The number of international arrivals at Sydney Airport has been capped at 450 per day to ensure quarantine facilities in the city are not overwhelmed, it was announced on the weekend. Each incoming flight would be permitted to carry a maximum of 50 people, the health minister in the state of New South Wales, Brad Hazzard, said in a statement.Read More »
While Australia's international border was closed to foreign visitors, the country's citizens and permanent residents are able to return home and several airlines are flying to Sydney. Among them is China Southern Airlines (CSA), which said on its website it would guarantee seats for the first 50 passengers that booked tickets for its Guangzhou-Sydney nonstop flight on July 10. Those not able to travel can change their itinerary without penalty or receive a refund, with passengers to be contacted with more details.
The decision to limit international arrivals at Sydney was made following the cancellation of all international arrivals in Melbourne until the middle of July to strengthen quarantine procedures after an infection control breach at one of the hotels used for the quarantine of international arrivals. The Victorian ruling had put pressure on Sydney’s quarantine facilities, the Australian government's Smart Traveller website said.
AirAsia Japan said on the weekend domestic flights would resume on August 1 starting with three routes – Nagoya-Fukuoka, Nagoya-Sapporo and Nagoya-Sendai. AirAsia Japan chief operating officer, Jun Aida, said he was pleased to resume flight operations at a critical period of Japan's economic recovery from COVID-19. AirAsia Japan suspended all flights in April due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Cathay Pacific Group is searching for alternative locations to store about 50 of the airline group's aircraft grounded by the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters news agency reported today. "We are exploring alternative locations beyond Hong Kong’s humid summer climate that can provide appropriate conditions for our aircraft while they are not flying,” the airline group said in the report.
HK Express, the group’s LLC, announced today it would delay resumption of flight operations to August 2 “in response to the travel restrictions imposed by governments around the Asia-Pacific to the ongoing COVID-19 situation”.
South Korea's local airlines carried 328,348 international passengers in the three months to June 30, 2020, down 98% from 15.2 million 12 months ago, the Yonhap news agency reported on the weekend, citing figures from the Korea Civil Aviation Association (KCAA). Domestic passengers carried fell 37.8%, to 5.24 million.
Auckland Airport said late last week an average of about 16,100 travellers were expected to arrive or depart Auckland Airport's domestic terminal on some of the busiest upcoming school holiday travel days in July. This compared with about 60,000 passengers on peak travel days during the July school holidays in 2019. New Zealand has lifted all domestic travel restrictions, while its international border remains closed to foreigners because of COVID-19.
A group of investors holding Virgin Australia (VA) unsecured debt have applied to the Australian government's takeovers panel challenging the administrator’s recent decision to approve Bain Capital as the preferred buyer of the financially struggling airline. The takeovers panel said today the applicants, Broad Peak Investment Advisers Pte. Ltd. and Tor Investment Management, were seeking access to information, including the terms of the Bain Capital proposed transaction, to allow them to make an alternative offer. "A sitting panel has not been appointed at this stage and no decision has been made whether to conduct proceedings. The panel makes no comment on the merits of the application," the takeovers panel said in a statement.
