Finland will introduce mandatory coronavirus tests and quarantines for travellers from certain high-risk countries, the minister in charge said on Monday, after 24 of 157 passengers arriving from Skopje in North Macedonia tested positive for COVID-19. The voluntary testing was organised at Turku airport in Finland on Saturday for all passengers arriving on a flight from Skopje after authorities had traced flights from North Macedonia and Bucharest in Romania as two main sources of recent new coronavirus infections in Finland, the minister of family affairs and social services Krista Kiuru told reporters. "The epidemic is native of the Balkans," Kiuru said referring to the recent modest rise in infections in Finland. The mandatory two-week quarantine and a possible random coronavirus test upon arrival to Finland will be applicable to anyone arriving from a country with more than 8 to 10 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the latest 14-day period, authorities said. Currently, the rule applies to most countries, excluding 25 countries such as Italy, Japan, Greece and Norway where infections remain low. Kiuru said airlines would be required to inform their passengers if they could be subject to a mandatory coronavirus test upon their arrival to Finland.<br/>
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Despite a sharp decrease in air travel due to the coronavirus pandemic, the TSA said the rate of guns found per passenger screened at airport security checkpoints last month was up three times over last year's figure. TSA said Monday that it discovered more than 300 guns in carry-on baggage nationwide in July, which it said is about 15.3 guns per million people screened. That's up from the rate of 5.1 guns per million people in July 2019 even though air passenger traffic is down 75%. The agency said about 80% of the firearms found in carry-on bags at checkpoints were loaded. Officers at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport -- the world's busiest -- found 27 guns, or nearly one daily, in July. The numbers do not include weapons properly packed in checked baggage. Those weapons must be packed in a secured and hard-sided container and declared to airline officials when checking in. TSA noted that some airlines have additional restrictions on transporting firearms and ammunition, and that local laws vary. The increase comes on the heels of officers discovering more guns last year than in any previous year. The 4,432 guns found at checkpoints in 2019 marked a 5% increase over those found in 2018.<br/>
As holidaymakers and the travel industry anxiously wait to see whether the UK government will impose mandatory self-isolation on all arrivals from France, airports are demanding a nuanced quarantine policy. At present, the DfT rates each country either as low-risk or high-risk for travellers bringing back coronavirus. There is no differentiation between regions within a nation, which is causing mounting unhappiness for airlines, tour operators and travellers with exiting bookings – particularly for Spain and Portugal, whose islands have seen low levels of coronavirus infections. Karen Dee, CE of the Airport Operators Association, has called for Spain’s islands to have the quarantine restrictions lifted – saying it “risks further damaging the fragile re-start of the aviation sector”. Dee said: “These islands demonstrate that a blanket quarantine policy is not fit for purpose with the clearest example being the inclusion of Lanzarote, which as well as having low infection rates, is over 600 miles from the Iberian peninsula.” The Balearic and Canary Islands normally account for 27% of flights from airports outside the London area. From the capital’s airports, the figure is 15%. Dee warned: “Despite the valiant efforts of airports, airlines and travel companies passenger numbers remain low and our industry remains in a very precarious situation. With passenger numbers not predicted to return to pre-Covid levels before 2023 at the earliest, we face a very long and dangerous road to recovery.”<br/>
British families are having their holiday plans spoiled due to confusion over the Greek government’s new online passenger locator form, introduced to aid the country’s test-and-trace efforts. All arrivals must fill out the form at least 24 hours before departure, giving details about where they will stay during their time in Greece. A QR code, which can be scanned by Greek authorities upon arrival, is then sent via email. However, dozens of travellers have already been caught out – with many forced to fork out thousands of pounds for new flights – while others have reported a lack of guidance from airlines and contradictory advice. Rachel O’Connor from London was due to fly to Rhodes from Luton on Sunday afternoon with her husband and baby, and completed the form a few days in advance. However, on Sunday morning she realised she had mistakenly said they would be arriving in Greece on Monday. “It isn’t possible to edit the original form, and we tried to speak to Greek authorities but the phone number provided is not available at the weekend,” she said. “Therefore, as the form needs to be completed at least 24 hours in advance, we were forced to postpone our trip and rebook for Tuesday.” <br/>
Hong Kong’s civil aviation authority has extended a waiver for a “use it or lose it” rule relating to slot utilisation, giving carriers more flexibility to adjust their schedules amid the challenging Covid-19 environment. The Worldwide Airport Slot Guidelines (WASG) rule stipulates that airlines need to operate from their slots for 80% of the time during the period allocated in order to be allowed to retain them. The Hong Kong Schedule Coordination Office (HKSCO) has been “closely monitoring” the impact of Covid-19 on airline operators’ slot usage at the Hong Kong International Airport, the city’s Civil Aviation Department, which oversees the HKSCO, says. “In consideration of the situation and to facilitate planning by airline operators, the HKSCO has on 31 July 2020, informed airline operators at HKIA that the ‘use-it-or-lose-it rule’ will continue to be suspended for operations at the HKIA for the Winter 2020 IATA season (i.e. from 25 October 2020 to 27 March 2021),” the Civil Aviation Department said. In June, IATA said that a continued relaxation of the “use it or lose it” regulations is essential to aid airlines’ restart of operations and ensure connectivity in the longer term. Earlier in the year, several bodies, including the US Department of Transportation and the European Council, announced that they would temporarily waive the rule in their respective jurisdictions.<br/>
Sydney Airport has announced it will raise A$2b in fresh capital to firm up its pandemic-stressed balance sheet after revealing a $53m loss for the six months to June 30. The $53.6m loss compared with a $17.3m profit in the same half last year and was due to COVID-19 travel restrictions causing traffic to fall 56%, to 9.4m passengers for the period, the airport said Tuesday. Total passenger traffic in June was down to 5% of the level seen in the same month last year. Sydney Airport said it would use the $2b raising to “substantially” reduce its net debt, enhance its financial resilience, support its investment grade credit rating and increase liquidity. “Six months into the pandemic, there remains uncertainty as to how long it will take for aviation markets to return to pre-COVID-19 levels,” CE Geoff Culbert said. “Accordingly, Sydney Airport is taking further decisive action to strengthen its balance sheet and to help ensure it remains well capitalised to meet the challenges presented by an uncertain COVID-19 operating environment, and to ensure it is positioned for growth in the future." Culbert said it would raise the $2b through a renounceable entitlement offer. which was the fairest structure for all investors, particularly retail investors. Shareholders who participate in the raising will not be diluted, he said. <br/>
Moscow Domodedovo was Europe’s busiest airport for passenger numbers during June, a month in which the impact of the global pandemic was further illustrated by London Heathrow falling outside the top 10 biggest hubs. Figures released by ACI Europe for June show Moscow Domodedovo airport handled 716,800 passengers for the month - down 73% on the same month in 2019. Another Moscow airport, Sheremetyevo, was the third busiest European airport in June with 622,800 passengers. That marked an 87% reduction on June 2019. Neither Russian airport featured among the five biggest European airports in 2019. Heathrow, the biggest European airport last year, ranked as only the 11th busiest in June 2020 in handling 350,000 passengers. That compares with over 7 million passengers for the same month in 2019. The sharp fall in volumes at Heathrow was evident elsewhere among UK airports where travel restrictions remained in place in June. Notably London Gatwick, the 10th biggest airport in June 2019, slipped to the 92nd busiest in June 2020.<br/>
Boeing faces being hit with a $1.25m fine after allegedly pressuring safety inspectors to inspect aircraft more quickly. The FAA has accused the planemaker of “pressuring,” “harassing,” and “berating the performance of” engineers, inspectors and managers on the oversight team in charge of quality control at the company’s plant in South Carolina. Accusations have been levelled at four senior Boeing managers. In a letter seen by the Seattle Times, the FAA lays out several allegations relating to inspections made between 2017 and 2019. These include: that senior managers pressured an inspector “to perform a compliance inspection of an aircraft which was not ready for inspection”; that they harassed inspectors and managers to “perform inspections more quickly and to report to aircraft ready for inspection faster”; that they berated the performance of inspectors and threatened to replace them; that they waited outside aircraft to see how long inspections took; and that an oversight manager was not interviewed for a potential promotion after filing an “undue pressure” report.<br/>