New data from Flightradar24 shows a positive snapshot of global air traffic from the first six months of 2021, as China and the US lead the way in post-pandemic recovery. The results show global commercial flights are 11% higher than 2020 levels, with the total number of flights up 25.2 per cent, as the industry recovers from the “induced lows” of last year. Flightradar24, a real-time global flight tracker, reported the data from 1 January to 30 June, between 2019, 2020, and 2021. Total global total flights are recovering at a rapid pace, now only down 11 per cent from the first half of 2019. “Total flights are recovering faster than commercial flights with 28,957,911 total flights tracked in the first half of 2021, a 25.2% increase over 2020,” according to Flightradar24. Commercial flights showed a steady improvement, however were largely hindered by international travel traffic, which remains heavily subdued.<br/>
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The head of a key congressional committee overseeing the aviation industry is pushing six US airlines to explain worker shortages, flight cancellations and delays after the government supplied billions in federal aid to the airline industry amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington and chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, wrote Friday to the CEOs of American, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest, Republic, and Allegiant airlines, asking them about reports of pilot, flight attendant and worker shortages and to account for the use of the $54b in federal relief to keep workers employed that was contingent on no layoffs. Cantwell wrote that she is "concerned that, at best," the airlines "poorly managed its marketing of flights and workforce as more people are traveling, and, at worst, it failed to meet the intent of tax payer funding and prepare for the surge in travel that we are now witnessing." The senator also requested a staff briefing from each of the airlines by the end of the month. <br/>
A comment by President Joe Biden is encouraging airlines to hope that travel between the US and Europe could be expanded in time for last-minute, late-summer vacation trips. At a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Biden was asked about ending restrictions that bar most European visitors from entering the US. Biden said Thursday that a team that is advising him on the pandemic “brought that subject up. It’s in the process of (considering) how soon we can lift the ban ... and I will be able to answer that question to you within the next several days.” An official with the US Travel Association, a trade group for the broader tourism industry, praised Biden’s comments. “The science says we can safely reopen international travel now, particularly for countries that have made considerable progress toward vaccinating their citizens,” said Tori Emerson Barnes, the travel group’s executive VP of policy, citing studies that concluded there is a low risk of transmitting the virus during flights. “Each day that outdated restrictions on travel exist wreaks economic damage on our nation.”<br/>
Two hundred flights were cancelled at Lisbon airport on Saturday at the start of a two-day strike by Groundforce handling company workers, with more cancellations likely before the action ends on Sunday evening, the company that manages Portugal's airports said. A spokesman for the Union of Airport Handling Technicians, which called the strike, told local news agency Lusa that around 100% of workers had taken part in the strike in Lisbon on Saturday, the busiest airport in the country. The strike has had a huge impact on the Portuguese flag company TAP, which uses Groundforce's handling services, but has not affected low cost companies. Groundforce workers are demanding that the handling company, which is in serious financial difficulties due to the coronavirus pandemic, pay wages without any delay and this year's holiday pay. The strike mainly affects the operation of Lisbon airport, and has little impact on the remaining 9 Portuguese airports, ANA chief executive Thierry Ligonnière said. "We still anticipate difficulties tomorrow and a progressive return to normal on Monday," Ligonnière told reporters. Groundforce is 50.1% owned by the Portuguese firm Pasogal and 49.9% by the TAP-Air Portugal group, which in turn is 72.5% controlled by the Portuguese State.<br/>
Britain said on Friday that it was scrapping a planned easing of coronavirus rules for travellers from France, which had been due to take effect on Monday, because of the continued presence of the Beta variant of COVID first identified in South Africa. Anyone arriving from France will have to quarantine at home or in other accommodation for five to 10 days, even if they are fully vaccinated against COVID, Britain's health ministry said. This quarantine requirement will end as planned on Monday for fully vaccinated travellers from other countries in Britain's 'amber' category of coronavirus risk, which includes most of Europe. Just over two thirds of British adults are fully vaccinated. Monday sees the end of the majority of coronavirus rules in England, including most legal obligations to wear masks. But foreign travel will remain subject to quarantine and testing requirements. "With restrictions lifting on Monday across the country, we will do everything we can to ensure international travel is conducted as safely as possible, and protect our borders from the threat of variants," health minister Sajid Javid said. The change drew an angry reaction from global airline body IATA, which said Britain's travel restrictions and short-notice changes were out of line with those elsewhere in the world. "The UK is entrenching itself as an outlier in its confused approach to travel. This, in turn, is destroying its own travel sector and the thousands of jobs that rely on it," Willie Walsh, director-general of the IATA, told Reuters.<br/>
Oman's civil aviation authority said on Friday in a tweet that it has removed Singapore and Brunei from its entry-ban list of countries. The United Kingdom, Tunisia, India, Iran and Pakistan are among those to stay on the banned countries list. The authority added that exceptions for citizens, diplomatic personas and health workers and their families are still in place.<br/>
Consumer complaints filed with domestic air carriers in China have risen unusually sharply recently, with 7,000 coming in March alone, a more than tenfold increase from two years earlier, according to aviation industry regulators. The unprecedented jump in complaints from flyers is traceable to unlimited flight tickets sold by airlines to stimulate demand for air travel, which shriveled during the COVID-19 pandemic. "We demand that airlines clarify their terms of service and offer after-sale services," a senior official with the Civil Aviation Administration of China said, referring to the unlimited passes, at a regular news conference in mid-April. "We support airlines' innovative service, but will strengthen the management and supervision of [carriers] to protect the interests of passengers," the official said. The warning follows a spate of consumer headaches in recent months. In 2020, China Southern, China's largest airline, and other carriers, including China Eastern, introduced discount tickets one after another, such as offering unlimited weekend flights during a set period for several hundred dollars. As demand for international flights plunged due to the pandemic, discount tickets were issued to keep domestic flights going. The market for domestic air travel was expected to bounce back fairly quickly. Unlimited passes had the desired effect, as people took to the air, but also generated complaints: "It's impossible to book flights with unlimited flight tickets," "Flight options have decreased," and "Phone calls cannot get through," are typical of remarks seen on Black Cat Complaint, a website where consumers can vent their frustrations. Story has more.<br/>
South Korean carriers carried just 3% fewer domestic passengers in the first half of the year compared to the same period in pre-pandemic 2019, underscoring the steady progress made in traffic recovery. Data released by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) shows that the country’s airlines carried close to 15.5m domestic passengers in the six months ended 30 June. This was a 45.8% jump compared to the same period in 2020, when South Korea was placed under lockdown as infection rates soared. MOLIT notes that in March this year, domestic passenger numbers even surpassed pre-pandemic levels — a 1.9% increase compared to the same month in 2019. Even in May, as the country battled a third wave of infections, passenger numbers grew to 3.12m, the highest levels since October 2019, says the ministry. On the international front, passenger numbers remain low, as travel restrictions prevent any meaningful recovery. For the period, airlines flew just 1.2m passengers, nearly 91% lower year on year, and a decline of about 97% compared to the same period in 2019. MOLIT data also indicates that low-cost carriers saw the largest uptick in domestic passenger numbers — a 73% increase year on year to 11.3m — while the larger full-service carriers saw a 2.2% increase to 4.2m passengers. International cargo volume for the first half also rose —up 8.6% year on year — as Korean carriers tapped into a surge in freight demand. <br/>
The Thai government on Sunday announced plans for a tighter lockdown in Bangkok and high-risk provinces next week, suspending most domestic flights and expanding curfew areas after the country reported a third straight day of record COVID-19 case numbers. Thailand reported 11,397 infections and 101 deaths on Sunday, bringing the cumulative total to 403,386 cases and 3,341 fatalities, the vast majority from an outbreak since early April that is being fuelled by the highly transmissible Alpha and Delta COVID-19 variants. Domestic flights to and from Bangkok and other provinces classified by the Thai government as at high risk from COVID-19 will be suspended from Wednesday, the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) said. Exceptions are being made for medical flights, emergency landing aircraft and flights in connection with the government’s tourism reopening programs, while other local flights can only fly at 50% capacity, the announcement said.<br/>
Vietnam's capital Hanoi urged its citizens to stay at home from Monday and ordered a halt to all non-essential services due to new clusters of COVID-19 infections in recent days, the authorities said on Sunday. The city, which had already halted indoor restaurant service and closed salons as well as gyms, also stopped rail and bus passenger services to and from provinces in the south which have seen the biggest increases. Hanoi has seen only over 400 cases since May, compared with more than 50,000 across the country, but authorities had already imposed restrictions on several parts of the city after the discovery of new outbreaks. "This outbreak is not the same as the previous ones," health minister Nguyen Thanh Long said at a meeting on COVID-19 prevention on Sunday. "We are preparing and standing ready for worse and worst scenarios." The country's civil aviation authority on Sunday ordered domestic airlines to suspend flights to and from southern parts until at least Aug. 1.<br/>
The government has asked airlines to halt new bookings by the general public for flights arriving in Japan during the period when arrivals of athletes and delegation officials for the Tokyo Olympics increase, sources have said. With one week to go until the start of the Tokyo Olympics, the transport ministry is seeking to limit the number of arrivals to smoothly conduct coronavirus testing and other border controls at five airports to prevent the spread of COVID-19, they said. Arrivals of visitors related to the Olympics are expected to peak on Sunday. The ministry has asked airlines to stop accepting new bookings for flights arriving at the five airports — Tokyo’s Haneda, Narita near the capital, Chubu in central Japan, Kansai in western Japan and Fukuoka in southwestern Japan — during busy times of the day from last Sunday to next Thursday, the sources said. During especially congested times, even bookings for visitors related to the Olympics may be halted, while transit passengers are exempted from the request. If there is an increase in reservations during the busy period despite the request to halt new bookings, the ministry may ask airlines for the reason and demand that they be canceled if it deems the airlines were not following the request. The move comes as the government has said it will restrict the average number of new daily arrivals in the country to 2,000 as part of an effort to tighten coronavirus border controls.<br/>