With tens of thousands of airline workers facing layoffs this fall, labour groups are pushing Congress for more federal money to keep them on the payroll until next spring. The unions have gained significant support among Democrats. They hope that the prospect of mass layoffs weeks before a pivotal election will sway some Republican votes. In March, companies got $32b to help cover payroll costs for six months in exchange for not laying off workers. The money and the ban on layoffs both end Oct. 1, meaning there could be large-scale job cuts less than five weeks before the Nov. 3 election. “Ultimately the White House will be responsible for that, and so will the 23 Republican senators who are up for re-election,” said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants. “I don’t believe that’s a political risk that anyone is willing to take.” But approval is far from certain. Airlines are already downsizing — persuading thousands of workers to take voluntary buyouts or early retirement. And they have lined up billions of dollars in private borrowing, giving them a better chance of surviving a long slump in travel. The CEO of Southwest said he supports an extension of federal dollars for airline payrolls, but he doesn't see the same urgency in Washington. Back in the spring, “there was broad support from Congress, the administration and even the president," Gary Kelly said. "This time around, that is not the case.” Kelly made the comments in an employee video after a union representing flight attendants and other Southwest employees asked him to publicly support the payroll-aid extension. Thirteen airline unions have joined to lobby Congress for a six-month extension of the payroll provision. Of the total, $25b would go to passenger airlines.<br/>
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Airlines have restored flying capacity between the US and Europe at a rapid rate, setting up a test of passenger demand amid spikes in coronavirus infections on both sides of the Atlantic that threaten to lead to new restrictions on travel. While the number of available seats remains a fraction of pre-pandemic levels and is likely to stay that way for years, transatlantic capacity bottomed out in May, according to data from aviation consultancy Cirium. Airlines added back capacity every month since the nadir, with published schedules for August showing nearly four times the number available in May. The 1.9b “available seat miles” between the US and Europe in May was far less than 18.6b a year earlier, but month-on-month increases have been large from this low base. The metric measures an airline's carrying capacity and is calculated by multiplying the number of plane seats by the distance travelled. Airlines increased capacity by 40% in June and 67% in July, and published schedules for August show another 60% increase. But experts said the August capacity was likely to drop, as airlines cancel flights closer to departure, even before accounting for concerns over an uptick in Covid-19 cases in Europe this week.<br/>
Eurocontrol has observed a slowing in the growth rate of flight numbers in Europe since mid-July. “The curve appears to be flattening,” it says in its latest coronavirus impact-assessment report. “We have observed significantly slower growth rates than at the beginning of July.” The European air traffic management body cites “new cases [of coronavirus] in some countries”, which has “led to travel restrictions being continued or re-imposed”. This is likely to “slow down the recovery”, it adds, highlighting the example of the UK imposing quarantine restrictions on travellers from Spain. There were 14,911 flights in Eurocontrol air space on 29 July, the report says, up 5% compared with 15 July and some 42% of the flights seen on the same day of 2019. Intra-European operations dominated the traffic flow on 29 July, accounting for 12,730 flights. All traffic flows increased over the past two weeks, Eurocontrol notes, except those to the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East. Flows between Europe and the North Atlantic increased by 8%, but intercontinental traffic levels were still 74% below 2019 levels. Ryanair was the busiest carrier on 29 July with 895 flights, followed by EasyJet with 610, Turkish Airlines with 602, Air France with 434 and Wizz Air with 429.<br/>
Russian operators are restarting international services after the government started clearing restoration of links with countries including Turkey, the UK and Tanzania. Aeroflot is re-opening its links from Moscow Sheremetyevo to Istanbul and London Heathrow on 1 August, both routes being served by Boeing 777s. Aeroflot’s budget sister carrier Pobeda is similarly scheduled to fly to Istanbul from Moscow Vnukovo on 1 August, while Turkish Airlines will fly to Vnukovo, as well as to St Petersburg and Rostov-on-Don, over the next three days. Turkish carrier Pegasus Airlines is scheduled to operate Istanbul-Moscow Domodedovo on 1 August. Services to Turkey will be “significantly increased” from 10 August, says Russian federal air transport regulator Rosaviatsia. Aeroflot will expand to the resort of Antalya, while S7 Airlines, Ural Airlines, Nordwind, Azur Air, Rossiya, and others are all planning to open connections.<br/>