A joint study by Boeing and the University of Arizona found that disinfectants already used on aircraft are successful in killing viruses like the one that causes Covid-19. Boeing says the results demonstrate that passengers face little risk of catching the virus from recently-disinfected aircraft surfaces. The study comes as the airline industry continues stressing to the public that they are safe from the virus when flying. The sector has said several other recent studies support that conclusion. Boeing’s study, the first of its kind, aimed to determine how well various disinfectant methods, many already in use, kill a virus called MS2 on aircraft cabin surfaces, the Chicago airframer says. MS2 is harmless to humans, and more-difficult to kill than SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, says Boeing. The tests involved placing MS2 on “touch points” within an aircraft cabin, including on tray tables, armrests, seat cushions and storage bins, and in lavatories and galleys. Study participants then disinfected the surfaces using various products and methods. Surfaces were wiped and sprayed with virus-killing chemicals and treated with “antimicrobial coats” and ultraviolet light. The study confirmed that the disinfectants killed the virus, Boeing says. The University of Arizona “validated” the testing and “correlated those results in a lab to the virus that causes Covid-19,” it adds. “The probability of getting infected is close to zero. Using these techniques, there will be no transmission of the virus on these surfaces,” says University of Arizona virology professor Charles Gerba, who participated in the study.<br/>
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In a word, quarantines. International travel, after a brief period of optimism over the summer, appears to be shutting down again as countries around the world restrict travel to contain second- and third-wave outbreaks of the Covid-19 pandemic. This is particularly bad news for the three Middle East behemoths, Emirates, Qatar, and Etihad. IATA downgraded its forecast for the Middle East’s airlines, now predicting that full-year 2020 traffic will be 30% of 2019’s levels. Over the summer, IATA had predicted the region’s airline traffic would end up at around 45% of last year’s levels. IATA doesn’t expect traffic to return to 2019 levels until 2024. By contrast, United and Delta reported last week in their third-quarter earnings calls that they are expect traffic to plateau at around half of 2019’s levels. The three big Gulf carriers predicated their networks and their success on using very large aircraft to funnel large numbers of people from all over the world through their hubs in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Doha to destinations all over the world. None has much of a domestic or regional market to speak of. But a world with increasing travel restrictions and quarantines is not one friendly to a business built on sixth-freedom flights. Another factor eating into the markets Emirates, Qatar, and Etihad built is the increasing number of point-to-point flights. Airlines like BA and Virgin Atlantic are launching new direct flights to India and Pakistan. United is adding new direct flights to India and Africa. Indian carriers, like Vistara, are flying direct to London and other points. This shift in longhaul networks capitalizes on the growing importance of leisure passengers to these airlines, as the pandemic crimps business travel. And it’s not good news for the Gulf carriers, because it means fewer passengers will connect over their hubs. “The slower than anticipated return to the skies for travelers in the Middle East is more bad news for the region’s aviation industry,” said Muhammad Albakri, IATA regional VP for Africa and the Middle East. “A few months ago, we thought that a fall in passenger numbers to 45% of 2019 levels was as bad as it could get. But the second wave, combined with continuing travel restrictions and quarantines, will result in passenger numbers in the region being less than a third of what we had in 2019.”<br/>
France is to introduce rapid antigen Covid-19 tests at airports from next Monday, the country’s transport minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari has announced. “We are going to launch the tests in airports, especially on departure to destinations such as the United States or Italy, and for arrivals from countries in the high risk zones, so that we no longer have people returning from these countries in French territory without being tested,” he told the French news channel CNews. Djebbari’s announcement comes after French President Emmanuel Macron said in his TV interview last Wednesday that antigen tests will be introduced to reduce the delay in getting results from the PCR tests. The tourism industry stakeholders such as tour operators, hotels and restaurants had asked the government to establish rapid tests at airports to facilitate travel. Meanwhile, France’s ministry of health paved the way for a wider deployment of antigen tests by authorising their reimbursement by social security for people presenting symptoms.<br/>
International airlines have urged NSW to allocate domestic quarantine hotel rooms to overseas arrivals when the NSW-Victoria border reopens to allow more stranded Australians to return home. The Board of Airline Representatives of Australia (BARA) also said an apparent delay in telling its members what the latest arrival caps are has caused flights to be cancelled and capacity to be reduced. The ‘arrival cap’ restrictions limiting the number of Australians who could fly home at any one time were first introduced in July to regulate the flow of people arriving into government quarantine facilities and have been extended multiple times. Critics have argued that decision has stopped Australians abroad being able to return home by reducing availability and increasing prices. Despite the ‘cap’ lifting from 4,000 to 6,000 and a special use of the Howard Springs facility being green-lit last week, BARA is urging states and the federal government to do more to raise the limits. The organisation has previously estimated more than 100,000 Australians are stranded abroad looking to return home, with 30,000 alone in London. <br/>
Auckland Airport says it doesn't expect an international aviation recovery for more than three years and has called for urgent work to allow the country to live with the risk of Covid-19. Chairman Patrick Strange said the past year was the toughest in the company's 54-year history and the future was uncertain. "Our financial performance is strongly linked to international arrivals and departures, and while there is no doubt that international travel will recover, it's not clear how quickly," he told the company's annual shareholders' meeting. That high degree of uncertainty prompted the company to suspend underlying earnings guidance for the 2021 financial year. It will reassess this decision at its interim results in February. "While both IATA and Standard & Poor's have forecast a full recovery of international travel in approximately three years, at this stage we continue to think it prudent to take a more conservative approach," Strange said. "We believe a full recovery could well take longer than three years. But we're hopeful that domestic travel will return to normal within two years. And we believe that we will see quarantine-free travel both ways across the Tasman and to the Pacific Islands earlier." CE Adrian Littlewood said that the Government and the private sector needed to work together with urgency in order to chart a path for New Zealand in a post-pandemic world. "In a way that keeps our communities safe, but also allows families to reconnect and jobs, tourism and our economy to recover. We think New Zealand needs to develop a truly capable domestic health security system that will allow us to live with the ongoing risk of Covid-19, while ensuring our country can stay safe, and stay connected to the world."<br/>