President Biden, under pressure to speed up the pace of coronavirus vaccination, said on Monday that he was now aiming for the US to administer 1.5m vaccine doses a day — a goal that is 50% higher than his initial target but one that the nation already appears on track to meet. The president made his comments just hours after he banned travel by noncitizens into the US from South Africa because of concern about a coronavirus variant spreading in that country, and moved to extend similar bans imposed by his predecessor on travel from Brazil, Europe and Britain. Those bans were set to expire on Tuesday. Biden has vowed to get “100 million Covid-19 shots in the arms of the American people” by his 100th day in office. Because two doses are required, and some Americans have already been vaccinated, his promise would cover about 67m Americans. To realize it, the US would have to administer 1m shots a day.<br/>
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Europe is set to lift a 22-month flight ban on the Boeing 737 MAX this week after reviewing submissions by industry experts and whistleblowers, angering relatives of some of the 346 crash victims, who say the move is premature. A green light from the EASA is a key step towards resolving an almost two-year safety crisis after crashes of the best-selling jet in Indonesia and Ethiopia which were linked to flawed cockpit software. The US lifted its own ban in November, followed by Brazil and Canada. China, which was first to ban the plane after the second crash in March 2019 and which represents a quarter of MAX sales, has not said when it will act. After giving provisional approval in November, EASA sifted through input from 38 commenters and "received directly a number of whistleblower reports that we thoroughly analysed and took into account," Executive Director Patrick Ky said on Monday. That, he said, did not expose any fresh technical problems. But a France-based victims' group, Solidarity and Justice, called the move "premature, inappropriate and even dangerous". Analysts and airline chiefs say EASA, which represents 31 mainly EU nations, has emerged stronger from the crisis, which eroded US leadership of aviation safety.<br/>
A former Boeing manager has made a series of claims about shortcomings in the manufacture of the 737 Max aircraft. Ed Pierson, who retired from his post in the 737 factory in August 2018, has written a paper describing what he calls “a chaotic and dangerously unstable production environment” in the months before two fatal accidents that grounded the plane. The Boeing 737 Max returned to service last month, 20 months after the second fatal crash. In October 2018, 189 people died when Lion Air 610 came down shortly after take off from Jakarta. The following March, 157 passengers and crew lost their lives aboard Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 after it crashed in very similar circumstances. Both crashes were blamed on a software system that, when activated by a faulty sensor, forced the nose of the aircraft down despite the pilots’ efforts. The Max was quickly banned from passenger flights worldwide. Boeing insists the latest version of the highly successful 737 series is safe. A spokesperson said: "We continue to work with EASA [the European Union Aviation Safety Agency], other global regulators and our customers to safely return the 737-8 and 737-9 to service worldwide. But Pierson – a retired US Navy captain who also testified as a whistleblower before Congress in December 2019 – portrays a chaotic production environment for the Max that, he says, caused faults such as “unexplainable electrical anomalies”. He says that the plane involved in the Lion Air disaster started displaying faults the flight control system just eight weeks after delivery.<br/>
The prospect of new restrictions on international travel sent a shudder through the travel industry on Monday, piling pressure on companies already reeling from a year of disruption. Shares in European airlines tumbled as the UK government prepared to introduce tighter immigration rules following concerns that new strains of Covid-19 could spread from international travellers. Governments in Sweden, Belgium and Germany also tightened travel curbs over the weekend. BA owner IAG led the share price declines, falling 8%, while easyJet dropped 7%, cruise operator Carnival decreased 6% and Ryanair was 4% lower at the close on Monday. Travel groups devastated by national lockdowns and closed borders warned that additional measures could be the last straw for businesses and would knock consumer confidence during a key period for summer holiday bookings. “Things are looking bad and these travel restrictions will make things catastrophic for the industry,” said Andrew Crawley, CCO at American Express Global Business Travel. A limited system of hotel quarantine is to be introduced in England this week but initially only for British residents returning from countries with new, more virulent forms of coronavirus, including Portugal, South Africa and Brazil. Whitehall sources said Downing Street would “reserve the right” to go further by requiring all visitors from anywhere in the world to isolate for 10-days. Johan Lundgren, easyJet’s chief executive, said customer sentiment was “reliant on newsflow”, but bookings showed there was a pent-up demand for travel whenever there were signs of governments relaxing restrictions.<br/>
Boris Johnson is expected to sign off sweeping new quarantine rules for travellers in airport hotels on Tuesday as cabinet ministers rebuffed pressure from Tory MPs to set out a timetable for the easing of lockdown. In what Downing Street said was a more cautious approach since England’s third lockdown, a No 10 source said: “We don’t ever want to unlock anything if we have to lock it again.” It may mean coronavirus travel curbs and other restrictions remaining in place for months. The hotel quarantine measure, which government sources said may take “weeks rather than days” to implement, would be an “effective closure of our borders”, the airline industry said. Ten-day stays are expected to cost upwards of GBP1,000 for each traveller. Some countries, which imposed similar regimes from March last year, charge many thousands for accommodation, board and security, with occupants confined to their rooms, including for exercise. A final decision will be made by cabinet ministers at a Covid-O meeting on Tuesday, with the prime minister presented with several options. Details yet to be confirmed include the cost and whether a “test to release” policy will operate, like the measure which now allows travellers to leave quarantine if they test negative after five days.<br/>
The company behind a life-size robot that uses artificial intelligence to hold conversations with humans is set to begin a mass rollout of the devices later this year as the pandemic increases demand for robots. Sophia the robot has become a mainstay of technology conferences around the world thanks to the robot’s ability to converse with human beings. Now, Hong Kong business Hanson Robotics, which developed the prototypes, is preparing to enter mass-production to allow businesses, such as airports and shops, to purchase their own Sophia robot to interact with customers and employees. CE David Hanson said that his business will begin producing robots in the first half of 2021 to sell to customers after years of showing off Sophia’s abilities. “The world of Covid-19 is going to need more and more automation to keep people safe,” Hanson said. He aims to sell “thousands” of the devices and is preparing to start production of four different models of robot to sell to airlines and hospitality businesses. <br/>
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport declared on Monday that it had become the busiest among its global peers in 2020. Airports Council International ranked the southern Chinese airport 11th in 2019. While it has yet to announce 2020 rankings, China is one of the few countries to mark a recovery in domestic air travel, at a time when other major economies are still suffering from a slump in travel demand. While Guangzhou's population is significantly smaller than those of Shanghai and Beijing, they have multiple major airports while it has just one. Guangzhou Baiyun handled 43.768m passengers last year, which was 40.4% lower than a year ago. However, the decline was much steeper for its peers, including Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which saw a fall of 61.2% to 42.918m last year, after holding the crown as the world's busiest for over two decades. Guangzhou's rise to the top is driven by a resurgence in domestic air travel demand. While there were 86% fewer passengers on international routes in 2020, the drop in domestic passengers -- comprising 94% of the total -- was only 24.7% from a year before. On a monthly basis, it has been increasing year-on-year since September. On its official Weibo site, the airport attributed its strong performance to "China's capability to effectively control the pandemic," which allowed the swift recovery of business activities.<br/>
Kuwait’s government has delayed the second phase of its plan for resuming commercial flights until further notice, the state news agency said on Monday, citing a cabinet decision, keeping the airport’s capacity at 30% of pre-pandemic levels. The cabinet also ordered Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation to reduce the number of flights arriving in the country. Kuwait began the first phase of resuming flights in August last year at the reduced capacity, which it had said would last for six months, after which a maximum capacity of 60% was to be allowed.<br/>
Irish aviation’s survival will be at stake if the Government fails to boost aid to the industry alongside any tougher Covid-19 travel restrictions, trade union Fórsa warned on Monday. Meanwhile, airline Aer Lingus confirmed that it was keeping its 2021 schedules under “constant review” while officials weigh introducing extra quarantines or banning travel from some regions. Aer Lingus has been selling its summer 2021 schedule since late last year, but is flying just 15% of the services that it would have offered this time two years ago. Aer Lingus said earlier this month that it would review its plans for this year as governments stepped up curbs on travel. Ministers are considering tightening the Republic’s already stringent restrictions, including limiting travel from virus-variant hotspots, as the State struggles with the Covid wave. Ashley Connolly, senior official with Fórsa – which represents thousands of pilots, cabin crew and airport workers – warned that such measures would devastate an industry already reeling from the virus.<br/>
China is finally reaching the finish line in its long-delayed attempt to build a jet capable of competing with narrowbody planes from Airbus and Boeing, according to the state-owned company in charge of the program. Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China, or Comac, will deliver its first C919 single-aisle jet by the end of the year, Communist Party-backed newspaper Global Times reported Sunday, citing Comac general engineer Yang Zhigang. The C919, comparable to the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737, had its first flight in 2017 but has yet to carry any commercial passengers. Representatives from Comac weren’t immediately available to comment. Even if the first C919 is delivered as promised, it will take many years before Comac becomes a serious threat to the Western aerospace duopoly, according to Peter Harbison, chairman emeritus of Sydney-based CAPA. The company won’t have the sales volumes necessary to convince mainstream non-Chinese customers they should take a chance on a new aircraft, he said. “Airlines don’t want expensive orphans and the alternative is to buy an economically large number in order to get scale, still with uncertain spares and engineering support,” Harbison said.<br/>
A string of successful bond deals for aircraft leasing companies reflects a view among investors that this niche of the travel industry is a safer way to bet on a recovery in the sector. In total, seven leasing companies, which own planes they lease to airlines, have raised a combined $14.9b in January, according to data from Dealogic, with several receiving cut-price borrowing costs. Investors said the deals nonetheless offered attractive returns in a corner of the airline industry more protected against further fallout from the spread of coronavirus. “Out of the whole travel sector they are probably one of the better positioned,” said Monica Erickson, head of the investment-grade corporate team at DoubleLine Capital. “It’ll be a while before anything normalises but the types of planes they have will remain out there. The terms they have with the airlines . . . they can withstand the expected downturn.” Last week, Aircastle raised a $750m seven-year bond with an additional yield, or spread above US Treasuries, of 2.3%, down from an early indication of 2.6% when the deal was first marketed to investors, according to people familiar with the transaction. Air Lease also raised $750m, this time for three years at a spread of 0.72%. Earlier this month, AerCap raised $1b. The five-year deal priced with a spread of 1.55%, down from initially being marketed at around 1.8%. Most lessors typically enjoy long lease times, which enables them to straddle difficult patches for the airline industry. Their main risks stem from airlines failing to pay rents, or even going bankrupt. But since airlines have secured capital to help survive the shock of the pandemic, that in turn has bolstered the position of the lessors.<br/>