The White House and Democrats in the US Congress moved closer to agreement on a new coronavirus relief package on Tuesday as President Donald Trump said he was willing to accept a large aid bill despite opposition from his own Republican Party.<br/>With just two weeks to go until the US presidential election, Trump signaled a willingness to go along with more than $2.2t in new COVID-19 relief, as Democrats had been pushing for months. “I want to do it even bigger than the Democrats,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News, as talks between Pelosi, a Democrat, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin continued with the goal of getting something to pass Congress before Election Day on Nov. 3. Pelosi, speaking to reporters after a mid-afternoon call with Mnuchin, was asked about prospects for a legislative package by the end of this week. “I hope so. That’s the plan,” she said. In a letter to her fellow Democrats on Tuesday evening, however, Pelosi made no mention of wrapping the battle up by week’s end. “I remain hopeful that we can reach an agreement before the election,” she wrote. Pelosi Deputy Chief of Staff Drew Hammill said that a 45-minute call between the speaker and Mnuchin was productive “as they move closer to an agreement.” Hammill said on Twitter that negotiations would continue Wednesday. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that the Republican-led Senate would consider a Pelosi-Mnuchin deal if it wins House approval, but provided no time frame. The White House has proposed $1.8t in coronavirus relief, while Pelosi is pushing for $2.2t. The head of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, Sara Nelson, sent a letter to members of Congress on Tuesday urging action before the election. “Now is the time. There is no retroactivity that Congress can apply to the human toll caused by delayed relief,” she said. More than 32,000 airline workers have been furloughed while awaiting another round of aid.<br/>
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The chairman of a House subcommittee overseeing coronavirus relief has asked four cargo airlines to return $630m in federal aid, saying that unlike struggling passenger airlines, their businesses appear to be booming and don’t need help from taxpayers. Rep. James E. Clyburn wrote to the leaders of Atlas Air, Kalitta Air, Western Global Airlines and Amerijet International late Monday, asking them to justify receiving help from the government given their reported financial success in recent months. “Congress intended for these taxpayer funds to save jobs, not to provide windfalls to thriving businesses,” wrote Clyburn, chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis. In recent weeks, Congress has been weighing whether to provide passenger airlines more aid under the Payroll Support Program that Congress created in March. The carriers continue to struggle as the coronavirus pandemic persists and they have shed tens of thousands of jobs. But the program also set funds aside for cargo companies, which are not household names and have found unexpected success during the pandemic. As passenger airlines have cut flights, there is less space for cargo in the bellies of their jets, which caused rates for airfreight to skyrocket in the spring. As Americans do more shopping online to avoid stores, demand for freight has grown. The four cargo airlines did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Clyburn’s letter. The largest recipient of the aid was Atlas Air, which operates planes for Amazon. The airline was approved for $406m under the payroll program.<br/>
Domestic US airfares fell by the most on record in Q2 -- another illustration of how the coronavirus pandemic gutted demand for flights. Average one-way ticket prices plummeted 26% from the same period last year to $151, including taxes and fees, according to 20 years of airfare figures compiled by Cirium. Previously, the largest decline was 14% in late 2001, following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the aviation-data provider said Tuesday. US travel demand all but vanished this March, plunging airlines into their worst-ever crisis less than two months after the first US coronavirus case was identified. As many Americans sheltered at home, carriers slashed their schedules, parked aircraft, ramped up borrowing and received $25b in federal payroll support, plus billions more in government loans. The lowest fare in Cirium’s data was $149 in Q4 2004 in nominal terms. But that would be about $203 in today’s dollars. Cirium’s report is based on data collected by the US DoT. The government agency delayed its report on Q2 fares, which had been planned for Tuesday, to review the information, a spokesman said. The bargains aren’t gone: The three largest US airlines continue to offer low fares -- $96.20 round-trip -- for flights from New York to Chicago on some off-peak days next month. In addition to the massive drop in customers, airlines are also suffering the loss of business travelers, who tend to purchase tickets closer to their travel date and pay more than people flying for leisure. “It’s a mix thing -- the mix of customers flying are now the cheap ones,” said Jim Ogden, a Cirium director and former American Airlines network planner.<br/>
The Canadian government is very aware of the challenges facing airlines and the travel sector during the coronavirus pandemic and is working on possible aid, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said Tuesday. Freeland said she had spoken to the heads of Canada’s major airlines and unions last week but did not give details. Carriers and travel industry executives have repeatedly urged Ottawa for assistance as passenger numbers slump. “We are obviously aware of the particular challenges that the travel sector, the airlines are facing right now,” she told a news conference when asked about an aid package. “It’s definitely an issue we are looking at closely and working on,” she said. Airlines have already received more than C$1b from a wage subsidy program that Ottawa introduced to help businesses deal with the pandemic, she said. Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc told CTV on Sunday that Ottawa might take a stake in major airlines such as Air Canada and WestJet. Both carriers have suspended dozens of routes. The Canadian branch of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers on Tuesday urged Freeland to consider partially or fully nationalizing Air Canada.<br/>
Passengers flying from London Heathrow to Hong Kong will be able to have a rapid Covid-19 test at the airport before checking in, after the UK’s first pre-departure facility opened on Tuesday. The tests, which must be pre-booked, cost GBP80 and results will be available within an hour. Although a very limited number of passengers are expected to use the facility this week, the move is regarded as a significant breakthrough in demonstrating the possibility of clearing passengers as healthy before travel and potentially ending quarantine rules. However, the first day of operation also highlighted the hurdles to be overcome, as Italy, expected to be part of the launch, declined to recognise the tests on offer at the new facility at Heathrow. A spokeswoman for Collinson, the medical and security assistance firm providing the tests, said that Italy was clarifying its position on the Lamp – or loop-mediated isothermal amplification – test used at Heathrow, but the facility would also move to introduce antigen tests in line with Italian requirements in the coming weeks. British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Cathay Pacific, which all fly routes that require pre-departure tests, will be the first airlines to offer it, according to Collinson and its partner in the facility, Swissport. The Lamp test uses a throat and nose swab and differs from a PCR test, which is used by the NHS, because it can be processed quickly without being sent to a laboratory. The tests will be carried out by Collinson nurses in new facilities within Heathrow terminals 2 and 5. Passengers must book their test online with Collinson before going to the airport. The swab will be processed at the airport by staff from one of Collinson’s biotech partners, Prenetics.<br/>
The travel bubble for Hong Kong and Singapore could start with one daily flight between the two financial hubs, according to Hong Kong Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau. The number of dedicated flights under the agreement may change depending on the coronavirus situation in the cities, Yau said at a briefing Tuesday, without elaborating. The two governments are still working on the details of the plan, including the start date. Singapore and Hong Kong said on Oct. 15 they planned to open their borders to one another for the first time in almost seven months, with quarantine replaced by coronavirus testing. Singapore’s Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung said at the time that he hoped the bubble would start in weeks. Travelers must have been in Hong Kong or Singapore for 14 days before departure and will need to take mutually recognized Covid-19 tests.<br/>
How many times do you touch the cabin around you in an airplane when you fly? How about the airport? How many times do the people working there touch your belongings? The answer today is, as a rule, "quite a lot." But airlines, airports and the aviation industry want the answer in the near future to be "quite a bit less." "Touchless travel" comprises a fairly wide collection of individual changes and additions to the environment around us, everything from hands-free flushing in airport and airplane lavatories to automated scan-and-board gates, controlling your inflight entertainment system from your phone or tablet, and much more. "Touchless travel promises peace of mind," explains Daniel Baron, who operates LIFT Aero Design, an aircraft cabin design studio with offices in Tokyo and Singapore, calling it "the state of not having to even think about 'clean,' made possible by technologies and processes to mitigate angst along the journey." It also includes not just touch-free but also "less-touch" and "fewer-touch" travel: both the need to touch physical things in the travel environment less and also fewer times during each interaction. "In the cabin, the most promising area is the lavatory," explains Baron. "It is common knowledge in the cabin interiors industry that even before Covid, many passengers hesitated to use lavatories out of negative perception; in other words, having to touch dirty surfaces. We have seen incremental improvements over the past decade, mostly touchless faucets and toilet lids and flush buttons. Next will be soap dispensers and hand dryers, plus the doors and locks." Some of this is automated, such as infrared sensing faucets, but some of it is also redesigning physical parts of the experience, such as doors or trash bins you can open with your feet. Of course, adding new features to the aircraft cabin can get complicated because there are many safety regulations. Story has more.<br/>
Boeing’s 737 Max is “going to have a role” in meeting airlines’ future narrowbody needs, and lessors “can be very helpful” in ensuring the airframer is able to place the aircraft once it is cleared to fly again, Air Lease CE John Plueger has predicted. Plueger stood by Air Lease’s decision not to ditch its Max orders. While the lessor “cancelled a few here and there”, he says it “didn’t panic” because it believed that “the world does need the 737 Max”. “Airbus simply doesn’t have enough manufacturing capacity to meet all the single-aisle needs,” asserts Plueger, adding that the Max “is going to have a role” and will be “the most tested aircraft” ever when it takes to the skies again. The Air Lease chief notes that Boeing is “under a corporate mandate to get rid of these aircraft”, and says lessors “can be very helpful with the placement” of the Max. Air Lease will play “a vital role” in helping Boeing find homes for the aircraft, he suggests, and “we’re going to get a great deal doing it”. He expects that it will take “a year, a year-and-a-half, maybe two years” for the US airframer to place the Max aircraft in its backlog. Cirium fleets data shows that Air Lease has 126 Max jets on order and manages 15 in storage: five placed with LOT Polish Airlines, four with Oman Air, two each with Cayman Airways and Sunwing Airlines, and one each with S7 Airlines and Smartwings.<br/>
Embraer delivered 28 business and commercial jets in Q3 2020, bringing its year-to-date total to 59 aircraft. By comparison, the Brazilian airframer handed over 44 jets in the third quarter of 2019, and 117 aircraft in the first nine months of last year. Nonetheless, the latest delivery figures are an improvement over the previous quarter, when the company handed over just 17 aircraft. In the period ended 30 September, Embraer shipped seven commercial jets: six E175s and one E190-E2. In addition, it delivered 21 executive aircraft: three Phenom 100s, 16 Phenom 300s and two Praetor 500s. Embraer closed the third quarter with a backlog of 307 firm orders for its commercial aircraft range, down from 314 at the end of June. The total comprises 153 E175s, three E190s, eight E190-E2s and 143 E195-E2s.<br/>