Tina is standing in Paris Charles de Gaulle airport with her one-and-a-half year old daughter, on her way home to Kinshasa from London. “The flight was full, no seats between us and other people,” said the 30-year-old. “They didn’t take our temperature and that worried me.” But that will soon change because ADP, which runs Charles de Gaulle, put in place temperature checks this month to scan passengers as the aviation industry rushes to restore confidence in travellers and restart a sector that has been decimated by the pandemic. The airport shows the physical signs of what has quickly become a new normal. Social distance markers divide floor space in front of check-in desks, seats in departure lounges carry stickers warning people to sit apart, Perspex protects staff as they assign seats, and at every entrance masks and gels await those braving air travel. “Just like after 9/11, travellers needed assurance that there are no weapons on-board. Now they will need to be reassured by airlines and airports that there are no viruses on board,” said Shashank Nigam, CE of SimpliFlying, an aviation consultancy. Most carriers and airports insist on face masks for passengers and staff, as well as provide hand sanitisers and conduct deeper cabin cleaning. The industry has been keen to reassure passengers that air travel is safe. Boeing’s Jim Haas, director of product marketing, says the air on board is “virus free” thanks to Hepa filters on all modern aircraft. These filter air to the quality of a hospital operating theatre. Some airports such as Hong Kong have gone one stage further with Covid-19 tests for arrivals. In future, immunity passports could be included as temporary biosecurity measures. Flights will look different: some airlines will offer no food, or at best pre-packaged items, and magazines have been removed. Ryanair’s customers will be banned from queueing for the toilet. Some carriers, such as Air France, have also introduced temperature checks before flights. <br/>
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Most passenger planes today fly virtually empty, but when Virgin Atlantic flight VS251 landed at Heathrow Airport near London on a cloudy afternoon late last month, most of its 258 seats were occupied. No one was violating social distancing recommendations, though. The seats, along with the plane’s belly, were loaded with medical supplies. That flight was one of nine that Virgin flew last month that used passenger planes — without any passengers — to transport ventilators, masks, gloves and other medical necessities between Shanghai and London. It was one of the most vivid examples of how thoroughly the pandemic has muddled the economics of the industry. Airlines have long carried freight alongside passengers, but it never made sense to use their planes exclusively for cargo. That changed in March. As companies eliminated thousands of flights, cargo space became scarce and the price of sending goods by plane shot up, creating an economic case for repurposing idled passenger planes. “The cargo business is keeping aircraft, which would otherwise be parked, in the air and given us all more hope than otherwise that we will come out of this,” said Dominic Kennedy, the head of cargo operations for Virgin. Before late March, Virgin had never used a passenger plane to make a cargo-only trip. Now, it is operating 90 flights a week, even as it makes deep cuts to its business. Virgin is not alone in charting an uncertain path forward. In the US, each of the three largest airlines started running cargo-only flights in March. American Airlines had not flown an all-cargo trip in more than three decades. Now, it is flying 140 a week. Story has more.<br/>
South Koreans will be required to wear masks when using public transportation and taxis nationwide starting Tuesday as authorities look for more ways to slow the spread of the coronavirus as people increase their public activities. Health Ministry official Yoon Taeho on Monday said masks will also be required on all domestic and international flights from Wednesday. South Korea was reporting 500 new cases per day in early March before it largely stabilized its outbreak with aggressive tracking and testing. But infections have been rising slightly since early May, with more people going out during warmer weather and eased social distancing guidelines, causing concern in a country that has just started to reopen schools.<br/>
Airlines' plans to resume air travel in India were in disarray on Monday after some states restricted the number of flights hours before departure, causing last-minute cancellations and leaving hundreds of passengers stranded. Airlines, including IndiGo, SpiceJet and Vistara had been preparing to resume operations from Monday with about a third of their capacity amid strict rules. But new restrictions at major airports, including Mumbai and Chennai, forced airlines to scramble late on Sunday to revise schedules. The confusion will make it even harder for airlines to recover from the impact of a two-month lockdown to contain the novel coronavirus that has already cost tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue, industry executives, lawyers and analysts said. "The entire handling of the restart has been reduced to a farce, causing pain for airlines, airports, and passengers," said an industry executive. IndiGo had planned to start with about 430 daily flights while its low-cost rival SpiceJet said it would operate 204 flights a day and AirAsia India would start with 77 flights. The final number could be much lower as some states, especially where coronavirus cases are rising, have curtailed air travel following relaxations that last Thursday allowed some domestic operations to resume. IndiGo said on Monday it plans to fly just over 200 daily flights until May 31. Potential travellers are also likely to be deterred by a lack of clarity on quarantine rules in different states.<br/>
The government will lead the restructuring of the debt-ridden aviation industry, leaving "uncompetitive" low-cost carriers unqualified to receive coronavirus relief funds. Earlier this month, the Korea Development Bank (KDB) decided to raise a 40t won ($33b) virus relief fund in response to growing calls for the government to play a bigger role in salvaging companies and key industries hit hardest by the pandemic. The state-run lender and the financial authorities picked the aviation industry as the first beneficiary to receive special funding, as the potential fallout from bankruptcies could bring a wider-than-expected shock to the economy. The nation's nine low-cost carriers welcomed the decision amid hopes to receive financial aid at a time when most of them are suffering serious earnings setbacks after international flights were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But the state-run lender and the government have not expressed "blind faith" in the sagging airliners, instead introducing a series of tight standards so that only a few will enjoy the financial relief. According to the requirements from the authority, only Jeju Air and Air Busan are eligible to receive funds out of the nine domestic low-cost carriers, while seven others have to come up with cost-cutting self-rescue measures to tackle the ongoing crisis. Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, the nation's two major airliners, are also expected to receive funding.<br/>
Billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit said a crucial test of its two-stage, orbital rocket system, designed to rival that of Elon Musk’s SpaceX for satellite launches, ended the mission shortly after releasing the rocket from the plane. A Boeing 747, named Cosmic Girl, took off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California on Monday at 11:56 a.m. Pacific Time, carrying beneath it Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket over the Pacific Ocean. About an hour later, the plane released the rocket in what Virgin Orbit called a “clean” release. Three minutes later, the company said the mission had ended shortly into the flight. There have been more than 20 previous tests, including one earlier this year carrying the rocket, but this was meant to be the first time LauncherOne had been ignited. Earlier this week, Virgin Orbit described Monday’s test as “the apex of a five-year-long development program.” Prior to Monday’s attempt, Virgin Orbit said maiden flights by government and commercial providers typically fail about half the time. The company’s ultimate goal is to use its rockets to launch small satellites into space, competing with ground-based launches, such as those from Space Exploration Technologies Corp. The Virgin Orbit test this weekend comes at a critical time for Branson, as the coronavirus pandemic weighs heavily on his leisure and travel assets.<br/>