With half the country at least partially protected against the coronavirus, Americans escaped their pandemic doldrums over the three-day holiday weekend that traditionally unleashes the country's pent-up wanderlust at the doorstep of summer. A year after Memorial Day weekend travel was depressed by fears of the spreading virus, Americans took to the skies and roads. The TSA said 7.1m people were screened at US airport checkpoints from Thursday through Sunday. Friday was the highest single travel day since March 2020, when COVID-19 slashed air travel demand, as 1.96m people were screened. <br/>
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Cyprus has closed its airspace to flights from Belarus, joining a list of European Union nations imposing restrictions following the forced landing of a passenger jet in Minsk on May 23. The aviation authority had banned airlines registered in Belarus from using Cyprus’s airspace and airports from May 28, a transport ministry spokesperson said. Most of Belarus’s neighbours and many other European nations have banned Belarusian national airline Belavia flights in anger over the forced landing of a Ryanair jet en route to Lithuania from Greece and the arrest of a dissident journalist on board. The same advisory prohibits Cyprus-registered airlines from entering Belarusian airspace, or flights to and from Belarus. All flights to Belarus have been suspended. <br/>
Japan plans to tighten its border controls to prevent the spread of more contagious variants of the coronavirus, asking travelers from Vietnam and Malaysia to stay in government-designated facilities for six days after arrival, according to government sources. It will also set the quarantine period at such facilities at 10 days for travelers from Afghanistan and three days for those from Thailand and some US states, the sources said Monday. Japan has already imposed a travel ban on 159 countries and regions, restricting entry of foreign nationals, including those with resident status, who have been to those countries within the past two weeks, except under special circumstances. The tightened border controls will mostly affect Japanese citizens returning to Japan. The government is on high alert for a coronavirus variant identified in Vietnam. Vietnamese health minister Nguyen Thanh Long has said that the Vietnamese variant is extremely dangerous as it is a hybrid of strains first found in Britain and India.<br/>
Myanmar’s airlines have temporarily suspended flights to six domestic airports from 29 May to 8 June, in line with the government’s movement restrictions for certain townships to curb a rise in Covid-19 cases that began last week. Myanmar Airways International and Air KBZ have cancelled flights to Tachileik, Kalay, Kaing Tong, Dawei, Myeik and Kawthaung over this period, the airlines said in 28 May updates on their respective official Facebook accounts. Myanmar’s Department of Civil Aviation states on its website that the suspension of flights to the six domestic airports was due to rising infections in the Tanintharyi Region and Shan State as well as in neighbouring countries India and Thailand. Since 27 May, Myanmar has seen a rise in Covid-19 infections to a daily average of more than 60 new cases reported, according to daily updates by the Ministry of Health and Sports. The figure compares with a daily average of 19 new cases reported 1-26 May. Since the start of the pandemic, the country has recorded over 143,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, according to WHO figures. International flights to the capital city have been suspended since 30 March 2020.<br/>
Renewed border restrictions and domestic lockdowns across Asian economies in April have “quelled hopes of a meaningful resumption in international travel” for Asia-Pacific airlines. The region’s airlines continued to see significantly depressed international passenger volumes, carrying just 1.1m passengers during the month, 3.5% of 2019 volumes, according to preliminary figures by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA). Capacity, as measured in available seat-kilometres, averaged 4% of 2019 levels, while passenger load factor stood at 26%, AAPA said in a 31 May press release. However, airlines have continued to benefit from an acceleration in global trade activity. International air cargo demand, measured in freight tonne-kilometres, grew 42% year-on-year in April, slightly higher than in the same period in 2019. Freight capacity rose 29% year-on-year, pushing cargo load factor up by 6.7 percentage points to 75% for the month. AAPA director general Subhas Menon notes: “The emergence of different [Covid-19] variants with higher transmissibility rates has deterred Asian economies from reopening their borders, with extended quarantine requirements further suppressing international travel demand.” He says that while bilateral travel corridors “offer hope for a recovery”, they are “susceptible to disruptions”, such as with the postponement of the Singapore-Hong Kong travel bubble that reflects the “extremely challenging operating conditions faced by airlines”.<br/>