general

Cargo, one of the least glamorous aspects of flying, is proving a rare ray of light for airlines amid the coronavirus gloom. The grounding of passenger planes at a time of increased demand for everything from medical supplies to iPhones has boosted freight rates. With much of the world’s population house-bound and shopping online instead of hitting the malls, analysts see no let up in demand, particularly as the peak year-end holiday season approaches. “Airfreight is going to be a bright spot for carriers at least for this year because while borders are closed that doesn’t mean people aren’t buying,” said Um Kyung-a, an airline analyst at Shinyoung Securities Co. in Seoul. “That trend is likely to continue as cargo capacity remains limited.” The sort of goods moving along this global conveyor belt 30,000 feet in the sky also track the pandemic’s unfurling. Masks and gloves have given way to semiconductor chips and PC parts as consumers set up work-from-home arrangements. Fresh produce is also big as people venture out less. Ultimately, once a vaccine is found, airlines will be used to disperse billions of vials quickly and in a temperature-controlled environment. Under normal circumstances, about 60% of air cargo globally is flown in the belly hold of passenger flights. With hundreds of those jets parked in deserts waiting out the pandemic, airfreight costs have spiraled: rates to North America from Hong Kong are up almost 60% this year. Story has more.<br/>

With the coronavirus pandemic clearly set to continue pummeling the global economy for an extended period of time, airlines in Asia and around the world are increasingly seeking government support for survival. As global demand for air travel remains in the doldrums with no quick rebound in sight, many airlines on the brink of going belly up desperately require such financial aid to prevent job losses and stay in business. Combined revenues of the world's approximately 290 airlines will plunge by half in 2020 from last year according to an estimate by the IATA. They are also projected to post net losses totalling a staggering $84.3b, one of the biggest amounts of red ink in history. Global demand for air travel will not fully recover until 2024, according to the IATA. Thus, the fate of many airlines now depends on whether they will receive financial support from the government. Story has details of programmes.<br/>

A snapshot of Airbus plane use outlines a tentative recovery still dependent on China, and continued challenges for wide-body aircraft as carriers adjust to a lack of demand. Of the 10,404 Airbus planes in global fleets, almost two-thirds had flown at least once in the previous five days, according to an Aug. 24 newsletter sent by the European manufacturer to operators and maintenance companies. The rest -- more than 3,600 planes -- had not flown, a reminder of the oversupply that Airbus and Boeing are grappling with six months into the coronavirus pandemic. The numbers help to fill in the contours of a lopsided recovery that’s seen Chinese travel bounce back while the rest of the world flounders. And even as other sectors of the global economy are looking up, air travel remains mired in a downturn that’s proving tough to shake. Leave out China, and more than 40% of Airbus’s global fleet is grounded, based on the figures in the newsletter, which didn’t include its smallest jet, the A220. China represents nearly a quarter of the Toulouse, France-based manufacturer’s commercial aircraft production. “It is very important for Airbus and Boeing to steer deliveries toward China in this particularly weak year,” said George Ferguson, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst. Demand could improve in 2021, “but right now it looks like even the first half will see parked fleet in most regions.”<br/>

Health officials are scrambling to contact more than 200 British holidaymakers on a flight from Crete last week after authorities failed to alert the airline that eight passengers had tested positive for coronavirus. The teenagers, from Hampshire, were diagnosed after returning to the UK on a Wizz Air flight to London Luton airport on 25 August. The positive tests should have triggered an urgent response to track down the other 204 passengers on board, but Wizz Air said it had not been made aware of the cases until contacted by the Guardian. The new cluster of cases from a Greek island raises further questions about the UK’s monitoring of holidaymakers, as ministers continue to rule out testing at airports. It will increase the pressure on the government to impose quarantine measures in all regions on arrivals from Greece, after Scotland and Wales announced restrictions on 1 September. The UK has pledged to quarantine arrivals from any country recording at least 20 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day period. On Wednesday, Greece had 14.3 cases per 100,000 people.<br/>

Concerns over arrivals to the UK are growing as reports have emerged of passengers being crowded on to shuttle trains at airports, a lack of information about quarantine, and confusion around test-and-trace forms. Prof Susan Michie, the director of the Centre for Behaviour Change at University College London and a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behavioural Science, a government advisory group, told the Guardian that a family member who returned from Nice on Saturday evening was shocked at the conditions at Stansted airport. “You just wouldn’t know there was a pandemic,” Michie said. On disembarking, passengers from up to five planes arriving from different countries were crowded on to shuttle trains. “There were massive great queues to get on the shuttle, so everyone was pressed in against each other trying to get to passport control,” said Michie. She added that her relative received no information about the need to complete a passenger locator form. Such forms are supposed to be filled out online before arrival in the UK to help the authorities check that people are quarantining if necessary, and to support test and trace. Failure to provide details could result in a fine of up to GBP100.<br/>

Heathrow is to axe up to a quarter of its workforce as Europe’s busiest airport grapples with spiralling losses and braces for the end of the taxpayer-funded furlough scheme. Up to 1,200 of Heathrow’s 4,700-strong workforce are at risk of compulsory redundancy after Covid brought a golden age of air travel to a juddering halt. The airport said it had lost GBP1b since March and passenger numbers during August were 82pc lower than the previous year, with demand for foreign holidays crushed by a constantly changing quarantine regime. Bosses said that it is time to accept a “new reality” as the pandemic wreaks havoc across the industry. Many workers who survive the cull face pay cuts of up to a fifth of their salary. Unions urged Heathrow to withdraw the job cuts consultation. The Telegraph today launched a campaign calling for Covid-19 testing to be introduced at airports and ports by Christmas in a bid to save the battered travel industry, which experts have repeatedly warned faces a catastrophe due to the pandemic. Many airports have put their operations into hibernation over summer by taking advantage of Sunak’s furlough scheme, which pays up to 80% of the wage bill for workers unable to do their jobs. However, with this support set to come to an end next month and little hope of further bailouts, operators have no choice but to begin laying off staff.<br/>

Leading figures in UK aviation have expressed frustration that the government has still not given backing for Covid-19 testing at airports. The head of Southampton, Aberdeen and Glasgow airports accused ministers of "overseeing the demise of UK aviation". And the bosses of Virgin Atlantic and Heathrow Airport said "leadership" was needed on the testing issue, warning of the huge number of jobs at stake. The Department for Transport said it had given huge support to the sector. The aviation industry sees airport testing as a way for passengers to leave quarantine early, and also help the travel industry get back on its feet after lockdown. Foreign travel was paralysed for several months by the pandemic, with airlines, airports and tour firms shedding thousands of jobs. Derek Provan, CE of AGS Airports, which runs Southampton, Aberdeen and Glasgow, said the sector was seeing more job losses than the demise of the coal industry in the 1980s. "That's surely not an accolade any government would like to have," he said.<br/>

The boss of London Heathrow airport is urging the UK and USA to cooperate on a pilot programme to test passengers flying between London and New York for Covid-19 before they board to avoid them having to quarantine on arrival. Such a scheme, using the latest testing technology that can provide results within hours, would help kick-start one of the world’s busiest long-haul air routes and restore wider confidence in aviation, says John Holland-Kaye. Holland-Kaye said a bilateral initiative could be “up and running within a week or two” if both governments agreed on common testing standards. “The UK is in a perfect position to lead this effort,” he says. Holland-Kaye suggests that with current coronavirus infection rates below 1% in most countries, the vast majority of would-be travelers are virus-free. Yet, worries about importing cases has led many nations, including the UK, to impose quarantine restrictions of up to 14 days on those arriving from much of the world, with lists of at-risk territories changing at short notice. “Few people will fly with this quarantine roulette,” he says. “We need a process that ensures that the 99% or more of people who do not have Covid can begin travelling again.”<br/>

Israeli airlines will be allowed to cross through Saudi Arabia on a regular basis, shattering a 72-year taboo as Gulf Arab nations and the Jewish state draw steadily closer together. On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia approved a United Arab Emirates request to use the kingdom’s airspace “for all flights coming to the United Arab Emirates and leaving to all countries,” a consequential, if oblique outreach to Israel. The short statement by the state-run Saudi Press Agency was quickly followed by a tweet from the foreign minister. Two days earlier, Saudi Arabia allowed El Al to fly over its territory for the first time to hold a first round of peace talks with the UAE in Abu Dhabi. The opening of Saudi skies, closed because the countries have never had diplomatic relations, reflects the growing willingness by Gulf Arab states to publicly recognize a rapprochement with Israel that’s rooted in a common animosity toward Iran. The political benefits come with a practical boon to airlines and travellers. Flights will no longer have to go down the Red Sea and up the Gulf of Aden to avoid Saudi airspace, which tacked hours and big expenses onto long-haul flights. Two years ago, Saudi Arabia had allowed Air India to fly directly to and from Israel, but permission was withheld from Israeli airlines, at a great disadvantage to them. The lifting of these restrictions will also benefit other airlines, such as Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways, which said Tuesday that it started selling tickets to Israeli passengers in the lead-up to normal commercial flights between the UAE and Israel.<br/>

Jordan will resume regular international flights from Sept. 8 to help revive an economy badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, after delaying the move several times over the past month, officials said Wednesday. Government spokesman Amjad Adailah said that passengers entering Jordan would need proof of a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of travel, alongside a compulsory test on arrival. He said the rules would include a minimum of one week of self-isolation to a maximum two weeks of quarantine for foreign travellers depending on the severity of the pandemic in countries they came from. The government had repeatedly postponed reopening Amman’s Alia International Airport, a regional hub, over fears that travellers could bring about a spike in infections. But in recent days worries had mounted about the impact of further delays on the debt-burdened economy. Jordan has seen almost a doubling of cases in the last month to a total of 2,161 along with 15 deaths - a much smaller known toll than in many other Middle East countries - but authorities remain worried about a severe outbreak. The closure of Amman’s airport dealt a damaging blow to the aid-dependent economy by paralysing tourism, a major revenue source that was enjoying an unprecedented boom before the pandemic crisis.<br/>

Peru will restart passenger air transport internationally on Oct. 1 after it was suspended in March due to the coronavirus outbreak, Transport and Communications Minister Carlos Estremadoyro said Wednesday. Estremadoyro said his team had made proposals to airlines around biosecurity protocol and would look to resume flights to countries with open borders such as the United States, Mexico and Spain. The government also on Wednesday approved the transfer of 500m soles ($141.5m) into a guarantee fund for small companies working in the tourism sector. <br/>