Aviation Daily Roundup: August 28

Contracts totaling $33 million to develop all-electric powertrain and fuel-to-electric power-conversion technologies to reduce the emissions of future single-aisle airliners have been awarded by the U.S. Energy Department.

The Thai government is providing THB24 billion ($766 million) in loans for seven LCCs that operate in the country to save jobs amid flight bans and low passenger demand following the coronavirus outbreak.M

Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) continues to increase flight frequencies and add back more routes starting from September to destinations within Scandinavia as well as in Europe and some long-haul points as demand increases.

Boeing is working to determine the cause and scope of two different manufacturing quality problems in its Boeing 787 production process that, when combined, make affected aircraft susceptible to structure failure at loads they should be able to withstand.

Singapore Airlines Engineering Company (SIAEC) has acquired all of Airbus Services Asia Pacific’s 35% share in Heavy Maintenance Singapore Services (HMSS), taking full ownership of the joint venture that was incorporated in October 2016.

The resurgence of coronavirus cases in Japan is causing major airlines to further scale back their domestic capacity plans as demand softens significantly.

Ethiopian Airlines has announced the opening of a new terminal at its home hub Addis Ababa Bole International Airport—which has been designed to incorporate COVID-19 mitigation measures.

Southwest Airlines president and CEO Gary Kelly said business must double from current levels for the company to break even, as demand remains badly depressed despite modest improvement in close-in leisure bookings.

Colombia appears poised to restart commercial aviation operations after shutting down the sector for roughly six months to combat the spread of COVID-19.

Norwegian Air Shuttle said a government loan guarantee was “not enough” to get it through the prolonged COVID-19 crisis and warned of a significant risk of insolvency.

Dutch airports operator Royal Schiphol Group has warned several hundred jobs are at risk, after posting a first-half (H1) €246 million ($180 million) net loss, while London Gatwick’s H1 loss totaled £321 million ($424 million) with 600 positions under threat.

South African carrier Comair could soon exit business rescue, after a potential investor submitted a binding offer late on Aug. 28.

Croatia Airlines has requested financial assistance from its owner the Croatian government after the flag-carrier’s liquidity became strained because of COVID-19.