Canada will require air travelers aged 5 and up to test negative for COVID-19 before arrival, starting Jan. 7, Transport Minister Marc Garneau said on Thursday, as the country tightens travel restrictions amid soaring cases of the novel coronavirus. Passengers will need to have a negative PCR COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours prior to their scheduled departure to Canada, the country said on Wednesday, after social media images of maskless Canadian tourists abroad prompted calls for stricter measures to curb the virus. Documentation showing a negative result must be shown to the airline prior to boarding a flight to Canada, Garneau said in a statement that offers additional details about the requirement, like the starting date. Pre-departure testing will not eliminate a mandatory 14-day quarantine for arrivals, in a blow to Canada’s battered airlines which had been pushing for a negative result to be accepted as an alternative to such restrictions. “The announcement only addresses one element of the path forward – the utilization of testing to help further protect public health,” said Mike McNaney, president of National Airlines Council of Canada, which represents large carriers like Air Canada. “We strongly believe it must also be utilized in conjunction with measures to reduce quarantine levels,” he said Wednesday.<br/>
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South Korea will require foreigners to test negative for the novel coronavirus before arrival, starting at airports next week, as the nation steps up its fight against the pandemic amid a winter wave of the virus, officials said Friday. Foreign arrivals must have a negative PCR coronavirus test taken within 72 hours before their departure to South Korea, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. The rule for foreigners arriving at South Korean airports will go into effect next Friday, while it will be implemented at South Korean ports for passenger ships on Jan. 15. South Korea's daily virus infections has been hovering around 1,000, due mainly to mass cluster infections from churches, private gatherings and a correctional facility.<br/>
New coronavirus infections in Japan’s capital hit a record high of 1,337 on Thursday, Tokyo’s Metropolitan Government said, and New Year’s Eve celebrations were curtailed as the country battles a third wave of the pandemic. Nationwide, new cases surpassed 4,000 for the first time, local media said. Scores of flights were also cancelled as heavy snowfall hit several areas of Japan on Thursday. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has urged people to celebrate New Year quietly and avoid non-essential outings. Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways cancelled or planned to cancel a total of around 140 flights, public broadcaster NHK reported, adding that bullet train services had been suspended in some parts of the northern Yamagata prefecture.<br/>
On the day the UK leaves the EU, the government is giving prospective British travellers to Europe inaccurate information on passport validity. Strict regulations come into effect at 11pm GMT. But the government's website has three different versions of calculating dates of validity – two of them at odds with Europe’s. With UK airlines set to apply incorrect rules, there are fears that Europe-bound passengers could be wrongly turned away at the airport. Besides the upset to correctly documented travellers, each case of denying boarding will cost the airlines hundreds of pounds in compensation. The UK becomes a “third country” in the EU context after Brexit transition ends and rules on passport validity come into effect for the first time. Previously, UK passports were valid for travel anywhere in the European Union up to and including the date of expiry. The Schengen Area rule for “third-country non-visa travellers,” including British nationals, is that a passport must be valid for three months after the intended date of departure. A UK traveller going to France for the first weekend of the New Year, from 1 to 3 January, will need a passport valid to 3 April 2021. Story has details.<br/>
"Just another chapter in that never-ending story of AirAsia" was how Tony Fernandes, the Malaysian tycoon who heads Asia's largest budget carrier, described this year of struggle. On Dec. 9, Fernandes remained aggressive about his company's plans. "We feel we're going to come back stronger in 2021," he said. But there was less optimism about his joint venture airline in India with the conglomerate Tata Group. "[India is a] competitive market, tough for outsiders to come in. ... Let's know where we're strong. If things don't feel right, then we look at other options," Fernandes said. "Obviously we've exited Japan because we were too small, and COVID put final nails in that coffin. ... Whether we should put money to continue in India or to expand in ASEAN, that's a discussion I'm having." Indeed on Dec. 29 AirAsia Group said it would sell 32.67% of its stake in its Indian operations to Tata for $37.7m. AirAsia previously decided to pull out of Japan, where its joint venture subsidiary filed for bankruptcy in November. Such retreats by Fernandes, an industry innovator, are a barometer of how much turmoil Asia's airlines have faced as COVID-19 triggers a restructuring of the market -- spelling financial difficulties and even failure for some well-known brands. Globally some 2.6b fewer seats were provided this year than last year. Passenger traffic was down 67% this year from 2019 and was on a par with 1999 levels. South Korea's Korean Air and Asiana Airlines are already moving to consolidate via a merger brokered with support from Seoul. Industry experts believe other Asian players will likely be forced to follow suit in a region that was suffering from surplus capacity even before the pandemic. Story has more.<br/>
The EU will seek a swift resolution of a 16-year battle over aircraft subsidies with incoming US president Joe Biden, saying that new US tariffs have damaged talks with the Trump administration. The Commission, which coordinates trade policy for the 27-nation European Union, said on Thursday that the US action had "unilaterally" disrupted ongoing negotiations about respective state subsidies for European planemaker Airbus and its US rival Boeing. "The EU will engage with the new US administration at the earliest possible moment to continue these negotiations and find a lasting solution to the dispute," it said. The office of the US Trade Representative said Wednesday it was adding aircraft components such as fuselages and wings, and wines and brandy from France and Germany onto a list of goods subject to tariffs, responding to what it said was unfair EU retaliation. Both Washington and Brussels have won cases at the WTO, the former allowed to impose tariffs on US$7.5b of EU goods and the latter extra duties on US$4b of imports from the US.<br/>
Business jets are gaining traction in Japan as companies look to keep their workers off commercial planes to avoid infection risks amid the novel coronavirus. Companies that arrange charter flights are getting a growing number of inquiries, with one flight operator planning to increase its fleet size. Business jets, often used by wealthy people for leisure travel, usually have seats for 10 to 20 passengers and flights can be adapted to an individuals’ schedule. The number of business jets registered in Japan as of the end of 2019 stood at only 61, compared with 20,978 in the US, 726 in Germany and 497 in China. The number of takeoffs and landings in Japan was already on the increase prior to the pandemic, however, totaling 17,546 in 2019. Demand for business jets appears to be growing due to the health crisis. “We’ve been receiving an increasing number of inquiries from businesses seeking a means of transportation that can reduce infection risks,” said Ryosei Nomura, head of the planning department at ANA Business Jet. Fuji Business Jet Co., based in Makinohara, Shizuoka Prefecture, plans to add another six-seat jet to its current fleet of two. It is also preparing to start operating a 10-seat jet.<br/>
It's long been the bane of traveling New Yorkers' lives, and incoming president Joe Biden once described it as "third world." But while the aviation industry has been decimated by the Covid-19 pandemic, LaGuardia Airport has been quietly undergoing major renovations. And now, $8b later, the new Terminal B is almost finished. "New Yorkers love to criticize, and they love to hate. I think if you looked at every single passenger survey, LaGuardia was always the worst," says Rick Cotton, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. "Our challenge was to take it from worst to first," he said. Today, filled with art installations including one of the largest mosaic walls in the US, and even a breathtaking water feature which projects images of New York icons such as the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge onto a cascading fountain, LaGuardia is a very different place. Passengers for Air Canada, American Airlines, Southwest and United -- which are all housed at the new terminal -- have been enjoying the new public spaces since the summer.It was Joe Biden's comments in 2015 that sparked the renovation effort. New York authorities green-lit the works after the then-Vice President said, "If I blindfolded you and took you to LaGuardia Airport in New York you'd think I must be in some third-world country." The central terminal, B, was built in 1964, and had barely changed since then. And LaGuardia was, according to travelers, among the most outdated, noisiest and least accessible airports in the country. Not to mention its on-time record, which was one of the worst in the United States. Story has more.<br/>
Australia is planning to build Antarctica’s biggest infrastructure project: a new airport and runway that would increase the human footprint in the world’s greatest wilderness by an estimated 40%. The mega-scheme is likely to involve blasting petrel rookeries, disturbing penguin colonies and encasing a stretch of the wilderness in more than 115,000 tonnes of concrete. The government in Canberra says the project on the Vestfold Hills of Princess Elizabeth Land is necessary to provide year-round access for scientists and emergency teams to Davis research station, Australia’s most southerly base in Antarctica. Strategic concerns are also a consideration; Australia is keen to counter China’s growing presence on the frozen southern continent. Environmental scientists say the multi-billion-dollar plan is a waste of money, and could lead to a destructive construction race among territorial rivals. “It’s unprecedented in the Antarctic in terms of the scale of investment and the impact on the environment. Although it is being done in the name of science, very few scientists are enthusiastic. This is more about flag-waving. It is about firming up Australia’s presence and our claim,” said Shaun Brooks, an environmental scientist at the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies of the University at Tasmania. Australia’s proposed new airstrip would be 2.7km long and 40 metres wide, and – unlike existing ice and gravel runways in Antarctica – it would be a permanent structure built on top of the landscape with cement and 11,500 concrete blocks, each weighing more than 10 tonnes.<br/>