Canada, Sweden, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom have delivered a notice of claim against Iran over its downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, the four countries said Thursday. Foreign ministers from those countries, who lost citizens and residents when the jetliner was shot down shortly after taking off from Tehran in January 2020, said in a statement that Iran's "actions and omissions amount to breaches of international law." The ministers said their countries, nationals and residents on board flight PS752 were seriously and irreversibly harmed by the tragedy. "Iran must fulfil its legal responsibility to make full reparations to the group of states," the ministers said. A followup statement said Afghanistan, which is the fifth member of the International Co-ordination and Response Group for families of victims of Flight 752, will remain a "key partner" but not take part in the coming negotiations as it deals with a series of attacks in Kabul. The other four ministers called on Iran to set a date to begin talks on the issue. Their demands include an acknowledgment of wrongdoing, a full accounting of events that led to Iran's Revolutionary Guard firing two missiles at the plane, a public apology, reassurances it will not happen again, transparent prosecutions and compensation for damages suffered by the victims and their families.<br/>
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European Union nations agreed on Thursday a reform of the bloc’s air traffic management aimed at cutting emissions, reducing costs for hard-hit airlines, and improving safety. The reform, known as Single European Sky, includes a variety of initiatives, such as beefing up the role of regulator Eurocontrol in coordinating and optimising air traffic flows. The EC had suggested such a move in September, saying carbon dioxide emissions from aviation could be cut by up to 10% by making flight paths more direct and reducing delays due to congested airspace. A more efficient system could also increase flight capacity and help an aviation industry that has been hammered by the plunge in travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “No sector has suffered more from the COVID crisis than aviation. It is therefore crucial that the reforms be based on thorough analysis, and that they do not increase costs for airlines, air navigation service providers or any other stakeholders,” said Pedro Nuno Santos, Portuguese Minister for Infrastructure and Housing. Meeting in Luxembourg for the first time since December 2019 due to the pandemic, EU transport ministers said countries could vary air navigation charges for destinations within their borders to help improve the environmental efficiency of flights. Negotiations on a final text will now start between the European Parliament and the EU’s 27 countries before it can enter into force. The EC proposed a revision of airspace rules in 2013, but EU governments failed to reach an agreement as Britain and Spain argued over Gibraltar airport.<br/>
Portugal will be removed from the UK's green travel list from Tuesday, amid rising coronavirus cases and concern over a "Nepal mutation of the so-called Indian variant". It will join the amber list, meaning holidaymakers should not visit and returnees must isolate for 10 days. Seven nations - including Egypt, Costa Rica and Sri Lanka - will join the red list, with the toughest travel rules. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the move was a "safety-first approach". Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have confirmed they will adopt the same changes. Countries have their own rules about allowing visitors, so being on the UK's green list does not guarantee travellers can visit. The red list will expand to include Afghanistan, Bahrain, Costa Rica, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Trinidad and Tobago. People arriving in the UK from these destinations will be required to stay in a quarantine hotel for 10 days at a fixed cost of GBP1,750 per adult. The changes come into effect at 04:00 BST on Tuesday. No new countries will be added to the green list, Shapps said.<br/>
Boeing plans to test whether blasts of air could prevent germs and viruses such as Covid-19 from circulating between rows of jetliner passengers, as part of a broader initiative to make air travel safer and greener. The planemaker is installing 20 overhead air vents with special 3D-printed nozzles to create a “curtain of air” in a new 737 Max 9 jet, Doug Christensen, a Boeing technical fellow, told reporters Thursday. Alaska Airlines contributed the so-called ecoDemonstrator aircraft to test new technologies over the next five months. “If you got on a plane and the person in front of you sneezes and those particles are floating around, it makes you nervous,” said Christensen, who is also the ecoDemonstrator program technical leader. “Those nozzles will actually drive air down and away from the breathing area, and cause the particles to be recirculated and cleaned.” The ecoDemonstrator is the eighth commercial airliner that’s served as a flying testbed since 2012 to try out 195 projects dreamed up by Boeing’s engineers. <br/>
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun warned that a prolonged trade deadlock between the US and China threatens the comeback of its 737 Max and, ultimately, the company’s longstanding role as a US industrial champion. China will be one of the world’s hottest aviation markets as the coronavirus pandemic recedes, accounting for about a quarter of expected growth in jet sales over the next decade, Calhoun said Thursday. But without an agreement in place to restart purchases and deliveries, Boeing can’t be sure when to raise output of the Max, the company’s main source of revenue and cash. “If I’m not allowed to serve, I cede global leadership,” Calhoun said of the Chinese market, speaking at a virtual Bernstein conference. “I’ll never give up on that. But it’s going to create real issues for us in the next couple of years if we can’t thaw out some of the trade structure.” Unlocking China looms as a critical challenge for Boeing now that the Max has returned to service in most of the Americas and Europe, and rising vaccination rates spur a rebound in air travel. China, the first country to ground the Max more than two years ago after two deadly crashes, has yet to lift its ban on flying the plane. The country’s airlines last announced orders for the single-aisle workhorse when Barack Obama was in the White House. Story has more details.<br/>
Singapore is said to be one of the top choices for South Korea to launch a travel bubble with. The Straits Times understands that the two countries started "very preliminary, exploratory talks at the working level" in March. This came after South Korean Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki said during a meeting that the government will seek to create travel bubbles with other countries in order to revive air travel, which has been badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. A travel bubble is an agreement between two or more countries to allow their people to travel without strict quarantine. Several countries are being considered, according to a South Korean Health Ministry official. Industry sources have named Singapore among potential partners that also include New Zealand, Taiwan, Guam and Saipan. Singapore has ongoing air travel pass (ATP) agreements with China, Brunei, New Zealand and Australia, excluding the state of Victoria. This means people from these countries are allowed to enter Singapore as short-term visitors after isolating up to 48 hours upon arrival, while waiting for their Covid-19 test results. The Republic had intended to launch its first bilateral air travel bubble with Hong Kong last November, but it has been postponed twice due to a surge in Covid-19 cases, first in Hong Kong and, more recently, in Singapore. ATPs with Taiwan and Vietnam have been suspended.<br/>
A federal judge in Boston on Thursday denied a quick win to an airline trade group in its challenge to a Massachusetts paid sick leave law, saying a trial is required to decide the key issues in the case. US District Judge Allison Burroughs said she has to hear from experts for the state and Airlines For America (A4A) in order to decide whether the sick leave law will cause flight delays and cancellations, and whether those burdens are excessive enough to render the law invalid. "Without the benefit of hearing and evaluating the expert testimony ... the court cannot credit the opinions of one side's experts over those of the other's and therefore cannot determine whether any burdens are clearly excessive relative to the (law's) benefits," Burroughs wrote. Massachusetts' law, which took effect in 2015, requires employers to provide a minimum of one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours per year. A4A in a 2018 lawsuit alleged that the law was invalid as applied to airlines because it placed an undue burden on interstate commerce and was preempted by the Airline Deregulation Act, which bars state laws that affect the prices, routes, or services offered by airlines.<br/>
Britain’s Heathrow Airport will use sustainable jet fuel for the first time as part of a test ahead of a Group of Seven (G7) rich nations summit in the country next week. The fuel, produced by Finland’s Neste and supplied by oil trader Vitol, is made entirely of renewable and sustainable waste such as cooking oil and animal fat, the airport and companies said in a joint statement on Thursday. It cuts greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80% compared with regular aviation fuel, they added. Delivery of the green fuel began on Thursday and it will be incorporated into the airport’s main fuel supply. The total volume will be the equivalent of 10 short-haul flights. “We are delighted that Heathrow is the first UK major airport to successfully incorporate sustainable aviation fuels,” Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said. “Now is the time for less talk and more action and Ministers should set an escalating mandate to blend SAF (sustainable aviation fuel) into fuel and provide incentives that are stable over 5-10 years to foster investment in production, with a target of 10% by 2030 and at least 50% by 2050.” In an April factsheet, the IATA said SAF had been used in 350,000 flights so far and was about 2-4 times more expensive than regular fuel. “The short-term target is to build SAF usage to 2% of the total amount of fuel consumed by 2025. At that level, the SAF price should start to move towards fossil fuel prices, allowing for a faster and broader take-up by airlines,” IATA said. <br/>