Aviation Daily Roundup: September 29

For the air cargo sector, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a reversal in fortunes–with complex travel restrictions suppressing passenger demand, suddenly airlines’ cargo activities are the better performers.

Breeze Airways has pushed back its planned commercial launch date and now intends to begin operations with scheduled routes from two U.S. airports, rather than fly charter services as previously planned.

Work has begun at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (CAN) on China’s most ambitious and largest airport expansion project yet.

EgyptAir is gradually re-opening its African network as it starts to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Business rescue practitioners (BRP) acting for South African Airways (SAA) have decided to suspend the airline’s remaining operations.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) is opening the doors to its training center and offering an A380 dining experience under the banner “discover your Singapore Airlines” as it searches for alternate revenue streams.

U.S. House Democrats proposed a $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package that would extend the CARES Act Payroll Support Program (PSP) until March 2021, although they had only one day to pass it before the airline aid program was set to expire on Sept. 30.

Delta Air Lines will retire its Boeing 717s by the end of 2025 and speed up planned removals of its 767-300s and Bombardier CRJ-200s, parking the remainder of those-in service fleets by the end of 2025 and 2023, respectively.

IATA is now forecasting a slower than expected recovery of air travel for 2020 and into 2021, highlighting the need for further financial assistance from governments and urging the introduction of broad testing that would allow a quick reopening of borders.

Liquidators acting for state-owned South African regional airline SA Express have selected a ZAR50 million ($3 million) bid for the airline, led by a group of five former SA Express employees.

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) CEO Thomas Klühr is to leave the Lufthansa subsidiary at the end of 2020 after some five years in Zürich and more than 30 years within the Lufthansa Group.

Japan Air Lines (JAL) plans to work with Volocopter to promote the development of urban air mobility (UAM) for passenger and cargo transportation in Japan. The announcement comes on the heels of an agreement between JAL and Matternet to explore development of a drone healthcare delivery business in Japan.

Canada recently began mandatory passenger temperature screening at 11 airports, expanding a program that began in July.

Neste Corp. and Shell Aviation expect to eventually add more areas of cooperation to their recently signed partnership on sustainable aviation fuels, executives at both companies told Aviation Daily in a Sept. 29 interview.