general

European airlines on Tuesday urged national capitals to coordinate measures to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, saying the current patchwork of restrictions is hobbling a return to regular travel around the EU. The hurdles have included "chaotic border restrictions along with confusion about quarantines, varying passenger locator forms and test requirements," Airlines For Europe (A4E) director Thomas Reynaert said in a press conference held by video. To overcome the piecemeal measures, A4E urged a "common approach", backing calls from the European Commission for a central colour-coded map of areas in the bloc where the virus risk is high -- enabling restrictions by region rather than "blanket national restrictions". Passengers should have access to "quick and reliable Covid-19 tests" and quarantines should be downgraded to "an instrument of last resort", the airline group said. "Low-risk" travellers including pilots and cabin crew ought to be excluded from travel restrictions, the companies added. The airlines' appeal to governments comes after August saw passenger traffic plateau at around 30% of its level a year ago, according to A4E's own figures. "A unified European testing programme is urgently needed if we are to have any chance of restoring passenger confidence," Reynaert said. Greater EU-wide coordination should be made a "political priority", Air France-KLM chief and A4E chairman Benjamin Smith said. "Uncoordinated national measures over the last six months have had a devastating impact on freedom of movement." Alexandre de Juniac, head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), told France's Europe 1 radio that "we're proposing... a procedure for testing passengers at their departure airports, so the destination country knows there's a minimal risk...Restriction measures, above all quarantine measures, you have to understand that these are huge deterrents to any kind of travel." <br/>

Spanish airlines expect a tough autumn and winter even if some traffic is resuming after a summer that has seen passenger traffic nosedive 80% due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the head of Spain's airlines industry group said on Tuesday. The capacity in September and October will likely be 40% of what it was last year, Asociacion de Lineas Aereas (ALA) chief Javier Gandara said. "The actual number of passengers is much lower than the capacity as planes are flying less full," Gandara said, adding that given occupancy ratios, the number of passengers in September and October was set to be close to 20%-30% of what it was one year ago. Following months are also expected to be tough, with less visibility at this time, he said, forecasting that passenger traffic during the winter season will not be much higher than 30% of last year's. Gandara estimated a likely loss of 113m passengers in Spain this year with lost revenues for the industry of up to E15b or possibly even higher, considering that the more lucrative long-distance travel is suffering more than domestic and regional flights. Travel restrictions and fear of COVID-19 contagion have heavily weighed on the air transportation business in Spain, as well as on the broader economy. Gandara said that airlines needed government support, including cash to meet financial obligations, an extension of furlough schemes until Easter 2021 and lower airport fees.<br/>

A UN-led aviation task force aims to make a recommendation by late October on the use of COVID-19 testing to reduce long quarantine requirements that have decimated air travel, two sources said, following a meeting of the group on Tuesday. Airlines and airports have asked the task force to recommend countries accept a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test from passengers within 48 hours of traveling from countries with high COVID-19 infection rates as an alternative to 14-day quarantines. The ICAO-led CART task force plans to make a non-binding recommendation for countries on the use of testing at an October 29 meeting, although such efforts could be delayed, the sources said. It's not yet clear what recommendation would be made over testing. Australia, which has some of the world's strictest COVID-19 travel and quarantine restrictions, has raised concerns over the proposal from airlines, a third source said. Governments and industry groups are looking at options such as the use of bilateral agreements that would allow travellers to move between countries with similar infection rates without quarantines, or require testing in other cases. The EC recently proposed a common traffic light system for EU member states to coordinate border controls. And a plan proposed by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), to be discussed by G20 leaders in early October, would allow travellers from "low-risk" countries to avoid quarantine altogether with a negative test result.<br/>

China's civil aviation regulator Tuesday announced adjustments to its management policies for domestic airline services in a bid to boost the virus-hit industry. China will lift restrictions on the maximum limit of weekly flights subject to approval, allowing airlines greater flexibility in arranging passenger flights involving airports of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, among other busy airports, the CAAC told a press conference. While easing the rules, the regulator specified detailed guidelines for applying flights to coordinate market competition and take into consideration the conditions of airport operation. Meanwhile, the regulator eased restrictions on regional airlines involving three major airports in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. China's civil aviation industry continued to see a gradual recovery in August as key indicators reported visible improvements from a month ago, showed data. Airlines flew a total of 45.5m passengers last month, down 25.6% year on year. <br/>

Airbus is offering French employees a bonus of two months’ salary if they accept voluntary severance by the end of next month, stepping up efforts to thin its ranks with fewer forced layoffs. The pandemic-hit planemaker is also offering to top up monthly wages by as much as E350 for up to a year if workers move permanently to lower-paid jobs, according to a letter to French staffers Monday. A two-year minimum period before employees can switch positions has also been removed, and Airbus is offering pension incentives for people who take early retirement. The European aerospace giant, grappling with an unprecedented collapse in air travel because of the coronavirus, is trying to entice workers to leave to limit tougher measures it’s unlikely to avoid altogether. The planemaker has pledged to slash 15,000 jobs across its operations, with France braced to absorb about one-third of those. Airbus will provide an update on the exit package at its next works council on Sept. 24 and should close discussions with unions Oct. 15, according to the letter. Nearly 2,000 staff members have already expressed a serious interest in voluntary departure, Donald Fraty, the head of human resources for France, said in the letter.<br/>

International airlines are ramping up their calls for an increase the number of passengers permitted to enter Australia ahead of the government’s review of the limit of 4,000 inbound travellers each week. Intended to ease pressure on the mandatory hotel quarantine system, the cap system runs until October 24 and pegs arrivals at 350 passengers per day at Sydney, 525 passengers per week at Perth, and 500 passengers per week at Adelaide and Brisbane. Flight limits in Canberra and Darwin are decided “on a case by case basis,” the government says, while Melbourne remains closed to all inbound travellers. However, with an estimated 20,000 Australians stranded overseas and unable to book a flight due to the strict limits – which sees some flights carrying as few as 30 passengers – pressure is mounting for a significant increase on international airport arrivals. Qatar Airways has already said it will stop accepting new bookings for flights to Australia until the current passenger cap is relaxed. “Due to the dynamic nature of the pandemic, airlines operating flights to Australia have faced ever-changing restrictions, often imposed on short notice,” the airline said in a statement. It claims this has led to a “cascading effect” on bookings made weeks or even months in advance, resulting in “many passengers having their tickets rebooked onto later flights several times as demand exceeds the new caps announced.” The Board of Airline Representatives of Australia, which represents over 30 international airlines serving Australia, says that the growing backlog of passengers now stretches towards the end of this year. “When you can only fill a sixth of the seats, the cost equation (for airlines) becomes terrible,” explained BARA executive director Barry Abrams. “The issue here is not availability of seats. There’s no shortage of seats. It comes down to the caps.”<br/>

Myanmar reported 307 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, its highest daily toll since the start of the pandemic in March, as the country battles a second wave of infections. The health ministry did not say immediately where the new cases were found. Most recent infections have been in the commercial city Yangon and in Sittwe, capital of conflict-torn Rakhine state. Domestic airlines announced that services have been suspended until the end of September and health authorities widened a stay-at-home order to nearly half of the townships in greater Yangon, the biggest city.<br/>