France’s economy minister has told Air France to drastically reduce its emissions in return for the €7 billion ($7.6 billion) in loans the French state has promised the Air France-KLM group to help it survive the COVID-19 crisis. 

Lufthansa subsidiary Austrian Airlines said April 29 that it needs €767 million ($833 million) in financial assistance from the state to survive the COVID-19 crisis.

Welcome to Routes’ look at how the Asia-Pacific aviation market is responding to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, helping you understand the schedule changes and manage the impact so we can navigate through this crisis together.

Finnair will continue operating its current minimum network and keep most aircraft grounded through June after reporting heavy losses for the first quarter (Q1) because of the coronavirus crisis.

China’s big three state-owned carriers Air China, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines have recorded a cumulative loss of CNY14 billion ($2 billion) for Q1 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic brought the Chinese aviation industry to a standstill.

Good news is a rare commodity for the airline industry these days, but some glimmers of hope are continuing to emerge in a handful of Asian countries. 

African airlines should urgently start moving airliners to freighting duties to help solve a major shortfall in cargo capacity to and from the continent, according to the International Air Cargo Association (TIACA).

Guadeloupe-based Air Caraïbes has filed the planned schedule for its latest long-haul route, which will connect Paris-Orly (ORY) with Cancun (CUN) in Mexico from October.