Cathay Pacific is preparing a "consolidated schedule" for January 2022 that will "result in several flight cancellations". The Hong Kong carrier said on 22 December that "operational and travel restrictions continue to affect" its flight schedules. Hong Kong is continuing with its "zero-Covid" approach to managing the pandemic, imposing strictly enforced quarantines on arriving travellers. The government has stepped up these measures following the emergence of the Omicron variant. Earlier this month, the government announced that returnees from "enhanced surveillance" countries would have to spend the first week of their three-week quarantine in a government facility, before transferring to a hotel for the remainder. The length of time spent in a government facility was later reduced to four days, after the Food and Health Bureau said all of the imported Omicron cases so far had been detected within three days of passengers arriving in Hong Kong. On 20 December, the government announced additional measures to "further guard against the importation of cases". The "comprehensive tightening of inbound control measures" included tightening its "flight suspension mechanism" with immediate effect. This adds the condition that if four or more passengers on a flight are confirmed with Covid-19 upon arrival in Hong Kong from the same route within seven days, that route will be suspended for 14 days. It also shortens the timeframe in which passengers departing on a flight for Hong Kong need to get a PCR test to 48h from 72h, effective 24 December. Cathay did not specify in its 22 December statement which routes would be affected. Cirium has contacted the airline for more information.

VietJet plans to resume regular international flights from 1 January. The low-cost carrier will resume services from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, to Tokyo Narita International airport, Seoul Incheon International airport, Taipei, Singapore and Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International airport, it says in a statement today. For the first phase starting 1 January, VietJet will operate one round trip per week for each service, with frequencies to increase in line with travel demand and the government’s approval to ensure safe operations. In the next phase of service resumption, VietJet plans to resume its entire international network while looking to open new routes to destinations such as India and Russia. VietJet says it will use its Airbus A321 and A330 aircraft for the international services.

The EU has approved a combined €2.65 billion ($3 billion) in state aid provided to Portuguese flag carrier TAP to help it "return to viability". The European Commission, the bloc's executive body, on 21 December approved €2.55 billion in restructuring aid and €107 million in compensation for damages incurred as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic between 1 July and 30 December 2020. Support will be provided in the form of €2.55 billion in equity or quasi-equity measures, including the conversion of a €1.2 billion rescue loan into equity. As part of the package, TAP has agreed to safeguards designed to limit distortions of competition, such as making available 18 slots per day at Lisbon airport to give competing carriers the chance to expand and ensure fair prices. "The measures we approved today will enable Portugal to compensate TAP for damages directly suffered as a result of travel restrictions put in place to limit the spread of the coronavirus," states Commission executive vice-president Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy. "At the same time, the approved restructuring plan for TAP will ensure the airline's path towards long-term viability." The decision to wave through state aid to the carrier followed an investigation to assess the impact of a restructuring plan submitted by Portugal. This includes a package of measures aimed at streamlining TAP's operations and reducing costs, including a split of businesses into the airlines TAP Air Portugal and Portugalia. It will also involve divestment of some non-core assets, namely TAP's Brazilian maintenance business plus catering and ground handling units. In addition, TAP "will be banned from any acquisitions and will reduce its fleet until the end of the restructuring plan, streamlining its network and adjusting to the latest forecasts that estimate demand not picking-up before 2023 because of the coronavirus pandemic", states the Commission. In November, the carrier recorded a net loss of €628 million for the nine months to end-September, narrowing one of €701 million in the same period of 2020.