Passenger numbers at Amsterdam Schiphol airport declined in the second half of August as a recovery in travel demand appeared to run out of steam. During the first half of August, 60-70,000 passengers travelled through the Dutch hub per day. But that number declined to 50-60,000 during the second half. "While the number of fights remained steady, there was a drop in the number of passengers from mid-August onwards," says Schiphol. "A decline in traveller numbers is a normal occurrence at the end of the summer holidays, but now at a lower level than usual." The airport suggests that increased infection rates and travel restrictions across Europe will hinder a recovery during September. "We expect the amount of daily flights to vary between 700 and 900, and the number of passengers to decrease to between 35,000 and 60,000 per day." The total number of aircraft taking off and landing at Schiphol during August decreased 49% compared to last year, to 23,125 flights. By passenger numbers, the decline was greater –1.85 million passengers travelled through the airport compared to 6.81 million a year prior, a 73% decline. Long-haul traffic has seen a greater decline and shallower recovery than for European flights, a development that tallies with other airports across Europe. Cargo flights increased over August to 2,188 – an 83% increase – although tonnage declined 8%. August’s traffic figures mean that Schiphol processed more passengers than London Heathrow or Frankfurt airports during that month Heathrow and Frankfurt reported 1.4 million and 1.51 million passengers in August, respectively.

Source: Cirium

South African Airways' rescuers have agreed to terminate the leases on 33 of the carrier's 40 leased aircraft, and aim to finalise terminations on the rest by the end of the month. In a notice to affected persons, SAA's business rescue practitioners state that if lease termination agreements cannot be reached on the remaining seven aircraft by the end of September, "the company will have to institute legal proceedings to cancel the onerous aircraft leases". In a draft rescue plan drawn up by the rescuers in June, it was revealed that leases were being terminated on nearly half of SAA's 40 leased aircraft another 15 have been undergoing renegotiation. The plan showed the termination of leases was being carried out on six Airbus A330-200s, three A340-300s, three A340-600s and seven A319s, while two Boeing 737-300SF freighters had reached the end of their leases. Five A330-300s and 10 A320s were listed as having been the subject of renegotiation of their lease agreements, to reduce rental costs. SAA had also introduced four A350-900s, two of which were subleased from Air Mauritius and two from Avolon, subleased through Hainan Airlines. At the time, the plan indicated that retention of the A350s would depend on the future route network of SAA. However, it now appears that none of SAA's leased aircraft will remain in its fleet. Fleets data shows that SAA currently has six aircraft in service and 27 in storage. Data shows that the aircraft not owned by the airline are leased from a range of lessors, including Castlelake, Goshawk, GECAS and Standard Chartered Aviation Finance.

Source: Cirium

Politicians speaking at a UK parliamentary debate on the recovery of the country’s aviation industry have urged the government to rapidly adopt a coronavirus airport testing regime to encourage passengers back into the sky. Former prime minister Theresa May says that the UK is “lagging behind” other jurisdictions who have already adopted testing, noting that in total 30 countries were already carrying out the procedures. “Testing has to be the way forward in the foreseeable future, but at the moment airports aren’t even permitted to trial test on passengers,” May says. Other speakers note the importance of the aviation sector to the UK economy given its role in enabling exports and creating jobs, with 230,000 people in the UK directly employed by the industry. They argue that aviation connectivity will be particularly important as the country looks to recover from the economic decline caused by the pandemic. UK health secretary Matt Hancock said on 7 September that coronavirus testing at the border “doesn’t work” to stop the spread of the disease because of its incubation period, Sky News reports. But the government was looking at other ways to reduce the quarantine period, Hancock said. Quarantine times upon entry to the UK are currently two weeks for arrivals from countries covered by the rule. But the government is coming under increasing industry pressure to reduce that period. Earlier this week, the Airport Operator’s Association (AOA) urged the government to make a decision this week on introducing testing for international travellers. The airports body had warned up to 110,000 jobs at UK airports and their supply chains were at risk. It also highlights traffic data from ACI Europe showing passenger numbers were down 73% from UK airports in August – an even sharper reduction than the 70% fall across European airports as a whole. “There is no surprise that, with quarantine measures constantly changing and still being applied in a blanket way, rather than a more targeted regional approach, and no sign of a testing regime, UK aviation has suffered through its worst summer in a generation,” says AOA chief executive Karen Dee. ”These figures show that for our peak month of August, the UK industry’s recovery lagged behind our counterparts in Europe.”

Source: Cirium