US airlines struck an optimistic note on Thursday, saying the “worst is behind us” with vaccinations and easing coronavirus restrictions boosting demand ahead of the summer holiday season. “This crisis is far from over . . . but there is no doubt, the pace of recovery is accelerating,” American Airlines CE Doug Parker said on the company’s earnings call. Southwest chief Gary Kelly sounded similarly upbeat. “While the pandemic is not over, we believe the worst is behind us, in terms of the severity of the negative impact on travel demand,” he said. More than a year after air travel was all but halted by the pandemic, demand has started to recover, fuelled by vaccinations. In April so far, the US TSA has screened 1.39m passengers a day on average, the highest since the start of the pandemic but still far below the 2.3m average in the same period in 2019. The US has now administered nearly 216m vaccine doses and has fully vaccinated 87.6m people or roughly 26.4% of the population, according to the CDC. American predicted capacity will be down between 20 to 25% in the latest quarter compared with Q2 2019 — before the pandemic began. It also forecast a revenue decline of 40% compared with Q2 2019.<br/>
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US lawmakers have proposed a union-backed bill that seeks to prevent the spread of disease within the commercial aviation sector, including by changing aircraft certification requirements. Released 22 April into the House, the bill would require commercial aircraft designs include features intended to reduce disease transmission. It also would require airlines take steps to keep diseases and viruses from spreading, mandate that passengers wear masks during disease outbreaks and force airlines to report passengers who do not. Seventeen lawmakers, all Democrats, back the measure. “The Covid-19 pandemic exposed serious flaws in the federal government’s preparedness to keep airline and airport workers and travellers safe,” says House transportation committee chair Peter DeFazio. The bill “provides clear, consistent rules and guidelines” intended to mitigate the spread of disease and to keep passengers and aircraft crew safe, he adds. The proposal would require the FAA study disease spread aboard commercial jets, including how airflow, humidity and cabin filtration systems affect transmission. <br/>
The federal government is imposing a 30-day ban on all commercial and private flights from India and Pakistan effective Thursday at 11:30 p.m. EST, as COVID-19 infections continue to surge in those countries. Ministers of health, immigration, transport, public safety, and intergovernmental affairs delivered the update in a joint press conference Thursday evening, as the government faces pressure to curb variant spread domestically. Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said they are imposing the temporary ban as more passengers arrive in Canada with positive test results from those two countries. “Given the higher number of cases of COVID-19 detected in air passengers arriving in Canada from India and Pakistan, Transport Canada is issuing a notice to airmen, or NOTAM, to halt direct passenger air traffic from those countries,” said Alghabra.<br/>
The UAE has suspended all passenger flights from India with effect from 11.59pm on April 24, authorities confirmed on Thursday evening. The General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and the National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Emergency Management Authority (NCEMA) have announced the suspension of all inbound flights for national and international carriers coming from India, WAM reported. In a statement Thursday, the authorities said passengers coming from India through other countries must have stayed in those countries for not less than 14 days to be allowed to enter the country, as of 23.59 on Saturday, April 24, 2021, for a period of 10 days that can be extended. The travel ban includes inbound transit passengers with exception of transit flights coming to the UAE and heading to India.<br/>
China’s Baiyun International airport in Guangzhou topped the list of the world’s busiest hubs in a coronavirus-wracked 2020, knocking Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International off a perch it occupied for more than two decades. Baiyun moved up from 11th place, trade group Airports Council International said, capping a year when the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted global air travel. Hartsfield-Jackson slipped to second place, as hubs in six Chinese cities joined Beijing Capital International in the top 10 based on passenger traffic. Airports in Chengdu in central China and Shenzen, close to Hong Kong, were among those that penetrated the elite group. Shanghai’s Hongqiao International surged 37 spots to make the grade while the city’s better-known Pudong, where international flights typically land, dropped off. Guangzhou is the home base to China Southern, the country’s biggest carrier.<br/>
More than 100 new Boeing 737 Max jetliners remain grounded by problems with an electrical issue in some components, and airlines are waiting for Boeing to come up with a plan for repairing the planes. The FAA said Thursday that it has notified other aviation regulators and airlines that it is working with Boeing “to fully identify and address” a problem with electrical grounding in a backup power-control unit. The electrical issue affects certain planes that were delivered recently to airlines. Boeing discovered the problem on its assembly line and reported it to the FAA on April 7. A spokesman for the FAA said additional testing “showed the issue could involve additional systems.” A spokesman for Boeing said the company agrees with the FAA’s notice to other regulators and is working with the FAA and airlines to address the issue. The FAA said the issue affects 106 planes worldwide, including 71 registered in the United States. <br/>
The sluggish recovery of the aviation market in the Southeast Asian region and the knock-on impact on carriers’ ability to pay their rents remains an area of concern for Aircastle, CE Michael Ingelese says, emphasising that some airlines are “struggling pretty significantly”. Speaking on 21 April, Inglese focused on Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore as countries where “there is not the level of activity that anybody was hoping to see when we got to this point as we were looking forward as recently as six or four months ago”. Regionally, Southeast Asia is place “where things are progressing a lot slower than everyone would like”, he adds. Cirium fleets data shows that Aircastle leases aircraft to carriers including AirAsia, AirAsia X Thai Smile and Garuda Indonesia. Ingelese says that AirCastle is continuing to work through “issues” with rental collections in Latin America and highlighted Azul, Avianca, Aeromexico and LATAM. But he also notes that in both those regions the lessor has other customers that have continued to pay their rents or have smaller deferrals.<br/>