Guatemalan authorities have closed Guatemala's international airport as volcanic ash blanketed planes and runways on Tuesday. Guatemala City's La Aurora International Airport was temporarily closed after unfavorable wind conditions carried ash from the nearby and active Pacaya volcano its way, according to Guatemala's Civil Aviation Authority. The Civil Aviation Authority announced the closure on Twitter, saying that they took the decision as a result of "the change of wind direction from south to north and the increase of the Pacaya's volcanic activity, and the rise in ashfall." The 2,569 meter volcano is located approximately 48 kilometers south of the airport and has been active in recent weeks. According to the Civil Aviation Authority, the measure was taken following the recommendation of the National Institute of Seismology, Volcanology, Meteorology, and Hydrology (INSIVUMEH) which announced the increase of volcanic ash in many areas of the capital. "So far, nine aircrafts have been affected and remain grounded, one flight coming from Los Angeles, California, United States, was diverted to El Salvador," Guatemala's Civil Aviation Authority said.<br/>
general
Demand for domestic air travel is rising in Russia but not nearly as strongly as fuel prices, squeezing airlines’ still-brittle finances, as competition between carriers helps to rein in fares. Airport fuel prices have returned almost to pre-crisis levels after having fallen close to 2016 levels early last year as airlines grounded their fleets in April during Russia’s first and only lockdown, which ran until June. Passenger flows have gradually recovered since autumn, primarily on domestic flights, though demand remains far from pre-crisis levels and ticket prices are unchanged because of competition between carriers and low customer spending power. “The rise in prices for jet fuel is bad for airlines given the equal prices and reduced demand,” a spokesman for Aeroflot said. Aeroflot said fuel costs tripled from Q2 to Q4 to 15b roubles ($201m). Prices have risen more than 40% since June, the spokesman said. The average fuel price at Moscow airports is almost 70% higher than last May, not far from a peak in 2018-19, according to Refinitiv data.<br/>
UK PM Boris Johnson said he aims to announce plans on the resumption of international flights by April 5, one week earlier than a government task-force report on travel is due. In a televised news conference Tuesday, Johnson attempted to temper expectations -- warning that “things certainly look difficult for the time being” due to a “third wave” in coronavirus infections in several European countries. The government said in February that the UK could reopen international travel from May 17 at the earliest. A report from its “global travel task-force” was set to report April 12, but Johnson said: “I certainly hope to be saying some more by April 5.” Johnson is under increasing pressure from the airline industry to set a firm plan for resuming flights. The summer months are crucial for airlines across Europe, when revenue typically bulges from people going on annual holidays.<br/>
Spain said on Tuesday it was easing a ban on travel from Britain, three months after suspending flights for all but Spanish nationals and residents over concerns about a more contagious variant of the coronavirus first detected in the UK. Armed with negative PCR test results, British travellers will be allowed in Spain from March 30, the Health Ministry said - but only for imperative health, work or education reasons. The remaining restrictions mean Spain does not expect an immediate revival of tourism from Britain, hindered in any case by the United Kingdom’s own ban on all foreign travel except for work, education or health reasons. Since the end of December, Spain has allowed only Spaniards, Spanish residents and nationals or residents of Andorra to fly from Britain to Spain. There are similar restrictions on travel from South Africa and Brazil. Government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero told a news conference that, while restrictions on flights from South Africa and Brazil would be extended again because of concerns over COVID-19 variants there, they would be lifted for Britain.<br/>
Travellers from England will face GBP5,000 fines in new legislation designed to deter non-essential trips and barricade the nation against imported COVID-19 infections. The news was a disappointment to millions of people hoping for a summer holiday and sent travel stocks - including easyJet, British Airway-owner, Jet2 and TUI - down 2-4% in early trade on Tuesday. Travel shares had also fallen on Monday. Britain has had one of the worst COVID-19 tolls in the world, but deaths and infections are falling fast and a successful vaccination campaign is finally breathing confidence back into the population and the economy. However, as a gradual easing of lockdown is set to begin from this weekend, the government is warning that people may have to sacrifice long-desired holidays abroad.<br/>
Scheduled international commercial passenger flights to and from India will continue to remain suspended till April 30, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in New Delhi said Tuesday. International flights were suspended at the end of March last year as part of a lockdown to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Simultaneously, the Ministry of Home Affairs here issued fresh guidelines for effective containment of COVID-19, which will remain in force up to April 30. The guidelines mandate the states to strictly enforce a three-pronged "Test, Track, Treat" protocol in all parts of the country and ensure COVID-19-appropriate behaviour by everyone.<br/>
Covid-19 vaccinations for airline workers have to proceed within the next two months to be aligned with the tourism sandbox in Phuket aiming for July, says the Airlines Association of Thailand (AAT). "A tourism rebound will largely depend on the pace of inoculations which can build confidence among both workers and passengers," said Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth, AAT president. The AAT consists of seven local airlines; Bangkok Airways, Thai AirAsia, Thai AirAsia X, Thai Smile Airways, Nok Air, Thai Lion Air and Thai Vietjet with a total combined workforce of 16,000. He said airline operators would like the reopening plan to be implemented within July instead of waiting until October, according to the government plan. The tourism sandbox which has a clear timeline will allow airlines to prepare for flights to low-risk countries like Singapore, Hong Kong and neighbouring countries. Puttipong, also Bangkok Airways president, said if the country can reopen by Oct 1, the airline capacity for international routes in December will gradually increase to 20% from zero. The airline is also considering joining the test run of the IATA Travel Pass, a digital health certificate for international travel. THAI Airways International and THAI Smile Airways have already joined this project.<br/>
Passengers with unapproved vaccines could find it harder to enter some countries in the short term, but a global acceptance of vaccines will eventually be agreed upon, said Dubai Airports CE Paul Griffiths. Health passports will probably become "ubiquitous” and “mandated by individual countries”, while passenger volumes are not expected to return to 2019 levels until we have the data to show how much the vaccine will slow the transmission of Covid-19, he said. Several travel organisations and airline chief executives have spoken recently about the possible introduction of vaccine passports to accelerate the opening of borders. Griffiths said he expected passengers to start to carry a digital health record. He praised the Travel Pass scheme being introduced by industry body the International Air Transport Association (Iata). “Vaccine passports are a very good thing. What needs to happen is the health authorities around the world need to agree on common standards so that we've got proper interchangeability. The Iata system is a token-based system which will allow that interoperability between all of the different health systems. So I think it's a great step in the right direction,” he said.<br/>