CAPA News Briefs

British Airways announced (02-Jul-2020) plans to resume a small number of long haul routes by the end of Jul-2020. Services will resume to Barbados, Bermuda, Dallas, Kingston, Miami, Seattle, Tokyo Haneda and Toronto. The carrier also resumed San Francisco service in Jun-2020 and will continue Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York JFK and Washington services with a very reduced schedule. [more - original PR]

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta announced (06-Jul-2020) the following changes to lockdown restrictions:

• Domestic air travel will resume on 15-Jul-2020;
• International air travel will resume on 01-Aug-2020;
• The cessation of movement into and out of the Nairobi Metropolitan Area, Mombasa County and Mandera County shall lapse on 07-Jul-2020;
• The nationwide curfew in force between 21:00 and 04:00 daily is extended for a further 30 days.

Mr Kenyatta said conditions will be monitored over the next 21 days and lockdown measures will be reinstated "should the situation deteriorate and pose a challenge to our health infrastructure". [more - original PR]

Jordan's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced (05-Jul-2020) Jordan received a Safe Travel Stamp from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). As part of the country's tourism recovery phase, the Ministry supported the sector with JOD200 million (USD282.1 million) in liquidity and worked on preparing guidelines for the tourist system. [more - original PR - Jordan Tourism Board] [more - original PR - Jordan's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities - Arabic]

Aeroflot director general Vitaly Savelyev announced (06-Jul-2020) the lifting of restrictions in Russia's cities will "radically" change the situation and allow a return to 2019 levels by Dec-2020. Mr Savelyev said the operation of domestic services remains challenging while destination cities are enforcing restrictions. Mr Savelyev noted: "Planes look as if they are almost full but then before departure their seats are only 80% occupied. Why? This is because many passengers are refusing to fly because the cities they are going to still have restrictions in place". President Vladimir Putin said governors are planning for the gradual lifting of restrictions as the epidemiological situation changes for the better. [more - original PR - English/Russian]

Aeroflot director general Vitaly Savelyev announced (06-Jul-2020) plans to return to 2019 levels of international traffic by the end of Mar-2021. Mr Savelyev said: "We are planning, if this happens and we will start flying, we will reinstate our flight traffic up to 80% by Dec-2020". [more - original PR - English/Russian]

AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes stated (06-Jul-2020) the group is positive "in the strides we have made in bringing cash expenses down by at least 50% this year, and this will make us even stronger as the leading low cost carrier in the region". Mr Fernandes added: "We are encouraged by the strong rebound demand seen since resuming operations in late Apr-2020 and we foresee this will continue in the coming months". [more - original PR]

Air Arabia Abu Dhabi announced (06-Jul-2020) plans to launch operations from 14-Jul-2020. Service will be as follows:

• Abu Dhabi-Alexandria: Three times weekly from 14-Jul-2020 with A320;
• Abu Dhabi-Sohag: Weekly from 15-Jul-2020 with A320.

Air Arabia Group CEO Adel Al Ali noted this network will be expanded "in time", as "more airports open up and flights resume". Egypt is a "key travel market" for the start up, he continued, adding: "Abu Dhabi is a major travel and tourism hub and Air Arabia Abu Dhabi will further serve this vision by positioning Abu Dhabi as a key hub in the region for low cost travel". [more - original PR]

Azul announced (06-Jul-2020) plans to operate 303 peak daily frequencies from the end of Aug-2020, representing around 35% of Azul's pre-coronavirus capacity. The carrier will also increase its list of destinations by eight, totalling 80 cities. Azul CRO Abhi Shah stated: "Passenger demand in Aug-2020 is expected to increase 290% compared to Apr-2020". He added: "When we laid out the Azul Recovery Plan in 1Q2020, we had conservatively estimated a 40% recovery in demand by Dec-2020… We are very pleased to already be able to offer a network that is 35% of our pre-crisis level by Aug-2020". [more - original PR]

Vistara reported (06-Jul-2020) the following highlights from a Jun-2020 survey of approximately 6000 Vistara customers regarding future air travel plans:

• 65% of respondents expected to take their next Vistara flight within the next six months;
• 35% of respondents expected to travel for work;
• 25% of respondents expected to travel to visit friends and relatives;
• 20% of respondents planned to take their next flight to a destination outside of India, with Singapore, the UK and Dubai emerging as the three most popular international destinations;
• 68% of business travel respondents expect to maintain or exceed frequency of air travel from the previous year;
• 60% of leisure travel respondents expect to maintain or exceed frequency of air travel from the previous year.

Vistara CCO Vinod Kannan stated, based on the survey results, "we expect demand for air travel to soon return in a graded manner". [more - original PR]

Simferopol International Airport handled (06-Jul-2020) more than 200 single day aircraft movements on 05-Jul-2020, exceeding the result recorded on 05-Jul-2019. The airport's network reached 56 destination in Jul-2020, unchanged from summer 2019, with 15 carriers serving the airport. Commercial director Sergey Dyaykin said: "We expect the new destinations will yet be added to the airport's network in summer 2020". [more - original PR - Russian]

Aberdeen Airport stated (06-Jul-2020) AGS Airports CEO Derek Provan called for "clarity as soon as possible" on when AGS Airports can move to a risk based air bridge approach to re-establish air transportation. Mr Provan noted since quarantine biosecurity methods were established, "thousands of jobs within our aviation and tourism sectors have been lost and the fact the policy has not even been enforced means our recovery plans have been stifled unnecessarily". [more - original PR]

Jetstar Japan announced (03-Jul-2020) it will resume operation of all domestic services from 23-Jul-2020. [more - original PR - Japanese]