general

Since countries around the world have gone into lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid-19, flight and passenger numbers have made a steep downward plunge. But not all planes are grounded. Story looks at the available data to find out who is still flying. An analysis of Flightradar24 data showed that the number of aircraft transmitting location information and reporting an altitude of more than 50ft had dropped by more than half last week compared to a typical March week last year. Flightradar24 doesn’t record all commercial flights and conversely it tracks some non-commercial aircraft, but the numbers are in line with other data sources. Travel data provider OAG reported that the number of scheduled flights this week is down 48% compared to the same week last year. Their figures show the number of scheduled flights has gradually declined since the beginning of March when only 8% of flights had been cancelled. Despite far-reaching travel restrictions in many countries, thousands of flights are still taking off from airports every day. The main reason thousands of planes remain in the air is that governments have been reluctant to restrict domestic air travel.<br/>

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer urged the Treasury Department to move more quickly to help airlines to save industry jobs and refrain from imposing “unreasonable conditions” that might spur some carriers to decline payroll assistance. In a letter Sunday to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Pelosi and Schumer stressed that provisions of the $2.2t stimulus passed by Congress were aimed specifically at bolstering aviation jobs. The lawmakers expressed concern that guidelines released by the department a week ago didn’t go far enough to safeguard workers. “We are concerned that Treasury Department’s recent guidance on the ‘Airline Industry Payroll Support’ Program does not fully reflect the intent of Congress,” they wrote in the letter, which also was signed by House Transportation Chairman Peter DeFazio and Sherrod Brown, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee. Pelosi and DeFazio have previously said that demands for airline equity stakes in exchange for the $25b in grants designed to save jobs are onerous and could prompt carriers to decline the help.<br/>

Federal officials on Friday ordered airlines to reimburse customers for cancelled flights, saying a growing number of passengers are complaining amid the coronavirus pandemic that airlines are providing travel credits rather than refunds. The US DoT did not say how many claims it has substantiated, but it did direct carriers in an enforcement notice "that passengers should be refunded promptly when their scheduled flights are cancelled or significantly delayed." The government said it would "exercise its prosecutorial discretion" and allow airlines time to contact customers, update policies and properly train staff. "The Department is receiving an increasing number of complaints and inquiries from ticketed passengers, including many with non-refundable tickets, who describe having been denied refunds for flights that were cancelled or significantly delayed," the notice read. Customers are allowed to receive a refund when airlines cancel or significantly delay flights. The requirements also apply when government restrictions prohibit flying, the notice said. The rules do not apply to customers who decide on their own against flying because, for example, of concern over the coronavirus.<br/>

The number of people travelling by plane has hit a 10-year low as the aviation industry reels from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the TSA says. Meanwhile, airport security checkpoints screened fewer than 125,000 people on Thursday, less than 5% of the 2.4m people, including both passengers and crewmembers, who passed through TSA checkpoints on the equivalent day last year. Air travel is normally busy during this spring break period, but the pandemic has choked off demand. Airlines have reduced their capacity by about 56%, according to Airlines for America. It said passenger counts are down about 92% -- and "passenger traffic is falling much faster than they [airlines] can cut capacity." Airlines will keep scheduling flights to move cargo and satisfy government requirements linked to the stimulus law. Low-cost carriers are experiencing 10% of usual traffic, according to the National Air Carrier Association, which represents them. In March, TSA screened just under half of the passengers it did in March 2019 -- with the numbers slightly above last year's level toward the beginning of the month, during a flurry of travel as people returned home, and dropped to percentages in the single digits in the final days of March.<br/>

Some low-cost and regional airlines are pushing back against requirements of the federal stimulus package that force them to maintain a minimum level of service to certain destinations, saying having to fly nearly empty planes defeats the purpose of the bailout. Allegiant Air and Frontier Airlines say the DoT's requirements under the measure intended to help airlines stay afloat despite a dearth of travel during the coronavirus pandemic punish no-frills carriers like themselves by forcing them to offer flights they know will be mostly empty. They say they should be allowed more latitude. "Never in the history of air transportation has the US air carrier industry been more in need of flexibility than it is now," says Allegiant in offering formal comment on the federal proposal. "Flexibility means survival for individual carriers." The comments come in reaction to one of the conditions of the stimulus that is expected to deliver $50b to airlines, with about half going to pay employees idled by the massive cutback in flights. As a condition of accepting the aid, the department is requiring airlines to maintain flights to all US cities they served before March 1, although they can apply for an exemption.<br/>

UK citizens have criticised the government’s GBP75m repatriation programme as too little, too late and too expensive. British tourists seeking to fly home from the Philippines must pay £1,000 for a repatriation flight – four times more than travellers flown home from Peru. In normal times, connecting flights via Istanbul cost around £350 one way. The Foreign Office has organised two charter flights from the Filipino capital, Manila, to London Heathrow, to bring back holidaymakers stranded when the country banned international flights in response to the coronavirus crisis. They will use Philippine Airlines rather than any of the UK carriers that have agreed to repatriate British citizens. But some UK citizens say the price is too high. Paul Swords tweeted: “Cannot afford it, thank you and good night.” Before the GBP75m airline was announced, travellers from Peru were offered connecting flights from Cusco and Arequipa to Lima, together with nonstop flights on BA to Heathrow. They were not required to pay in advance and instead signed an agreement to repay GBP250 on arrival in the UK. The rate per mile from Lima to London was 4p. In contrast, travellers from Manila must pay 15p per mile.<br/>

Russia Friday said it was temporarily suspending all flights in and out of the country from midnight, including those for repatriating citizens, to limit the possibility of a new wave of coronavirus infections. The country’s coronavirus operational centre said the suspension applied to all charter flights bringing Russians home and taking foreign citizens away, and that those wishing to fly will have to fill out a special form, which will be available from Saturday. The government said it had allocated 500m roubles ($6.5m) to the foreign ministry to pay for the temporary stay of those citizens stranded abroad. Russia, which has reported 4,149 cases of the coronavirus, and 34 deaths, suspended all regular international flights on March 27, but had said that flights for repatriating citizens would continue.<br/>

All major firms in Singapore's aviation sector have committed to sending their workers to fill more than 17,500 training places as the industry grapples with the suspension of flights due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) said Sunday. Top officials from Singapore Airlines, Scoot, and airport and food services provider Sats affirmed this at a closed-door dialogue last Friday with NTUC secretary-general Ng Chee Meng. These companies will use the downtime to speed up workers' training and upgrading, including for professionals, managers and executives in the sector, "developing real technical capabilities and capacities" through the use of digital technologies, NTUC said. Ng said he was heartened to see aviation sector unions and companies working together to send workers for training during this period, and that government assistance such as the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) will help firms save on manpower costs as they invest in their workforce. Launched in Budget 2020 and enhanced in the supplementary Resilience Budget, the JSS will provide the aviation and tourism sectors with 75% salary support for the first $4,600 of each local employee's gross monthly wage.<br/>

Airways expects to make 180 staff redundant in the coming months due to the impact coronavirus has had on air travel. New Zealand's state-owned air navigation services provider said about 25% of its workforce across all areas of its business would be made redundant as it faces a 95% decline in revenue. Airways CE Graeme Sumner said in the past seven days, air traffic had dropped 85% compared to the same week in 2019, Airways said. "It is true that we are operating in an aviation environment unlike anything seen since the second world war," Sumner said. "In December 2019, there were 25 international carriers operating in New Zealand and now there is effectively one." Airways is responsible for controlling all air movements across 30m square kilometres of airspace in New Zealand and over the Pacific, handling more than 1m air traffic movements a year.<br/>

Boeing decided to keep its Seattle-area commercial manufacturing hub closed indefinitely as state health officials work to contain a Covid-19 outbreak and its suppliers show signs of stress. The factories, including a hulking plant where all of the company’s wide-body jets are built, had been scheduled to reopen late Tuesday evening following an earlier two-week closure. The safety of employees and recommendations of government health authorities were among the considerations, the Chicago-based planemaker said. The pandemic injects fresh uncertainty into Boeing’s plans to restart 737 Max production, which was closed in January, about 10 months after global authorities grounded those jets following two fatal crashes. Also in flux is whether the disruption from the outbreak will stymie the company’s efforts to end the flying ban by midyear. Boeing has about 135 confirmed coronavirus cases among its global workforce. The aviation titan made the decision to shutter its Washington state facilities and ask employees to telecommute, where possible, after an employee at its Everett campus died last month. <br/>

Aircraft lessor Avolon Friday announced the cancellation of an order for 75 Boeing 737 MAX planes that were due to be delivered by 2023, saying it was adjusting its order book to the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Boeing confirmed the cancellation, which it said was the result of a mutual agreement following discussions with Avolon regarding their 737 MAX portfolio and the impact of last year’s grounding in the wake of two fatal accidents. Industry sources said it followed lengthy talks on MAX compensation that were accelerated by the coronavirus crisis, but which culminated in both sides agreeing to cancel the unplaced jets as they Avolon, the world’s third-biggest lessor of commercial jets, said it had also rescheduled a further 16 MAX aircraft from 2020-2023 to 2024 or beyond, but it remained committed to the MAX aircraft. Boeing said Avolon now has orders for 55 MAX jets.<br/>