Bamboo Airlines will fly three weekly flights both from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh. While flights from Heathrow to Ho Chi Minh will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, those to Hanoi will operate on Monday, Wednesdays, and Saturdays.

Last year, it was reported that Bamboo Airlines will fly to other destinations in Europe as well such as Prague and Munich, however, the operations never took off due to the coronavirus pandemic. It is being reported that the carrier will soon fly to other destinations such as Frankfurt.

Last year, Bamboo Airways was granted a permit to fly to the US by the Department of transformation, media reports said. The carrier was the second Vietnamese carrier to be permitted by the US to fly to the country. The other carrier that was also granted a permit was Vietnam Airlines. A direct flight would bring the travel time down to 14 to 16 hours, generally, it takes 18 to 21 hours to travel between the two countries.

It is reported that Bamboo Airways will begin operating in the US by the end of 2021 or early 2022. The carrier will now file for paperwork with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Transportation Security Administration and other relevant agencies in the US.

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Lion Air has been plagued by a deadly crash in 2018 which has hampered its business significantly and the new airline provides a way for the carrier for a fresh start.

It is reported that Budi Prayitno, a spokesman for the transport ministry confirmed it’s processing one application for an air operator certificate; however, he refrained from disclosing any further details.

The pandemic has also added to the woes of not only Lion Air, but almost all carriers across the globe. Even though air travel in Indonesia rebounded to 1.46 million people in July, from just 87,000 in May, that’s still far below 7.14 million seen in the same month last year.

It is also reported that the Lion Group, that owns the Lion Air brand, have approached its lessors to request group-wide power-by-the-hour agreements for 24 months.

The plan is to convert its existing leases to power-by-the-hour agreements. Since the pandemic has significantly impacted the revenue of Lion Group this year, the restructuring of its agreement means it is asking its lessors to share the pain.

Cirrum’s Thomas Kaplan tells FlightGlobal, “A typical power-by-the-hour agreement usually involves a minimum spend amount, as well as a charge per flight hour. A maximum monthly charge may also be set, plus the minimum monthly charge can be less than half the normal full lease rate.”

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According to the carrier, it will fly to five major cities in Europe and two cities in Asia.

Among the flights destined to Europe, one flight will depart for Munich, Germany, on Sept 11, and two flights to Frankfurt, on Sept 18 and 30.

Another three aircraft will fly to London on September 13, 20 and 27.  Two more aircraft will head to Paris, on Sept 17 and 29.  Finally, the last two flights will go to Copenhagen, on Sept 13 and 27.

In Asia, four flights to Taipei will depart, on September 4, 10, 18 and 25, and four to Hong Kong, on Sept 9, 16, 23 and 30.

Thai Airways has reported losses of around $900 million during the first six months of the year, according to reports in the media.

The carrier further revealed that its losses for the second quarter of 2020 stood at around $170 million.

The losses incurred were due to the coronavirus pandemic which has forced carriers across the globe to suspend almost all of their operations.

During the first quarter, Thai Airways reported losses of around $730 million.

In July, Thai Airways announced the appointment of its board member Chansin Treenuchagron as its acting president.

Thai Airways also decided that it will let go of only 5 percent of its 20,000 employees as a part of its restructuring.

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The carrier has raised the loans by securing its Airbus A350-900s and Boeing 878-10s.

So far, Singapore Airlines has raised $7.96 billion in liquidity since the start of the financial year 2020/2021.

According to Bloomberg Intelligence analysts James Teo and Chris Muckensturm, Singapore Airlines’ net loss could widen to S$1.2 billion for the quarter through June due to the coronavirus pandemic. They also said that revenue may slump by 87 percent because of a 96 percent drop in capacity.

It has already suffered losses of around S$732 million as a result of the outbreak.

Last month, Singapore Airlines revealed that it secured an additional $1 billion in credit facilities to help the carrier deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

This is in addition to the $6.32 billion it raised for a rights issue.

Singapore Airlines had raised around S$900 million through loans on some of its aircraft. Besides that, it also arranged new lines of credit and a short-term loan of around S$500 million with several banks for further liquidity.

The carrier said in a statement, “During this period of high uncertainty, Singapore Airlines will continue to explore additional means to shore up liquidity as necessary.”

Singapore Airlines cancelled most of its operations earlier this year to help curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

A report by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) revealed that the global aviation sector would lose around $314 billion in revenue this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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In the first quarter of the previous year, the carrier made a profit of around RM21.31 million.

Due to the Covid-19 crisis,  AirAsia’s revenue fell to RM2.31 billion from RM2.73 billion previously.

In a stock exchange filing, AirAsia said, “Fears of the spread of the virus, as well as travel restrictions and border controls announced by the government of different countries, led to a collapsed in demand for air travel in the month of February and March 2020.”

According to reports in the media, AirAsia has applied for a loan of around RM3 billion to help the carrier weather the Covid-19 crisis.

A research report by CGS-CIMB Equities Research says, “We estimate AirAsia needs RM3 billion in new funding to maintain a healthy cash position.”

Reportedly, the group is holding talks with multiple banks, however, around 80 percent of the loans may be guaranteed by Danajamin Nasional Berhad, and may issue new equity or convertible securities to strategic shareholders while not ruling out a rights issue.

AirAsia Group expects its 2020 capacity to be just 45-60 percent of last year’s levels due to the coronavirus outbreak and to fill 70-75 percent of seats this year compared with the usual 85 percent.

The carrier posted the forecast on its website.

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This is in addition to the $6.32 billion it raised for a rights issue.

Singapore Airlines had raised around S$900 million through loans on some of its aircraft. Besides that, it also arranged new lines of credit and a short-term loan of around S$500 million with several banks for further liquidity.

The carrier said in a statement, “During this period of high uncertainty, Singapore Airlines will continue to explore additional means to shore up liquidity as necessary.”

A recent media report suggests that Singapore Airlines will not let go of any of its employees as it weathers the coronavirus crisis.

Singapore Airlines cancelled most of its operations earlier this year to help curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. However, Singapore Airlines and its subsidiary SilkAir have restored some flights this month and are operating at 6 percent of capacity.

A report by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) revealed that the global aviation sector would lose around $314 billion in revenue this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In the month of March, the carrier raised around S$19 billion in funding to help the carrier deal with the global lockdown caused by the novel coronavirus, media reports said.

Temasek, which is Singapore Airlines’ biggest shareholder, revealed that it would underwrite the sale of shares and convertible bonds for up to S$15 billion to help the carrier fight the coronavirus.

The additional S$4 billion would be secured in the form of a loan by the carrier from  DBS Bank.

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According to Reuters, the loan has already been approved by the Ministry of Finance, which holds a majority stake in Thai Airways.

Reportedly, the carrier is also planning to raise around 77.4 billion baht in capital by issuing new shares later this year.

To curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, Thai Airways cancelled most of its operations and grounded its flights as travel demand also slumped significantly.

At the beginning of last month, Thai Airways announced that in addition to suspending all flights from abroad, its staff would take salary cuts while being put on leave from this Saturday until the end of May to help practice social distancing.

Last month, media houses reported that Thai Airways was on the verge of collapsing and was desperately seeing a bailout package from the government. According to reports in the media, the carrier requested a bailout package of around ฿70 billion from the government.

Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak told the media, “I still would like to see Thai Airways as the national flag carrier because that is the way things have been for a long time.”

According to the International Air Transport Association, (IATA) the global aviation industry could lose revenue in hundreds of billions due to the pandemic.

Thai Airways is also planning to reduce the number of aircraft to 84 from 103 by 2024, and types of aircraft to six from seven, and will lay off some of its 21,000 employees.

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Thai Airways is running out of its cash reserves, which reportedly, will last the carrier for one more month and is in the desperate need for a bailout package.

The carrier has requested a bailout package of around ฿70 billion from the government, according to media reports. The Thai finance ministry will play the role of a guarantor.

Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak told the media, “I still would like to see Thai Airways as the national flag carrier because that is the way things have been for a long time.”

Recently, a meeting was held with regard to the future of Thai Airways and the meeting was attended by officials from the Finance Ministry and Transport Ministry, as well as representatives of state-owned oil company PTT and other private Thai conglomerates such as food processing and telecoms group Charoen Pokphand, retail collective Central Group, and beverage and real estate outfit TCC Group.

The fate of the airline could be decided on another meeting which is scheduled to take place on April 28^th, 2020.

Local media houses reported that Airports of Thailand (AOT), which runs six international airports in the country, will invest in the state-owned carrier. However, in a statement, AOT has clarified that the media reports are not true.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced all aviation companies to suspend operations, including Thai Airways. According to the International Air Transport Association, (IATA) the global aviation industry could lose revenue in hundred of billions due to the pandemic.

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The company also claimed to have received a commitment from a Japanese private equity firm to put immediate funds into the aviation group through an equity deal.

GSV chief executive officer Shahril Lamin told the media, “We have secured in excess of $2.5bn from the bank. We will take about three to four months to get long-term financing.”

However, Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd, the sole owner of Malaysia Airlines, is skeptical about the deal.

Recently, Japan Airlines, AirAsia Group and Malindo Air have shown their interest in the flag carrier.

Currently, airlines across the globe are battling severe revenue loss due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has pushed the world to the state of a lockdown.

A report by IATA published last month revealed that carriers in Southeast Asia could lose revenue of around $29 billion due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, since then the virus has spread to Europe, Africa and the Americas.

With travel demand down by more than 90 percent, many airlines are facing bankruptcy. Recently, European carrier Flybe entered into administration as the already struggling carrier failed to cope with the coronavirus.

So far, Malaysia Airlines has cancelled over 4000 flights due to the travel restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

The airline has cancelled some of its operations till June 30, 2020.

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Temasek, which is Singapore Airlines’ biggest shareholder, revealed that it would underwrite the sale of shares and convertible bonds for up to S$15 billion to help the carrier fight the coronavirus.

The additional S$4 billion would be secured in the form of a loan by the carrier from  DBS Bank.

Temasek International Chief Executive Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara told the media, “This transaction will not only tide SIA (Singapore Airlines) over a short term financial liquidity challenge, but will position it for growth beyond the coronavirus pandemic. The delivery of a new generation aircraft over the next few years will provide better fuel efficiencies as well as meet its capacity expansion strategy.”

Last week, Singapore Airlines revealed that it will cut 96 percent of its scheduled capacity until the end of April due to tightened border control measures around the world over the past week to curb the spread of the coronavirus ( Covid-19) outbreak.

The carrier further revealed that it has drawn on its credit lines in the last few days to meet immediate cash flow requirements. It is offering travel waivers for affected passengers and has updated its frequent flyer policies.

Recently, the International Air Transport Association has called on the governments of 18 Asia-Pacific countries including Singapore for emergency support for airlines as they fight for survival due to the Covid-19 crisis.

In its earlier reports, the IATA revealed that airlines in the Asia-Pacific could lose around $29 billion in revenue, however, the number is expected to rise significantly.

Singapore, Aviation, Southeast Asia, Singapore Airlines, coronavirus, Singapore coronavirus,

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