AirAsia Group CEO: 'Business travel is going to be changed forever'
AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes stated: "I am already in a much better position than a full service airline that relies on business traffic", adding: "Business traffic is going to be changed forever". Mr Fernandes said: "I think there will be much fewer conventions. Travelling distances will be shorter. I think you are more likely to go to Phuket than you are to Los Angeles". He added: "Low cost carriers will become stronger. At the upper end, I think private jets are going to grow dramatically. There will be a new category of above first class travel".
IATA: 'Unacceptable' to have airlines 'write the big cheque' for emissions reduction
IATA director general Willie Walsh said it is "unacceptable" for the aviation sector to "just look to airlines to write the big cheque" when it comes to the challenge of reducing emissions.
Air Serbia CEO: Belgrade-New York 'one of our most profitable routes'
Air Serbia CEO Duncan Naysmith stated Belgrade-New York JFK service has been "one of our most profitable routes" in 2020 and 2021. Mr Naysmith said: "Despite the pandemic, our trans-Atlantic flight has continued to deliver positive results".
flypop CEO: London Stansted Airport 'going to be our first base'
flypop CEO Nino Judge said the carrier "signed with Stansted… they are going to be our first base", adding "India is just the start". Mr Judge added that within a ten hour radius of the airport "we can cover all the way from Sri Lanka to Johannesburg, South America, the whole Caribbean. And I think you can even get San Francisco".
Spirit Airlines: 'There's a lot of opportunity to add more dots to the map'
Spirit Airlines VP network planning John Kirby stated: "We only serve 52 destinations in the lower 48 [US states]", adding: "We think that there's a lot of opportunity to add a lot more dots to the map". Mr Kirby said: "Next year is going to be a massive growth year for Spirit", stating: "In subsequent years we'll be growing about 14%-17% - sort of that mid-teen target".
Ryanair CEO: 'Traffic is mushrooming'
Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary said: "Traffic is mushrooming and a lot of that folk are families going on summer holidays to the beaches of Portugal, Spain, Greece and Italy". Mr O'Leary said by Mar-2022, the carrier is scheduled to operate 80 million to 100 million passengers, noting increases in coronavirus cases would not heavily impact the carrier, adding: "There might be some disruption in Lisbon but we think it will be reasonably small and it won't last long because of the vaccinations taking place all over Europe".
Kenya Airways in discussions on government support for debt restructuring: CEO
Kenya Airways Group MD and CEO Allan Kilavuka stated the airline is scheduled to resume debt repayments in Jul-2021 as deferral agreements with creditors end. Mr Kilavuka commented: "The bigger discussion... is how do you actually restructure that debt?". He added: "For us to do that we need government support, because... they have guaranteed quite a lot of our debt. There is a discussion around that".
PLAY CEO: Bookings for first European routes 'very good' through summer 2021
PLAY CEO Birgir Jonsson reported demand for the LCC's initial routes is "very good, especially later this summer". As previously reported by CAPA, PLAY launched passenger operations with Reykjavik-London Stansted service on 24-Jun-2021, and plans to serve a further five European cities from Reykjavik through summer 2021.
Scoot CEO: 'Cargo services enable us to sustain flights'
Scoot CEO Campbell Wilson stated: "Even though it's hard to predict the future of the aviation business, I'm confident about the fast growth of the Asia market". Mr Wilson said: "Many countries such as the US, European countries and Australia have reopened with a surge in leisure demand. We expect to see that happen in Asia when there are fewer travel restrictions". He added: "Cargo services enable us to sustain flights. But leisure demand might remain low, as due to restrictions people cannot travel like they did during the pre-pandemic period".
JetBlue Airways 'excited' to grow network at LaGuardia Airport
JetBlue Airways VP network planning Andrea Lusso reported the carrier is "really excited" about growth opportunities at New York La Guardia Airport, having been "historically capped at a fairly small number of slot pairs". Mr Lusso stated: "We're excited to grow there again, replicating the success of our strategy in JFK and Newark". He added: "Combining that with [American Airlines'] strength in the corporate markets we think we can really be a powerful competitor there".
Auckland Airport CEO: 'we do expect steady recovery from early in calendar year 2022'
Auckland International Airport CEO Adrian Littlewood stated "Emerging overseas evidence points strongly to widespread vaccination being the path to protecting communities against the virus", and where it is being achieved "is leading to a strong revival of the aviation sector". Mr Littlewood said New Zealand's international passenger recovery is "unlikely to materially change until the vaccination programme rolls out to a significant number of New Zealanders across the next few months". Mr Littlewood added: "International passenger numbers and those business lines linked to passenger volumes, including retail and transport, may remain very subdued for the remainder of the calendar year", adding "we do expect steady recovery from early in calendar year 2022".
CemAir may cut capacity by 50% or more due to Level 4 restrictions: CEO
CemAir CEO Miles van der Molen commented on the Level 4 restrictions implemented by South Africa's Government from 28-Jun-2021, stating: "We have seen a big pullback in demand in the weeks running up to Sunday's announcement". Mr van der Molen reported "very soft demand" on 28-Jun-2021, "and a spike in calls from people wanting to postpone travel". He added: "We have cut some capacity and expect to cut more. I suspect we will end up with an overall reduction of about 50% capacity, perhaps even lower". Mr van der Molen does not expect demand to improve before Aug-2021.
Singapore Airlines 'quite keen' to resume travel bubble discussion with Australia
Singapore Airlines regional VP South West Pacific Louis Arul reported the carrier is "quite keen" to open discussions with Australia's government on establishing a travel bubble. Mr Arul said the carrier is no longer working towards a timeline and will instead prioritise how a bubble would work "because the how will determine the when". He stated: "The fear is that the implementation will be rushed", adding: "In a situation like this where you need to be really spot on with your measures, you don't want to rush the implementation". Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison discussed the possibility of a travel bubble with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in early Jun-2021.