Russian operators are restarting international services after the government started clearing restoration of links with countries including Turkey, the UK and Tanzania. Aeroflot is reopening its links from Moscow Sheremetyevo to Istanbul and London Heathrow on 1 August, both routes being served by Boeing 777s. Aeroflot’s budget sister carrier Pobeda is similarly scheduled to fly to Istanbul from Moscow Vnukovo on 1 August, while Turkish Airlines will fly to Vnukovo, as well as to St Petersburg and Rostov-on-Don, over the next three days. Turkish carrier Pegasus Airlines is scheduled to operate Istanbul-Moscow Domodedovo on 1 August. Services to Turkey will be “significantly increased” from 10 August, says Russian federal air transport regulator Rosaviatsia. Aeroflot will expand to the resort of Antalya, while S7 Airlines, Ural Airlines, Nordwind, Azur Air, Rossiya, and others are all planning to open connections. While domestic passenger numbers on Russian operators in June reached 2.8 million – still 60% down on the previous year – they barely registered any international activity. Rosaviatsia recorded little more than 40,000 international passengers during the month, around three-quarters of which were travelling between Russia and countries outside of the CIS.

Russian flag carrier Aeroflot slipped to a net loss of Rb26.2 billion ($356 million) in the second quarter, from a profit of Rb2.73 billion a year ago, but is now seeing a "gradual recovery" in domestic flights. "To support this positive trend, management plans to continue the implementation of strict cost-optimisation measures," the SkyTeam member stresses, noting its "constant dialogue with partners to improve terms and conditions in order to preserve jobs and the company's business and weather the current global crisis". Passenger turnover plunged 92% in the second quarter, amid a near-total cessation of international flying – excepting repatriation missions – and "a significant reduction in domestic flights due to quarantine-related travel restrictions in certain regions of Russia". Financial results prepared in accordance with Russian accounting standards show second-quarter revenue down 85%. Across the year's first half, passenger turnover fell 57% and revenue 52%. "Management's decision to decrease capacity by 47.8% had a positive impact on costs," says Aeroflot. As unit passenger revenue dropped 15%, the airline's first-half net loss trebled to Rb42.4 billion, despite a "40%-plus" increase in cargo revenue as the widebody fleet was repurposed to carry freight. The first-half cost of sales tightened 34% to Rb178 million. Aeroflot says this was a result not just of declining operational volumes but also of "large-scale cost-optimisation measures".

Source: Cirium

United Airlines will consolidate all of its regional Embraer 145 flying to one partner, in order to streamline its network and lower costs as the coronavirus outbreak continues to take its toll on the air transport industry. Two commuter airlines, ExpressJet Airlines and CommutAir, both fly the type for the Chicago-based mainline carrier as United Express, and on 30 July United confirms it will reduce its operations to just one of the two, CommutAir, leaving the other’s future in doubt. “We have been communicating for several months that we expect to be a smaller airline in response to the unprecedented impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on our business,” United says. ”In February, we took our first step to simplify our partner landscape and consolidate our E145 flying.” “Beginning later this year we will consolidate all of our E145 operations into CommutAir, which will then become United’s sole operator of this aircraft type. This transition will take a number of months,” the airline adds. Last February, United ended its relationship with Trans States Airlines, another United regional affiliate that operated the type, which shuttered completely shortly thereafter. At the time, it said it had made a “long-term” commitment to ExpressJet. Also in February, Atlanta-based ExpressJet disclosed plans to add 36 50-seat ERJ-145s to its fleet, and that it would divest of all of its larger E175s, becoming the world’s largest ERJ-145-only carrier, with more than 125 aircraft in its fleet. Now, this move by the legacy airline could spell the end of the regional carrier, which operates exclusively on behalf of United Airlines as United Express. ExpressJet would be the third US regional airline to fold since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis in the air transport industry, following Trans States and Compass Airlines. Prior to the pandemic, ExpressJet served more than 100 destinations in the USA, Canada and Mexico, with more than 3,300 weekly flights from bases in Chicago, Houston and Newark. It had about 3,000 employees. CommutAir, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, serves 50 destinations with about 1,000 weekly flights as United Express, operating 29 ERJ-145 aircraft. The airline says on 30 July it “looks forward to our continued partnership with United”.
Multiple attempts to reach ExpressJet for comment were unsuccessful.

Source: Cirium