general

More than half of the world’s airline pilots are no longer flying for a living amid the plunge in demand during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new survey, and those that are still flying feel less valued by their employers. A poll of nearly 2,600 pilots by UK-based GOOSE Recruitment and industry publication FlightGlobal, released on Thursday, found only 43% were doing the job they had trained for, with 30% unemployed, 17% furloughed and 10% in non-flying roles. Many pilots that are still flying have faced deteriorating working conditions. Cathay Pacific, for example, instituted permanent pay cuts of up to 58%, and Turkish Airways and Singapore Airlines have temporarily lowered salaries. “We can see the effect the pandemic has had on employed pilots too,” GOOSE Recruitment CEO Mark Charman said. “Large numbers are feeling insecure about their jobs, an increased number are planning to look for new roles this year as well as many feeling less valued by their employers.” For the unemployed pilots in the survey, 84% said it was due to the pandemic. Before COVID-19 hit, there had been widespread pilot shortages that had driven up demand for aviators and led to improving pay and conditions. Now, 82% of unemployed pilots would take a pay cut for a new opportunity, the survey found.<br/>

As the world races to roll out mass vaccination programs to combat Covid-19, analysts say more carriers will likely go bust this year and pre-pandemic demand won’t be returning anytime soon. But there could be one bright spot: Low-cost airlines that mostly fly domestic routes could recover faster than their larger, full-service counterparts. “There will be failures due to lack of ‘oxygen,’” said Peter Harbison, chairman emeritus of consultancy firm CAPA. “Consolidations are too hard outside domestic markets, so failures are more likely.” According to travel data company Cirium, 48 airlines failed in 2020. Last year, governments stepped in with “gravity-defying support” to keep airlines afloat, through a combination of direct funds and job support programs, Harbison explained. “Cash flow is increasingly critical and all airlines are still burning through large amounts of it,” he said, adding that at this time of the year, airlines typically accrue cash from advanced bookings for spring and summer. “But thanks to the status of infection levels in many countries and the continuing likelihood of border closures/quarantine, there’s reluctance to book ahead even despite super cheap fares and generous change/refund conditions,” Harbison said. “There are lots of variables, but I don’t think the necessary cash is going to flow in much before mid-2021, even if then.” CAPA’s prediction is that pre-pandemic levels of air travel will only be achieved in 2025 due to prolonged uncertainty around recovery, compounded by a severe drop in business travel and far fewer international seats flying.<br/>

IATA is urging governments to embrace digital platforms for Covid-19 testing as it warns that paper-based tests are vulnerable to fraudulent results. Nick Careen, the airline association’s senior VP for airport, passenger, cargo and security, said that paper-based test results were inefficient, difficult to process and can also be “easily manipulated”. He says IATA is aware of “numerous” counterfeit Covid-19 test results in multiple countries, a problem that was previously associated with faked yellow fever certificates and is “about to get worse”. While the problem is “not as widespread as one would think”, Careen says that it could become a “much larger issue” once the pandemic is brought under control as the number of health checks required by governments will “far exceed” those currently demanded for infectious diseases such as yellow fever. Careen urges governments to adopt digital solutions and points out that the IATA Travel Pass, an app that the association is currently developing, will help passengers “easily and securely manage their travel in line with government requirements”. “Digital certifications need to become a mandate, we cannot continue to operate in the fashion that we have globally with paper – this is just not sustainable,” he adds. <br/>

Europe faces a “quickly deteriorating” situation in terms of falling air traffic during the first quarter, with competing “reasonable” assumptions regarding a significant improvement or otherwise from April onwards, according to the latest short-term forecast data from Eurocontrol. Crucially, the European air traffic management body says today, any recovery going into 2021’s summer season hinges on whether Q2 of the year sees governments beginning to relax travel restrictions. Before that point, the immediate situation is “a complete disaster for European aviation”, according to Eurocontrol director general Eamonn Brennan, as countries impose stricter border controls amid concerns about new Covid-19 variants. February and March will be “exceptionally low across the network, except for cargo, some business [aviation] traffic and skeleton scheduled services”, he says, referring to aircraft movements in European airspace. In February, flight numbers are expected to be down 72-74% on 2019 levels, while for March they are expected to be 72-77% lower. Brennan continues: “Even April is expected to perform very poorly with only a limited pick-up for the Easter period. Flights in Europe will probably only be around 25%-30% of normal.” Indeed, April is the tipping point in Eurocontrol’s forecast; the month where its two scenarios significantly diverge. <br/>

Britain is banning direct passenger flights to and from the United Arab Emirates from Friday, shutting down the world’s busiest international airline route from Dubai to London. Britain said it was adding the United Arab Emirates, Burundi and Rwanda to its coronavirus travel ban list because of worries over the spread of a more contagious and potentially vaccine-resistant COVID-19 variant first identified in South Africa. “This means people who have been in or transited through these countries will be denied entry, except British, Irish and third country nationals with residence rights who must self-isolate for ten days at home,” UK Transport Minister Grant Shapps said Thursday. Emirates and Etihad Airways said on their websites they would suspend all UK passenger flights from 1300 GMT on Friday when the ban takes effect. Dubai airport advised passengers booked on flights due to arrive in the UK after the ban comes into effect to not go to the airport and instead contact their airline.<br/>

Requiring Covid-19 tests for US domestic air passengers would be unnecessary, complex and impractical – or as one Southwest executive puts it, “a real goat rodeo”. That phrase means a situation that is exceedingly chaotic and unmanageable, even hopelessly messy. The US government does not currently require negative Covid-19 tests for passengers travelling domestically, though it does require tests for passengers flying to the USA from abroad. However, in recent days a director at the US CDC said his agency was “actively looking at” a domestic-travel testing requirement. “That could be a real goat rodeo, as we say here in Texas,” Southwest president Tom Nealon says Thursday. “It’s a really challenging thing for customers to navigate… if it’s not done consistently across the country,” Nealon adds. “Where our emphasis needs to be is on… getting the country vaccinated, and I would hate for us to take our eye off that ball”. Southwest CE Gary Kelly calls Covid-19 tests for domestic travel “wholly impractical”. <br/>

A US aviation union leader Thursday urged Congress to extend a passenger airline payroll assistance program for a third time as demand for air travel has been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Congress approved $15b in new payroll assistance in December after awarding $25b in March to the sector. Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, representing workers at 17 airlines, said “Congress has to act fast for real relief. The emergency relief that came late in December was critical, but it was just ‘a down payment,’ a ‘bridge to real relief.’” Earlier this month, the US Treasury began distributing the new round of payroll assistance to airlines to allow more than 32,000 aviation workers to stay in their jobs until at least March 31. American Airlines CE Doug Parker said Thursday that “April 1 is approaching and demand hasn’t gotten much better... So we are definitely going to need to address this, unless demand starts to pick up. We are already talking to our unions about things we might be able to do.” Parker said the company’s unions “are already talking to the administration in Congress about this... We would obviously be supportive of that.”<br/>

As the Chinese New Year travel rush kicked off on Thursday, transport operators in China tightened measures to prevent the resurgence of Covid-19 cases and provide better service to passengers. The Ministry of Transport further cut its forecast of passenger flow for the Chinese New Year travel season on Thursday, as the country has adopted strict anti-epidemic measures to curb the spread of Covid-19. On the first day of the Chinese New Year travel rush, the country was expected to handle 19.91m passengers trips. According to the ministry, about 1.15b passenger trips were expected to be made during the 40-day travel rush, a year-on-year decline of 20% and more than 60% lower than in 2019. "The number is changing constantly," Ministry of Transport spokesman Wu Chungeng said Thursday. "The daily passenger trips are growing slightly based on the data for the past three days," he said, adding that the number might be lower than expected because people were advised not to travel during the holiday. On Thursday, the civil aviation sector expected to handle 8,850 flights and 540,000 passenger trips, a year-on-year decrease of 46.7% and 71.2%, respectively.<br/>

Aerion Supersonic, one of several companies developing a next-generation supersonic jet, is moving forward with its plans to start production on its aircraft in 2023. The company has announced it plans to build a huge new headquarters and manufacturing facility in Melbourne, Florida. The A$300m facility will be located near Melbourne-Orlando Airport with about 185,000 square metres of building space, plus taxiways and other ground support facilities for the planned jet. The new facility will employ 675 people, with Aerion citing Florida's association with high tech flight, and its connected workforce, as a key reason for choosing the location. The coastline east of Orlando is known as the Space Coast for its connection to America's space program. It's home to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Cape Canaveral, where all of NASA's manned space flights have taken off from since 1961. The AS2 aims to be the first new commercial supersonic aircraft to enter service in more than 50 years. The only other supersonic commercial jet, the Concorde, was retired in 2003, three years after the crash of an Air France Concorde that killed 113 passengers and crew.<br/>

The co-founder of Uber has has launched his own airline. Garrett Camp, the computer programmer who launched the city car app with Travis Kalanick in 2009, has called the venture Aero. Camp describes the concept as: “A travel service provider inspired by the golden age of aviation, designed for modern life [with] semi-private jet flights to the world's most in-demand destinations”. The first flight is due to depart from Van Nuys airport, northwest of Hollywood, to the Colorado ski resort of Aspen at 11am on Thursday 4 February. The introductory fare for the one hour 50 minute flight, covering 731 miles, is GBP730. On a nonstop flight half an hour later, American Airlines is offering the trip from Los Angeles International (LAX) to Aspen for barely one-third as much: GBP250. Aero’s fares in March and April increase to GBP917. But the new airline claims it is “ready when you are” and offers the chance for passengers to “fly smarter and safer” in small jets with just 16 seats. Aero promises “crowd-free private airports and lounges” together with “spacious cabins” for a “low-contact getaway”. Customers flying to Aspen "will be required to show negative tests results for Covid-19 taken within 72 hours of departure at the time of boarding”. The baggage limit is three pieces totalling 68kg, as well as a single piece of hand luggage.<br/>