Location tracking and priority flights are among the special treatments FedEx and United Parcel Service are planning to give coronavirus vaccines, executives said Thursday. The shipping giants told a Senate transportation subcommittee that the vaccines will receive priority over any other items, even as the busiest holiday shipping season on record nears its peak. FedEx Express Executive VP Richard Smith said the company is calling it the “shipathon.” Smith and Wes Wheeler, president of UPS Global Healthcare, expressed confidence in their companies’ abilities to get the vaccines to administration centers around the US, outlining how they intend to divide up the work. Their comments come as federal health officials appear close to deciding on whether to fast-track approvals for Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine. “Just to point out how profound this is, you have two fierce rivals ... in FedEx and UPS who are literally teaming up to get this delivered,” said Smith. UPS will also deliver materials for the vaccine kits such as diluent, syringes and protective gear for medical workers administering the shots. UPS’ Wheeler said vaccine and dry ice shipments — Pfizer’s vaccine must be stored at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit — will each have special labels with tracking technology inside. Vaccine shipments will also travel with devices that monitor temperature, location and motion. He added that vaccines in UPS aircraft will be loaded first and unloaded first. The executives said they are working with the FAAn to alert them to planes carrying the vaccine so they receive priority takeoff and landing clearance.<br/>
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The US Supreme Court on Thursday let three American Muslim men sue several FBI agents who they accused of placing them on the government’s “no-fly list” for refusing to become informants, rejecting a challenge to the lawsuit by President Donald Trump’s administration. In an 8-0 decision, the justices upheld a lower court ruling allowing the men, all US citizens or permanent residents who were born abroad, to sue for money damages under a 1993 federal law called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The men said they refused to spy on US Muslim communities as allegedly requested by the FBI agents because doing so would have violated their religious beliefs. The 1993 law was aimed at ensuring that the government had compelling reasons to substantially burden any person’s exercise of religion. The case hinged on a part of the law that provided for “appropriate relief against a government,” without defining what type of relief may be appropriate. “The question here is whether ‘appropriate relief’ includes claims for money damages against government officials in their individual capacities. We hold that it does,” wrote conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, who authored the ruling.<br/>
A market-ready, zero-emission aircraft by 2035, carbon-neutral scheduled collective transport for journeys under 500km by 2030, and possible quotas on low-carbon fuels are among the goals set by the EC in its Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy. The strategy, which was published on 9 December, is aimed at delivering a 90% reduction in emissions from the EU’s transport sector by 2050. “To reach our climate targets, emissions from the transport sector must get on a clear downward trend,” states Frans Timmermans, executive VP for the European Green Deal. “We’ve set ambitious targets for the entire transport system to ensure a sustainable, smart, and resilient return from the Covid-19 crisis.” Targets outlined in the document that relate to aviation include a “zero-emission large aircraft” that “will become ready for market” by 2035. The goal for 2030 is that “scheduled collective travel of under 500km should be carbon neutral within the EU”. By 2050, the Commission wants to see a multimodal Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) that is “equipped for sustainable and smart transport with high-speed connectivity” across the bloc. The strategy states that “all policy levers must be pulled” to “significantly reduce the current dependence on fossil fuels”. This will involve taking “decisive action to shift more activity towards more sustainable transport modes”, including increasing the number of passengers travelling by rail, and “shifting a substantial amount of freight onto rail, inland waterways, and short sea shipping”.<br/>
TUI Group on Thursday posted an annual loss of E3b as the pandemic choked travel demand and finances of the world’s biggest holiday group, forcing it to seek multiple bailouts from the German government. The Hannover, Germany-based company said it will raise its cost-cutting targets to E400m annually from the previous level of E300m, trying to become more efficient to help pay off new debts taken on to survive the crisis. Last week, TUI secured a third bailout, striking a deal with the German government, private investors and banks for an extra E1.8b, on top of state loans of E3b it had already received. “The rapid measures to cut costs and secure liquidity are important for the Group. They are a stable foundation for the future,” TUI CE Fritz Joussen said. The company posted a loss of E3b, from E894m of underlying core earnings last year, while revenue came in 58% lower at E7.9b.<br/>
Britain’s status quo transition period with the European Union will end at 2300 GMT on Dec. 31. PM Boris Johnson said Thursday there was “a strong possibility” Britain and the EU would fail to safeguard free trade past the end of the year. If the two sides cannot agree a deal, there is a risk that flights between them could be grounded, but the EU announced contingency measures on Thursday aimed at preventing this. Under current arrangements, UK and EU airlines can fly any routes they wish within the bloc but after the end of the transition period, there will be no legal framework for flights to continue to operate between the two sides. Whether or not there is a deal, experts say neither side wants to see flights grounded or disruption to travel. The EU laid out “basic air connectivity” contingency plans on Thursday to ensure the provision of “certain air services” for six months, provided that the UK ensures the same. Confirmation from the British side is expected shortly, given that British transport minister Grant Shapps said in mid-October that the UK would look to reciprocate any basic connectivity measures put forward by the EU. “The UK and EU have a mutual interest in maintaining vital connectivity,” a British transport department spokeswoman said. “We are reviewing the detail of the EU’s regulations.” Story has more details.<br/>
Airlines have pinned their hopes on tourist destinations breaking ranks over EU post-Brexit entry rules as British holidaymakers could face bans from 1 January under Covid-19 measures. Travel industry bodies called for urgent clarity over whether the UK would retain special treatment in regards to coronavirus restrictions. Under EC guidelines, non-essential travel to the EU and European Economic Area states is permitted only for citizens of a few exempt countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, where incidence of coronavirus is far lower, and for citizens of the UK until the end of the Brexit transition period. There will also be an exemption for Northern Ireland residents going to the Republic of Ireland. The World Travel and Tourism Council’s president, Gloria Guevara, said there were “compelling reasons” why the UK should be added to the EU’s exemption list to enable international travel to continue, including “relatively low Covid transmission compared with parts of Europe”. She said: “British travellers are a major contributor to European economies [and] the biggest proportion of inbound travellers to many major EU countries, such as Spain, Portugal and Cyprus.” Airlines said they remained confident that individual EU member states would exercise their right to allow British visitors “non-essential” travel, adding the UK to the list of exempt countries. Story has more. <br/>
The EU has published contingency plans in case of the possible collapse of Brexit trade talks with the UK. The plans aim to ensure smooth UK-EU air and road travel, as well as allowing the possibility of fishing access to each other's waters. They come after talks between UK PM Boris Johnson and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen aimed at ending a deadlock over the deal ended without agreement. The UK is due to stop following EU trading rules on 31 December. The UK left the EU at the end of January this year, but a transition period of 11 months followed to allow the two sides to try to negotiate a deal.<br/>
The UK has "no authority" to impose tariffs as part of an aircraft subsidies row after leaving the EU, the US has said. The response comes after the UK said it would drop tariffs against the US over subsidies for aerospace firms. This was in a bid to reach a post-Brexit trade deal with Washington. In November, the EU hit $4b of US goods with duties of up to 25% in retaliation for illegal state aid given to American aerospace giant Boeing. Earlier this week the UK government said tariffs will be suspended in the UK from 1 January, when the current post-Brexit transition period ends. But the US responded saying the UK had no right to impose the tariffs anyway. The US Trade Representative said only the EU sued the US at the WTO, while the UK "did not bring a case in its individual capacity." "Therefore, the UK has no authority from the WTO to participate in any such action after it no longer is part of the EU."<br/>
A surrealist painting worth more than a quarter million euros that was forgotten by a businessman at Duesseldorf's airport has been recovered from a nearby recycling dumpster, police said Thursday. The businessman, whose identity was not given, accidentally left behind the painting by French surrealist Yves Tanguy at a check-in counter as he boarded a flight from Duesseldorf to Tel Aviv on Nov. 27. By the time he landed in Israel and contacted Duesseldorf police, the E280,000 oeuvre, which had been wrapped in cardboard, had disappeared. Despite multiple emails with details about the 40x60- centimetre (16X24-inch) painting, authorities could not locate the artwork, police spokesman Andre Hartwig said. It was only after the businessman’s nephew travelled to the airport from neighbouring Belgium and talked with police directly with more information that an inspector was able to trace the painting to paper recycling dumpster used by the airport’s cleaning company.<br/>
Japan’s government urged people on Friday to spend a “quiet” year-end after daily coronavirus infections hit a record, but said it would keep providing subsidies to promote tourism despite media reports that it may pause the campaign. “The reports are not true, we will continue to operate it in an appropriate way, striving to prevent infections spreading,” the government’s top spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato, said at a regular press briefing. New coronavirus infections in Japan reached 2,848 cases on Thursday, the most in a single day since the pandemic began. Media reports said that PM Yoshihide Suga’s administration was mulling a pause in the “Go To Travel” campaign for around two months at year-end and into the New Year as public opinion has shifted to supporting a halt. Suga’s government has so far defended the subsidies as necessary to keep hotels and airlines in business and boost an economy hurt by a pandemic that has kept people at home. A report this week from researchers at the University of Tokyo and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) found a higher incidence of COVID-19 symptoms among people participating in the travel campaign compared with the general public. “It’s important that citizens cooperate a little by spending a quiet year-end and New Year,” Kato said.<br/>