general

The airline industry can’t afford to wait for a vaccine. That’s the message from the IATA’s chief medical adviser, David Powell. On top of face masks, regular hand washing and sanitizing of high-touch surfaces, carriers should work with regulators to introduce reliable coronavirus testing systems for passengers before they board in order to get people back on planes. “The ideal protection is to avoid people who are infectious,” Powell said. “We need a test that’s reliable and fast enough and that’s able to be done in huge numbers.” Right now, that’s a tall order. Manfacturers globally are struggling to meet Covid-19 test-kit demand. And the multiple tests that do exist can often sow more confusion than certainty. Just last month a spat erupted between Singapore and China after the latter found infectious passengers on a flight from the island nation. Singapore said most of the people in question had recovered but “may continue to shed viral fragments for weeks or even months” leading to a positive test result.<br/>

Headrest canopies and fabric barriers between seats could start appearing in airplane cabins as the embattled industry tries to ward off the coronavirus. Airlines desperate for governments to lift travel restrictions and passengers to return are looking at ways to reassure the public that their health won’t be compromised on a flight. New-look seats and fresh cabins could be a start. One of the biggest companies in that business, Recaro Aircraft Seating GmbH, has designed a range of modifications to keep passengers apart and protect them from infection. Airlines are considering installing Recaro’s equipment as temporary cabin makeovers, according to CEO Mark Hiller. They need fittings that are easy to maneuver, lightweight and available at short notice, he said. “There is definitely large interest from across the different regions,” Hiller said. With a coronavirus vaccine possibly years away, airlines need to persuade the public it is safe to fly when an infected passenger might be next to them. Sporadic flareups around the world are putting people off: Global traffic in July was down almost 80% from a year earlier, a steeper-than-expected slump, the IATA said last week. Airlines are also figuring out how to apply a disinfectant coating developed by Recaro onto their seats, Hiller said. The German company says it has revamped the substance to repel viruses including Covid-19. While the industry has for months said there’s little chance of catching the virus on a plane because there are hospital-grade air filters on board, that argument has been undermined by breakouts on some flights.<br/>

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Friday said he thinks the Trump administration will in a matter of weeks unveil additional aid for US airlines, which have been dealt a blow by a coronavirus pandemic that has grounded most flights. "If they need additional assistance, we stand ready to work with them to hammer out additional packages," Kudlow said. Airlines received $25b in US government stimulus funds in March meant to cover payrolls and protect jobs through September. Congress also approved another $25b in loans for airlines but much of the money has not been tapped. As bailout money runs out without a travel recovery in sight, airlines and unions have lobbied Washington for another $25b. But talks have stalled as Congress has struggled to reach agreement on a broader coronavirus assistance package, despite significant bilateral support for the airline package. Administration and airline officials say the Trump administration has considered various ways to aid airlines without congressional action but have yet to settle on an approach.<br/>

EU regulators pushed to reduce the risk of internal travel disruptions resulting from coronavirus-induced border closures. In a sign of concern that a resurgence of the pandemic could trigger renewed barriers to cross-border movement within the 27-nation bloc, the EC outlined ways for EU governments to cooperate more closely over travel restrictions. “Our right to move freely in the EU has been heavily impacted by the pandemic,” EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders said on Friday in Brussels. “For the many citizens who rely on frictionless travel every day, the cacophony of national rules in the EU is overwhelming. We want to simplify things.” The pandemic has forced EU regulators into a political balancing act between respecting member countries’ responsibility for health policy and protecting the bloc’s principle of free movement of people. Airlines have been vocal critics of the patchwork of national approaches in the EU to curbing the Covid-19 pandemic. Lufthansa would like more regulatory consistency and predictability, spokesman Helmut Tolksdorf said Friday. The initiative by the commission, the EU’s executive arm, needs the approval of member-country governments. It would amount to a non-binding recommendation covering their actions in the field of health and travel.<br/>

Countries that have expanded their airport testing of arriving holidaymakers have seen their national Covid infection rates decline, according to a new analysis. The data, covering the period from mid-August to this weekend, shows Greece, Denmark, Iceland, Germany, Cyprus and Singapore all reduced their rates after intensifying border testing to allow arrivals to avoid 14-day quarantine. The disclosure challenges the Government’s contention that testing on arrival is ineffective and only catches seven per cent of cases - an argument deployed by both Boris Johnson and Grant Shapps on Friday. But in support of The Telegraph’s Test4Travel campaign, Paul Charles, CE of travel consultancy The PC Agency, which conducted the analysis, said the data demonstrated the value of airport testing in enabling travel, while minimising the risk to public health. Along with many in the travel and aviation industry, Charles advocated a two-test model, one on or before arrival and then a second followed up after five days of quarantine, reducing the time travellers have to self-isolate by nine days. “The seven per cent figure is spurious data which is questioned by the whole travel industry as being out of date. Secondly, it only relates to one test at the airport rather than two,” said Charles. Scientists at Collinson Group, which has set up a testing facility at Heathrow, said the Government’s seven per cent figure was based on Public Health England and SAGE modelling rather than the plethora of real-world data now available from countries’ airport testing regimes.<br/>

Boris Johnson has been warned by the bosses of the UK’s 20 biggest airports he risks “irreparable damage” to the economy unless he moves to replace quarantine with Covid-19 testing in the next week. In a letter to the PM and Chancellor, the signatories, including bosses at Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham and Luton, give Johnson seven days to give the go ahead to testing as one of a series of measures to prevent the loss of up to 110,000 aviation and allied industry jobs. Ministers are also considering following Wales by sanctioning regional “travel corridors” where visitors to “low risk” islands like Madeira and the Azores would be exempt from quarantine despite travel bans on the mainland. A decision could come as early as Monday, say industry sources. It comes as England on Sunday saw it's biggest daily toll of coronavirus infections since May, as 2,988 new cases were, announced prompting Health Secretary Matt Hancock to appeal to young people not to “infect their grandparents”. Their appeal came as an influential committee of MPs urged Johnson to move quicker to save Britain's stricken aviation sector. Huw Merriman, chair of the transport committee, said his failure to endorse airport testing was adding "further barriers to travel.”<br/>

Canada’s airports are asking PM Justin Trudeau to step up relief efforts for industries hardest hit by the pandemic, as the governing Liberal Party prepares to roll out a recovery package for the nation’s economy. The Canadian Airports Council will issue a request Friday for the government to extend rent relief to airports beyond this year, and to provide long-term interest free loans and other funding to help the sector stave off a historic revenue loss. Daniel-Robert Gooch, president of the Ottawa-based advocacy group, said he’s hoping the government will provide enough help to cover a “big chunk” of the almost C$3b airports will need to borrow through the end of next year to cover expenses and keep workers employed. “We’ve been talking to anybody in government who would listen, going on seven months,” Gooch said. “Our sector has not seen anything like this. Hopefully we never see anything like it again.” Trudeau has been reluctant to make any moves that could be seen as bailing out specific companies or industries, even in troubled sectors like air travel. Instead, the government has launched a series of less-targeted lending and subsidy programs for business. If some key decisions aren’t made in the next couple of months, “we start to look at really difficult decisions,” Gooch said, adding those range from fare increases to the potential closure of smaller airports, he said. The council represents more than 100 airports across the country, including global hubs like Pearson in Toronto, Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport, and Vancouver International. <br/>

Hundreds of thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate in southern Japan, and companies are planning to shutter factories as Typhoon Haishen approaches. The Japan Meteorological Agency said the typhoon may make landfall on Kagoshima prefecture in the southern Kyushu island on Sunday evening. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said at least 218,000 households have been ordered to evacuate to safety in Okinawa and five of the Kyushu prefectures. The nation’s train and airline services will also be disrupted by the typhoon. JAL and ANA Holdings plan to partially or totally suspend flights to and from Okinawa and Kyushu on Sunday and Monday.<br/>

China will require passengers arriving on direct flights from the US to provide negative Covid-19 nucleic-acid test results taken within 72 hours of the flight. Passengers traveling from the US to China, and those transiting in any country that the Chinese government has listed as requiring the screening, must have negative Covid-19 results from a test done within three days of boarding at the last layover destination, China’s embassy in America said in a statement on Friday. Both sets of rules will take effect Sept. 15. Passengers who transit in the US before flying to China will be required to submit a health declaration to the airlines or hold a green health code, according to the statement. China’s new requirement is the latest in a series of restrictions imposed on US citizens by Beijing, and counter measures taken by Washington, because of the pandemic and a deterioration in relations between the world’s two biggest economies.<br/>

Nigeria barred flights by Lufthansa, Air France, KLM and Etihad Airways as its airspace reopens to international flights, saying it was in response to similar restrictions imposed on flights from the West African country. Other airlines restricted from flying into Nigeria include RwandAir, Air Namibia, Royal Air Maroc and TAAG Angola, the Aviation Ministry said. Airlines approved to fly in Africa’s most-populous country include BA, Delta, Qatar Airways, Emirates and Ethiopian Airlines. Flights are also permitted from Ghana, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Kenya, Lebanon and Turkey.<br/>

Argentina could resume international commercial flights in October, a transport ministry source said on Friday, indicating a potential light at the end of the tunnel for one of the world’s strictest travel bans due to the coronavirus. The start of flights next month would give companies the 30 days they need to prepare for the restart of their operations, the source said, cautioning that higher approval was still pending. “The president has the final decision,” the person said. Transport Minister Mario Meoni said Thursday that new passenger and airport protocols for international travel had been fine-tuned and approved by the Ministry of Health, a requirement that the government stated previously for lifting a strict travel ban that was due to expire on Sept. 1. “In the next few days, we will be able to announce the return of international flights. All of this takes time because scheduling flights is not easy,” Meoni said. The ministry would also submit a proposal to President Alberto Fernandez for the restart of domestic flights next month, Meoni added. Airline industry group IATA criticized Argentina’s decision to extend the flight ban, saying the country is now the largest market in the region where aviation remains suspended. “Continued procrastination by the government will further reduce the country’s international connectivity,” said Peter Cerda, IATA’s vice president for the Americas. “From an industry perspective, we would not want the country to become another Venezuela, which over the years has gone from being one of the key aviation markets on the continent to now having very limited international connectivity,” Cerda said.<br/>

The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) has lifted its ban on food and drinks served on domestic flights, according to the authority's director-general Chula Sukmanop. In its latest announcement on Thursday, the CAAT added that its ban on the sale of souvenirs has also been removed. However, the CAAT maintains that airlines must continue to follow the health and safety regulations issued by relevant authorities. The announcement came months after commercial flights were suspended at the end of April due to the escalating outbreak of Covid-19. The CAAT then allowed domestic flights to resume on May 1, although airlines were barred from serving food and drinks on board for flights that did not exceed two hours. The majority of domestic flights in Thailand are under two hours.<br/>

A government watchdog says federal regulators lack the ability to verify whether private pilots are eligible for more relaxed medical requirements and whether the looser rule is compromising air safety. The DoT’s inspector general examined the FAA’s ability to oversee a program that lets pilots of small planes fly without undergoing the normal medical-certification process. More than 55,000 pilots have registered for the alternate approach, called BasicMed. The inspector general found that the FAA could not verify pilots’ eligibility for BasicMed – which includes having a valid driver’s license -- because it isn’t set up to flag all incidents that could lead to revocation of a license, such as reckless driving or being involved in a fatal wreck. Also, the auditor said FAA cannot verify that doctors who examine the pilots are licensed. The FAA set up a group last year to study whether pilots using BasicMed are riskier than those with medical certificates. However, FAA told the inspector general that it needs several more years of accident data. Further, the auditor said FAA can’t make “a meaningful comparison” of accident and death rates because it doesn’t track hours flown by BasicMed pilots. FAA’s director of audit and evaluation, Clayton Foushee, said small private planes operated by BasicMed pilots represent “very low risk to the general public” -- similar to balloons and gliders, which don’t require pilot medical certificates either. The BasicMed program, he added, “provided benefits by removing unnecessary aviation regulatory burdens.” But, Foushee said, FAA said it plans to act by next July 31 on the inspector general’s recommendations to improve verification of pilot driver licenses and doctors and develop a way to compare safety records of BasicMed pilots to other pilots.<br/>