Singapore Airlines will bring the A380 back to Sydney, Australia from Wednesday, December 1, 2021, increasing capacity to the Sydney market ahead of the Christmas holiday period.

SIA was the first to fly the A380 in 2007, choosing Sydney as the inaugural destination for the world’s largest passenger aircraft. In 2017, SIA once again selected Sydney as the maiden destination to launch the Airline’s new cabin products on a brand new A380 delivered just days prior.

Singapore Airlines Regional Vice President, Mr. Louis Arul, said the return of the A380 to Sydney underlines the Airline’s unwavering commitment to the Australian market.

“Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the highly challenging and financially constrained operating environment, SIA invested heavily to ensure Australia remained connected to the world,” Mr. Arul said.

READ: Qatar Airways get the green light for UK flights

READ: Frequent flyer jackpot sees biggest ever release of Qantas award seats

READ: Bonza’s Kazakh roots underscore business plan

“We have operated almost 4,000 passenger flights helping to bring close to 67,000 people to Australia, the vast majority being Australians wanting to return home, as well as 3,000 cargo-only flights to keep key trade channels open, allowing essential medical supplies, PPE and COVID-19 vaccines to be delivered.

“With the NSW and Australian border opening up from 1 November, the A380 will support even more Australians hoping to reconnect with loved ones ahead of the Christmas period.”

SIA’s A380 will operate daily from Singapore to Sydney as flight SQ231, departing Changi Airport at 00:45 local time, arriving in Sydney at 11:50 local time. The return flight, SQ222, will depart Sydney at 16:10, arriving at Singapore’s Changi Airport at 21:20.

The SIA A380 is fitted with 471 seats, SIA’s A380s include six Suites, 78 Business Class, 44 Premium Economy Class and 343 Economy Class seats.

“Today’s announcement is another exciting step on the road to recovery,” Mr Arul added.

“As we continue to support all levels of government in planning for Australia’s reopening in a safe, sustainable and scalable way, we will remain nimble in deploying capacity to markets as demand warrants.”

The A380’s schedule for SQ231 and SQ222 will be loaded into the system from midday AEDT on Friday 22 October and will be available for sale shortly after.

Cathay Pacific will operate at full capacity from Sydney from November 1 in response to moves by the New South Wales government to lift quarantine restrictions.

The airline has been operating at reduced capacity since March 2020 but will return to 10 flights a week to and from the NSW capital after quarantine restrictions were lifted for Australian citizens, residents and their families.

CX 101/100 will operate daily between Hong Kong and Sydney while CX139/138 will fly on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.

The Cathay capacity increase comes after Singapore Airlines last week opened sales on its 17 weekly Sydney flights to eligible travellers. Thai Airways International has also announced it will resume Sydney flights.

Any increase in capacity is good news for the Hong Kong airline, which has been hard hit by Hong Kong’s strict COVID restrictions.

READ: United aims to take on the world

The impact of the restrictions was underscored by September passenger numbers that remained 94 percent below pre-pandemic levels.

But there was a glimmer of hope for the beleaguered carrier from a 180 percent jump in passengers compared to last year, thanks mainly to student travel.

Cathay recorded 131,774 passengers last month and experienced its busiest day — September 17 —since March 2020.

In a sign of how badly COVID restrictions have hobbled the airline, however, that highlight translated to just 6562 passengers.

Traffic measured in revenue passenger kilometres rose 158.7% year-on-year while capacity increased by 40.4 percent but was still 87.4 percent down on September 2019 levels.

The passenger load factor rose by 20.9 percentage points year-on-year to 45.8 percent.

Chief commercial officer Ronald Lam said student traffic from the Chinese mainland contributed strongly to the performance of the passenger business.

“As was anticipated, demand for student travel to the US was strong at the beginning of the month but tapered down before being overtaken by growing student traffic from Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland to the UK,’’ he said.

“Besides, passengers travelling within Asia via Hong Kong was also a key driver for demand. In contrast, passenger demand for flights into Hong Kong remained very weak due to the strict quarantine requirements.”

Lam said student traffic to London continued into October.

“Meanwhile, we are continuing to monitor and assess the potential opportunities for demand from the relaxation of quarantine requirements for travellers flying to various markets, most notably the US.”

Freight traffic also improved with the 130,997 tonnes of cargo and mail carried last month up 19.7 percent on the previous year but down 24.1 percent compared to September 2019.

“Cargo demand continued to grow as we stepped into the traditional cargo peak season,” Lam said “To meet this demand, we operated our freighter fleet at peak capacity throughout September, further supplemented with additional cargo-only passenger flight operations, which surged 20 percent compared to August.

“Overall, we managed to operate approximately 70 percent of our pre-pandemic cargo capacity when compared to September 2019.”

Lam said cargo demand continued to be robust and driven by the movement of new consumer products as well as the urgent need for inventory replenishment due to supply chain constraints.

United Airlines plans to increase international capacity by 10 percent in 2022 while keeping domestic capacity flat at 2019 levels.

The airline is hoping to take advantage of a rebound in premium leisure travel, the reopening of the US to European travelers next month, and early indications of loosening travel restrictions in key Pacific markets.

It said the plan would capitalize on already improving international margins and  “ideally situated coastal hubs” that had powered the recent success in launching new routes to Africa and India.

It expected to fly at record levels to Europe, Latin America, India, Africa and the Middle East in summer 2022, noting this would be enabled by the return in 2022 of its Pratt & Whitney-powered Boeing 777s.

READ: Southwest plans for 20% reduction in unit carbon emissions by 2030

Also helping: $US2.2 billion in structural cost reductions and planned gauge growth that would allow it to keep unit costs in check.

“The recovery was delayed by the Delta variant, but the United team remains focused on our long-term vision – and not getting side-tracked by near-term volatility – meaning we’re solidly on track to achieve the targets we set for 2022,” said United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby.

“From the return of business travel and the planned re-opening of Europe and early indications for opening in the Pacific, the headwinds we’ve faced are turning to tailwinds, and we believe that United is better positioned to lead the recovery than any airline in the world.

“Our recovery will be supported by investments in technology and other efficiencies that will give our employees the tools they need to take great care of our customers – and keep costs under control.”

Kirby made the comments as the US carrier released its third-quarter financial results.

United posted a $US473 million third-quarter profit thanks to more than $US1 billion in federal government aid as revenue came in 32 percent lower than the year-ago quarter.

Third-quarter capacity was down 28 percent compared to the third quarter 2019 but the difference was expected to drop to 23 percent in the fourth quarter.

Separately, US government figures showed domestic airfares rose by 12.6 percent in the second quarter of 2021 as passenger numbers rose significantly.

The average domestic fare came in at $US300, up from a first-quarter adjusted fare of $US266.

Although this was 10 percent higher than the second quarter of 2020 and 18.2 percent higher than the lowest adjusted fare last year, it was still down 24.7 percent compared to the second quarter of 2016.

The  Bureau of Transportation Statistics said fares increased as passenger demand rose. US airlines reported 62.5 million originating passengers in the second quarter of 2021, up from 33.4 million in the first quarter.

Southwest Airlines plans to reduce carbon emissions by 20 percent per available seat mile and boost sustainable aviation fuel use as it spends $US10 billion on new planes by 2030.

A newly launched 10-year environmental sustainability plan commits the US carrier to using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for 10  percent of its total jet fuel by the end of the decade.

It will also introduce the first US-based airline carbon offset scheme with loyalty points and a dollar-for-dollar matching contribution from the airline.

READ: Qantas prosecuted for standing down worker in COVID dispute.

To help it reach its goal, Southwest will continue to modernize its fleet with more fuel-efficient Boeing 737 MAX aircraft and accelerated retirement of B737-700s.

The airline said it would will invest more than $US10 billion in new and existing firm aircraft orders in its quest to further improve fuel efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.

It would also continue to work with the US Federal Aviation Administration’s NextGen air traffic management program to make airspace more efficient, electrify ground vehicles and add to fuel efficiency initiatives.

On the road to achieving 10 percent SAF use, the airline is establishing a partnership with producer Neste for up to five million gallons through to December 2023, and working with Marathon Petroleum Company and Phillips 66 to “facilitate the development and production of SAF at significant scale”.

Offsets have not proven popular with most passengers but Southwest intends to sweeten the deal with loyalty points. It will also match every dollar contributed towards offsetting emissions.

A Green Incentive Program will also provide corporate customers an opportunity to earn and use funds for their company’s sustainability.

SouthWest’s Dallas corporate campus has been sourcing 100 percent renewable electricity since May using renewable energy certificates.

Other initiatives include partnerships with various organizations and a move to “repurpose” leather seat coverings.

“In 2020, nearly 140,000 pounds of leather seat covers were repurposed, helping Southwest reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills while also generating social and economic opportunities for communities,’’ the airline said.

Regional Express (Rex) plans to resume domestic Boeing 737-800 services between Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra from November 15.

The airline said domestic services to South Australia and Queensland would follow once vaccination rates in those states reached 80%.

It also runs a fleet of Saab 340B turboprop aircraft and said regional intrastate services in New South Wales and Victoria would also be progressively ramped up from November 15.

READ: Qantas launches biggest ever single release of frequent flyer seats.

Rex grounded its 737s after Australian domestic borders closed due to the surge of COVID cases but said climbing vaccination rates and easing restrictions had prompted its decision to bring the jets back into service.

Prior to the surge in COVID cases, Rex operated 737 services from Melbourne to Sydney, Gold Coast, Adelaide, and Canberra and from Sydney to Gold Coast. It had six B737s when it grounded the aircraft in July but was expecting two more in August.

The carrier said the additional planes would give it the ability to launch new routes to other capital cities, large regional centers and popular leisure destinations.

It has been competing against the Qantas Group and Virgin Australia but is set to face an additional market entrant when proposed ultra-low-cost carrier Bonza launches next year.

Bonza has yet to reveal route details or fares but has said it plans to avoid the highly competitive Brisbane-Melbourne-Sydney triangle. Instead, it will focus on regional and leisure destinations with a focus on underserved destinations or those that have previously been ignored by incumbent airlines.

The airline is helmed by former Cebu Pacific chief commercial officer and FlyArystan chief executive, Tim Jordan, and is backed by a US-based private investment firm, 777 Partners.

It will use fuel-efficient 737 MAX 8 aircraft and says it will offer consistent ultra-low-fares and new travel options.