general

US land borders with Canada and Mexico will remain closed to non-essential travel until at least July 21, the US Homeland Security Department said on Sunday. The 30-day extension came after Canada announced its own extension on Friday of the requirements that were set to expire on Monday and have been in place since March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. The US government held working-group meetings with Canada and Mexico on the travel restrictions last week and plans to hold meetings about every two weeks, US officials told Reuters. Homeland Security said in a statement it noted "positive developments in recent weeks and is participating with other US agencies in the White House’s expert working groups with Canada and Mexico to identify the conditions under which restrictions may be eased safely and sustainably." Some US lawmakers and border communities that have been hit hard by the restrictions have pushed to relax them ahead of the busy summer travel season. Canada is also under pressure from companies and the tourism industry to ease the ban, which was imposed to help contain the spread of the coronavirus and has been renewed on a monthly basis since March 2020.<br/>

In a rush of hope that Europe has turned the page on its pandemic ordeal, the EU Friday urged its member countries to open their doors to American leisure travelers, after more than a year of tight restrictions and economic slump. Most countries are expected to open to Americans immediately — if they haven’t already — including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece, among others. For the tourism powerhouses of Europe, especially, the ruling offered long-awaited relief that they could begin recouping their economic losses from the pandemic as summer weather arrives. “We have a lot of American guests and we actually stayed in touch with them over the pandemic,” said Richard Fischer, 37, a general manager at the Circus Hotel, in the heart of Berlin. “They are really looking forward to coming, and we are looking forward to having them!” A recent rise of cases in Europe involving coronavirus variants prompted some caution about the EU’s move, and calls for continued vigilance. But after an early struggle to secure vaccines for many Europeans, the improvements in vaccination and case counts that allow the opening are crucial signals that the European bloc can still deliver for its members in times of trouble — a significant moment of cohesion in the wake of Britain’s exit from the union.<br/>Friday’s decision was made by Europe’s economy ministers, who agreed to add the United States to a list of countries considered safe from an epidemiological point of view. That means that travelers from those countries should be free to enter the bloc even if they are not fully vaccinated, on the basis of a PCR test showing no active coronavirus infection. But the EU cannot compel member nations to open to American visitors. Each country is free to keep or impose more stringent restrictions, including obligations to quarantine upon arrival or to undergo a series of further tests.<br/>

Major airlines are racing to add new trans-Atlantic service now that tourist-reliant countries like Croatia, Greece, Iceland and Italy have started allowing visitors from the US and other nations for the first time in a year. Delta started service to Reykjavik, Iceland from Boston on May 20. It then restarted nonstops to the Icelandic capital from Minneapolis a week later. Service from New York started May 1. United Airlines’ first service to Dubrovnik starts July 1 from its Newark, New Jersey hub. The airline plans to add July-October flights to Athens from Washington-Dulles next month on top of its service from Newark that started earlier this month. Carriers are also beefing up schedules to Spain, Portugal and Italy as those countries open up, too. American Airlines, for example, pushed up service from Philadelphia to Athens to the second half of August, and to Rome from both Philadelphia and Chicago in September — routes it expected to resume next summer. The quick flight launches show airlines’ scramble to drive up revenue and stem pandemic losses that total more than $32b for Delta, United and American combined. Airlines generally like to unveil new international destinations with fanfare several months and sometimes close to a year in advance. <br/>

The image of the CEs of British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Heathrow standing on an empty runway last week to call for a reopening of international travel sent a clear message: airports are desperate to get back to work. The pandemic continues to be dismal for airports — in the UK they stand to lose GBP2.6b between April and September as prospects rise of a second summer without mass international travel, the Airport Operators Association has warned. Airports are faced with the twin challenge of recovering from the pandemic and coping with climate change — putting the need for expansion into question at a time when the future of travel is uncertain. So far, most of the UK’s privatised airports have managed not to lean too heavily on government; only Gatwick, which is 50.01% owned by France’s Vinci, has made use of the Bank of England’s Covid corporate financing facility, which provides temporary grants and loans. Instead, airport owners have reduced operating and capital spending to preserve cash, which together with equity injections and the suspension of dividend payments have so far supported companies’ cash flow.  “Lenders are treating borrowers very differently than post the global financial crisis,” said John Bruen of Macquarie Asset Management, which invests in the sector through AGS Airports, a 50:50 joint venture with Ferrovial that owns Aberdeen, Glasgow, and Southampton airports, as well as the much smaller Farnborough. “Back at that time it was quite a confrontational relationship; that’s far from the case now.” “Lenders are basically saying it’s not your fault — we will talk sensibly about waivers and amendments and there is no one to blame”, he added. Nevertheless, there will be limits to the goodwill. <br/>

Britain’s airlines and holiday companies are planning a “day of action” on Wednesday to ramp up pressure on the government to ease travel restrictions, with just weeks to go before the start of the peak summer season. Travel companies, whose finances have been stretched to breaking point during the pandemic, are desperate to avoid another summer lost to COVID-19. But with Britain’s strict quarantine requirements still in place that now looks likely. As the clock ticks down to July, Europe’s biggest airline Ryanair and Manchester Airports Group on Thursday launched legal action to try to get the government to ease the rules before the industry’s most profitable season starts. On Wednesday, June 23, pilots, cabin crew and travel agents will gather in Westminster, central London, and at airports across Britain to try to drum up support. Britain’s aviation industry has been harder hit by the pandemic than its European peers, according to data published by pilots trade union BALPA on Sunday. That showed daily arrivals and departures into the United Kingdom were down 73% on an average day earlier this month compared to before the pandemic, the biggest drop in Europe. Spain, Greece and France were down less than 60%. UK airports were also badly affected, with traffic in and out of London’s second busiest airport Gatwick down 92%, according to the data.<br/>

The UK government signaled it will keep restrictions on overseas travel in place for now to control a surge in coronavirus infections and the risk of new variants of the virus taking hold. Justice Secretary Robert Buckland said “normal” holidays were “never going to be the case” this year because of increasing Covid-19 cases. His comments indicate increasing concern about a third wave of cases in the UK despite one of the world’s most aggressive vaccination programs. “There are going to have to be significant trade-offs” Buckland said Sunday. “We’ve tried to strike the right balance between the natural need in some cases for international travel, but also the imperative of making sure that we do everything we can at home to contain and prevent inadvertent spread of new variants.” The remarks are a blow to airlines and a growing number of members of Parliament in the ruling Conservative Party pressing for the government to loosen restrictions. While the US and European Union are starting to open borders for travel, Britain has rules requiring quarantine and Covid testing for travelers arriving from most places.<br/>

The United Arab Emirates will suspend travellers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Namibia from entering the country on national and foreign flights, effective 23:59 p.m. on Monday, June 21, state news agency WAM reported on Saturday, citing a statement by the General Civil Aviation Authority. The GCAA said the restrictions would also include transit passengers, with the exception of transit flights travelling to the UAE and bound for those countries. Cargo flights between those countries and the UAE will continue, as usual, the statement added. It said the restrictions were being introduced to limit the spread of COVID-19. Separately, Dubai's Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management said on Saturday it would allow travellers from South Africa, who have received two doses of a UAE-approved vaccine, to enter Dubai starting from June 23, WAM said.<br/>

Dubai’s state airport operator is hoping for a “flood” of travelers as the coronavirus pandemic eases, targeting passenger traffic through Dubai International Airport to grow 8% to 28m this year as demand rebuilds. Terminal 1 is reopening this Thursday after a 15-month closure. Operations were consolidated through Terminals 2 and 3 last year as the pandemic took hold. "People think it will trickle back. I don't believe that. I believe it will be an absolute flood of demand when people get the confidence to travel again," Dubai Airports Chief Executive Paul Griffiths said Sunday. The airport, one of the world's busiest, could see over 40m passengers this year if it was "really, really lucky," Griffiths said, though it was likely to be somewhere between 24.7m and 34.3m. "We're comfortable with that mid-range of about 28 (million)." Terminal 1 has an annual passenger capacity of 18m, while the entire airport can handle up to 100m. Griffiths estimated the terminal's reopening would result in 3,500 additional jobs at the airport, including those working in retail, hospitality, security and immigration.<br/>

The airport in China's southern city of Shenzhen said on Saturday that anyone entering the premises must show a negative virus test taken within 48 hours before entry. The instruction posted on the airport's official WeChat page follows the outbreak of new cases in southern China since late May which has seen lockdowns in certain neighborhoods and the cancellation of flights. China reported 30 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on the mainland for June 18, up from 23 infections a day earlier, the country's health authority said Saturday. Of the new cases, six were local infections in southern Guangdong province, while the rest were imported cases, the National Health Commission said. Shenzhen airport has previously ordered residents of the southern cities of Guangzhou or Foshan to show a negative virus test result before they can depart.Foshan Shadi Airport cancelled all flights and suspended operations from June 12-22, according to a post on the Weibo social media account of the Foshan municipal government's information office. <br/>

Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands has completed the renovation of its Departure Hall 1. As part of the overhaul, the airport has made several additions such as a mezzanine floor to offer more space at security, check-in and waiting areas. After their Covid-19 health examination, passengers without any hold luggage will be able to move to the mezzanine floor for security control directly from the entrance of Departure Hall 1. This will eliminate the need for these passengers to proceed through the check-in area. The mezzanine floor spans over an area of 5,000m² while a new security checkpoint with 21 security lanes has been created. For contactless baggage check-in, nearly 20 new baggage drop-off points have been deployed in the Departure Hall. In addition, the airport has established a new connecting walkway between the 21 security lanes in Departure Hall 1 and the 14 security lanes in Departure Hall 2. This will allow the travellers to move in between the halls when it is crowded.<br/>

Boeing’s 737 Max 10, the largest member of its best-selling single-aisle airplane family, took off on its maiden flight on Friday, in a further step toward recovering from the safety grounding of a smaller model. The plane completed a roughly 2-1/2-hour flight over Washington State, returning to Renton Municipal Airport near Seattle at 12:38 p.m. The first flight heralds months of testing and safety certification work before the jet is expected to enter service in 2023. In an unusual departure from the PR buzz surrounding first flights, the event was kept low-key as Boeing tries to navigate overlapping crises caused by a 20-month grounding in the wake of two crashes and the Covid-19 pandemic. Boeing’s 230-seat 737-10 is designed to close the gap between its 178-to-220-seat 737-9, and Airbus’s 185-to-240-seat A321neo, which dominates the top end of the narrowbody jet market, worth some $3.5t over 20 years. However, the market opportunity for the 737 Max 10 is constrained by the jet’s range of about 3,300 nautical miles (6,100 km), which falls short of the A321neo’s roughly 4,000 nm. Boeing must also complete safety certification of the plane under a tougher regulatory climate following two fatal crashes of a smaller 737 Max version grounded the model for nearly two years - with a safety ban still in place in China.<br/>

While the United States and Europe waged a 17-year trade battle over subsidies to Boeing and Airbus, China poured money into its own commercial aircraft to take on the Western aviation duopoly. It took a common threat for the US and Europe to finally put an end to their dispute this past week, as the two sides signed a five-year truce suspending tit-for-tat tariffs. US President Joe Biden made it clear during his visit to Brussels on Tuesday: Washington and Brussels must "work together to challenge and counter China's non-market practices in this sector that give China's companies an unfair advantage". For the past four years, state-run manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) has run test flights for its 168-seat, narrow-bodied C919 airplane, a potential rival to Airbus's A320 and Boeing's B737. COMAC expects to obtain airworthiness certification from Chinese air traffic regulators this year, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party. The aircraft received between $49-$72b in state subsidies, much more than the aid that Airbus and Boeing were given by their governments, according to Scott Kennedy, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "The very real problem is that China is manipulating the market in playing Airbus and Boeing against each other and demanding technology transfers as a condition for orders," said Richard Aboulafia, aviation expert at Teal Group, a market analysis firm based in Virginia. Boeing believes that the Chinese market will need 9,360 aircraft in the next 20 years, one-fifth of the world total.<br/>