Global airlines urged the G7 rich nations on Wednesday to replace blanket COVID-19 travel curbs with more flexible restrictions informed by data, artificial intelligence and risk analysis. Willie Walsh, head of the IATA, also said that airlines and passengers should be allowed to assess travel risks based on increasingly abundant health data. The former BA head said he was confident Europe could begin to return to normal travel in the second half of the year as vaccination rates rise. "With sensible testing and screening methods in place we can safely open our borders to regain the freedom that has been taken from us," he said. Ministers and officials from G7 countries are meeting in London on June 4-5 ahead of a leaders' summit next week. Airlines weakened by 15 months of lockdowns are facing a slower than expected recovery, as lingering travel restrictions overshadow the peak northern summer season. Concern over the spread of more transmissible coronavirus variants also threatens to slow reopening plans. IATA drew on UK testing data that showed a low incidence of COVID-19 in arriving passengers, during the joint presentation with Airbus (AIR.PA) and Boeing (BA.N) representatives, who demonstrated digital travel risk models.<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.<br/>
The FAA's top safety official said Wednesday he will step down effective June 30. Ali Bahrami, the FAA’s associate administrator for aviation safety since July 2017, had faced criticism from some U.S. lawmakers and family members of those killed in two fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes that led to the plane's 20-month grounding, which was lifted in November. Officials said it was Bahrami's decision to leave the agency. The FAA said it will begin an immediate search for a successor. Deputy Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety Chris Rocheleau, a longtime FAA employee, will serve as interim head of the Office of Aviation Safety. "This was not an easy decision," Bahrami, who worked at the FAA in various positions for 30 years, told staff in an email. "I’ve been blessed with an incredible career, and now it’s time for me to spend more time with my family and focus on my next chapter."<br/>
Airlines are overlooking the mental health and wellbeing of pilots and other aviation workers in their scramble to get planes flying again, according to researchers. Many aviation workers experienced anxiety, stress and depression during Covid-19 lockdowns, but they report feeling discouraged from acknowledging problems or seeking help, creating potential safety hazards and health problems. The warning this week from the Lived Experience and Wellbeing Project – a Trinity College Dublin hub that studies aviation worker wellbeing and the impact on performance and flight safety – came as airlines across the world increase flights and start rehiring pilots and crew. A total of 1,841 flights were scheduled from UK airports to France, Spain, Italy and Greece for the two weeks from 17 May, a rise of more than 300% compared with the previous fortnight. Airlines in the US inaugurated hundreds of new routes last week. Aviation workers will welcome the chance to regain their salaries and reboot their careers, but survey data suggests many will feel depleted as they return to cockpits and cabins, said Paul Cullen, a commercial airline pilot and research associate with the Trinity College team. “We can’t sweep this under the carpet or dress it up. The data says a certain number of pilots were struggling pre-Covid but they wouldn’t disclose a mental health issue to their employer because of the stigma and fear of losing their license and perhaps losing their salary.” Just as airlines have procedures to ensure mothballed planes are airworthy, humans need attention too, said Cullen. “You need to do the same for the crew to make sure they’re airworthy.”<br/>
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun faces a multibillion-dollar dilemma over how to rebuild sales in its core airliner business that has sparked an internal debate and put the future of the largest US exporter on the line, industry insiders say. Boeing is reeling from a safety scandal following crashes of its 737 MAX airliner and an air travel collapse caused by the pandemic. Those crises have overshadowed a deeper, longer term risk to the company’s commercial passenger jet business. Boeing’s share of the single-aisle jetliner market - where it competes in a global duopoly with Airbus - has faded from some 50% a decade ago to roughly 35% after the 737 MAX’s lengthy grounding, according to Agency Partners and other analysts. Airbus’ single-aisle A321neo has snapped up billions of dollars of orders in a recently booming segment of the market, as the largest MAX variants struggled to block it. Without a perfectly timed new addition to its portfolio, analysts warn America risks ceding to Europe a huge portion of that market - valued by planemakers at some $3.5t over 20 years. But Boeing is not yet ready to settle on a plan to develop a new plane to counter the A321neo, and two leading options - press ahead now or wait until later - come with financial and strategic risks, several people briefed on the discussions said. “I’m confident that over a longer period of time, we’ll get back to where we need to get to and I’m confident in the product line,” Calhoun said in April as Boeing won new MAX orders. Story has more.<br/>
Airbus maintained a brisk pace of jet deliveries in May, handing over more jets to customers than in the previous month, according to people familiar with the matter. The planemaker is likely to report about 50 handovers for the month, after making 45 deliveries in April, the people said, asking not to be identified before the figures are finalized. Airbus is due to publish monthly order-and-delivery statistics early next week. At that level, May’s performance would take Airbus to roughly 220 deliveries so far in 2021, ahead of the 160 tallied at the same time last year -- an indication of why the Toulouse, France-based company is optimistic about an eventual recovery in demand. Airbus announced last week that it has told suppliers to prepare for a production ramp-for its best-selling A320-series jets to 64 per month by Q2 2023. An Airbus spokesman declined to comment ahead of publication of the official figures.<br/>