Emirates plans to cut an unspecified number of jobs as the coronavirus pandemic takes its toll on the carrier. The Dubai-based carrier said in a 31 May statement that it has come to the conclusion that "we unfortunately have to say goodbye to a few of the wonderful people that worked for us", saying that it had reviewed all possible scenarios before making this decision. "We continuously are reassessing the situation and will have to adapt to this transitional period. We do not view this lightly, and the company is doing everything possible to protect jobs wherever we can," it adds. "Where we are forced to take tough decisions, we will treat people with fairness and respect. We will work with impacted employees to ensure they are looked after and taken care of with necessary means." Emirates does not go into details about the redundancies in its latest statement, but as of 17th May Bloomberg News report said the airline was planning to cut around 30,000 jobs. Reuters in a 31 May report cited two company sources saying trainee pilots and cabin crew are among those being laid off.

Source: Cirium

Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) has, from today, resumed allowing some transit passengers to use the airport.
"From 1 June 2020 until further notice, only transit/transfer passengers who have been checked through at the origin port and take transit/transfer flights operated by the same airline group are accepted at HKIA," the airport says in a statement.
"Passengers should confirm in advance that they are able to enter the final destination. Please check with airlines for details." The ban on non-Hong Kong residents entering the city remains in place, and all non-Hong Kong residents coming from overseas countries and regions by plane will be denied entry to Hong Kong, the airport says. As has been the case since 25 March, non-Hong Kong residents coming from mainland China, Macau, and Taiwan may enter, but are subjected to a 14-day compulsory quarantine. However, if they have travelled to other countries or regions within 14 days before coming to Hong Kong, they will be denied entry. The special administrative region's flag carrier Cathay Pacific says on its website that its passengers will be able to transit Hong Kong if their itinerary is contained in a single booking and the connection time to their next Cathay Pacific or Cathay Dragon-operated flight is within eight hours. "Subject to both requirements being met, from 1 June 2020, transit connections will be available between Hong Kong and the destinations that we operate flights to," the airline says. However, in this "first phase" of reopening, transiting to and from destinations in mainland China is not allowed. In a 30 May report, local newspaper The South China Morning Post cited sources who said transport officials in Hong Kong had instructed Cathay and Hong Kong Airlines, in a meeting with company representatives last week, that they may not fly transit passengers to the mainland. According to a third source cited by the newspaper in the report, which Cirium has not independently verified, officials at that meeting explained that they did not want to overwhelm transit facilities.

Source: Cirium

French investigators are to handle the downloading of flight-recorder data from the Pakistan International Airlines Airbus A320 which crashed in Karachi on 22 May. The cockpit-voice recorder has been located, days after the flight-data recorder was retrieved, French investigation authority BEA states. BEA says it has received a request from Pakistani authorities to “repair” the recorders and handle data download operations in France. French representatives from Airbus and engine manufacturer Safran are supporting the Pakistani-led inquiry into the crash involving flight PK8303 from Lahore. Preliminary evidence strongly indicates the aircraft touched down with its landing-gear either retracted or only partially deployed, resulting in damage to the engines from runway contact and a loss of power during the subsequent attempted go-around. Pakistani investigators have yet to release any formal details of initial findings on the accident. Only two of the 99 occupants survived.

Source: Cirium