Airlines could check new European Union COVID certificates before allowing onboard passengers going on summer holidays, a senior official said on Tuesday as the bloc seeks to restart a travel sector ravaged by the pandemic. The EU’s proposed COVID travel certificate would contain information on vaccination, tests or recovery, and would be valid until the World Health Organisation declares the pandemic over, EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders told lawmakers. “What we want is to give to citizens and member states a tool that provides the necessary trust and confidence. A tool that competent authorities can rely on wherever needed to facilitate free movement,” he said. “Similarly, an airline company could... verify the validity of the certificate in a simple way at the check-in,” Reynders told an EU parliament committee. “Long discussions at the gate should be avoided.” Europe is in the midst of its third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic but southern EU countries that rely on tourism are already pushing for an instrument to help their hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions this summer. They face off against more sceptical Belgium, France or Germany. Reynders stressed the certificate did not amount to a “vaccination passport” since having been inoculated could not on its own give people the right to travel freely as that would discriminate against those who cannot or would not get the jab.<br/>
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A French initiative to ban commercial air travel on some domestic routes could prove to be an example for other countries seeking to make flying cleaner. The bill making its way through parliament would forbid conventional air travel when there’s an alternative by train that takes under 2.5 hours. The legislation advanced in the National Assembly over the weekend as part of a broader debate on climate legislation and still needs to go through the Senate. “This policy really has the potential to accelerate all sustainable aviation options,” said Venkat Viswanathan, an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University. “Among them it could really push electric aviation forward.” Aviation was one of the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions before the coronavirus pandemic brought global travel to a halt. In 2019, the sector produced about 2% of man-made carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming, according to industry group ATAG. Shorter flights are among the most-polluting. While France made domestic route cutbacks a condition of aid to the French arm of Air France-KLM last year, no country has extended the measures to its broader domestic aviation market. <br/>
Israel will start allowing the limited entry of vaccinated tourist groups next month as its own inoculation campaign has sharply brought down COVID-19 infections, an official statement said Tuesday. The return of foreigners after Israel had closed its borders at the outset of the pandemic in March 2020 would boost the country’s economy, which contracted 2.5% in 2020, and battered tourism sector. Israel’s jobless rate stands at around 10%. All foreign visitors will be required to present a negative PCR test before boarding a flight to Israel, and a serological test to prove their vaccination upon arrival at Ben-Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv. A statement from the health and tourism ministries said “a limited number of groups will start to arrive on May 23” in the initial phase of the plan. No exact figures were given.<br/>
As part of a push to get more of its population vaccinated, Hong Kong is planning to only allow those who’ve had Covid-19 shots to fly from the city to Singapore once both governments finalize a travel bubble. “The basis for discussion with Singapore is that people leaving Hong Kong and entering Singapore need to be vaccinated,” CE Carrie Lam said at a briefing late Monday, when outlining a plan to give people more leeway with social-distancing rules if they get inoculated. “We want to provide incentives to encourage Hong Kong citizens to get vaccinated,” she said. Originally slated to start in November, the travel bubble between the two financial hubs was shelved days before it was due to start, after a spike in coronavirus cases in Hong Kong. It was postponed again in December and has since been on hold as cases in Hong Kong flared, including an outbreak last month that was quelled with one of the world’s strictest quarantine regimes. Hong Kong’s outbreak is now “obviously contained,” Lam said Monday, with confirmed daily cases lingering in the low double-digits or fewer in recent weeks. The city has reported 11,594 Covid-19 cases in total and 207 deaths. Singapore also has the coronavirus under control and has relaxed curbs, but progress on resurrecting the travel bubble with Hong Kong is slow as both governments, while desperate to open their borders, take a cautious approach. Still, Singapore isn’t planning to require all travelers from Hong Kong to be vaccinated, Lam said Tuesday. <br/>
Narita airport, near Tokyo, started on Tuesday trialing the use of facial recognition for international travellers, with no need to show passports or flight tickets after check-in. The trial of "Face Express," which is meant to speed up the boarding process and provide a touchless experience for passengers, only involved airport staff and not actual travellers, Narita International Airport Corp said. The system is scheduled to be adopted at Narita as well as Haneda airport, Tokyo's other international gateway, in July. Fliers who wish to use the Face Express system will have their photos taken at check-in when they register their passports and boarding passes. The biometric ID processing will mean that passengers will not have to keep taking out their passports and tickets at the luggage drop, security checkpoints and boarding gates with cameras, ensuring smooth air travel. It will also lead to reduced physical contact between travelers, machines, airport and flight staff, helping to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus during the pandemic, the airport operator said.<br/>
Boeing on Tuesday reported strong orders and deliveries for March and the first quarter. But Boeing's rebound is already at risk of unraveling. In March, Boeing took new orders for 185 of its 737 Max planes, including a 100-jet order from Southwest --the biggest since the plane's grounding. But Boeing also still has airlines canceling orders for the plane, with 156 cancelled orders in the month. Delivers were also strong in March, with the 19 737 Max planes, three military versions of the 737, and seven widebody jets, including two of the 787 Dreamliners to United Airlines, the first 787 deliveries since last fall due to a separate problem with that plane's production. The 29 planes delivered in March brought first-quarter deliveries to 77. That's by far its best quarter since 2019, before the pandemic brought demand for air travel to a near halt and forced airlines to delay the delivery of new jets in order to conserve cash. The deliveries are important because Boeing gets most of the cash from a sale at the time the plane is delivered. Although March was a good month for Boeing, the company announced a new problem with the Max Friday, advising 16 airlines to not fly the plane until it can be checked for a possible electrical problem. Boeing (BA) has yet to say how many of the planes are affected.<br/>