Rowdy airline passengers have now racked up a record $1 million in potential fines this year, a toll of the tumult in the sky as travelers have returned after most were grounded by the pandemic in 2020. The FAA announced the latest cases Thursday, involving 34 travelers who flew between January and May. Their offenses ranged from refusing to wear a face mask, as required by a federal rule, to punching a flight attendant in the nose. Those are just the latest among dozens of enforcement cases that the FAA called part of its crackdown against passengers who interfere with airline crews. Airlines have reported about 3,900 incidents of unruly passengers this year, and three-fourths involve refusal to wear a mask, according to the FAA. Alcohol is another common factor. American Airlines on Thursday extended its ban on alcohol sales in the main cabin through Jan. 18, matching the timing of the federal mask mandate. American still sells alcohol to passengers in business and first-class sections. An FAA spokeswoman confirmed that $1m is a single-year record for proposed fines against passengers, who can appeal. The FAA has started investigations against 682 travelers this year, smashing the previous high of 310 in 2004. The latest round of cases includes two fines that could top $40,000. Story has details.<br/>
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Israeli airline workers on Thursday staged a demonstration at the Ben Gurion Airport outside Tel Aviv to express their dissatisfaction with the distressful work environment and low payment. From 10 am to 12 am local time, hundreds of employees of Israel's major airlines El Al, Israir and Arkia halted their work and demonstrated at the airport, according to statements issued by Israeli largest worker union Histadrut with photos and videos. The demonstrators claim that there has been severe employment distress in the Israeli aviation industry since the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis, the statement said. Thousands of aviation workers have been laid off or put on unpaid leave since the crisis began, and many have not yet returned to work and fear for their job security ahead of the Jewish New Year in early September, it added. Workers of the Israel Airports Authority, which operates the airport, joined the demonstrations to show solidarity, according to a statement issued by Israel Airports Authority.<br/>
Asian airlines are reporting high vaccination take-up rates among pilots and cabin crew as they wait for the region's tight pandemic-related border controls to be relaxed. International travel in the Asia-Pacific region remains down about 95% from pre-pandemic levels, and concerns about the Delta variant have led to even stricter quarantines or flight caps in some places, leaving many air crew members idle and hoping for a recovery. SIA, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas and Cathay Pacific are among those requiring crew to be vaccinated or risk losing their jobs. Singapore Airlines said 99% of active pilots and cabin crew had been vaccinated ahead of a Sept. 1 deadline, as well as all frontline ground staff. Malaysia Airlines said all active pilots and cabin crew had received vaccines as had 95% of Malaysia-based employees under a policy set in July. Qantas on Wednesday said all employees must be vaccinated, while Cathay has mandated it for pilots and cabin crew by Aug. 31. Cathay said on Thursday in a memo to staff that only vaccinated crews would be able to operate flights to countries Hong Kong considers "high risk" starting on Friday in return for a halving of quarantine time on return to one week. However, hours later, it sent a second memo saying the rules had not eased and crews would need to quarantine for 14 days when returning from countries like Britain. Cathay said last week 99% of pilots and 91% of cabin crew had booked or received vaccinations. read more Even in places like the Philippines where crew vaccinations are voluntary, carriers are reporting high take-up rates. Philippine Airlines said 90% of flight crew were vaccinated, while budget carrier Cebu Pacific said 92% of its workforce, including 97% of pilots, were inoculated. AirAsia Philippines said 92% of its workers had received doses, including 97% of cabin crew.<br/>
Singapore plans to allow travelers who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to enter the country without quarantining, as it aims to open up borders and resuscitate its core tourism and aviation sectors. Starting Sept. 8, travelers coming from Germany and Brunei will be allowed to use special "vaccinated travel lanes" regardless of the purpose of their trips, the government announced on Thursday. Singapore's move follows a global trend to ease border restrictions for vaccinated people, despite persistent concerns about virus variants and the risk of breakthrough infections. The city-state hopes to broaden the arrangement to include other countries and regions in the coming months. But officials insisted the reopening will be conducted in a "cautious and step-by-step manner" and did not disclose which other places are under consideration. Separately, the Singapore government on Thursday announced it will also allow quarantine-free travel for people coming from Hong Kong and Macao starting Saturday -- regardless of vaccination status and contingent upon negative tests -- as infections appear stable in both territories. This is distinct from a planned travel bubble with Hong Kong that never got off the ground. Transport Minister S Iswaran told reporters that Singapore and Hong Kong "will not be able to launch or sustain the air travel bubble in its present form" due to different border reopening approaches. Travelers using the new vaccinated lanes must be fully inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna or other vaccines on the World Health Organization's emergency use list, which also includes AstraZeneca and Sinovac. They will not need to spend the one to two weeks in home or hotel quarantine -- the duration depends on origin of travel -- currently required for most arrivals.<br/>
BOC Aviation reported a net profit of $254 million for the first six months of 2021, down from $323m in the first half of last year. Pre-tax profit was $288m, down from $354m in the six months ended 30 June 2020. The Singapore-based lessor posted revenues and other income of $1.11b, up slightly from $1.04b in the corresponding period in 2020. Costs and expenses rose to $820m for the first half, up from $681m last year. BOC Aviation ended June with a fleet of 414 owned and managed aircraft, as well as 122 on order. The most common aircraft in its fleet were Airbus A320ceo-family jets, of which it had 108 owned and 15 managed. The owned fleet of 377 aircraft had an average age of 3.7 years and an average remaining lease term of 8.1 years, each weighted by net book value. The lessor also disclosed it had total deliveries of 34 aircraft, including six acquired by airline customers on delivery, in the first half of 2021. During that same period, it signed 26 lease commitments, with all aircraft scheduled for delivery from its orderbook before 2023 placed with airline customers.<br/>
Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd on Friday reported its H1 loss nearly doubled in a tough period for travel demand, days after rejecting an improved A$22.8b ($16.3b) buyout offer from a consortium of infrastructure investors. The A$97.4m net loss at Australia’s biggest airport operator for the six months ended June 30 compares with the A $53.6m loss reported last year. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell by 30% to A$210.8m in H1, below the Visible Alpha consensus of A$228.6m cited by broker Jefferies. The company has said it may consider a higher buyout offer from the Sydney Aviation Alliance consortium of IFM Investors, QSuper, Global Infrastructure Partners and AustralianSuper after rejecting an improved proposal of A$8.45 disclosed on Monday. “The board is not philosophically opposed to a deal, but the first priority is to assess it on the basis of price,” Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert told analysts. The airport did not pay an interim distribution. Citi analysts expect distributions will be suspended until June 2022 due to a slow recovery from the pandemic, which has closed Australia’s international border and led to domestic travel restrictions. Sydney Airport’s international traffic was down 91% in H1 from last year’s levels, which had been less affected by the pandemic in the first quarter. Domestic traffic fell by 3.1% relative to 2020 but was down 57.5% on 2019 levels.<br/>