El Al airlines launched a pilot programme at its Tel Aviv airport check-in counters on Monday to test unvaccinated passengers for COVID-19 before allowing them to board a non-stop flight to New York. Just before stepping up to the counters, 112 of the 280 passengers on flight 003 were required by El Al to undergo a nose swab - a rapid antigen test, with results within 15 to 20 minutes, that detects protein fragments specific to the coronavirus. All 112 passed the test. Airlines have for months been lobbying governments for such measures to prevent people from having to go into quarantine on arrival. With some 40% of Israelis over the age of 16 already fully vaccinated after their second dose of Pfizer /BioNTech’s vaccine, most of those tested at the airport were children, who under current health guidelines are not given the shots. The aim of the test was to ensure no one on the plane carried the coronavirus or could infect others. But masks were still mandatory for the duration of the 12-hour flight. “What we are trying to do in this concept is basically taking three layers of protection for the passengers,” El Al CE Avigal Soreq said.<br/>
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Frontier Group Holdings has filed paperwork for an IPO, a regulatory filing by the low-cost carrier showed on Monday. The filing did not reveal the number of shares or the price range at which Frontier expects to sell them on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. Airlines across the world have been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, as international and domestic flights were grounded to curb the disease’s spread. Frontier also withdrew plans for an IPO in July last year. <br/>
Sun Country Airlines has more than doubled what it hopes to raise from its initial public offering, outlining plans for a revised target of $240m in gross proceeds from its public debut. Stock in the Minneapolis-based carrier will initially price at $21 to $23 per share, Sun Country said Monday. The offering includes 9.1m shares of common stock listed on the Nasdaq under the SNCY ticker, plus the option of another 1.4m shares offered to the banks managing the listing. Sun Country did not indicate in Monday’s release when its shares will begin trading. The offering adds up to between $220m and $240m in gross proceeds from the IPO. The amount far exceeds the $100m initial fund raising expectations outlined in Sun Country’s prospectus in February.<br/>
Southwest isn't letting up on its plans to woo travelers eager to vacation again after the coronavirus pandemic. The airline, which carries more domestic passengers than any US carrier, told employees it plans to begin service to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Eugene, Oregon; and Bellingham, Washington, a gateway to Vancouver, British Columbia, in Canada. The move comes less than a week after Southwest announced new flights to Bozeman, Montana, and Destin-Fort Walton Beach in the Florida Panhandle. Southwest typically adds one or two new destinations a year at most, and 2021 will now see at least 12with the latest additions. Southwest has announced or begun service to 17 new airports since the pandemic began.<br/>
Wizz Air is opening a new base at Palermo. Wizz says it will station two Airbus A321s at the Italian airport from June. The two aircraft will support new routes to Bologna, Brindisi, Cagliari, Milan Malpensa, Pisa, Turn, Verona and Treviso in Italy; Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg, near the border between France and Switzerland; and London Luton in the UK.<br/>
Donghai Airlines on Sunday said it had suspended a male pilot and a male flight attendant after allegations the pair assaulted each other during a flight. The assault started from an argument 50 minutes from landing on the flight DZ6297 from Nantong to Xian on February 20, according to Chinese media reports. The pilot, who was not identified, was using the bathroom when a first class cabin passenger wished to use the toilet. The pilot asked the passenger to wait at their seat, but was ignored by the passenger, according to social media posts about the incident. The pilot saw the passenger still standing at the door when leaving the lavatory and rebuked the attendant who oversaw the first-class cabin for “not doing his job properly and affecting flying safety”. The toilet argument soon spiralled out of hand and became physical, social media posts claimed this was initiated by the pilot. In the resulting fight the flight attendant’s arm was broken, while the pilot lost a tooth. <br/>