Aviation Daily Roundup: August 4

Vietnam’s Pacific Airlines has unveiled its livery and branding, transitioning from its former guise Jetstar Pacific after Qantas announced its exit from the joint venture in mid-June.

Philippine Airlines (PAL) and other carriers from the Philippines have canceled all domestic flights to and from the key Manila market due to a resurgence of COVID-19 cases.

A city government in eastern China will take a stake in privately held Ruili Airlines, extending a trend toward growing state ownership in the country’s commercial aviation sector.

Australian regional and charter carrier Alliance Aviation is buying a fleet of Embraer E190s to take advantage of growth opportunities it foresees in the local market.

SkyWest Airlines is accelerating its transition away from 50-seat Bombardier CRJ-200s as it looks to replace them with 76-seat Embraer E175s, which are now favored by major airlines.

EasyJet expects to fly around 40% of planned capacity in its 2020 fourth quarter (Q4), based on current travel restrictions—up from the 30% previously announced after better-than-expected summer bookings.

Indian LCC SpiceJet has secured slots at London Heathrow (LHR), which will allow the airline to commence flight services to the UK in September.

Despite Boeing’s recent decision to push back the commercial debut of the 777X from next year to 2022, the 777-9 test program continues to ramp up with the third development aircraft completing its first flight on Aug. 3.

The number of scheduled seats being offered by airlines across the world will top 60 million this week (w/c Aug. 3) for the first time in four months, meaning global capacity is now at 50% of the level achieved in 2019.

EASA is urging European airport operators to ensure ground-handling companies at their facilities are prepared to handle increased traffic as airlines steadily rebuild their networks amid the global COVID-19 pandemic.