Air travel demand remained sharply down in November, IATA’s latest industry statistics show, as resurgent Covid-19 cases and renewed travel restrictions battered passenger confidence. Demand as measured by revenue passenger-kilometres fell 70.3% in November compared with a year earlier, a similar decline to the 70.6% fall recorded in October. Capacity in the month was down 59% annually, while load factors declined by 23 percentage points to 58%, a record low for the month. International services were hardest hit, falling 88% against a year earlier, with capacity cut 77%. Even domestic demand, which has been seen as a relative bright spot for the industry, declined 41% on the previous year. Capacity was down 27% and load factors fell by 15.7 percentage points to 66.6%. The only glimmers of hope were in China, where domestic traffic as measured by RPKs fell only 4.8%,. Domestic Russian traffic was down 23%. In all other regions domestic demand declined by more than a third, including a 60% fall in the USA. “The already tepid recovery in air travel demand came to a full stop in November,” states IATA DG Alexandre de Juniac. “That’s because governments responded to new outbreaks with even more severe travel restrictions and quarantine measures.” He adds: “This is clearly inefficient. Such measures increase hardship for millions. Vaccines offer the long-term solution. In the meantime, testing is the best way that we see to stop the spread of the virus and start the economic recovery.”<br/>
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Global air cargo volumes sank more than 6% year on year in November but remain on track to return to 2019 levels by March or April, according to IATA. The trade group’s most recent air cargo report also notes that air cargo revenue remains “exceptionally elevated” due partly to overall reduced cargo capacity. Notably, passenger traffic – and consequently belly-hold capacity – remains down: IATA data shows a 70% year-on-year fall in November. The raw numbers reveal that air cargo volumes, measured in cargo tonne kilometres (CTK), declined 6.6% in November from the same period last year. That decline largely reflects November 2020’s comparison with what was a particularly strong month in 2019, says the report, released on 7 January. However, cargo volume actually increased 1.6% in November when adjusted for seasonal variables such as holidays. “While the pace of the recovery has weakened, current month-on-month gains point to [seasonally adjusted] CTKs returning to 2019 monthly levels around March or April 2021,” IATA says. The report cites rebounding global export orders, record e-commerce shipments and stronger year-on-year retail sales in the USA and China.<br/>
Airlines and two unions representing flight attendants are concerned about in-flight security as the pro-Trump rioters who stormed the US Capitol Wednesday leave the Washington DC area. American Airlines and United have both increased staffing at the DC-area airports where they operate. American is also suspending alcohol service on its flights to and from the region. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) International, which represents nearly 50,000 flight attendants at 17 airlines, said the rioters should not be allowed on flights home. "Their violent and seditious actions at the Capitol (Wednesday) create further concern about their departure from the DC area," AFA president Sara Nelson said. "Acts against our democracy, our government, and the freedom we claim as Americans must disqualify these individuals from the freedom of flight." The union that represents American Airlines flight crew, Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), also issued a statement about in-flight incidents. "We are incredibly concerned about recent politically motivated incidents on board passenger aircraft," read the release from the APFA president Julie Hedrick. "Regardless of one's political beliefs, the cabin of a commercial aircraft must, out of necessity, be a calm environment for the safety of everyone onboard." The statements come after several altercations on flights to DC ahead of the gathering of the president's most fervent supporters.<br/>
Britain’s government will require people entering England to present a negative COVID-19 test result on arrival starting next week to protect against new strains of the coronavirus from other countries, the government said on Friday. Passengers arriving by boat, plane or train will have to take a test up to 72 hours before departing for England, the transport ministry said, mirroring measures taken by many other countries around the world. “We already have significant measures in place to prevent imported cases of COVID-19, but with new strains of the virus developing internationally we must take further precautions,” Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said. British PM Boris Johnson ordered a new lockdown for England this week after a surge in cases linked to a new variant of the coronavirus believed to have originated in the country. On Thursday, Britain said it would extend a ban on travellers entering England from South Africa to other southern African countries to prevent the spread of a variant identified in South Africa. Exemptions to the new testing requirement rule would be offered to hauliers, children under 11, crews and people travelling from countries where tests are not available, the government said. Passengers will be subject to a fine of GBP500 if they fail to comply with the new regulations. Britain’s airline industry said it recognised the need to act to introduce pre-departure testing but only as a short-term, emergency measure.<br/>
Boeing agreed to pay $2.5b to settle criminal charges that it defrauded the US government by concealing information about the ill-fated 737 Max that was involved in two fatal crashes. The US planemaker entered into a deferred prosecution agreement in the Northern District of Texas on Thursday, the Justice Department said. “The tragic crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 exposed fraudulent and deceptive conduct by employees of one of the world’s leading commercial airplane manufacturers,” Acting Assistant Attorney General David P. Burns of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said in a statement. A design flaw in the Max helped lead to the two crashes within about five months in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people. Several investigative reports have found that the company altered a flight control system, but didn’t fully explain the changes to FAA inspectors. “I firmly believe that entering into this resolution is the right thing for us to do -- a step that appropriately acknowledges how we fell short of our values and expectations,” Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said in a message to employees. “This resolution is a serious reminder to all of us of how critical our obligation of transparency to regulators is, and the consequences that our company can face if any one of us falls short of those expectations.” Of the $2.5b, Boeing has already set aside $1.77b to reimburse airlines and other Max customers. The company said it expected to incur an additional $743.6m charge for Q4 2020, as it pays a $243.6m penalty and $500m in additional compensation for the families of the crash victims. Boeing is scheduled to report earnings for the quarter on Jan. 27.<br/>
Families of victims of a Boeing 737 MAX crash on Ethiopian Airlines are moving forward with civil litigation against the planemaker in Chicago, despite its settlement with the US Justice Department, plaintiffs’ lawyers said on Thursday. Boeing’s $2.5b sets aside $500m for relatives of the 289 victims of the Ethiopian Airlines crash and a Lion Air crash five months earlier in a deal that lawyers said only strengthens the families’ lawsuits against the planemaker.<br/>
US Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announced she is resigning from Donald Trump’s cabinet, becoming the highest ranking administration official to leave after supporters of the president breached the US Capitol on Wednesday in protest of his election loss. “Yesterday, our country experienced a traumatic and entirely avoidable event as supporters of the president stormed the Capitol building following a rally he addressed,” Chao said. “As I’m sure is the case with many of you it has deeply troubled me in a way that I simply cannot set aside.” Chao said she is resigning as of Jan. 11 and will help her announced successor, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, the pick of President-elect Joe Biden to lead the department. Chao is the first cabinet secretary to resign in the wake of Wednesday’s protests at the US Capitol. <br/>
Australia is nearly halving the number of passengers allowed to arrive by plane in a bid to prevent the spread of a highly contagious variant of the coronavirus first identified in Britain. A cleaner at a Brisbane quarantine hotel diagnosed with COVID-19 on Wednesday is the first person infected with the variant found in the Australian community. Other cases have been detected among travelers while in hotel quarantine, where there is little risk of community spread. PM Scott Morrison said state leaders had agreed that international arrivals to New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia state airports would be halved until Feb. 15. Arrivals at Victoria were already relatively low and would remain unchanged. Quarantine workers would be tested for the virus daily. Authorities in Brisbane are locking Australia’s third-most populous city down for three days beginning Friday evening to contain the spread. Australian Chief Health Officer Paul Kelly said anyone who had been in Brisbane since Jan. 2 should also isolate. “Our main issue is to keep Australians safe and to really make sure that this particular strain is not the one that becomes circulating in Australia,” Kelly said. “The reason is because it will be much more difficult to control.”<br/>
The nightmare year of 2020 brought the airline industry’s first decade of sustained profitability to a shuddering halt. The coronavirus pandemic tore through in a tumultuous, unprecedented way -- leaving carriers in a deep hole, along with a constellation of aerospace manufacturers, airports and leasing firms. 2021 is shaping up to be a transition year for an enterprise that takes passengers on the equivalent of 208m annual trips around the globe. At best, the path ahead will be bumpy, with progress toward a return to travel dependent on the pace of vaccine roll-outs, access to capital, government policies and the unpredictability of a virus that’s not yet fully understood. Still, there will be leaps, including the first commercial flights to near-space. Story looks at details of what's to come in 2021.<br/>