general

Environmental groups have criticised the UN body tasked with cutting global aircraft emissions for hiring a former senior airline industry lobbyist to a senior role. Campaigners say the recruitment of Michael Gill to the ICAO reflects its flaws and bias toward the industry. Gill was most recently the executive director of the Air Transport Action Group, an industry body, and the director for aviation and environment at the IATA. As such he led lobbying for what environmental groups say was the weakening of emissions reduction measures created by ICAO. The UN body works with member states to reduce the carbon footprint of international aviation via its Corsia scheme, which relies on airlines buying credits to offset the rise in CO2 from a fixed minimum level. Critics say the scheme has not reduced aviation emissions but has offset industry growth. After lobbying by the industry last year, the ICAO agreed to change the baseline for minimum emissions above which carbon offsets are required from 2019-20 to 2019 alone. The former date, which included 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic virtually eliminated flying and dramatically reduced aviation emissions, would have set a lower level of minimum emissions. In his role at IATA Gill was a key lobbyist for the industry’s push to take 2019 as the date to measure emissions. He said the new date would save the airline industry $15b. <br/>

A pair of US senators are asking the Biden administration to intervene and remove expiration dates on flight credits issued to airline passengers during the coronavirus pandemic. Democratic Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut on Wednesday asked the US Department of Transportation to determine that it is unfair to customers to place expiration dates on the credits. Two Democratic congressmen, Steve Cohen of Tennessee and Jesus "Chuy" Garcia of Illinois, also signed the letter. Federal law allows the department to prohibit "unfair or deceptive practices." Consumer complaints about refunds skyrocketed during the pandemic -- while taxpayers provided more than $50b to airlines to cover payroll expenses and offered billions more in loans. The senators' request comes as the airline industry says passengers are using many of the credits. The industry group Airlines for America told Markey and Blumenthal last month that "approximately half of all credits issued since summer 2019 for travel slated to occur during the pandemic have been redeemed" and the "redemptions account for 10-15 percent of monthly ticket sales." The remaining outstanding value of unexpired flight credits is unclear. In financial statements earlier this year, American Airlines and United reported a combined $5.7b in credits as of December 31. <br/>

The United States said Wednesday it would add a third gender option on US passports for people who do not define as male or female, in a victory for non-binary and intersex Americans. Wednesday’s announcement adds the United States to a growing number of countries offering a third - or “X” - option on passports, including Canada, Germany, Australia and India. The State Department also said that Americans would no longer need to provide medical certification if they wanted to change the gender on their passport. It did not say when the new “X” gender marker would be available, only that it was in the process of “evaluating the best approach to achieve this goal”. “With this action, I express our enduring commitment to the LGBTQI+ community today and moving forward,” said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.<br/>

A Texas congressman who has been an outspoken critic of COVID-19 mask mandates went without a mask for at least a portion of a commercial airline flight Tuesday evening, an apparent violation of federal law. Republican Rep. Chip Roy flew from Washington back to his home district in Austin to attend a border security event held Wednesday with former President Donald Trump. The Associated Press was provided a photo and a nearly three-minute video from a Southwest flight showing a bare-faced Roy chatting with fellow passengers while standing in the aisle of the plane. The video and a photo were provided to the AP on the condition of anonymity by another passenger. Roy is listed as a co-sponsor on a GOP-backed bill introduced in Congress last week that seeks to bar federal authorities from requiring masks to be worn on commercial airliners or in airports, as well as other transportation hubs such as train and bus stations.<br/>

An EU-wide Covid certificate for easier travel comes into force on Thursday, just in time for Europe's busy summer vacation period, but the more-infectious Delta variant is already threatening to curtail its use. The EU document -- essentially a QR code made available in digital form on smartphones or hard copy -- shows whether the bearer is vaccinated with one of the EU's approved jabs (from BioNTech/Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson), has recovered from an infection, or has a recent negative Covid test. Under EU law, the certificate is meant to do away with the need for quarantines or further testing when travelling between the EU's 27 countries or four associated European nations (Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein). EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders said he expected all EU member states to be connected from Thursday. Only Ireland, which was hit by a cyber-attack targeting its health service in May, will lag behind. As of Wednesday, 21 EU countries were already accepting the certificate, including major tourist destinations France, Spain, Italy, Greece and Croatia. "We recommend to all the member states to use such a tool not only for the free movement law... but also for all the possible national uses, for other purposes: to go to concerts, festivals, theatres, restaurants," Reynders said. But a surge in the Delta variant, first detected in India and now rampant in former EU member Britain, could trigger an "emergency brake" provision suspending its acceptance.<br/>

Australia’s New South Wales (NSW) state authorities said they were still finding a significant number of new Covid-19 cases in the community, raising worries of fresh clusters as it reported a rise in new infections for the third day in a row. Half of Thursday’s total 24 cases were detected in the community, while the others infected were already in home quarantine, officials said, as Sydney nears a week of a hard lockdown put in place to contain an outbreak of the highly infectious delta variant. ″(This) is a cause of concern. That is what we will be looking at in the next few days and beyond as a measure of our success,” NSW state premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney. Australia is battling a flare-up of infections simultaneously in several states for the first time this year with nearly half of all Australians under a stay-at-home order to prevent any significant outbreak of the delta strain. Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Darwin imposed lockdowns in the last few days to counter the fast-moving variant after months in which Australia had nearly eliminated the virus. The town of Alice Springs, gateway to UNESCO World Heritage-listed Uluru, on Wednesday joined others after an infected traveler spent hours in the city’s airport.<br/>

Thailand is pushing ahead with plans to jumpstart its crucial tourism industry by reopening the popular resort island of Phuket to vaccinated travelers, even as the more virulent delta strain of coronavirus sweeps through the region. Starting Thursday, inoculated tourists from low- and medium-risk countries such as the US and Spain will be allowed to holiday in Phuket without quarantining. If successful, the experiment could lead to a wider reopening of the Thai tourism industry as soon as October. The stakes couldn’t be higher. Before the pandemic, tourism contributed about 20% of Thailand’s gross domestic product -- about double the global average. On Phuket, tourism accounts for more than 90% of the economy and employment. But with beaches empty and many restaurants, bars and massage parlors shuttered, average income is expected to drop below the poverty line this year. “It’s the start of the reopening of Thailand’s tourism sector in the new normal,” said Thaneth Tantipiriyakij, president of the Tourism Council of Phuket. “We’ll gradually reopen and continuously learn from it to chart the course for tourism to become one of the country’s key economic engines again.” Even as the island reopens, expectations are low. Only 100,000 foreign tourists are forecast to arrive in Q3, compared to more than 2.5m a quarter pre-pandemic. Booking data from six airlines shows 426 flights and 8,281 arrivals to Phuket during the first month of the reopening.<br/>

Australians may soon be able to take their pets into the cabin on commercial flights as federal laws governing the practice will be relaxed later this year. However, the country’s major airlines appear not to be rushing to allow animals to ride alongside their owners. Currently in Australia all non-service animals must travel in the cargo hold of planes. But in many overseas jurisdictions pets can be carried in cabins for a fee, with everything from pigs, miniature horses, and ducks spotted on flights in the past. Under the Civil Aviation Safety Authority’s changes to flight rules to come in December, pilots will be able to decide whether pets can ride in the cabin. “A rule change will allow airlines to carry pets without applying for approval from CASA,” a CASA spokesperson said. But CASA said it would be up to each airline to determine if they wish to carry pets in cabins, and they must demonstrate they can do so safely. “They must consider how to restrain animals, effects on other passengers, not blocking exit rows, dealing with droppings/urine. The procedures for pets would be added to their operations manuals,” the spokesperson said.<br/>

British engineering company Rolls-Royce said it would partner with oil company Shell to work on the development of sustainable aviation fuel in line with both their plans for net zero emissions by 2050. The pair signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Wednesday which Rolls-Royce said would help with plans to certify 100% SAF for use in planes. In the aviation sector, its biggest business, Rolls-Royce plans to make all its commercial engines compatible to run on 100% SAF, which produces up to 70% less carbon than conventional fuel, by 2023. The challenge for SAFs is that there is a shortage of supply, which the Shell partnership could help address. Rolls-Royce CTO Paul Stein said that both companies wanted to decarbonise flying. "We believe that working together on these aims can deliver benefits for both the development of new innovations as well as collaborating to find ways to unlock the net carbon emissions reduction potential of technology that is already in use today," he said.<br/>

Boeing named Brian West, a former executive at General Electric’s aviation arm, as its new CFO, after its current finance chief earlier this year announced his retirement. West will be tasked with leading Boeing out of the coronavirus crisis, which drove the aircraft maker to a record loss in 2020. He replaces Greg Smith, who is retiring this month after having been in the role since 2011. The company announced Smith’s retirement in April. West is the CFO of Refinitiv and was CFO of Nielsen. Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun is also a former GE executive and former CEO of Nielsen. “I have had the pleasure of working with Brian previously, and he is an exceptional leader whose broad operational expertise and commitment to transparency with stakeholders will advance our efforts as we continue our focus on safety and quality, improving our performance and transforming our company for the future,” Calhoun said. West begins his new role on Aug. 27.<br/>

Canada’s Bombardier has received a firm order for 10 aircraft from an undisclosed existing customer worth $452m. The Montreal-headquartered airframer says on 30 June that it is the largest order of the year so far. It declines to disclose the jet mix “for competitive reasons”. Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the business jet sector’s performance has been bumpy, but it has, in any case, fared much better than its commercial counterpart. With airline networks slashed and concerns over catching the virus in crowded airports and cabins, some high-end travellers switched to private aircraft for essential trips, in addition to using such aircraft for leisure travel when restrictions permitted. Bombardier said in May that its operating business lost $251m in Q1 2021. However, the airframer also said at the time that it had turned a corner and an upswing in business was on the way. Following a series of divestments Bombardier’s business jet division is now the backbone of the company: it generated $1.3b in Q1 revenue, up 18% year-on-year. <br/>