Singapore Airlines [SIA] said in a trading update on April 15 it may need to extend capacity cuts that has led to a 96% reduction in flying in April "if border controls and travel restrictions remain in place and travel demand continues to be low". Read More » The airline group – comprising full service Singapore Airlines and low-cost carrier Scoot – suffered a 64.8% decline in passenger numbers in March, compared with a year ago, while load factors were 24.1 percentage points lower at 57.4%.
Auckland Airport's monthly traffic report published on April 16 showed the total number of passengers at New Zealand's largest gateway dropped 42% to 1.1 million in March, from 1.9 million in the prior corresponding period. Separately, the airport said it was handling about 3,500 passengers a day in April, which represented 6% of the 58,000 daily passengers in the same month a year ago.
Virgin Australia [VA] said on April 16 discussions with respect to its financial assistance and restructuring alternatives were ongoing as the company voluntarily suspended its shares from trade on the Australian Securities Exchange for a further seven days. The airline has been in a trading halt since Tuesday as it worked through efforts to shore up its balance sheet and refinance its debt portfolio and sought government support.
Vietnam low-cost carrier Vietjet Air has started using its Airbus A320 family aircraft for cargo-only flights, FlightGlobal reported on April 16.
Hong Kong Airport's monthly traffic report published on April 15 showed passenger numbers plunged 91% to 576,000 in March, from 6.42 million in the prior corresponding period, while passenger flight movements dropped by 82.1%. Airport Authority of Hong Kong executive director for airport operations, Vivian Cheung, said in a statement the whole airport community was "encountering unprecedented hardship amid the COVID-19 pandemic".
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said on April 15 the country's airlines collectively lost 39.82 billion yuan (US$5.6 billion) in the three months to March 31 2020, according to a report in Hong Kong's South China Morning Post.
