American Airlines and Delta said Wednesday they are working with law enforcement and airport agencies in the Washington area to ensure the safety of travelers and workers after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol. American has also increased staffing at Washington-area airports “as a precautionary measure” and will not be serving alcohol on flights to and from the area, a spokesman said. The comment followed reports of unruly passengers on flights into the DC area on Tuesday ahead of the disruption at the Capitol, raising concern about their departure from the region. Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA representing workers at 17 airlines, said the protesters should not be allowed to depart the Washington area on commercial flights after exhibiting “mob mentality behavior” on flights into the region.<br/>“The mob mentality behavior that took place on several flights to the DC area yesterday was unacceptable and threatened the safety and security of every single person on board,” she said. “Acts against our democracy, our government and the freedom we claim as Americans must disqualify these individuals from the freedom of flight.” The TSA, which has authority over US travel security, said it is “always on high alert” and has “multiple layers of security in place.” It declined to provide details for security reasons.<br/>
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Supporters of President Donald Trump who stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday should not be allowed to depart the Washington area on commercial flights after exhibiting “mob mentality behavior” on flights into the region, the head of a large flight attendants union said. Sources at two US airlines said there had been unruly passengers on flights to the DC area on Tuesday, raising concern about their departure. “The mob mentality behavior that took place on several flights to the DC area yesterday was unacceptable and threatened the safety and security of every single person onboard,” Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA representing workers at 17 airlines, said. “Acts against our democracy, our government and the freedom we claim as Americans must disqualify these individuals from the freedom of flight,” the statement added.<br/>
British travellers are being urged to return home immediately, as airlines begin cancelling flights. EasyJet said that it would be "required to further reduce" flights, and focus on the repatriation of Britons who are currently abroad. “We will be operating flights up to and including the 10th January focused on repatriating any customers who need to return to the UK. We urge customers needing to return to transfer onto these flights as soon as possible as options to travel after this date will be reduced,” a spokesperson said. England's third national lockdown begins today, with measures including a stay-at-home order. MPs are set to vote retrospectively on it later. Thomas Cook and Tui have scrapped their flight schedules until the middle of February, with Virgin Atlantic running a reduced schedule for the time being. Virgin Holidays has cancelled all bookings until at least February 15 due to the "extraordinary circumstances". Meanwhile, airlines flying into the UK will be required to stop passengers from boarding if they are unable to show a negative Covid test within 72 hours of departure. It will cover all countries, including those with travel corridors under which travellers are currently exempted from quarantine on arrival in the UK.<br/>
Canada's ban on flights from the UK is not being extended, replaced by a stringent COVID-19 testing program for air travellers. Canada halted most air travel from the UK, where a mutated strain of COVID-19 had been discovered, on Dec. 20. New rules that require passengers returning from abroad to show proof of negative COVID-19 test results will prevent the virus from bleeding across borders, Transport Minister Marc Garneau said. Effective Thursday, passengers aged five and older must take a PCR test — the type of test common in Canada involving a deep nasal swab, and distinct from a rapid test. The test has to be administered less than 72 hours before the scheduled departure, or 96 hours in the cases of 28 countries and territories, mainly in the Caribbean and South America. The four-day timeframe for those 28 jurisdictions shrinks to three days as of Jan. 14, however. Airlines say they were not initially consulted on the testing scheme, which they will be responsible for enforcing at check-in counters around the globe.<br/>
Israel will tighten lockdown restrictions in a bid to reverse the sharp rise in coronavirus infections that’s taking place as vaccine supplies dwindle. The cabinet voted to close all schools and non-essential businesses for two weeks, beginning midnight Thursday. Airline travel will be permitted only for those who purchased tickets before. A partial lockdown, which began Dec. 27 and restricted movement and banned most client-facing business activity, hasn’t managed to tame the virus. While Israel says it has inoculated about 15% of the population with a first dose of vaccine, it is running low on supply. Second doses have been set aside for those already immunized, but the government has warned that there will be a lull in new inoculations until more supplies arrive.<br/>
Four weeks after the Boeing 737 Max was brought back into commercial service, passengers appear content to fly on the plane. The aircraft was grounded for 20 months following two fatal crashes that cost a total of 346 lives. Both accidents were caused by a faulty anti-stall system known as MCAS that forced the nose of the plane down despite the pilots’ best efforts to save the aircraft. Boeing has made substantial changes to the system and added extra training. Regulators have approved the Boeing 737 Max for passenger service in the US, Europe and Brazil. Gol, the Brazilian airline that first brought back the jet to service on 9 December, has just announced passenger numbers one-third higher than for November. While the figure also covers earlier variants of the 737, which make up a large proportion of the Gol fleet, there has been no apparent resistance to flying on the Max. The load factor (proportion of seats occupied) for December was 81%, just 1% down from the same month in 2019, though with around one-third fewer flights.<br/>
Deciding when and how to retire an aircraft is a complicated job for airlines, even in normal times. With Covid-19, the world's fleet has been largely grounded. Many aircraft that might have flown for five, 10 or even more years are being sent to have their valuable parts and systems stripped, and their metals and other materials recycled. Finnair is starting to retire its Airbus A319 airplanes -- small, two-engined jets that it has spent more than two decades flying around Europe to connect to and through its Helsinki hub. Every individual aircraft has a natural life, Director of Fleet Management Miika Haatio explains: "Each aircraft, and especially the airframe, has a design service goal. In this case, Airbus has designed the airframe for a certain amount of flights, and done all the testing for the structural integrity for that number of flights." Some airlines do keep aircraft flying longer, however, for a variety of reasons. These might include not having a direct replacement newer aircraft, like for the Boeing 767-300ER, a relatively small long-distance, two-engined, widebody plane that many airlines were still operating before Covid-19. Some planes have been put on longer routes, so they have flown proportionally fewer flights. And sometimes it just makes financial sense, even outside a pandemic. Story has more.<br/>
BOC Aviation signed fewer lease commitments and extensions in 2020’s Q4 than in the same period of 2019, and its aircraft sale activity likewise declined. The Singapore-based lessor signed 12 lease commitments and extensions during the three months ended 31 December 2020, compared with 37 lease commitments a year earlier. However, it increased its total lease commitments and extensions in 2020, with 102 last year compared with 87 in 2019. BOC Aviation sold two owned aircraft in 2020’s fourth quarter, bringing the total number of owned aircraft sold during that year to 12. By contrast, it had sold six owned aircraft in 2019’s fourth quarter and 28 during the whole of 2019. That year it also sold two managed aircraft on behalf of third-party investors. The lessor took delivery of 25 aircraft in Q4 2020 and a total of 54 across the entire year, including one acquired by an airline customer on delivery. In 2019, it had taken delivery of 20 aircraft in Q4 and 54 across the entire year, including 12 acquired by airline customers upon delivery. “We are pleased to record a robust operational performance in 2020, executed in a challenging environment,” states BOC Aviation CE Robert Martin.<br/>
U-Tapao Airport announced on Wednesday that it was closing services until the end of January. The airport, which is two hours from Bangkok in the eastern province of Rayong, is cancelling all fights this month because it falls in “red zone”. Provinces marked “red” have been designated “maximum control zones” based on the number of Covid-19 infections in the new wave. Three airlines flying out of U-Tapao, namely Thai AirAsia, Thai Lion Air and Bangkok Airways, have cancelled their flights until further notice. The airlines fly to Chiang Mai, Hat Yai, Phuket and Udon Thani from this airport. <br/>