It's been a strange year for the aviation industry, with many airlines grounding aircraft for significant chunks of 2020. But as air travel returns in some regions, AirlineRatings.com has released its annual round-up of the world's best carriers, ready to help fliers decide which airline to choose for their return to the skies. The Australia-based aviation safety and product rating agency compiles its Airline Excellence Awards based on criteria including age of fleet, passenger reviews and product offerings. This year, the team of global editors threw airlines' Covid-19 responses into the mix too. And so for 2021, there's a new entry at number one: Qatar Airways jumped up the rankings to nab the top spot, beating out previous winner Air New Zealand -- which has topped the list six times over the past several years and this year came in at number two. Geoffrey Thomas, editor-in-chief of AirlineRatings.com says it was Qatar Airways' response to the pandemic that sealed the deal. "Qatar Airways has always figured highly in our rankings, winning various awards such as Best Business Class but it was the airline's commitment to keeping its route network largely open that attracted the judges' praise -- and votes," says Thomas. Thomas also points to the airline's repatriation flights, and its commitment to making the pandemic flying experience as safe as possible. Usually, profitability is one of the key factors assessed by judges as they rank the top airlines, but because of the steep financial impact of Covid-19 on the aviation industry, finances weren't taken into consideration this year. Joining Qatar Airways and Air New Zealand in this year's top five is Singapore Airlines at number three. Number four is Qantas; at number five is Emirates.<br/>
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US federal agencies are dealing with a rising number of unruly airline passengers on increasingly crowded airplanes, including thousands who have refused to wear masks. The FAA said Tuesday that since Jan. 1 it has received 3,509 unruly passenger reports, including 2,605 refusing to wear a mask. The TSA told a US House panel Tuesday that since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic there have been over 85 physical assaults on TSA officers. The TSA says inflight disturbances have risen from 2 incidents per 1m screened in 2019 to 12 per 1m in 2021.<br/>
London’s High Court on Tuesday ruled that Britain acted lawfully over its so-called traffic lights system for travellers entering Britain in a case brought by Manchester Airports Group (MAG), backed by a number of airlines. While the court accepted part of the argument against the government, it did not find that the transport minister had acted unlawfully, and the government will not have to disclose more information on how it reaches decisions over its travel rules. The litigation was backed by airlines Ryanair, easyJet, British Airways-owner IAG, TUI UK and Virgin Atlantic. Airports and airlines have criticised the traffic light system of classifying countries based on their COVID-19 risk, arguing decisions are not based on data, and slamming last-minute changes which have hurt bookings. EasyJet said earlier on Tuesday that Britain’s travel recovery was lagging that in the European Union, blaming its travel rules. In a joint statement, MAG and the airline chief executives called the latest rule changes for arrivals from France shambolic, and said if the system followed data more countries would be categorised as green for low-risk travel. “British businesses and consumers deserve to understand how the Government takes decisions on the traffic light system so that they can book their travel with confidence,” they said. The government welcomed the court’s decision.<br/>
Nine airport workers in Nanjing, capital of China's Jiangsu province, have tested positive for COVID-19, state media reported. Positive results were found during the routine nucleic acid testing for airport workers carried out by local health authorities, the Xinhua news agency reported, adding that more samples were being tested.<br/>
Singapore and Hong Kong will revisit discussions on the twice-delayed air travel bubble arrangement “when the Covid-19 situation allows”, which is likely to be in late August. This follows a spike in local transmission in Singapore, which has led to a tightening of restrictions in the city-state until mid-August. Singapore reported a record 182 cases on 20 July, with a significant number of cases traced to a fishery port. In a 20 July statement, Singapore’s transport ministry says both Singapore and Hong Kong “have jointly agreed to resume discussions” only when the situation allows. “Both parties will remain in close contact and monitor the public health situation in both places before taking stock in late August,” the ministry adds. A Hong Kong government spokesperson adds that the spike in infections in Singapore meant that conditions for launching the travel bubble “could not be met for the time being”. A review “could be conducted” in late-August, the spokesperson adds. <br/>
Jeff Bezos, the world's richest person, soared some 66.5 miles above the Texas desert aboard his company Blue Origin's New Shepard launch vehicle on Tuesday and returned safely to Earth, a historic suborbital flight that helps usher in a new era of space tourism. "Best day ever," Bezos, accompanied by three crewmates including the world's oldest and youngest space travelers, said after his capsule descended with three large parachutes and touched down, kicking up a cloud of dust. The 57-year-old American billionaire, donning a blue flight suit and cowboy hat, took a trip to the edge of space lasting 10 minutes and 10 seconds. "Astronaut Bezos in my seat - happy, happy, happy," Bezos told mission control during a safety check after the passengers buckled back in following a few minutes of weightlessness in space. The fully autonomous 60-foot-tall gleaming white spacecraft, with a feather design on its side, ignited its BE-3 engine for a vertical liftoff from Blue Origin's Launch Site One facility about 20 miles outside the rural town of Van Horn under mostly clear skies. The flight came nine days after Briton Richard Branson was aboard his competing space tourism venture Virgin Galactic's successful inaugural suborbital flight from New Mexico. The two flights give credibility and inject enthusiasm into the fledgling commercial space tourism industry, which Swiss bank UBS estimates will be worth $3b annually in a decade.<br/>