The House passed a $2.2t Democratic coronavirus stimulus plan on Thursday night even as Democrats and the Trump administration struggle to strike a relief deal. The chamber approved the legislation in a 214-207 vote. Eighteen Democrats voted against the measure as lawmakers in competitive districts grow wary of the ongoing impasse over aid. The bill likely will not get through the Republican-held Senate and become law. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has opposed the legislation as his caucus resists spending trillions more on the federal response to the pandemic. The vote followed a Thursday conversation between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in which they did not forge an aid agreement but agreed to continue talks. They failed to bridge a gulf on a range of issues, including how much aid to send state and local governments and whether to establish a liability shield for businesses and schools. The Democratic bill would send $25b to airlines to cover payroll costs. Mnuchin countered the Democrats’ plan Wednesday with a $1.6t proposal. <br/>
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US airlines face a winter test of their finances and question marks over the reach of their domestic flight networks after failing, for now, to win fresh federal aid. American Airlines and United began laying off 32,000 workers after a deadline passed with no new help from Washington, but told staff they would reverse this if lawmakers reach a deal on COVID-19 relief. US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were expected to continue negotiations on Thursday. US airlines are collectively burning about US$5b of cash a month as passenger traffic has stalled at around 30% of 2019 levels. After tapping capital markets, they say they have enough liquidity to last them at least 12 months at that rate. They have argued for another US$25b in federal payroll aid to maintain their workforce and meet demand as the economy rebounds. Without the money, flight networks could further shrink, hampering their revenue power and shortening their liquidity runway. Between voluntary and involuntary furloughs, major US airlines' workforce will shrink by at least 25% in October. "Airlines quite correctly have been bulking up on cash ... but to be 25% smaller, best case, how are you going to handle the debt service?" asked airline consultant Mike Boyd. Cities will lose a number of daily flights and non-stop options, Cowen analyst Helane Becker said. "Service to small communities will decline pretty dramatically," she added.<br/>
The consumer group Which? has called on the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to introduce a single, robust, dispute resolution service after concluding that passenger rights have been “ripped up by airlines consistently flouting the law”. Responding to a CAA consultation on potential changes to its alternative dispute resolution (ADR) policy, the consumer group said the regulator’s current proposals would lead to even less trust being placed in the already beleaguered travel industry. Which? has repeatedly heard from passengers who have been let down by the convoluted ADR process, after flights were cancelled, delayed or failed to arrive at the airport as planned. The ADR process, which is operated by two private companies and overseen by the CAA, is supposed to arbitrate disputes between airlines and customers seeking compensation as per the law. Which? said passengers frequently had to battle for over a year to receive compensation they were due. Others have had to pay claims management companies to challenge the airlines after the ADR scheme failed them, in some cases losing nearly half the compensation they were due in fees. The CAA has proposed changes to the dispute schemes that would include a new process for “complex and novel” cases that Which? fears would give airlines undue influence over how future cases are handled. The consumer group said the proposal appeared to prioritise the airlines’ perspectives over passengers’ rights, and risked the already weak consumer protections being further diluted.<br/>
Syria on Thursday reopened Damascus airport for regular international commercial traffic after a six-month halt due to the coronavirus pandemic, saying it had imposed strict health measures inside the facility. Airport officials said national flag carrier Syrian Airlines would initially resume scheduled flights to regional destinations including Cairo and Beirut, with a weekly flight to Khartoum and adhoc flights to Kuwait. The first scheduled flight took off for Cairo, state media said. Commercial flights were suspended on March 25, just a few days after Syria reported its first COVID-19 infection, which medics and UN officials said was linked to Shi'ite pilgrims who travelled by air from Iran. The authorities later sealed a major Shi'ite shrine in the capital, a magnet for Iranian pilgrims, linking it to a major outbreak. It was not clear if any foreign flights were scheduled to land in the country's main airport, to which Iran's Mahan Air and a handful of other foreign airlines operate regular flights.<br/>
India’s Supreme Court ordered local airlines to refund tickets booked for travel during a nationwide lockdown earlier this year, dealing a blow to an industry already strapped for cash. The court’s verdict also mandated airlines to issue credit vouchers even for tickets booked for travel outside the lockdown period, if the flights were later canceled due to virus-related restrictions. Passengers must also be allowed to use those vouchers until March 31 on any route, and carriers must refund with a monthly interest if those remain unused by then. The verdict by a three-judge panel headed by Ashok Bhushan reinforces the view of PM Narendra Modi’s administration. Many airlines around the world have issued so-called credit notes, instead of cash refunds, to passengers whose flights were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, providing carriers with a temporary revenue source to tide over the slump, even as disgruntled flyers demand their money back. India’s verdict -- which was earlier estimated to cost local airlines more than $500m -- may a precedent for such disputes elsewhere, and make the road to recovery even steeper. While the South Asian nation has indefinitely banned scheduled international flights, local airlines are allowed to operate domestically with a limited schedule. Still, most airlines struggled to fill even 70% of seats in August, and more than two thirds of passenger complaints were related to refunds, data from the aviation regulator showed.<br/>
PM Scott Morrison has revealed he will likely not allow Queensland to receive flights from New Zealand because of the state’s insistence on hotel quarantine for domestic travel. The PM argued he couldn’t justify allowing trans-Tasman flights into Brisbane if it would mean precious hotel quarantine rooms were taken up by Kiwi arrivals. The intervention came on the day Queensland’s Deputy Premier Steven Miles confirmed he wouldn’t open his domestic borders to NSW until after the state’s election on 31 October. Speaking on Adelaide’s FiveAA radio on Thursday morning, PM Morrison said, “I would see South Australia as well as NSW in the front end of that arrangement because they’ve both taken their borders down. For states who still have borders up and are insisting on quarantine for people, say, in Sydney to go to Brisbane, we can’t have people from New Zealand coming in and taking up those [hotel quarantine] places for Australians coming home [from overseas].” PM Morrison’s words come alongside new comments by New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern hinting travel between the two countries could be close, and begin with one-way flights from New Zealand to Australia.<br/>
Crew on domestic flights transferring passengers to managed isolation facilities will be subject to Covid-19 tests to reduce the risk of the virus spreading. The requirement is one of a series of strict new rules for air crew that come into effect at midnight Sunday. Health Minister Chris Hipkins said the measures added to the defence against Covid-19 entering New Zealand. “The air border is a complex ecosystem and we’ve made sure to take sufficient time to work with a range of stakeholders to get this strong and workable safety regime in place,” Hipkins said. Hipkins said under the new rules cabin crew on domestic flights transferring passengers to managed isolation facilities will be tested due to close proximity to international travellers. Previously there was no requirement for crew to isolate after the flights and they could go on to operate regular scheduled flights immediately afterwards. Such flights sparked concern from one Air NZcrew member, who feared it was only a matter of time before a flight attendant caught Covid-19 from a passenger and become a source of community transmission. Other new rules include overseas-based air crew laying over in New Zealand being required to stay in a Government managed isolation facility for as long as they are in the country. <br/>
Shares in Rolls-Royce have tumbled to a 17-year low as the aircraft engine-maker announced a GBP5b emergency plan to shore up a balance sheet ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic. The dramatic decline in global air travel during the pandemic has hit Rolls-Royce’s revenues from servicing its jet engines and from selling new ones. The engineering group said it would tap shareholders in a GBP2b rights issue and raise more debt through a GBP1b bond offering. It also announced a new two-year loan of GBP1b and a potential GBP1b extension of a loan that would be 80% backed by the government’s UK export finance agency (UKEF). The GBP2bn rights issue was the largest capital raise by a non-financial public company in the UK since 2010, according to Greenhill, one of the investment banks advising Rolls-Royce. Eleven investment banks were among the recipients of GBP80m in fees connected to the fundraising. It follows days of speculation and share price falls at the manufacturer, which has lost 80% of its value since January and has a market capitalisation of less than GBP2.5b. <br/>