demand in the region. When news of coronavirus first emerged in Wuhan, China during January, comparisons were ...
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News
Chinese carriers’ February traffic collapse amid pandemic hit
February was a difficult month for China’s three largest carriers as the country battled the coronavirus outbreak and was the subject of travel restrictions globally. In traffic results released on 18 March, each carrier saw capacity and load factors collapse, both domestically and internationally. As with January’s traffic results, ...
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News
Qantas and Jetstar suspend all international flights
Qantas and Jetstar are suspending scheduled international flights from late March, in accordance with the Australian government’s advice. Qantas Group says in a statement: “With the federal government now recommending against all overseas travel from Australia, regularly scheduled international flights will continue until late March to ...
