Leaders in business and general aviation are cautiously optimistic their slice of the industry will return to normal operations after the coronavirus pandemic more quickly than airlines, though economic uncertainty remains a dark and uncalculable cloud. During an online FAA meeting on Thursday, representatives from across non-commercial aviation, including manufacturers, trade organisations, fixed-base operators and airports, said there are significant opportunities from which the industry can benefit as travel restrictions accross the country ease. However, even though business aviation has returned to about 75% of its pre-coronavirus levels in June, the leaders said it would be a mistake to rejoice too soon. “Overhanging the industry is economic uncertainty,” said Ron Draper, CE and president of Wichita-based Textron Aviation. But, he added, “there are signs for optimism”. “Aviation can get the country back to work, and help people travel in a controlled manner.”<br/>
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Asian governments are moving too slowly to reopen borders to international travel, the chief of a regional aviation group said, saying states were failing to capitalize on their success in curbing the spread of the new coronavirus. Subhas Menon, DG of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines, said it was "ironical" that Europe was further along than Asia in trying to reconnect countries, despite the former having suffered far more illnesses and deaths from the contagion. Governments in Asia need to move faster to restore travel links to regain consumer confidence, said Menon. The aviation industry has been thrust into crisis by the pandemic, with most airlines staring into a financial abyss after fleets were grounded and travel bans imposed. "Unfortunately, in Asia-Pacific I find governments are reluctant to open up rules to allow [international] travelers," said Menon. "Asia-Pacific was the first to confront the virus. So logically speaking, Asia-Pacific should be the one to first recover. But instead it is Europe that is doing it ... which is very ironical if you look at any country in Asia-Pacific [which now has] no or very few cases of coronavirus."<br/>
The FAA will likely extend its medical certificate exception for an unspecificed amount of time, after government coronavirus lockdown orders made it difficult for pilots to get appointments with certified Aviation Medical Examiners. In March, the US regulator had released a policy update saying that for three months it would not take enforcement action against pilots flying with an expired medical certificate. That was set to end on 30 June and applied only to pilots whose medical certificates expired between 31 March and 30 June. Now, the organization says it will likely extend that deadline as the pandemic has dragged on. “There is an extension in the works,” FAA deputy administrator Dan Elwell said Thursday. He did not say for how long. “We are hoping that very soon we will be unravelling those extensions and getting people back, getting their currency, getting their medicals,” he added. But for the moment, he says, the agency recognises it would be almost impossible for pilots to catch up on these requirements between now and the end of this month.<br/>
Japan lifted all coronavirus-related curbs on domestic travel on Friday, with PM Shinzo Abe calling on people to go sightseeing or attend concerts and other events to help the nation’s economy bounce back from a pandemic recession. Japan began lifting its pandemic lockdown in May as coronavirus infections fell. The latest easing on Thursday comes after the end of an emergency declaration that allowed people to return to work and for bars and restaurants implementing social distancing measures to reopen. “I would like people, while observing social distancing, to go out on sightseeing trips. We would like you to make an effort to engage in social and economic activity,” Abe said Thursday. Japan’s two big airlines, ANA Holdings and Japan Airlines Co., say they are restarting some domestic flights as demand picks up, but both say flight schedules by July will still only be half of what they had planned before the coronavirus pandemic.<br/>
Chief executives from 27 companies including three airlines say it's time for Canada's prime minister and provincial premiers to relax restrictions on air travel for the good of the economy. In an open letter that calls for a prudent lifting of COVID-19 precautions, the business leaders say it's time to reopen air travel in a “safe, smart and measured way.” In addition to the CEOs of Air Canada, WestJet and Porter Airlines, signatories included chief executives from the financial, telecommunications, manufacturing, energy and other industries. They assert that air travel is critically important for the entire Canadian economy, not just the travel, hospitality and tourism sectors.<br/>
Australia’s competition regulator will monitor domestic airfares and profits for three years, increasing scrutiny as the industry begins a slow recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and Virgin Australia Holdings seeks a buyer. The federal government said on Friday the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) will monitor prices, costs and profits, as well as provide another avenue for complaints about anti-competitive conduct. “A key matter covered will be the level of capacity the airlines are putting on each route and whether this is occurring in a way that may damage competition,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said. Qantas, which holds almost two thirds of the domestic aviation market, said earlier on Friday it would offer 10,000 one-way seats on low-cost arm Jetstar for A$19 to help support a tourism recovery as Australia unwinds coronavirus restrictions and state borders reopen. “We have a lot of aircraft on the ground with fixed costs attached to them, so if we can put some of them back in the air by offering special fares, it’s a positive for us, for our people, for tourism and for consumers,” Qantas CE Alan Joyce said.<br/>
London City Airport is poised to reopen within days after being shut for almost three months during the COVID-19 pandemic, it said on Thursday. The British capital’s fifth-biggest and most central airport said it will serve domestic routes initially, with the first flight expected to be between London City and the Isle of Man on Sunday. After the pandemic brought most flying to a halt, airlines had hoped to resume international travel from the UK in July, but government quarantine rules introduced on 8 June are deterring holidaymakers even as European borders reopen. “It is my hope that air bridges can be agreed quickly with low-risk European neighbours. This news would be a shot in the arm for the industry as well as for the wider UK economy,” London City Airport CEO Robert Sinclair said. London City, which is popular with business travellers, bankers and politicians for short-haul and regional routes, said that flights to north east England and Dundee in Scotland would start on July 6 and that routes to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dublin are expected to resume later in the month.<br/>
Slightly less than half of the world's passenger aircraft are grounded and sitting in storage, and that's a big problem for businesses that need to ship goods. Even as some areas of the world loosen Covid-19 related travel restrictions, and airlines slowly ramp up passenger services, airlines such as United and Delta are still flying dozens of planes each week with goods stuffed into overhead bins, while all of the seats sit empty. While much of the world's air cargo is hauled around by freighter jets operated by companies like UPS and Amazon, about half of air shipments are typically transported by passenger planes that tuck shipments into aircraft bellies alongside suitcases. So the sharp reduction in passenger plane flights has made the process of moving goods from A to B amid the pandemic expensive and extremely complex. And the problem isn't likely to go away anytime soon. During lockdown, passenger airlines started operating cargo-only routes to help ease supply chain bottlenecks. And, with lingering uncertainty around when passenger travel will resume in any meaningful way, some airlines are still growing that area of their business. Story has more.<br/>