Thailand will ease a ban on international passenger flights into the country on 1 July, nearly three months after first imposing it on 4 April. The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand said in a 29 June notice that it would permit international passenger flights to operate into Thailand carrying 11 permitted categories of passenger. These include: returning Thai nationals; foreign nationals with a valid Thai work permit, or studying in the country; and any passenger covered by a "special arrangement" with a foreign country. However, the authority did not specify if transit passengers were allowed to travel through Thai airports, or when scheduled international passenger flights could fully resume. The notice further states that Thailand will continue to allow state or military aircraft, emergency landings, aircraft making technical stops, cargo and repatriation flights, and humanitarian, medical and relief missions into the country. The move to ease the ban on international passenger flights came as Thailand extended its national state of emergency by an additional month to 31 July. Singapore newspaper The Straits Times has reported that businesspeople and technical experts from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and South Korea will be allowed to enter Thailand under special arrangements, but will be quarantined for 14 days upon arrival. Since May, Thai carriers such as Bangkok Airways, Thai AirAsia, and Thai Lion Air have resumed domestic flights. However, Thai Airways and Thai AirAsia X have not said as to when flights will resume. NokScoot, meanwhile, is set to cease operations. It announced on 26 June that its board had decided to liquidate the company, and that shareholders would “deliberate the same resolution” at a general meeting in "about 14 days". All seven Boeing 777-200ERs the long-haul airline used to operate will be returned to Singapore Airlines. Thailand, with a population of about 66 million, has nearly 3,200 confirmed coronavirus cases and 58 deaths as of 30 June, based on data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Source: Cirium

Grupo Aeromexico, the parent company of Mexican flag carrier Aeromexico, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the USA after the coronavirus pandemic decimated its business. It is the third Latin American carrier after Colombia’s Avianca and Chile’s LATAM Airlines to do so as the fallout of the global crisis creates liquidity problems for the region’s airlines. The move comes just 11 days after Aeromexico said publicly that it had no plans to file for bankruptcy, but that it was “evaluating alternatives to move towards a better financial position”. Reversing its earlier course, the company says it hopes to utilise the process to acquire new financing, increase its liquidity reserves and create ”a sustainable platform to succeed in an uncertain global economy”. “Our industry faces unprecedented challenges due to significant declines in demand for air transportation,” says Aeromexico chief executive Andrés Conesa on 30 June. “We are committed to taking the necessary measures so that we can operate effectively in this new landscape and be well prepared for a successful future when the Covid-19 pandemic is behind us.” The company will continue operations as normal, and all tickets will remain valid, the airline says. Latin American carriers are struggling as the region’s governments have been much slower to respond with financial support for the air transport industry than in other parts of the world, such as North America and Europe. Billion-dollar aid packages in those regions have helped airlines stay afloat, at least temporarily, and reorganise their operations after passenger demand dropped off sharply when the coronavirus exploded into a global pandemic earlier this year. LATAM and Avianca both filed for bankruptcy protection in May in order to shield their businesses from creditors. Like Aeromexico, the airlines said they wanted to make sure they are able to restart operations smoothly when passenger demand returns and when travel restrictions are lifted. Air traffic fell by about 96% in Latin America and the Caribbean as the coronavirus pandemic reached its peak in April, and has yet to make any significant steps toward recovery. While most countries begin to lift restrictions in the coming weeks, Colombia and Argentina expect to have lockdowns in place through the end of August.

Source: Cirium

South African carrier Comair’s rescue practitioners are still trying to work through the details of an expression of interest for the airline, and are seeking further postponement of the publication of a business plan. They are requesting creditor approval to push back the publication date from 30 June to 28 July. After receiving the expression of interest on 21 June, the practitioners have been engaged in examining “certain legal complexities” necessary to develop it, they state. They add that, until these issues are clarified and resolved with the interested party, no business plan can be published that will have all the information necessary to assist with a decision on whether to accept it. Comair entered the business rescue process on 5 May. The airline is unlikely to resume services until near the end of this year, and its fleet will probably be heavily cut.

Source: Cirium