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Fear of missing out on a major deal has kicked off a temporary surge in US corporate travel, according to consulting firm Oliver Wyman, boosting a highly profitable market for airlines. About 76% of respondents to a June survey by the firm said they planned to travel domestically for business over the next three months, and 56% were considering international trips over the same period. Yet only about 2% of those have booked tickets, with 79% planning to do so within three months -- typical of the so-called close-in purchases that are often made by corporate travelers. “That’s a really good indicator of pent-up demand, and why we think there’s going to be really a snap-back or bow-wave effect,” Oliver Wyman partner Bruce Spear said. “The first one who loses the sale because a competitor was in front of the client is going to be in big trouble. It’s that driving force.” Favorable monetary policy, increased merger and acquisition activity, an economic recovery that’s running “extremely hot” on federal stimulus, and concern that next year could bring changes to capital gains taxes also are fueling pressure on executives to catch up on deal and contract meetings after more than a year of conferring virtually, he said.<br/>

Eighty-four percent of flight attendants have had to handle unruly passengers this year and 17% of them have experienced a physical incident, according to a labor union survey published Thursday. The FAA has received more than 3,600 reports of unruly passengers so far this year, nearly three-quarters of those involving passengers who refuse to comply with the federal mask mandate, the agency said this week. Failure to follow flight crew instructions is against the law. Sixty percent of respondents who said they had a physical incident on board said law enforcement was requested to meet their fleet as did a third of those who noted a verbal incident, according to the survey from the Association of Flight Attendants. “This survey confirms what we all know, the vitriol, verbal and physical abuse from a small group of passengers is completely out of control, and is putting other passengers and flight crew at risk,” union president Sara Nelson said. She called on the FAA to make its “zero tolerance” policy permanent. Airlines and labor unions last month asked the Justice Department to pursue criminal charges against for violent passenger behavior. The AFA, the largest flight attendant union, said it collected responses from almost 5,000 cabin crew members across 30 airlines between June 25 and July 14. Earlier this year, the FAA announced a zero tolerance policy for unruly passenger behavior. As of Tuesday, the agency said it has started 610 investigations and 95 enforcement actions. Flight attendants say not every case gets reported so incidents of unruly travelers could be higher than what is reported to the FAA.<br/>

Mexico is working with pork producers to firm up sanitary measures and “epidemiological surveillance” following a confirmed case of African swine fever in the Dominican Republic, the Mexican Agriculture Ministry said on Thursday. Mexican officials will reinforce animal inspections at all ports, airports and border crossings, the ministry said. They will also increase inspections of kitchens and waste on commercial ships, cruise ships and planes, and then seal the waste for return to its origin country or ensure it is properly destroyed.<br/>

All travellers arriving in Germany will be required from this weekend to demonstrate immunity from COVID-19 either from a vaccine or previous infection, or present a negative test result, government sources reported. The plan reflects growing concern among Germany's regional and national leaders that rising caseloads in tourist destinations could help fuel a fourth wave when Germans come home from holiday. Germany now requires a negative test or proof of immunity only from those arriving from so-called "risk areas", "high-incidence areas" and "virus-variant areas", which in Europe now include Britain, Spain and the Netherlands. Rules are now also applied differently at airports and road crossings, and regional leaders are keen to make them more consistent. Germany saw 3,142 new infections on Thursday, according to its main disease fighting agency, the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases. Average daily new cases in Britain stand at almost 30,000. After an initial slow start, Germany has swiftly implemented widespread vaccination, with 61.3% of the population receiving at least one shot, dramatically reducing the disease's severity and lethality.<br/>

Six Scottish regional airports have been closed due to a one-day strike by air traffic controllers. The Prospect union members are in a dispute with employer Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (Hial) over plans to centralise some air traffic control. Scottish government-owned Hial says it must modernise the service. Benbecula, Dundee, Inverness, Kirkwall, Stornoway and Sumburgh airports were shut to all but emergency flights at 00:01 on Thursday for 24 hours. The strike marks an escalation in industrial action started by Prospect on 4 January this year. The action so far has involved an overtime ban and controllers refusing to work extensions to shifts except for search and rescue, emergency and medical flights.<br/>

Thailand's Phuket will ban travel from the rest of the country from Aug. 3-16 to try to stop a surge in coronavirus cases from spreading to the resort island, but overseas visitors will be largely unaffected, the foreign ministry said on Thursday. Phuket is at the heart of efforts to revive Thailand's tourism industry, a major revenue earner that has been devastated by the pandemic. Since July 1, tourists fully vaccinated against COVID-19 have been allowed to move freely on the island, with no self-isolation on arrival, an initiative dubbed the "Phuket sandbox". read more Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanee Sangrat said the new travel rules will restrict movement to Phuket from elsewhere in Thailand, meaning foreign visitors who stay on the island will not be affected. Tourists who have stayed on Phuket for more than 14 days will be allowed to leave for other parts of Thailand and can re-enter Phuket only if they have international flights booked from the island's airport, Tanee said. An order signed by Phuket's provincial governor said exceptions would also be made for medical supplies and personnel and supplies of fuel, money and food.<br/>

Europe's Airbus doubled its full-year profit forecast and raised the outlook for jet deliveries after posting better-than-expected half-year results, pushing its shares to the highest level since the start of the coronavirus crisis. The world's largest planemaker said it was benefiting from the beginnings of a recovery in air travel demand, but cautioned that uneven global vaccination rates and the spreading Delta variant of COVID-19 left uncertainty over the recovery. Airbus said it expected to deliver 600 aircraft in 2021, up from a previous target of at least 566, and doubled its forecast for operating income to E4b while predicting E2b of free cashflow. Reuters reported on Wednesday that Airbus would deliver more than 600 jets this year after negotiating workarounds with cash-strapped airlines, including deals that allow some to delay accounting for new planes on their balance sheets. "COVID-19 is not over," CEGuillaume Faury said Thursday. "Levels of vaccinations are very diverse around the world and we cannot exclude that after the Delta variant there will be another one, so we believe we have to remain very prudent," he said, adding: "It is going to a bumpy road in terms of recovery." Even so, shares in the Paris-listed heavyweight rose as much as 4.9%, helping to propel European shares to record highs.<br/>

Airbus said its decades-old competition with Boeing is back on in earnest as the removal of coronavirus curbs revives international travel and unleashes a spate of jetliner order contests. The European firm said Thursday that the traditionally fierce rivalry has resumed as Boeing emerges from a two-year slump triggered by the grounding of its best-selling 737 Max. At the same time, it signaled a new challenge with the launch of a freighter designed to erode the US group’s lead in air cargo. “We see our competitor very willing to win campaigns, to ramp up production again,” CEO Guillaume Faury said. “At Airbus we enjoy that competition and we always try to bring the right products and services to our customers.” Airbus lifted its guidance for full-year earnings, cash flow and aircraft deliveries, a day after Boeing posted its first profit in almost two years. The figures confirm a strengthening aerospace recovery that’s set to gather further momentum with sales campaigns at Air France-KLM’s Dutch arm and UK discounter Jet2, both of them usually loyal Boeing customers. The new freighter, a version of the A350 passenger jet, is expected to enter service in 2025, Faury said on a media call, after the board granted approval for the project. <br/>