Auckland airport is bringing forward runway pavement replacement work while operations are at a minimum during the Covid-19 outbreak. “We’ve experienced a significant reduction in flights and passenger numbers, with aircraft movements currently 90-95% lower than a normal busy day," Andre Lovatt, general manager of airport development and delivery, said in a statement on 11 May. "This project has been planned for some time," he adds, "but it was clear that we had an opportunity to bring construction forward to the earliest available time while runway movements are at an all-time low." The operator says construction begins in two weeks and will last eight to 10 weeks. Using a displaced threshold method, the existing runway will be shortened by 1.1 km but aircraft continue to operate while work is carried out safely. Under normal circumstances, there could be a need for airlines to reduce aircraft weight but the operator says it does not anticipate this with fewer fully laden aircraft flying. This project, valued at NZ$26 million ($15.8 million), is "a critical component of Auckland Airport’s much reduced infrastructure development programme over the next couple of years, one which prioritises selected capital projects that are focused on essential safety and asset maintenance". The operator says these were designed to accommodate passenger numbers that were projected to double by 2044. Lovatt said: “It’s extremely disappointing to put on hold much of the [NZ$1.2 billion] worth of construction projects already underway around the precinct prior to the Covid-19 outbreak. "But with no certainty around when the aviation market will recover it just isn’t realistic to keep progressing these projects at this point in time.”

Source: Cirium

Singapore's Changi airport will temporarily close Terminal 4 (T4) from 16 May, "in view of the small number of flights still operating in the terminal". "The timing of [when T4 will resume operations] will depend on when air travel demand picks up and on the requirements of airlines seeking to relaunch flights at Changi airport," operator Changi Airport Group (CAG) said in a statement today. Airlines currently based in T4 will operate at T1 or T3 instead. Retail and food outlets at T4 will close and the shuttle bus service connecting to T3 will be suspended "until operations in T4 resume". The operator says: "Even as terminal operations are scaled down during this period, CAG continues to work closely with its airline and airport partners and stands ready to restart operations at T4 as soon as a sufficient number of flights return to the terminal." Changi handled 25,200 passenger movements and 3,870 commercial aircraft movements in the month of April, marking a 99.5% and 87.7% reduction year-on-year, respectively. Air freight movements during the month were down by 38.3% to 96,500 tonnes. In April, CAG announced that it will shut T2 for 18 months starting 1 May, with an eye on suspending operations at T4 temporarily "but with the objective of restarting operations quickly when airlines confirm the resumption of flights". It also stated the opportunity for accelerating planned upgrades at T2, with expected completion potentially brought forward by up to one year from the 2024 schedule. In the latest statement, CAG said that shutting T2 will further consolidate terminal operations "to optimise resources in tandem with the sharp decline in flight movements because of the global Covid-19 pandemic". Reiterating its stand from April, the operator says: "This move will enable CAG and its airport partners to continue to save on running costs such as utilities and cleaning."

Source: Cirium

The Argentinian government has confirmed plans to merge its two state-owned airlines, Aerolineas Argentinas and its regional sibling Austral. The government made the decision after mandating that all scheduled commercial operations will remain grounded “at least until September” to contain the spread of the coronavirus, Aerolineas chief executive Pablo Ceriani says. “The [merger] will allow [both airlines] to improve results by approximately $100 million,” Ceriani says in a letter to employees. The combined company will be split into three business units: passenger, cargo and maintenance operations. The Austral brand will be discontinued by the end of 2020. The company's maintenance costs will be reduced by 7%, Ceriani says. It will also see a 10% jump in its domestic and regional fleet utilisation as operations of Boeing 737 and Embraer 190 fleets are coordinated. While both airlines already operate as an integrated group under a common corporate identity and commercial distribution, a full merger has faced stiff opposition from Austral’s pilots union. However, with Austral's entire E190 fleet grounded, the social and political impact of possible labour protests will go largely unnoticed. In 2019 Austral transported 3.67 million passengers, while Aerolineas carried nearly 10 million. Austral was renationalised in 2008 together with Aerolineas, rescuing it from bankruptcy. Its former Spanish owners had also kept both airlines separate, with Aerolineas focused on international operations and Austral providing domestic services. Since becoming a government-owned airline group, Austral has needed hundreds of millions of dollars of state subsidies to survive despite protectionist measures in a market that did not open up to real competition until 2015. A study warning that the impact of the coronavirus pandemic would increase the financial need to well over $1 billion triggered the decision to merge both airlines. Austral’s pilots union UALA has historically maintained distance from Aerolineas‘ Association of Argentinean Airline employees (AAA), which has traditionally leaned towards the governing leftist Peronist party. UALA deputy secretary Genaro Trucco says that his union cannot approve the merger unless the government guarantees the permanence of all 1,700 Austral jobs and their labour conditions after the merger. He also doubts that the planned savings of $100 million is realistic as “Austral is already a very efficient company”. In contrast, Aerolineas, with its more than 10,000 employees, still is considered bloated, despite some restructuring measures imposed in recent years under the Macri administration. While the AAA welcomes the announced merger, UALA has put itself on a “state of alert”, a prior step to potential labour actions. Another union source criticises the government for “smuggling in” the merger under the “pretext of the pandemic “, as well as for the forced grounding of all commercial flights until September. “The government is using the pandemic to justify the merger, trying to push it through under the radar of a public opinion focused on the Covid-19 crisis. It is putting at risk the whole local aviation industry, as eventually not all competitors will be able to resume flights after the enforced grounding. "No other country in the world has announced such a long grounding as Argentina, which may come close to half a year without scheduled flights,” the union source says.

Source: Cirium