A trusted source of Asia-Pacific commercial aviation news and analysis


MARCH 2021

Week 10

Orient Aviation Daily Digest March 12, 2021

A look at the week

By Jordan Chong

Cathay Pacific Group’s 2020 financial results presentation this week reinforced the difficulties airlines without a domestic market face from the pandemic.

In addition to its HK$21.6 billion (US$2.8 billion) net loss, the airline group offered little in the way of encouraging prospects for 2021. It said previous capacity forecasts – below 25% of pre-COVID-19 levels for the first half of calendar 2021 and 50% overall for the full year – were unchanged.

During the airline group’s results presentation, chief customer and commercial officer, Ronald Lam, was non-committal about "some sort of "V-shaped recovery in the second quarter" of calendar 2021 and said there was not any visibility about the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government’s timetable for relaxation of quarantine rules as the vaccine rollout continued. Read More »

 

News

Cathay Pacific forecasts March passenger numbers will drop below 600 a day

Cathay Pacific Group’s monthly traffic report, published today, showed the Hong Kong-based carrier flew 21,134 passengers in February – an average of 755 passengers per day – down 97.9% from 1.01 million in the same month a year ago. Read More »


 

News

China Airlines air cargo business jumps 150%

China Airlines (CAL) flew 18,589 passengers in February, down 44% from 33,355 in January, the Taiwan-headquartered carrier's monthly traffic report showed. Read More »


 

News

Korean Air closer to Asiana Airlines control after adding US$2.9 billion to war chest

Korean Air (KAL) has completed a 3.3 trillion (US$2.9 billion) capital raising as it works towards a proposed takeover of South Korea's second-largest carrier, Asiana Airlines. Read More »


 

News

BOC Aviation reports profit for 2020 despite big hit from COVID-19

Lessor BOC Aviation yesterday reported net profit fell 27.4%, to US$510 million, for the 12 months to December 31, 2020, from US$702 million in the same months a year earlier. Read More »


 

News

Rolls-Royce suffers from engine MRO losses

Engine maker Rolls-Royce overnight reported a net loss of £3.2 billion (US$4.5 billion) for calendar 2020, a deterioration from a net loss of £1.3 billion a year ago. Read More »


 

News

Air New Zealand extends fee-free ticket changes to June

Air New Zealand (Air NZ) said today it would extend flexibility rules that allowed ticket holders for domestic travel to rebook without paying change fees until June 30. Read More »


 

News

ATR Singapore has new home and new boss

Alessandro Luzi is the new head of ATR’s Eastern Support (ESA) subsidiary. Read More »