Air traveler volumes hit the highest levels since before the coronavirus pandemic began during Memorial Day weekend, the latest sign of recovery for the sector. The TSA screened an average of 1.78m people from Friday through Monday, hitting a peak of 1.96m on Friday. Those volumes are more than six times higher than a year ago, but still 22% below Memorial Day weekend in 2019. The surge in travelers is pushing up the price of vacations, including airfare, hotel rates and car rental prices. Domestic leisure fares are near 2019 levels, airline executives have said.<br/>
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Two senators on Monday criticized seven major US airlines for failing to make all pandemic-related flight credits valid indefinitely and vowed to pursue legislative or regulatory actions in response. Democrats Edward Markey and Richard Blumenthal said the airlines trade group had "refused to offer any commitment to expand cash refund policies or eliminate expiration dates for pandemic-related flight credits." The lawmakers said the airlines “continue to sit on more than $10 billion in unused flight credits and are still refusing to return consumers’ hard-earned money, more than a year after the pandemic began.” Without removing expiration dates, "your company may be encouraging travelers to fly before they feel safe boarding a plane, lest they lose tickets that they have already purchased," they added. On Friday, trade group Airlines for America representing American Airlines, United, Delta, Southwest and others told the senators in a letter that major US airlines issued $12.84b in cash refunds to customers in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic upended the travel industry. Airlines have faced criticism over their handling of redemptions for flights canceled during the pandemic. In the letter, Nicholas Calio, the group's CE, said US airlines had maintained a steadfast commitment to the traveling public during the pandemic and issued refunds in accordance with all federal laws and regulations.<br/>
The EU is preparing sanctions on Belarus’ national airline and around a dozen top Belarusian aviation officials, three diplomats said, a stop-gap measure before economic sanctions following the forced landing of a passenger plane. The proposed asset freezes and travel bans are part of a package of new sanctions on Belarus from EU states, which are outraged that a Ryanair flight was pressed to land in Minsk on May 23 to arrest a dissident journalist and his girlfriend. EU governments, which described the incident as state piracy, say they are looking at targeting sectors that play a central role in the Belarus economy, to inflict real punishment on President Alexander Lukashenko. They could include bond sales, the oil sector and potash, a big Belarusian export. Before imposing such economic sanctions, the bloc is expected to agree by June 21 - when EU foreign ministers meet - a smaller sanctions list on individuals and two entities as a quick, intermediary response, the diplomats said. “All EU states agree with this approach,” one diplomat said. A second diplomat said there would be “a clear signal for Lukashenko that his actions were dangerous and unacceptable”.<br/>
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, who has refused to recognise Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, said on Tuesday that Minsk was working with Moscow about starting flights to Crimea from Belarus. The national airline of land-locked Belarus is at risk of sanctions by the European Union after a Ryanair flight was pressed to land in Minsk on May 23 to arrest a dissident journalist and his girlfriend. “Ukraine has closed the sky to us. We have our own sanatorium in Crimea ... where people always used to go, fly. In order not to aggravate relations, we travelled there through Ukraine ... Now they have closed the sky,” Belta news agency quoted Lukashenko as saying. Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, drawing sanctions and condemnation from the West. Kyiv wants the territory back. “I told (Russian President Vladimir) Putin: ‘You think how we can get to Crimea. We are not going to fly through Poland: they do not allow us to go there either,” Belta reported, citing Lukashenko.<br/>
The latest baseline projection from Eurocontrol shows European air traffic measured in flights reaching 50% of 2019 levels for the whole of 2021, following a “good increase” in traffic in the second half of the year. “While the crisis continues, the trend is moving upwards and there is hope of some recovery this summer,” the air navigation organisation says. Outlining the new short-term forecast today, Eurocontrol director general Eamonn Brennan cites “massive underlying demand for air travel” in the region, with vaccination progress and the relaxation of government restrictions on non-essential travel being the “key drivers” of traffic growth in the coming months. Traffic has been “hovering around” 35% of pre-crisis flights since January, Brennan explains, rising to 39% in May. Under the baseline scenario it would reach 57% in August, before ending the year at 70% in December. That scenario is based on “widespread vaccination take-up across Europe and co-ordinated easing of travel restraints being reached by the first quarter of 2022 between global regions, with more long-haul flows starting to return”. Under Eurocontrol’s “optimistic” scenario, where countries relax restrictions sooner than expected, traffic rises much more steeply in the June-July period, reaching 79% of pre-crisis levels in December. In its “pessimistic” projection, where factors such as Covid-19 variants make the opening up of travel markets more difficult than forecast, traffic peaks at 51% of 2019 levels in October-November.<br/>
Europe’s aviation safety authority is proposing a regulatory revision intended to increase the number of medium-sized airports accessible to flights, by updating all-weather operations frameworks. This revision will take account of new technological advances to support safe operations to airports in low-visibility conditions. “While large aerodromes are, for the most part, already equipped for such operations, medium-size or regional airports have typically so far been unable to afford the investment required,” says the EASA. By providing an accessibility path through the integration and application of available technologies, the authority believes it can reduce the number of diversions relating to poor visibility and allow a broadening of the commercial network. “It takes a performance and risk-based approach to increase safety in a cost-effective way, taking advantage of technological innovations,” says EASA executive director Patrick Ky, in reference to the revision proposal. The change aims to allow maximum possible use of enhanced flight-vision systems, and operators will be permitted to carry out certain operations of this type – notably the ‘EFVS 200’ approaches to 200ft – without needing specific approval from authorities. “Enabling operations with operational credits…would provide a greater availability of suitable destination and alternate aerodromes during periods of reduced visibility,” says EASA.<br/>
Frankfurt Airport has reopened its Terminal 2 facility this morning for the first time since the pandemic began, as hopes grow for increased demand this summer. Forty-eight airlines were scheduled to operate from the reopened terminal today. Sascha Konig, who heads Fraport’s terminal resource management department, says: “This will put us in an excellent position for handling the predicted increase in passenger volumes during the upcoming summer months.” Fraport says the airport has used the time to carry out extensive upgrades and repairs to Terminal 2, which first opened in 1994. That includes installation of new glass panes in the five skylights of the terminal roof. The terminal has been closed since 30 March 2020 after international air travel was sharply disrupted by the crisis. Frankfurt handled just 18.8 million passengers in 2020, many of whom travelled during the first quarter before the crisis fully took hold. It is forecasting between 20 and 25m passengers at Frankfurt for 2021. ”Last year, Frankfurt airport benefited from its size and high connectivity,” says Fraport CE Stefan Schulte. ”Many airlines have bundled their long-haul flights from Frankfurt. As a result, we even gained market share during the crisis – albeit at a very low level. This is because airlines deploy their planes where they have a good load factor.<br/>
Heathrow Airport in London, UK, has reportedly opened a dedicated terminal for passengers arriving on direct flights from red-list destinations with a high risk of Covid. Passengers arriving from red-list nations will currently have to transit through Terminal 3. The site will eventually be moved to Terminal 4 ‘as soon as operationally possible.’ Currently, there are 43 countries on the red list, but the UK Government is allowing direct flights only from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The UK Government is allowing only British and Irish nationals or UK residents into the country from the countries that are on the red list. Although the government is allowing direct flights from Kenya, the country has suspended air travel to the UK. A Heathrow Airport spokeswoman said: “Red-list routes will likely be a feature of UK travel for the foreseeable future as countries vaccinate their populations at different rates. We’re adapting Heathrow to this longer-term reality by initially opening a dedicated arrivals facility. As we reopen international travel safely, we will maintain 100% health checks at the border and the new dedicated terminal at Heathrow for arrivals from red-list countries will enable passengers to be processed as safely and as efficiently as possible, before being transferred to a managed quarantine facility.”<br/>
According to the latest data, there’s a “good chance” that Spanish and Greek holiday islands will be moved to the green list in the government’s review later this week, an aviation expert has claimed. The former director of strategy at BA’s parent company International Airlines Group (IAG) and founder of GridPoint Consulting Limited, Robert Boyle, has predicted that Malta, Finland and Slovakia also have a clear case for going green. On the flip-side, he expects Bahrain, Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago and Kuwait to turn red on the forthcoming update, expected on Thursday 3 June. Looking at key destinations for UK travellers, Boyle analysed countries’ case rates and testing rates. Any country with a daily case rate of 71 per million or below is a potential for the next green list, he argues, provided the testing rate is also above two per thousand. “Why did I choose 71 per million as a case rate threshold? It is the equivalent of the EU’s proposed threshold of 100 cases in a 14 day period per 100,000 population,” he wrote in a recent blog post. “We don’t know whether the UK government is using that threshold, or something lower. So I’ve also shown the case rate that Portugal had when the government put it on the green list. So somewhere between the two lines is presumably an acceptable rate.” Additional destinations that could go green if the UK’s Department for Transport (DfT) used the same threshold as the EU include Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and Luxembourg.<br/>
Vietnam will resume incoming international flights to its capital Hanoi and business hub Ho Chi Minh City effective immediately, after a few days of suspension due to COVID-19, its aviation authority said on Wednesday. The country had initially banned incoming international flights to Hanoi’s Noi Bai airport for a week starting Monday and to Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat airport until June 14. The aviation authority did not say why it was resuming flights earlier than planned, but most of the COVID-19 cases in the current outbreak are locally transmitted, not from international passengers. <br/>
Anyone flying into Phuket must have received at least one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine or both or full doses of other brands, the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) said Tuesday. Entry by air is also allowed for those who have documentary proof of their recovery from Covid-19 within 90 days prior to their arrival. Healthy travellers also need to produce a document confirming they have had a Covid-negative test result issued within the previous seven days. Airlines will not allow those unable or unwilling to show any of those documents to board the plane. Children five years or older are exempt from the new restriction, which went into effect on Monday. Meanwhile, public opinion is being gauged from local business operators over the province's readiness to reopen to tourism. The findings will be conveyed to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration on Friday before the cabinet rules on whether the reopening of the province to vaccinated tourists on July 1 can go ahead under the so-called "Phuket Sandbox" model.<br/>
The Japan Football Association on Tuesday announced the cancellation of Thursday's international friendly between the Samurai Blue and Jamaica after half of the Caribbean nation's players were unable to travel to Japan. According to JFA President Kozo Tashima, eight of Jamaica's 10 Europe-based players were prevented from boarding their scheduled Sunday flight at Amsterdam's Schiphol International Airport after their negative test certificates were rejected by their airline. Two players whose tests were approved stayed with their teammates. "We decided it would not be appropriate to hold the Kirin Challenge Cup with one team only having 10 players," Tashima told a news conference Tuesday. Jamaica's Gleaner newspaper reported that several players had been tested using swabs on their mouths and nostrils. Japan requires inbound passengers to submit results from tests conducted using nasal swabs or saliva.<br/>
Australia and New Zealand are currently in discussions over the possible expansion of their existing travel bubble arrangement to the Pacific islands, including New Caledonia, Tahiti and the Cook Islands. According to Trade and Tourism Minister Dan Tehan, the federal governments of Australia and New Zealand are currently deliberating expanding the existing quarantine-free travel bubble to include the Pacific destinations. PM Scott Morrison touched down in New Zealand late Sunday ahead of discussions with his NZ counterpart Jacinda Ardern at the Australia-New Zealand Leaders Forum. He later hinted to reporters that talks would include the expansion of the travel bubble to other countries in the Pacific, many of which are also largely COVID-free. “We are very focused on supporting our Pacific family, and the idea of a bubble that goes beyond New Zealand and Australia is a real possibility,” PM Morrison said. He acknowledged that Fiji, a popular destination for Australian tourists, was currently going through a “difficult time”, as it battles a recent outbreak following months of being COVID-free, however said that Australia was supporting the nation. It is unclear when the expanded travel bubble could be introduced, or exactly what destinations would be included.<br/>