The TSA will once again offer self-defense classes to flight attendants and pilots as the airline industry deals with a surge in cases of unruly passengers and sometimes violent behavior on flights. The return of the classes comes after the coronavirus pandemic prevented crew members from receiving the training for more than a year. The FAA has documented more than 3,000 reports of unruly passengers on flights so far this year, and 2,350 of those cases have been tied to mask-wearing disputes. It has initiated investigations into 487 of those cases, more than triple the 146 cases that were investigated in all of 2019. “With unruly passenger incidents on the rise, TSA remains committed to equip flight crews with another tool to keep our skies safe,” the agency said. The training is designed to help crew members handle tense and violent situations with passengers. Crew members learn how to “identify and deter potential threats, and if needed, apply the self-defense techniques against attackers,” the agency said.<br/>
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A group of Senate Republicans urged the CDC Friday to stop requiring fully vaccinated Americans to wear masks on public transportation, including airplanes, trains and buses but also in airports and train stations. Roger Wicker, the most senior Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, and Ted Cruz, top Republican on an aviation subcommittee, along with Susan Collins, Jerry Moran, Cynthia Lummis and Marsha Blackburn introduced a resolution urging the CDC to lift mask requirements in place since Feb. 1. "Over 150 million people in the United States are fully vaccinated and mask mandates have been lifted across the country. But the CDC inexplicably still hasn’t lifted the mask mandate for public transportation," Cruz said. "It’s long past time for President Biden and the CDC to follow the science." The lawmakers argued the change "would incentivize a greater number of individuals to receive the COVID–19 vaccine." In May, the CDC said fully vaccinated Americans could stop wearing masks in nearly all indoor spaces - with transportation one of the few exceptions. The TSA on April 30 extended orders to enforce face mask requirements through Sept. 13.<br/>
The Biden administration is under pressure from a major business group and diplomats to scrap a travel ban on Europeans, as investment from the continent in the United States plunged by nearly a third last year. While countries in the European Union have reopened their borders to Americans who are vaccinated or test negative for Covid-19, the United States has not reciprocated, to the frustration of the business world. The US Chamber of Commerce on Friday urged Washington to allow the return of European travelers "as soon as possible." "The resumption of safe transatlantic travel is critically important for our nation's economic recovery, as in-person business engagements and international tourism will help drive economic growth and job creation for Americans across the country," said Marjorie Chorlins, the chamber's senior vice president for European affairs. Travelers from the Schengen zone, Britain and Ireland have been banned from entering the United States since March 2020. Also banned from entry are travelers from South Africa, Brazil, China, India and Iran. The EU ambassador to the United States, Stavros Lambrinidis, told AFP that Brussels is "pushing" for reciprocity, and emphasizing the positive impact such a move would have on both economies. "Our economies and people are deeply interconnected, and our vaccination rates are the highest in the world -- it would be crucial to safely open up this side of the Atlantic too as we both kick-start our economies," he said.<br/>
The US FAA has told Boeing that its planned 777X is not yet ready for a significant certification step and warned it “realistically” will not certify the airplane until mid- to late 2023. The FAA in a May 13 letter to Boeing seen by Reuters cited a number of issues in rejecting a request by the manufacturer to issue a Type Inspection Authorization (TIA) Readiness. “The aircraft is not yet ready for TIA,” the FAA wrote, declining to approve “a phased TIA of limited scope with a small number of certification flight test plans.” The letter, which had not previously been made public, cites numerous concerns about lack of data and the lack of a preliminary safety assessment for the FAA to review. “The FAA will not approve any aircraft unless it meets our safety and certification standards,” the agency said Sunday. Boeing has been developing the widebody jet, a new version of its popular 777 aircraft, since 2013 and at one expected to release it for airline use in 2020.<br/>
Preliminary US intelligence analysis of unidentified aerial phenomena has concluded that such incidents are at least a threat to flight safety and potentially present a broader hazard. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has released an initial assessment of UAP – more commonly dubbed UFOs, or unidentified flying objects – conducted by a task force. This task force focused on 144 reports obtained from US government sources from 2004-21, largely firsthand witness information from military aviators and data sourced from “reliable” systems, states the preliminary analysis, which was released on 25 June. Most of the UAPs “probably do represent physical objects”, it adds, given that 80 reports involved observation from “multiple” sensors – among them radar, infra-red, electro-optical, and weapon seekers, as well as visual observation. The task force concludes that UAPs “clearly post a safety of flight issue” given that aviators are contending with an “increasingly cluttered” air domain. While pilots are required to report safety hazards, it says, they might be deterred from doing so if it means being forced to cease tests or training and land aircraft. Eleven documented instances involved pilots reporting “near misses” with a UAP, says the analysis.<br/>
Eighteen months ago, its terminals were teeming with transiting passengers or travelers arriving to enjoy some desert sunshine, then Dubai International Airport became a ghost of its former self. After retaining its crown in 2019 as the world's busiest airport for international passengers, by early 2021 the effects of the pandemic had left many of its corridors and gates standing empty, like other such facilities around the world. The slowdown, according to Airports Council International, led to a 70% drop in passengers at DXB to 26 million in 2020 -- making it still the world's busiest, but a shadow of its former self. Now the airport is hoping to reclaim some of its pre-pandemic glory. On Thursday it brought its main Terminal One out of mothballs and reopened Concourse D, the huge retail area that connects to it. It's a move that will be watched with eagerness and caution by the economically battered global aviation industry as it looks for shoots of recovery after months of empty skies and emptier bank accounts. If the world's leading international hub for air passengers is getting back on its feet, then that could be an indication that other destinations and air routes will follow. "Dubai's aviation sector has been at the forefront of a global campaign to restore vital international air services with the opening of quarantine-free travel corridors between the UAE and multiple countries around the world," said Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of Dubai Airports. Key to Dubai's resurgence in air traffic has been the establishment of safe travel corridors with several countries, including Italy and the Seychelles -- routes largely serving Dubai residents or transit traffic seeking a vacation getaway.<br/>
A United Arab Emirates ban on entry from India, South Africa and Nigeria remains in place, the federal aviation authority said on Sunday, after Dubai had announced it would ease entry restrictions from those countries. Dubai, a business and tourism hub, is the most populous of the UAE's seven emirates. Throughout the pandemic the UAE's seven emirates have set some of their own COVID-19 policies. In a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) on Sunday, the UAE's General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) referenced a June 21 GCAA document stating entry from 13 countries, including Pakistan, was banned due to the coronavirus pandemic. Dubai had said on June 19 that an entry ban on those who in the past 14 days had visited India, Nigeria and South Africa would ease from June 23. Under the changes, entry would be permitted to UAE residents in India who were fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, anyone in South Africa who was fully vaccinated and those in Nigeria who had tested negative for coronavirus in the past 48 hours.<br/>
New Zealand has suspended the trans-Tasman bubble to all of Australia for the first time – and hinted it could restart with passengers requiring a negative test to fly. “There are now multiple cases and outbreaks in Australia in differing stages of containment and the health risk for New Zealand in response to these cases is increasing,” said the country’s COVID Response Minister, Chris Hipkins. The move, set to initially last until Tuesday night, follows NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian putting the Greater Sydney region into a snap lockdown at just four hours’ notice. The city’s Bondi cluster grew by an extra 11 cases on Saturday, recording 29 locally acquired cases by 8pm Friday. Minister Hipkins said he was taking the “precautionary step of temporarily widening” the pause to NSW to include all of Australia. “I acknowledge the frustration and inconvenience that comes with this pause, but given the high level of transmissibility of what appears to be the Delta variant, and the fact that there are now multiple community clusters, it is the right thing to do to keep COVID-19 out of New Zealand,” he said on Saturday night. The introduction of pre-flight testing would be a significant change to the arrangement, and mirror similar arrangements introduced in countries such as the UK. On a dramatic Saturday afternoon in Sydney, Premier Berejiklian said there was “no point” in locking down the city for a few days, and her health advice was to sanction a two-week lockdown.<br/>