Indonesia has imposed a temporary suspension of domestic and international scheduled passenger flights as part of efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus.Read More » The ban was due to run until the end of May, the Indonesia's Ministry of Transportation said, with exceptions made for certain categories such as cargo flights, repatriation flights and diplomatic flights.
Eight Thailand-based carriers – Bangkok Airways, NokScoot, Nok Airlines, Thai AirAsia, Thai AirAsia X, Thai Lion Air, Thai Vietjet Air and Thai Smile – appear set to receive 25 billion baht (US$771 million) in loans from the government to get them through the coronavirus pandemic, local media said. The Ministry of Finance had agreed in principle with the request with more details to be worked through in the period ahead, the reports said.
Still in Thailand, Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) chief, Chula Sukmanop, said there may need to be a further extension of the ban on inbound flights beyond the current end date of April 30, The Bangkok Post reported. "We may need to further disallow passenger aircraft from entering Thailand, but a final say will be given by the Public Health Ministry," the newspaper quoted Sukmanop as saying.
Air New Zealand [Air NZ] has permanently dropped its suspended Auckland-Buenos Aires and Los Angeles-London nonstop flights due to the "deep impact of COVID-19" and pushed back the launch of its Auckland-New York nonstop service from October 29, 2020 to "late 2021 at the earliest". Air NZ chief networks, strategy and alliances officer, Nick Judd, said demand for international travel was tracking at about 5% of pre-COVID-19 levels into June.
Singapore Airlines [SIA], which is operating a skeleton flying schedule amid the coronavirus pandemic, has parked four of its 19 A380s to the Asia-Pacific Aircraft Storage [APAS] facility in the Australian desert. Flight tracking websites showed the four aircraft – 9V-SKT, 9V-SKW, 9V-SKY and 9V-SKZ – were ferried on April 26, taking off from Changi Airport between 0100 and 0500 and landing at Alice Springs Airport some five hours later.
Three Vietnamese carriers will operate a combined 13 repatriation flights in the next few weeks to bring citizens stranded overseas home. Passengers will pay their own fares, local media reports said. Vietnam Airlines has scheduled 10 flights to Canada, France, Japan, Russia, Spain, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and United States. VietJet Air has two flights, to Indonesia and Singapore, and Bamboo Airways operated one flight to the Philippines.
Administrators for Virgin Australia [VA] have told the Federal Court of Australia, in a signed affidavit, an initial review of the airline's books and records showed the company had about 10,000 creditors who were collectively owed about A$6.9 billion (US$4.5 billion). The affidavit said the A$6.9 billion included secured debt of A$2.3 billion, unsecured bonds worth A$2 billion, A$1.9 billion owed to aircraft lessors, A$450 million to staff, A$167 million to trade creditors and A$71 million to landlords.
The International Air Transport Association [IATA] has identified eight countries in the Asia-Pacific – India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Thailand – as "priority countries" where governments needed to support their airlines. IATA regional vice president Asia-Pacific, Conrad Clifford, said in a statement late last week: "The situation is deteriorating. Airlines are in survival mode," he said.
