AirlinesUnited Under Fire For Flying Medical Volunteers On Packed Flight United Airlines has come under fire after a photo was shared on social media yesterday, showing a doctor returning home on a crowded flight. The doctor and his fellow health workers were led to believe that middle seats on the aircraft would be vacated. However, this was not the case. While the doctor was alarmed, he reasoned that this incident could have been a miscommunication from United Airlines.
LinkBrazil Expects To Finalize Airline Support Package Next Week The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) and Bradesco (one of Brazil’s largest banks) are putting together a financing package for the country’s airlines. It is expected that a final agreement will be reached by the end of next week with the disbursement expected to take place in the second half of June.
LinkBreaking: Avianca Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy In The US On May 10th, Avianca Holdings, the parent company of Avianca, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States. These proceedings will protect it from creditors and allow the company to reorganize, preserving as much of Avianca’s business as possible.
LinkIberia Offers COVID-19 Antibody Tests To Its Employees In a move aimed at giving its employees the best possible protection against the coronavirus, Spain’s national flag carrier announced it would implement a unique COVID-19 health plan. Designed in partnership with the Spanish hospital group Quirónsalud, Iberia will offer COVID-19 antibody tests to all its employees.
LinkAmazing: Emirates Posts Higher Full Year Profit With COVID-19 and subsequent travel restrictions leading to reduced passenger demand, it’s almost unbelievable that Emirates was able to report an overall profit for its 2019-2020 fiscal year. In fact, its main hub at Dubai International Airport was essentially shut down due to the UAE government’s decision to completely suspend passenger services in March. So given all of these factors, how did Emirates pull it off?
LinkCzech Airlines Will Resume Flights From May 18th Yesterday, Czech Airlines announced that it would resume flights from 18th May to select destinations in Europe. The carrier will prioritize four cities as well as phasing in routes to Ukraine and Romania later on in the month.
LinkSWISS To Operate 140 Weekly Flights From Zurich Next Month SWISS International Airlines announced in a press release on Friday that its services will be substantially increased next month. As European countries begin to emerge from the COVID-19 crisis and ease their entry restrictions, SWISS plans to operate around 140 flights per week from Zurich and 40 per week from Geneva.
LinkAir Serbia Considers Acquiring Planes For Post-COVID-19 Expansion Serbia’s Finance Minister Siniša Mali said this week that the state could support Air Serbia in acquiring new aircraft for a post-COVID expansion. This move could involve both short-haul and long-haul growth, and so could involve a whole range of new aircraft. Let’s take a look at where Air Serbia could expand.
LinkSingapore Airlines And SilkAir Now Require Passengers To Bring Their Own Masks Passengers will now be required to wear a face mask onboard any Singapore Airlines and SilkAir flights in a bid to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. Effective from 23:59 on May 10th, all passengers on board are required to bring their own masks and wear them throughout the flight, on top of other strict social distancing measures.
LinkAir France Adds Passenger Temperature Checks On Departure As airlines grapple with new procedures to help combat the coronavirus pandemic while at the same time making passengers feel safe, Air France has announced that it will be checking passenger temperatures. In a press release issued yesterday, the French national flag carrier said that it would be reviewing all passenger temperatures on departing flights starting from Monday, May 11.
LinkEurowings Adds More European Flights To Its Schedules While COVID-19 continues to take its toll around the world, some countries are easing restrictions with previously restricted services coming back. This includes flights operated by Lufthansa Group airline Eurowings as it “continues to ensure its basic service at the airports of Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Cologne/Bonn, and Stuttgart.”
LinkImpressive: Regional Carrier SkyWest Posts First Quarter Profit In 2020 SkyWest Airlines has bucked the trend by posting a profit in the first quarter of 2020. The regional carrier flies on behalf of major airlines using smaller jets. In the first quarter, SkyWest posted a net income of $30 million.
LinkImpressive: Volaris Notches 87% Load Factor In April Last month, Volaris recorded a network-wide passenger load factor of 87.4 percent. The Mexican outfit announced its traffic numbers for April this week. Despite the impact that the coronavirus pandemic has had on its operations, its active flights are still somewhat full.
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