general

Few sectors of the battered global economy have been hit as hard as the airline industry in 2020. The coronavirus pandemic left fleets of planes grounded and caused air passenger traffic to slump as much as 94%. Cash-strapped carriers have been struggling to rebuild, hampered by further waves of infection and strict curbs on travel. From crippling financial losses and painfully diminished market values to shrunken networks and mounting debt piles, the industry has been put through the wringer. “If there ever was an annus horribilis, this is it,” IATAn DG Alexandre de Juniac said. “Nobody in aviation will ever be nostalgic for 2020.” Story features charts tracing Covid-19’s impact.<br/>

Global airlines on Monday hit back at international bans on flights from Britain imposed over fears of a new COVID-19 strain, saying more testing could keep borders open. “This latest situation once again reinforces the urgent need for coordinated recognition of systematic testing of travelers,” the IATA said. “Governments must cooperate to put mutually recognized testing capacity in place so that borders can remain open to the vast majority of healthy passengers,” it said. IATA said the WHO had adopted a mantra of “test, test and test again” and added: “we implore governments to act on this advice”.<br/>

Delta, Virgin Atlantic and BA said Monday that travelers will have to test negative for the coronavirus before boarding flights bound for New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. The measures are in response to a request from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as officials grapple with a highly contagious new strain of Covid-19 that’s spreading in the UK. BA said the procedures will begin Tuesday. Virgin Atlantic and its partner Delta said the new requirements will begin Thursday. “All Delta customers traveling from the UK to New York will be required to take a PCR test 72 hours prior to departure adding another layer of safety when they travel,” a Delta spokesman said. “Delta will work closely with the Governor’s office in the coming days to implement his request.” The airline said passengers scheduled to depart the UK in the coming days should check Delta’s website for updates. More than two dozen countries have cut off flights or restricted access from individuals traveling from Britain because of the new strain of the virus.<br/>

Airlines cancelled scores of flights on Monday as a growing list of countries banned travel from the UK, compounding the crisis facing the aviation industry following a year of unprecedented disruption. Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Hong Kong and India are among the countries to have blocked people arriving from the UK in an effort to control the spread of a new more infectious variant of coronavirus. Shares in major airlines were among the worst hit during a stock market sell-off across Europe, with easyJet and IAG leading the declines with losses of nearly 10% each. Lower-cost carriers less exposed to the UK market and continental airlines suffered less steep falls, with Ryanair and Air France-KLM each down about 5%. The UK government on Saturday placed London and south-east England under strict lockdown, banning all non-essential travel, and warned that a new mutation of Covid-19 was up to 70% more transmissible, prompting countries to respond with travel bans. Flights were cancelled at airports across the UK, from Edinburgh to Birmingham as the travel restrictions took hold. There were more than 900 daily flights between the UK and EU countries last week, and data from air navigation safety body Eurocontrol showed air traffic was nudging higher prior to the travel bans which began to take hold on Sunday. “We’ll see a significant impact on the network as a result of the new variant in the UK, Eurocontrol’s director-general Eamon Brennan said. Aviation analysts said the rise in festive bookings would have offered a cash lifeline following the recent collapse in revenue.<br/>

Asian governments have started to bar travel from the UK after Boris Johnson's government said a coronavirus variant was out of control in parts of the country. Hong Kong said Monday that it will ban anyone who has spent at least two hours in the UK in the past two weeks from boarding a flight to the city, due to the outbreak of the new more virulent strain. Permanent residents of Hong Kong will be included in the ban, the first time they have been restricted from inbound travel since the outbreak began. Travelers who have arrived in Hong Kong in the past two weeks from the UK will also have to spend a third week in quarantine. Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific later said it was canceling all flights to and from the UK until Jan. 10. India took similar action, saying it would suspend flights from 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday. The country's Ministry of Civil Aviation said the flights would be halted until the same time on Dec. 31 "considering the prevailing situation in the UK." Both India and Hong Kong have strong ties to Britain. Australia also said it had detected two cases of the new strain of the virus among travelers from the UK. But it did not change flight arrangements, saying its existing quarantine rules were working.<br/>

Countries in the Middle East moved to shutter borders on Monday amid fears over the fast-spreading new strain of the coronavirus that the UK has said is “out of control.” Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman halted international flights and closed borders for a week, while Israel won’t allow foreigners -- with the exception of diplomats -- to enter the country. Israelis returning from the UK, Denmark and South Africa will be sent to government-run quarantine sites. United Arab Emirates’ Etihad Airways temporally halted flights with the Gulf states of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman effective immediately to “curb the spread” of the virus, state-run WAM reported. All major stock indexes in the region dropped, in line with global markets. Dubai’s main equities index led the losses, slumping the most in more than seven months, on concerns that additional travel curbs may inflict further damage on the emirate’s tourism sector. Air traffic between the UK and Dubai had been expected to climb by a third in December following the creation of a travel corridor. In Africa, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria halted all flights to and from the UK. Tunisia also suspended flights to and from Australia and South Africa. Sudan banned inbound flights from UK, Holland and South Africa.<br/>

The Netherlands on Monday joined a range of nations banning flights from South Africa to stop the spread of a new variant of the coronavirus. The Dutch government said all passenger flights were banned with immediate effect until Jan. 1 at the latest. An exception would be made for medical workers, it said, while cargo flights were also still allowed. At least five countries and airlines, including Germany and Turkey, were reported to have banned flights to South Africa on Monday, after a new genetic mutation of COVID-19 had been found there and is believed to be responsible for a recent surge in infections. The Netherlands on Sunday already banned all passenger flights and ferries from Britain over the same issue.<br/>

A large number of flights arriving at and departing from Sydney have been cancelled, following a fresh coronavirus outbreak in parts of the Australian city. A new virus cluster, first discovered in northern Sydney a week ago, has grown to more than 80 cases so far, leading to lockdowns imposed in the city, and state borders closed — days before Christmas. Checks on Sydney airport’s website shows that three of Australia’s largest carriers — Qantas, Jetstar, as well as Virgin Australia — cancelled at least 49 flights in total, as at 21 December evening local time. These include flights to Melbourne — one of the country’s major domestic trunk routes — as well as to Perth, Gold Coast and Adelaide. There are a similar number of flights cancelled on 22 December, according to Sydney airport’s flight schedules. Qantas says it and low-cost unit Jetstar have seen “large numbers of customers cancelling their bookings” for Sydney-Melbourne and other domestic routes from 21 December. “A number of flights will be cancelled as a result. We’ll be contacting customers directly impacted by any flight changes,” the carrier adds.<br/>

Americans are putting aside health risks and flying in increasing numbers during the Christmas holiday season. Sunday was the third day in a row in which more than 1m people passed through US airport screening, the first time that has occurred since the virus erupted in mid-March, according to TSA data. Airline travel during the Covid-19 pandemic remains well below 2019 levels, however. Even with the recent surge, the number of people flying on Friday through Sunday was only 42% of the equivalent three days last year. A total of 1,064,619 people passed through airport security on Sunday, which was slightly below the totals for Friday and Saturday. The increase is similar to numbers around Thanksgiving, when the 1m mark was exceeded four times and several other days came close.<br/>

The top politician in Canada’s largest province lashed out at PM Justin Trudeau for letting international travelers through the country’s airports without testing them for the coronavirus. Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who announced more restrictions Monday to slow the Covid-19 outbreak, said airports have become a “sieve” through which the virus can enter unchecked. He said he’s been asking Trudeau’s government for “weeks upon weeks” to start testing at Toronto’s Pearson International, the country’s busiest airport, to no avail. “Why they’re ignoring us on this is beyond me,” Ford said at a news conference in Toronto. “If the prime minister doesn’t want to do it, I’m going to do it. I’m not going to put the people of Ontario at risk just because the federal government doesn’t want to do tests.” The premier represents a district in the legislature that is right next to Pearson.<br/>

The federal government is directing the Canadian Transportation Agency to strengthen rules that require airlines to refund passengers for cancelled flights. On Monday, Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau said the pandemic has highlighted a gap in Canada's protections for airline passengers, which weren't designed to cover such lengthy delays. "In the event of a future situation that causes similar large-scale flight cancellations, this gap needs to be closed so that travellers are treated fairly," Garneau said. Existing CTA rules don't require airlines to offer refunds if they can get passengers to the destination within a reasonable time period -- for example, offering a next-day flight if a snowstorm grounds planes. But passenger advocates say that doesn't work for the indefinite delays ticket-holders currently face and are lobbying the government to mandate that airlines issue cash refunds, rather than travel vouchers, for flights that were cancelled due to COVID-19. At least 3.9m passengers have been affected by cancelled flights due to COVID-19, according to Gabor Lukacs, the founder of Air Passenger Rights, one of the groups advocating for airlines to issue refunds. Scott Streiner, chair and chief executive officer of the CTA, said the agency's goal is to have the new regulations in place by next summer.<br/>

Sweeping aviation safety measures that would require aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing to enact new safety policies, shield employees from company pressures and toughen government enforcement are included in legislation Congress is poised to approve. The FAA reform bill, the most significant aviation safety legislation in the past decade, was a last-minute addition Monday to massive year-end legislation and is expected to pass soon. It is designed to address failures uncovered after two fatal crashes of 737 Max jetliners. It would require all planemakers to add robust internal safety systems, mandate an external review of the organization within Boeing that uses its own employees to review designs and direct FAA to more closely monitor manufacturers’ processes, according to a summary provided by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. “Our bipartisan deal is the result of nearly two years of intense investigation in my committee, multiple public hearings on both sides of the Capitol, and countless conversations with the families of the victims and the aviation community,” said Representative Pete DeFazio of Oregon, the Democratic chair of the House Transportation Committee. The legislation adds protections against whistle-blower retaliation, creates an FAA whistle-blower ombudsman and shields employees of aviation manufacturers if they come forward with safety issues. In an unusual move, the bill also directs the FAA to take possible enforcement action against Boeing. The “FAA should hold Boeing fully accountable for any failure to meet the conditions of its 2015 settlement agreement with the FAA,” said a bill summary.<br/>