AirAsia Japan shuts down

AirAsia Japan Co., Ltd. has decided to cease operations effective October 5, 2020.

Since its incorporation in July 2014, the Company has been operating domestic and international flights from its base in Chubu Centrair International Airport. The COVID-19 pandemic has left a significant and sustained adverse economic impact on businesses and economies around the world and the Company has not been spared. Travel restrictions and the uncertainties it created have severely curtailed demand for business and leisure travel resulting in flight reductions, cancellations and grounding of aircraft. These factors have weighed heavily on the Company’s ability to continue operations.

Representative Director and COO of AirAsia Japan, Jun Aida said, “Despite our unrelenting efforts to sustain operations through successive and wide-ranging cost reduction initiatives, we have concluded that it would be an extremely challenging feat for us to continue operating without any visibility and certainty of a post-pandemic recovery path.

“I would like to express our deepest gratitude and appreciation to our loyal guests and other stakeholders who have supported us all along. This painful decision to cease operations was decided neither in haste nor taken lightly. It was agreed upon after conducting a thorough business review.

“Further steps to this decision will be made in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations including the Japan Civil Aeronautics Act.

“We have cancelled all flights. All affected guests will be contacted via email with further information within the next 7 days. Guests may also view our dedicated support pages below.”

The cessation only affects the domestic and international flights operated by AAJ in Japan with letter code DJ and does not affect other flights into and out of Japan operated by other airlines within the AirAsia Group. International services to Japan, from Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines will resume in the future after travel restrictions are lifted and borders with Japan are reopened.

AirAsia (Japan) aircraft photo gallery:

https://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Asia/Airlines-Japan/AirAsia-Japan

Finnair flies to 51 destinations in Europe and Asia in the winter, increases destinations for summer 2021

Finnair has trimmed its flight schedule for the winter season in line with customer demand, while planning to boost frequencies during spring 2021.

The update comes as the airline responds to a temporary softening of demand in the market due to widespread travel restrictions.

From October 25, 2020 to March 31, 2021, Finnair will serve 45 domestic and European destinations with reduced weekly frequencies on almost all routes.

Finnair’s long-haul flights will focus on Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Nanjing and Bangkok, which are also important cargo destinations. On the Bangkok route, Finnair flies passengers only on the BKK-HEL leg. Finnair will also continue cargo-only flights to Singapore and New York.

Ole Orvér, Chief Commercial Officer, Finnair, said: “We continue to maintain critical air connections for our Europe-Asia transfer passengers and for Finland.

“The pandemic situation and the related travel restrictions continue to have a heavy impact on demand for air travel, and thus it is not feasible to operate all the flights we in May planned for this winter.”

Due to the lower customer numbers, Finnair will temporarily close its lounge at the Schengen area of Helsinki Airport. Finnair’s lounges at the Non-Schengen side have been shut since March.

From November 2020 to March 2021, Finnair is now scheduled to operate approximately 75 flights per day, and it will continue to review its traffic program based on estimated demand, as the changing travel restrictions continue to impact demand for air travel. In 2019, Finnair flew about 350 flights a day and had more than 100 destinations in Europe, Asia and North America.

Flights increase for summer 2021

Finnair has also updated its preliminary flight program for the summer season 2021, which starts on April 1, 2021.

Delayed from this year, Finnair plans to open its new Busan route to South Korea in the summer season 2021. Finnair also intends to start services to Tokyo Haneda Airport during the summer. However, flights to San Francisco in the United States, Xi’an and Beijing Daxing in China and Sapporo in Japan will remain suspended.

Finnair aircraft photo gallery:

COVID-19 heavily impacts Norwegian’s September traffic figures – down 90%

Norwegian’s traffic figures for September are heavily influenced by lower demand caused by new and stricter travel restrictions across Europe.

In September, 319,370 customers chose to fly with Norwegian, a decrease of 90 percent compared to the same period last year. The capacity (ASK) this month was down 93 percent, while the total passenger traffic (PRK) was 96 percent lower. The load factor was 52.8 percent, down 37 percentage points.

The company operated 99.2 percent of its scheduled flights in September, with a 97.6 percent on time departure.

Jacob Schram, CEO of Norwegian, said: “In September several European countries were classified as ‘red’ by the authorities. We have seen that as soon as the authorities impose new travel restrictions demand is immediately impacted. We are continuously adapting our route network in line with changing demand, but the frequent changes in travel restrictions make forward planning difficult, both for us and our customers. Looking ahead, this continues to be a prolonged crisis that is far from over.”

WestJet introduces its Boeing 787 Dreamliner to Vancouver

WestJet and the Vancouver International Airport (YVR) today announced WestJet’s newest aircraft, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, is now operating five-times weekly between Vancouver and Toronto. Vancouver joins Calgary and Toronto as another domestic 787 destination.

WestJet is also operating Boeing 737 aircraft on three other nonstop daily flights between Vancouver and Toronto for a total of four daily flights, with the exception of Saturdays. On November 5, the WestJet Dreamliner increases operations between Vancouver and Toronto to daily service. Flights are scheduled to provide convenient departure and landing times for business and leisure travelers.

WestJet 787 Dreamliner schedule between Vancouver and Toronto:

Flight #	Departure City	Depart	Arrive	Date	Days of week
706	Vancouver – Toronto	9 a.m.	4:10 p.m.	October 5	Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday
711	Toronto – Vancouver	5:15 p.m.	6:55 p.m.	October 5	Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday

The WestJet Dreamliner features 320 seats in three cabins: Business, Premium and Economy, all of which contain a high-level of comfort.

WestJet aircraft photo gallery:

Emirates expands its network in Europe to 31 destinations with restart of flights to Budapest, Bologna, Lyon, Dusseldorf and Hamburg

Emirates has announced it will resume flights to Budapest (from October 21), Bologna (November 1), Dusseldorf (November 1), Hamburg (November 1) and Lyon (November 4), expanding its European network to 31 destinations, and offering customers around the world convenient connections via Dubai.

The addition of these five destinations takes Emirates’ global network to 99 destinations, as the airline continues to gradually meet travel demand, while always prioritising the health and safety of its customers, crew and communities.

Flights to/from Budapest and Lyon will operate twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays while flights to/from Bologna, Dusseldorf and Hamburg will operate twice a week on Fridays and Sundays.

All flights to the five cities will be operated by the Boeing 777- 300ER, providing robust cargo capacity on each flight.

United Airlines resumes nonstop service between San Francisco and Shanghai

United Airlines has announced it will start nonstop service to China four-times weekly between San Francisco and Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport. Beginning Oct. 21, 2020, United will operate four weekly nonstop flights with Boeing 777-300ER aircraft from San Francisco to Shanghai on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Customers traveling from Shanghai will return to San Francisco on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Tickets are available for purchase on united.com and the United mobile app.

United will continue operating four weekly flights between San Francisco and Shanghai and beginning October 21, will no longer be required to stop in Seoul. United offered more service to China than any other U.S. carrier prior to suspending service in February due to COVID-19. In 2019, United operated five daily flights between Shanghai and its hubs in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York/Newark.

United service to Shanghai*
Flight	Depart	Day	Time	Arrive	Time
UA 857	San Francisco	Weds., Fri., Sat., Sun.	11:50 a.m.	Shanghai	4:30 p.m.^{+1 day}
UA 858	Shanghai	Mon., Tues., Fri., Sun.	1:30 p.m.	San Francisco	9:30 a.m.

*Schedule times subject to change

United Airlines aircraft photo gallery:

Ukraine International to resume New York flights

Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) has updated its plans and schedule for non-stop wide-body flights between Kyiv & New York. UIA is planning to resume flights as the Spring season takes hold in both cities. Plans include flights in time for the Easter holidays in 2021.

Numerous factors have to be considered when planning these flights, and the determination is a fluid matter, understanding the worldwide corona pandemic, governmental decisions regarding the opening of borders and the general economic situation around the world.

Understanding that many factors are beyond the control of UIA, and that the planning of long-haul flights is determined months of advance, UIA will make the determination on the number of nonstop flights and the final schedule later this year.

UIA will closely monitor the economic recovery in the US and Ukraine as well as the global responses to the CoVid pandemic by the governments of these countries and Israel, and other European countries. Additional factors that will be given consideration include the political situation in the Caucasus, which has recently led to the cancellation of UIA flights to Yerevan, Baku and Tbilisi, connecting flights important to the success of New York – Kyiv route. The combination of these many factors, will impact how UIA will move forward for these flights.

Ukraine International aircraft photo gallery:

KLM submits restructuring plan to Ministry of Finance

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines submitted its restructuring plan to the Netherlands Ministry of Finance. The presentation of this restructuring plan was a key condition in obtaining a government loan and guarantees to the value of EUR 3.4 billion. The plan outlines how KLM intends to overcome the worst crisis in almost 101 years in operation, explaining how KLM intends to fulfil the conditions imposed by the Netherlands government. The plan is currently under review at the ministry.

The presentation of the plan is a very important milestone. Substantively, the plan includes elements such as the reassessment of strategy, cost-cutting initiatives, financial considerations and how KLM staff will contribute by way of reduced employment conditions.

The basic principle of the restructuring plan is that KLM’s existing business model is still valid and valuable, but that far-reaching, structural initiatives are required to ensure KLM’s future success. Owing to the effects of the corona pandemic, KLM is preparing for an extended period during which fewer flights will be operated. The organisation will become smaller and less costly, as well as more sustainable, economical and efficient.

As KLM plays such an important economic and societal role in the Netherlands, the government has offered the airline a loan package, to which it has attached certain conditions. One condition is that KLM staff should contribute to KLM’s restructuring by accepting reduced employment conditions, amounting to income-dependent, graduated cutbacks of up to 20%. These reduced conditions will apply for the duration of the loan period.

KLM has now reached agreement with all unions for ground, cockpit and cabin staff on key principles of this plan for the period through 2022. This includes the unions VNC and FNV Cabine in the cabin domain and the unions FNV Luchtvaart, CNV, De Unie, VKP and NVLT in the ground domain, as well as the Dutch Airline Pilots Association VNV in the cockpit domain.

One of the other conditions imposed by the government is a 15% reduction in controllable costs. The KLM Works Council has been asked to advise on the downsizing and further simplification of the KLM organisation. In addition, there are more than 70 initiatives that will mainly reduce external costs. Significant cost savings will be achieved by phasing out leased aircraft and deploying a more efficient fleet. KLM is also meeting with suppliers and chain partners to contribute to cost reduction.

In terms of labor costs, KLM has already achieved savings by shedding jobs. KLM has already downsized by way of various measures, including non-renewal of short-term contracts (1,500 jobs) and a voluntary resignation scheme (2,000 jobs). By the end of the year, KLM will employ around 4,500 fewer people than it did before the coronavirus pandemic.

Regrettably, further cutbacks cannot be excluded in view of the magnitude and gravity of the crisis. KLM has also reached agreement on a social plan with trade unions for ground personnel and cabin crew. The existing collective labour agreement for cockpit crew already provides a social plan.

Furthermore, KLM will reopen a voluntary resignation scheme targeting specific divisions and departments in order to minimise involuntary dismissals.

The KLM Works Council has reviewed and evaluated 37 requests for advice. The restructuring plan is ambitious and pressure ran high leading up to 1 October. The constructive contribution of divisional staff representatives and the Works Council deserves high praise. The Works Council’s positive advice on restructuring plans was subject to the successful negotiation of a social plan.

“Today we took a major, exceedingly important step towards restructuring KLM. The plan we submitted to the Ministry of Finance today is a condition for obtaining a financial package, making this an important milestone in KLM’s recovery. The aim is to ensure that KLM survives this crisis and emerges stronger than before. The measures are far-reaching and painful for KLM staff, but they are necessary. I am grateful for the support of the Netherlands government and proud of the efforts of all involved – KLM staff, our Works Council and trade unions – who worked together to achieve this result.”

KLM President-directeur & CEO Pieter Elbers

BER Airport receives operating permit

The Joint Aviation Authority of Berlin-Brandenburg (Gemeinsame Obere Luftfahrtbehörde Berlin-Brandenburg, LuBB) has presented Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH (FBB) with permission to begin operations and the airport operating certificate for Berlin Brandenburg Airport Willy Brandt (BER). Both documents are necessary to operate a commercial airport in Germany and are, therefore, a requirement for opening BER.

Since July 2020, the airport company has successfully tested BER together with 9,000 volunteers as part of the internationally established and proven ORAT program. The training program will continue until October 15, 2020 with the aim of further refining procedures.

BER commissioning will begin with the opening of BER’s Terminal 1 on October 31, 2020. On this day, an easyJet aircraft and a Lufthansa aircraft will arrive at the same time and be the first to be received and handled at the new terminal’s Main Pier. On the morning of November 4, 2020, FBB will start operations on the southern runway with a Qatar Airways aircraft landing. BER’s new night-time flight restrictions will also apply starting on this day. The transfer from Tegel to BER will be complete with the last flight, operated by Air France, from Berlin-Tegel to Paris on November 8, 2020.