Aviation Covid-19 Situation Report (23rd March 2020)

March 23, 2020

To keep our affiliates updated, we will be posting daily Covid-19 situation reports on our blog. These reports will focus on the effect the virus is having on the aviation industry, and specifically on aviation workers. These reports are a compilation of publically available information provided to us by our affiliates and media outlets.

If you have information to provide please contact us at civilaviation@itf.org.uk.

The ITF cannot guarantee that the information provided is accurate at the time of reading. This update is not complete as we can only post what information we have been given by our affiliates or on news outlets.

Keep up to date on all transport covid-19 stories at https://www.itfglobal.org/en/news-events/covid-19-updates.

Algeria

• Flights have been closed with the exception of a few repatriation flights a day. Currently transport workers will not have any salary deductions.

Australia

• Australian authorities are advising against all non-essential domestic travel. 

Belgium

• Brussels Charleoi airport will close from Tuesday 24^th March until Sunday 5^th April due to a massive reduction in traffic. 

Brazil

• As of 23 March, Rio de Janeiro airport will suspend all all international and domestic flights from affected regions of Brazil until April 5.

Canada

• De Havilland Canada has announced the suspension of production of the DHC-8 and DHC-6 Twin Otter. It will effect 800 workers in De Havilland (65% of workforce) and an additional 180 in Viking Air (40% of workforce).

European Union

• EASA has issued an interim guidance on aircraft cleaning and disinfection for operators. 
• Wizz Air has suspended 85% of its operations. It has said that cancellation all operations is a strong possibility. The airline is currently only operating flights from Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.

Fiji

• In a press release, the Fijian Trades Union Congress has called on the Fijian government to provide a stimulus package that would ensure affected workers at Fiji Airways can have a decent living during the crisis. 

France

• Lille Airport will suspend commercial flights from today, March 23. 
• Airbus has resumed a reduced production operation in France and Spain after suspension of operations last week. It has agreed working conditions with unions which is allowing operations to resume. It’s Spanish site at Getafe recorded the company’s first case of Covid-19. 

Germany

• Unions are welcoming steps taken by large ground handlers which have secured salaries up to 90% in some cases. However, smaller ground handlers and privatised operators are not doing the same for their workers.
• Fraport will close 90% of its operations.
• Cargo operations are busier than at peak times at major cargo hubs. In some cases workers are being transferred to these airports to support the operation.
• Lufthansa Cabin Crew have secured 90% of their salaries through their Works Council.

Ireland

• Stobart Air which operates services for Aer Lingus Regional will stop all international flights from 28 March until further notice, due to an unprecedented drop in demand. 

India

• GoAir India has terminated contracts of its expat pilots. It is estimated that this effects about 70 pilots. It previously announced the suspension of all international flights until April 15. 
• Air India pilot’s unions have written to the Civil Aviation Minister to encourage the government to support Air India financially during this crisis. 
• Air India is considering cutting salaries by 5% and has grounded 100 pilots who were reemployed on temporary contracts as part of cost cutting measures. 
• Indigo workers are being given a pay cut from April 1. Senior management are taking a 25% pay cut, pilots 15%, cabin crew 10% and others 5%. 

Indonesia

• Garuda Indonesia’s catering arm has laid off between 50-100 workers.

Italy

• Concerns are mounting amongst ground handlers as the Italian decree covering aviation workers may not apply to ground handling. Much of the reaction in Italy has focused on airline workers and not third party ground handlers.
• Some ground handling companies are holding out on salaries, promising payment when operations resume.

New Zealand

Air New Zealand is blocking seats on-board its aircraft to allow for social distancing. 

Nigeria

• The Nigerian aviation union, NUATE, has issues a statement supporting social dialogue in the Nigerian aviation sector. In its statement it said “Flowing from the foregoing, we wish to inform all the impacted aviation companies that NUATE stands firmly with them as a social partner. And we throw our doors open for discussions with them for the purpose of arriving at workable grounds upon which both sides will ride this testing period. We thank those companies that have already approached us in this respect.” It also commended the Federal Government who recent announced an intervention fund of N1Tr to mitigate the impact of the crisis. Aviation is expected to be a beneficiary of this fund.

Norway

• The Norwegian government is supporting many domestic flights in Norway. This is being welcomed by unions and workers alike and is supporting jobs in both the air and on the ground in Norwegian aviation.

Philippines

• Cebu Pacific cabin crew have been told that they will receive basic pay for only March. The company has stopped negotiating with the union.

Russia

• Russia is limiting scheduled international services to one per country. Additionally, foreigners are being denied access until at least May 1.

Singapore

• Singapore Airlines cuts 96% of capacity and grounds 138 aircraft until the end of April. 

South Africa

• South African Airways will suspend all international flights until the end of May. 

Spain

• Iberia will reduce 90% of its operation until June.
• Ryanair workers in Spain have been told to use the grounded time to do conversion training to Air Malta, part of the Ryanair group which was created to cut labour costs.
• Air Nostrum will cease all operations until 30 June.

Sweden

• Cityjet has come under fire in Sweden and across Scandinavia as it is refusing to apply for government support to pay workers. It is understood that this is in an effort to reduce the overall cost of its workforce long-term.
• The airline has reduced operations by 80%.
• It is understood that the OSM labour agency has laid off over 300 workers.
• Stockholm’s Arlanda airport has closed one of its two terminals.

Taiwan

Taiwan will suspend the transit of passengers through the island from March 24 until April 7. 

Thailand

• Thai Airways is cancelling some of its contractors and extending unpaid leave amongst its own workers. It is not known how many workers are affected. It intends to reduce its costs by 50% during the crisis.
• One of these contractors is Pan Thai which contracts workers in Thai Smile and other workers on the ramp. Their contracts will come to an end on March 31.
• The airline has reduced its operation by 70%.
• Wingspan (Thai Airways’ catering arm) will reduce workers pay by 80%. Workers are already on minimum wage in Wingspan. It is expected they will know make approximately 7,000 THB (233 USD) per month.
• Thai Lion will temporarily suspend all flights from 25 March – 30 April. 
• They have also announced that they will fire 169 workers without redundancy. 

Trinidad and Tobago

• Authorities have closed all air borders from 23:59, March 22.

Turkey

• On 21 March, Turkey expanded flight bans to 46 more countries: Mauritania,  Algeria, Sudan, Angola, Philippines, Moldova, Montenegro, Bangladesh,  Ukraine, Tunisia, Poland, Portugal, Oman, Uzbekistan, North Macedonia,  the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Mongolia, Cameroon,  Taiwan, Canada, Slovenia, Chad, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Czechia, Morocco,  Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Nepal, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Equatorial  Guinea, Finland, Niger, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Ivory Coast, Jordan,  Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Kuwait, Latvia and Lebanon.
• On 22 March, Turkish Airlines announced that it would ground all international fights except 5 routes from 27 March to 17 April. The remaining destinations are Hong Kong, Moscow, Addis Ababa, New York and Washington. Cargo and domestic flights will continue.

Uganda

• Uganda Airlines has suspended operations from today March 23 until further notice. The Ugandan government has suspended all passenger flights to and from Entebbe International Airport effecting March 22.

United Arab Emirates

• The UAE has suspended all inbound, outbound and transit passengers for two weeks, essentially suspending all passenger services to/from the country.

United Kingdom

• EasyJet expect to reduce services to about 10%. There is rumours that the company is using this crisis as an opportunity to reduce its overall labour cost which unions will not allow. 
• Unions have welcomed government support for airlines and the option of loans.

United States of America

• United is end its remaining trans-Atlantic operation, the final westbound flight will be on March 25^th. The Cape Town-Newark flight will continue until March 28.
• United will reduce its remaining trans-Pacific operation from March 22, the final eastbound departure will be on March 25. San Francisco – Tahiti and Sydney will continue until March 28.
• United will maintain some Guam flights including some Island Hopper services.
• After March 24 United will maintain only a small number of daytime flights to certain destinations in Mexico.
• The last southbound departure to the rest of Central and South America will be on March 24.
• All flights to Canada will be suspended from April 1.
• The United States is limiting international flights to land only at the following airports: Boston Logan (BOS), Chicago O’Hare (ORD), Dallas Fort Worth (DFW), Detroit Metro (DTW), Honolulu (HNL), Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson (ATL), New York JFK (JFK), Los Angeles (LAX), Miami (MIA), Newark Liberty (EWR), San Francisco (SFO), Seattle-Tacoma (SEA), and Washington Dulles (IAD).
• The IAMAW have opposed an airline relief proposal from the US Republican party. In a statement, the IAM’s International President stated to members it stated “The industry needs a relief package that prevents employee furloughs and protects workers’ salaries and benefits. This money would not be going to bailout executives; it would be to keep workers on the flight line instead of the unemployment line. The Machinists will not support any relief package that does not put airline workers first”. 
• Over the weekend, flights were temporarily diverted away from all New York airspace (including Oceanic airspace to Bermuda and the Philadelphia area) due to a small break out of coronavirus and staff issues. 
• Having previously refused to allow cabin crew to wear masks on board, American Airlines has now backtracked and is allowing masks on what it considers to be “high-risk” routes. However, workers must bring their own. 

Vietnam

• As of 12:00 on March, all inbound international flights have been suspended.