Government researchers have confirmed that the steep decline in air traffic during the coronavirus pandemic has affected the quality of weather forecasting models by sharply reducing the amount of atmospheric data routinely collected by commercial airliners. In a study, researchers showed that when a short-term forecasting model received less data on temperature, wind and humidity from aircraft, the forecast skill (the difference between predicted meteorological conditions and what actually occurred) was worse. The researchers and others had suspected this would be the case because atmospheric observations from passenger and cargo flights are among the most important data used in forecasting models. The observations are made by instruments aboard thousands of airliners, mostly based in North America and Europe, as part of a program in place for decades. They are transmitted in real time to forecasting organizations around the world, including the National Weather Service. During the first months of the pandemic, when air traffic declined by 75% or more worldwide, the number of observations dropped by about the same percentage. “With every kind of observation that goes into weather models, we know they have some impact on improving accuracy overall,” said one of the researchers, Stan Benjamin, a senior scientist at the Global Systems Laboratory, a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in Boulder, Colo. “If you’ve really lost a lot of observations of some kind there could be some stepping back in skill overall.” The amount of data from aircraft has increased in recent months as air travel has picked up, the agency said. The daily number of flights by passenger aircraft in the United States is now at about 50% of pre-pandemic levels. Flights by cargo aircraft were not as affected.<br/>
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Airbus said on Thursday it expected to reach cash breakeven in Q4, giving investors the first glimpse of future performance since the start of the coronavirus crisis after halting the bleeding of cash in Q3. The planemaker, which is slashing jobs to cope with collapsing air travel demand, also took a E1.2b restructuring charge that drove it to a loss despite better-than-expected underlying operating profit. Underlying or adjusted operating profit of E820m marked a 49% drop from the same period last year, while revenues fell 27% to E11.2b. Analysts were expecting quarterly adjusted operating profit of E708m on revenues of 11.439b, according to a company-compiled consensus. Airbus said it had contained cash outflows in Q3 as it narrowed a gap between production and deliveries to airlines, which had slumped at the outset of the crisis. However, the announcement came as France and Germany, where Airbus has its main factories, announced new restrictions to try to contain a resurgence of the COVID-19 epidemic. Airbus has been saddled with a backlog of some 145 aircraft that airlines have postponed absorbing into their fleets as they struggle to survive the crisis. It said that this overhang of undelivered jets had shrunk to 135 planes by end-September. The company has shored up deliveries partly by striking storage agreements with airlines unable to put jets directly into service. But some industry sources said a new lockdown in France raised new questions about its ability to deliver jets.<br/>
Two British women were among a group of travellers subjected to compulsory intimate medical examinations while flying through Qatar in early October, UK authorities have confirmed. British diplomats have formally complained to Qatari authorities and Qatar Airways about the strip-search examinations, described as “absolutely terrifying”, and sought assurances they would not be repeated. Women caught up in the forced checks have described being asked to disembark from their flights in Doha without explanation and led through the airport to underground areas where they were told to get into waiting ambulances. Inside they were told to remove their underwear so a female medical professional could examine them to see if they had recently given birth. The government of Qatar said on Wednesday that the “urgently decided” search was prompted by the discovery of a newborn baby placed into a rubbish bin. The child is alive and in the care of authorities. Qatar said it regretted any distress caused." “We are providing ongoing support to two British women following an incident in Doha,” a spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said. “We have formally expressed our concern with the Qatari authorities and Qatar Airways and are seeking assurances an unacceptable incident like this cannot happen again.” The Australian government confirmed earlier this week that 18 women on a flight from Doha to Sydney had also been subjected to the compulsory medical examination, including 13 Australian citizens and five people of other nationalities. The incident has become a major scandal in Australia where the government has denounced the treatment of female passengers as “unacceptable”.<br/>
New Zealand has revealed one of its citizens was among the women subjected to invasive pelvic examinations at Doha airport, labelling the action "completely unacceptable". "We were extremely concerned to learn... that a New Zealand national was involved in the appalling incident involving female passengers on several Qatar Airways flights," the foreign affairs ministry said late Thursday. "This action was completely unacceptable. We are making our views known to Qatari authorities and are seeking a full report on what occurred." Women on 10 flights out of Doha were subject to the examinations as authorities in the ultra-conservative Gulf state searched for the mother of a newborn baby found abandoned in an airport bathroom. The foreign ministry statement provided no details about the New Zealand woman involved, citing privacy concerns. Qatar said Wednesday it "regrets any distress" over the incident, which occurred in early October but only came to light this week after affected Australian passengers spoke out.<br/>
Hong Kong expects its proposed air travel bubble with Singapore will start in November, allowing passengers to travel between the two destinations without a 14-day quarantine. “The aim is that within the next month, we can introduce the air travel bubble with Singapore,” said Hong Kong’s CE Carrie Lam Tuesday. Earlier this month, Singapore and Hong Kong reached an in-principle agreement on forming a two-way travel bubble. “Recently, there have been two cases [of Covid-19] in the airport in Singapore, but this has not affected our agreement with Singapore. We have a good bilateral negotiation process,” she said. Lam added that Hong Kong International airport will begin a trial scheme of rapid Covid-19 tests. Depending on the effectiveness of these tests, the government will consider applying them more extensively to arrivals. At present, the Hong Kong government advises travellers that waiting times for the testing process upon arrival may be up to 12 hours or more.<br/>