Spirit Airlines reiterated its policy of wearing only masks approved by the CDC after a passenger refused to wear anything other than his neck gaiter, which does not meet CDC standards. A video, recorded by the passenger and shared on social media last week, shows a flight attendant asking a man wearing an American flag-themed neck gaiter if he has a mask on underneath because the gaiter on its own does not comply with Spirit or CDC guidelines. "Our flight attendants asked the Guest in this video to double up his gaiter," the airline said Friday. "When he refused, they offered him an alternative face covering, and he refused that option, too." "What's wrong with my mask?" the passenger asked, before repeatedly telling the flight attendant to "show me those rules." "I don't have to wear the mask that you gave me," he said. "I'm wearing the mask that I have. ... I've been on 20 flights with this same exact mask." The flight attendant reiterated that the gaiter did not meet safety standards and said the airline would "have the authorities waiting for you when we land." The airline's statement notes that Spirit's policy adheres to CDC guidelines and requires face coverings that "snugly cover the nose and mouth, be secure under the chin and have at least two layers of fabric. The CDC cautions that gaiters may not be effective, which is why we require Guests to either double up neck gaiters so they're dual-layered and hug the chin, or to switch to a standard ear-loop face covering."<br/>
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Ryanair will cut a further one in five of its flights scheduled in October, blaming Irish and EU governments for what it called “excessive and defective” travel restrictions. The move comes on top of an earlier 20% reduction in flights in September and October, which it announced in August, blaming a drop in bookings and the introduction of fresh quarantine requirements. Ryanair expects to fly 40% of flights in October compared with the same month in 2019, a fall from the 50% it had previously predicted. However, it hopes its planes will fly almost three-quarters (70%) full. The budget carrier said the reductions in capacity were necessary because of frequent, and often short-notice, changes to travel restrictions and policies being introduced by EU governments, which have affected customers’ willingness to make future bookings. Ryanair said it was “disappointed” to cancel more flights, but warned it may announce more cuts if travel restrictions remain in place. “While it is too early yet to make final decisions on our winter schedule (from November to March), if current trends and EU governments’ mismanagement of the return of air travel and normal economic activity continue, then similar capacity cuts may be required across the winter period,” said a Ryanair spokesperson. Ryanair accused the Irish government of keeping “Ireland locked up like North Korea since 1 July”, and claimed that this had not prevented Covid-19 rates from rising in the country.<br/>
Ryanair has re-iterated its warning that it will close its operations at both Cork and Shannon Airports for the winter unless the Government adopts the EU traffic light system for international travel. This system would allow passengers fly from Ireland to a greater range of countries during the Covid-19 pandemic. In a memo sent to all Ryanair staff at Cork and Shannon airports, Diarmuid Rogers, head of Ryanair flight operations base management, warned that “if there is no change, we regrettably expect the base closures at Cork and Shannon to proceed” even though a final decision has not yet been made. “The Government has not only failed to implement its own taskforce’s recommendation of July 7th but has now made matters worse by delaying the implementation of the EU’s ‘traffic light’ system until at least October 13th,” said Rogers. “Instead of adopting the EU ‘traffic light’ system . . . the Government updated the failed Green list by removing six countries with lower Covid case rates than Ireland. This disjointed and mismanaged approach is putting the jobs of our pilots and crew at Cork and Shannon at risk.” Last week, Ryanair CE Eddie Wilson met Oireachtas members from Leeside at Cork Airport and briefed them on the scenario facing the airline with regard to continuing its operations from both Cork and Shannon in the light of the government’ s policy on foreign travel during Covid. Wilson said the Government needed to adopt the EU rules on green, orange and red list countries and it needed to include travel to the UK which is critically important for Ryanair’s operations from Cork where it accounts for 50% of the company’s business. Wilson said the aviation industry needs decisiveness from the Government immediately as Ryanair currently has no bookings for November.<br/>
Dubai conglomerate Al Habtoor Group is to open a representative office in Israel, it said on Sunday. The United Arab Emirates and Israel last week agreed to establish bilateral diplomatic and trade ties. The family-owned conglomerate portfolio covers the hospitality, construction, education and automotive sectors. Habtoor Group, headed by prominent Emirati businessman Khalaf Ahmad al-Habtoor, is in talks with Israeli airline Israir to launch direct commercial flights to the UAE. “We are preparing to reveal a few collaborations in the coming days,” he said.<br/>
Norway’s government has extended loan guarantees for the country’s airlines, including Norwegian Air, by two months until the end of 2020, the Industry Ministry said Sunday. Norwegian Air secured a state aid package of 3b Norwegian crowns ($330m) earlier this year after a debt restructuring but said last month it needed to secure more funding to get through the COVID-19 pandemic. The government has changed the terms of the state guarantee scheme, the industry ministry said, without disclosing specifics. “The changes we now propose are designed for the scheme to help more airlines than those who have already used it,” Industry Minister Iselin Nyboe said. <br/>
Icelandair Group has received a strong response to its share offering, with an oversubscription reaching some 85% more than the planned allocation. The offering – initially intended to cover IcKr20b ($147m) in new shares, through separate share batches of IcKr17b and IcKr3b – closed on 17 September. Icelandair Group says there was “strong demand” from both institutional and retail investors, with total subscriptions amounting to IcKr37.3b. As a result the company chose to use its option to increase the number of offered shares to 23b. It says it accepted subscriptions totalling IcKr30.3b and did not need to resort to underwriting. “Existing shareholders who participated in the offering received full allotment in line with their existing stake,” it adds.<br/>
Philippine Airlines said it has already paid back 80% of the 15.9b pesos ($329m) in refund requests it received amid the coronavirus pandemic. The carrier owned by billionaire Lucio Tan has canceled more than 60,000 flights since March, affecting over 1.3m passengers, PAL said. “The loss of revenues deprived us of liquidity to make prompt refund payments, even as lockdown restrictions posed serious staffing and logistical limitations,” it said. Philippine Air said it has restored nearly 15% of its regular local and international network and plans to ramp up flights as travel and quarantine restrictions ease. <br/>