IATA has sharply criticised the EC’s intentions to tighten slot rules for the winter travel season as “out of touch with reality”, as the region’s airlines are only just beginning to ramp up operations following the more than year-long coronavirus crisis. The aviation trade group said on 23 July that the Commission’s plans to set the slot use threshold at 50% for the period from November to April 2022 may lead airlines to once again operate so-called “ghost flights” on empty or near-empty aircraft in order not to lose the slots at certain busy airports. Early in the pandemic, passenger carriers came under fire for operating such flights as customers across the continent were either locked down completely or strongly encouraged to stay home to mitigate the spread of the highly contagious Covid-19 virus. The Commission’s intention for airlines during the upcoming winter season is that they must use at least half of their assigned slots – whether they need them or not – in order to be permitted to maintain their full presence at those airports. Both airlines and trade groups consider this both financially and environmentally wasteful. In addition, the rule on “force majeure” – a suspension of slots in exceptional circumstances, such as a global pandemic – has been rescinded for intra-EU operations, IATA says. “The result of these changes will be to restrict the ability of airlines to operate with the agility needed to respond to unpredictable and rapidly changing demand, leading to environmentally wasteful and unnecessary flights,” IATA says.<br/>
general
US airlines are returning to profitability more quickly than their European counterparts thanks to generous government aid, a much larger domestic market and a relatively quick vaccines rollout. Three out of the four major US carriers reported a profit in the second quarter. United Airlines, which recorded a quarterly loss, said that it expected to return to profitability in the second half of the year. The speedy recovery stands in stark contrast to the situation in Europe, where airlines have racked up record losses during the pandemic as demand for flights collapsed. Dan Akins, an economist at Flightpath Economics, said that US airlines travelled “a great deal more” within their domestic market, whereas European carriers had to contend with “international boundary issues”. The US airline industry also benefited from billions of dollars of direct government support for the industry. Doug Parker, American Airlines CE, said Thursday that the mix of grants and low-interest loans made available to the aviation industry had been “an overwhelming success”. The so-called payroll support program had meant that airlines were able to keep more workers employed during the pandemic, allowing them to add extra capacity rapidly when demand returned. “Had it not been for PSP, you would not see airlines trying to grow, like we are, 45%t in a quarter,” he said. “You’d see airlines shut down.” Ed Bastian, Delta CE, said this month that the return of US travellers was a tribute to the scientists who developed the vaccines and that jabs would eventually “be key to opening the world”. United reported a $434m net loss, but the company said that with robust demand it would generate adjusted pre-tax income in the second half of the year. “We don’t just see the light at the end of the tunnel, we’re exiting the tunnel,” Scott Kirby, its CE, said this week.<br/>
The airport serving Nevada’s second largest metro area faces a shortage of jet fuel that could force the cancellation of cargo and passenger fights, potentially restricting the flow of tourists and essential goods into the northern part of the state. Nevada’s political leaders issued a statement late Saturday pledging to minimize disruption at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport and ensure the aerial fight against Western wildfires isn’t hampered. Besides serving Reno, a popular gambling destination, the airport is the nearest passenger terminal to Lake Tahoe. “To be clear, further failure to secure adequate fuel supplies is unacceptable,” wrote Gov. Steve Sisolak, Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen, and US Rep. Mark Amodei. Airport officials across the U.S. West have voiced concerns about jet fuel shortages and their effect on what is shaping up to be a very busy wildfire season. Jet fuel demand declined sharply and supply chains atrophied during the coronavirus pandemic, according to aviation supply companies, jet fuel transport companies and others. They have yet to bounce back in the West even as the economy picks up and people flock to airports for long-delayed trips. Stacey Sunday, a spokeswoman for the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority, said the Reno airport's shortage is caused by a confluence of factors, including a scarcity of tanker truck drivers and high demand from passenger airlines and firefighting aircraft. <br/>
Negotiations between the European Union and the U.S. to recognise each other’s vaccination passes are struggling to make headway due to the absence of a federal certification system in America, according to a diplomatic memo seen by Bloomberg. EU ambassadors were told at a meeting on Thursday that the European Commission is, however, in an advanced stage of talks with the UK, and in contact with Japan, Australia and Canada. Discussions with Ottawa were described as promising and officials are hoping that the EU’s Covid certificates will be recognised in September when Canada is due to reopen travel to vaccinated non-US travelers, the memo says. The talks are taking place as Europe and much of the western world starts to gradually open up air travel after it ground to a near halt during the pandemic. But with the delta variant becoming dominant in much of the EU, and vaccination and infection rates varying significantly across countries, rules remain patchy. Some countries require people to quarantine while others only allow vaccinated arrivals. The US has been slow to lift a ban on visitors from most of Europe instituted during the Trump administration and continued by President Joe Biden. The EU launched its Covid pass, which also registers negative tests, at the beginning of the month. The commission told ambassadors that as of 19 July, more than 290m certificates had been issued, of which 230 million are vaccination passes. It also noted that by early July 2021, air traffic had increased by 20% and was expected to reach more than 60% of 2019 levels this month. Some member states now require a Covid pass to enter certain events and settings, such as soccer stadiums and indoor restaurants. The bloc’s executive arm explained that talks with non-EU countries were about ensuring that passes were interoperable, and met technical and security standards.<br/>
The US is swimming in so much jet fuel that even this summer’s surge in air travel can’t save the market. Air traffic in the US has jumped to more than 2m passengers a day, about 78% of where it was in the summer of 2019, according to the TSA. That’s done little to diminish the massive glut in jet fuel stockpiles, which stand at their highest seasonal level in a decade. Part of the problem is that refiners are trying to cash in on resurgent gasoline demand by raising production rates, which indirectly leads to more jet fuel output. The global oil market can’t fully recover to pre-pandemic levels until jet fuel consumption is back to normal. The US has one barrel of jet fuel for every three barrels of diesel and every five barrels of gasoline in inventory, Energy Information Administration figures show, leaving the aviation sector exerting considerable influence on how much refiners can process. “Traffic data is a false flag for the jet fuel market,” said Zachary Rogers, director of global oil service at Rapidan Energy Group. “The real metric is the quantity of international flights, which at this point has barely recovered, and there are looming headwinds.” The best indicator of the market mismatch is the widening gap between jet fuel and diesel. Typically the two products trade within a nickel of each other but currently physical jet fuel is 18 cents a gallon less in the US Gulf Coast refining hub. Most analysts say a 10c spread would point to the beginning of a recovery in jet fuel markets. “Meeting gasoline demand meant swamping the market with jet fuel, which bled into the diesel pool, as refiners can only minimize middle distillate supplies to a certain extent,” said Linda Giesecke, manager of global fuels at ESAI Energy.<br/>
UK aviation is struggling to cope with the burden of new red tape thrown up by Brexit, compounding problems for an industry that has been upended by the coronavirus pandemic. Charter and freight airlines have complained of receiving little support from the government after their businesses have been badly hit by the new need to apply for permits when flying into a EU country. Pilots have also said their licences were “seriously degraded in value” since the latest trading relationship began in January. Jonathan Hinkles, CE of Scottish airline Loganair, argued the Brexit deal had been “atrocious” for UK aviation. “It gets worse the more you see of it really.” Since January 1, carriers running non-scheduled flights have to apply to an individual EU member state for a permit when they want to land there, a process which can often take days. The new requirements do not affect major airlines which fly pre-planned schedules. Instead, they have hit a network of smaller carriers, including Loganair. Many of these businesses rely on flying at short notice on routes that hop between several countries, such as to move manufacturing parts for supply chains. Several airlines said they have lost a significant amount of business while waiting for a permit, and claimed their EU rivals often do not have to wait as long for permits from UK authorities. Ministers are working to secure agreements with EU countries for seasonal passes for ad hoc flights and additional flying rights for cargo journeys, but the industry has been left disappointed with their progress. UK carriers met the aviation minister Robert Courts in late April to lobby for new agreements to help smooth the process, but say they have not yet heard back from the government. Story has more.<br/>
With all British schools now closed for the summer, airports and airlines were looking a tad more normal on Saturday, although the number of families heading off for warmer climes remains way down from before the coronavirus pandemic. This weekend traditionally marks the great summer getaway from Britain, with airports jam-packed with excitable children and their anxious parents heading off mostly to the popular beach resorts of southern Europe, from Portugal’s Algarve coast in the west to the sun-soaked island nation of Cyprus to the east. However, with travel to and from many popular destinations facing varying and often confusing quarantine and testing requirements, it’s clear that many British families think it’s all too much hassle and have opted again to holiday within the UK. For the second year running, it’s all about the “staycation.” Still, the numbers venturing abroad are certainly on the rise, partly as a result of the UK’s rapid rollout of coronavirus vaccines that has seen nearly 70% of the adult population receive the requisite two doses and over 87% get at least one dose. The British government, which has been operating a traffic-light system for overseas travel, recently tweaked its rules to make it simpler for fully-vaccinated individuals and their families to travel. Now, anyone arriving back in England from “amber” list destinations — including Greece, Spain and the United States — are exempt from the government’s 10-day quarantine requirement subject to testing requirements. Although France is on the “amber” list, anyone returning from there to England still has to quarantine for 10 days amid concerns over the beta variant first identified in South Africa.<br/>
Border Force staff are being redeployed from airports to the English Channel as ministers scramble to try and contain record-breaking numbers of migrants reaching Britain’s shores this summer, it has emerged. Staff from major airports have been relocated to Dover as the agency tries to process the hundreds of migrants arriving every day, amid fears that the number of small boat crossings could surge in the coming weeks. However, sources have warned that the move threatens to leave airports overstretched, leading to longer queues during the busiest period of the year, when tens of thousands of families are heading overseas for their summer holidays. Aviation chiefs are worried about any understaffing of Border Force desks as the summer progresses and increasing numbers of travellers return to the UK. “This is the thing we are dreading the most,” said a senior aviation source. On Saturday, travel experts also hit out at the decision to redeploy staff from airports, warning it risked harming the recovery of the aviation sector, which has been among the hardest hit by the pandemic.<br/>
The scale of Britain’s travel industry crisis has been laid bare by figures showing the country’s major airports will have only a fraction of their normal passenger numbers on what should be one of the busiest weekends of the year. Manchester airport will handle less than 40% of the flights of two years ago, while Gatwick – once the world’s busiest airport of its kind – will have a fifth of its usual number of travellers in August. Industry bosses blame uncertainty caused by the government’s botched traffic light plan, as exclusive polling for The Independent shows just 12% of Britons still intend to go abroad this summer. Research by The Independent reveals that even though vaccinated passengers can avoid quarantine when returning from amber list countries, a significant resurgence in demand for international travel has not materialised – leaving Gatwick and the other UK airports handling a small fraction of previous levels of passengers. Paul Charles, CE of the PC Agency, said: “The majority of the travel sector remains deeply unbusy. Consumers are nervous of the government’s poor quality traffic lights system and worried that they will be caught out while overseas, at great cost. We need to see governments collaborating more on opening up travel and enabling the fully jabbed to access areas without fear of quarantine.” As a result of the near-total absence of inbound demand and the crisis in consumer confidence, airlines have cancelled thousands of flights across the summer season. <br/>
Airline flights were canceled in eastern China and cargo ships were ordered out of the area Saturday as Typhoon In-fa churned toward the mainland after dumping rain on Taiwan. In-fa was forecast to hit the coast of Zhejiang province, south of Shanghai, on Sunday afternoon or evening, the provincial weather department announced. The storm had sustained winds of 155 kph with gusts up to 191 kph as it moved northwest away from Taiwan, the island’s weather bureau reported. The airport in the provincial capital of Hangzhou, southwest of Shanghai, canceled 90% of flights on Sunday and was expected to cancel more on Monday, the newspaper Zhejiang Daily reported on its website. <br/>
The aviation industry appears to finally be past the worst of the coronavirus downturn, but Boeing's to-do list remains extensive following a messy start to 2021. The problems this year include electrical issues with the 737 MAX jet, fuselage troubles on the 787 and yet another delay in the timeframe for the 777X. The myriad challenges reflect the changed regulatory climate facing Boeing in the wake of a pair of 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 that claimed 346 lives and led to a 20-month grounding of the aircraft. "Unfortunately for Boeing right now, the added scrutiny is justified," said Ken Herbert, an aviation analyst at Canaccord Genuity. CE Dave Calhoun on Wednesday will update investors on its latest set of challenges when the company reports second-quarter results. He will likely discuss the prospects for the 787 Dreamliner following Boeing's move earlier this month to cut production after identifying another issue with the aircraft. In May, the FAA formally notified Boeing that the 777X would need more than two years of additional testing and analysis before it could be certified, saying the jet was "not yet ready" to advance to the next stage of evaluation. In April, Boeing notified 16 airlines flying its 737 MAX planes of an electrical issue, leading to the immediate grounding of more than 100 jets. Carriers resumed service on the jets in May after regulators approved Boeing's proposed fix. Boeing has also pushed back the timeframe for new deliveries of presidential plane Air Force Once and experienced numerous setbacks on the KC46 Air Force tanker.<br/>