The US travel ban on UK travellers could last until November causing concern among airlines. It is reported a major airline is this week expected to delay plans to launch scheduled services from London to New York in September until November. Another airline revealed it expected the ban will continue into the autumn but there is hope US President Joe Biden could introduce exceptions for double-jabbed UK travellers. The country has been off-limits to those travelling from the UK since March 2020. Virgin Atlantic delayed the restart date for its Heathrow-Las Vegas flights to mid-September amid the spread of the highly-infectious Delta variant in the US. Only Americans, their relatives and some exempt groups are permitted into the US as the rules currently stand. Boris Johnson and Biden agreed to set up a joint taskforce to resume travel when they met at the G7 summit in Cornwall in June. However, the Prime Minister told colleagues later the president appeared "very reluctant" to restart flights between the two nations. In a bid to reinvigorate travel, the UK opened its borders to US travellers who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 without needing to quarantine from August 2.<br/>
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The FAA is looking into Boeing’s corporate culture, which an agency official said “appears to hamper” Boeing employees responsible for providing oversight, raising safety concerns and otherwise representing the agency’s interests. In a letter to the company last week, the official, Ian Won, said that the FAA’s review was based on a recent survey of a few dozen of the 1,400 Boeing employees who work on the agency’s behalf through a program called Organization Designation Authorization. Boeing’s structure appears “to provide a strong influence” over how those employees are appointed, managed and allowed to work, he said, providing “ample opportunity for interference rather than independence.” “These concerns require an objective review and further fact finding,” Won wrote in the letter. The agency’s reliance on company employees to review regulatory compliance has been criticized as allowing the aviation industry to police itself. But defenders say the arrangement is necessary because the FAA lacks the resources for thorough oversight of the sprawling industry. Last week’s letter was based on a survey of 32 employees in May and June. Nearly a dozen workers complained or shared stories that suggested Boeing had made it difficult for them to act with independence, the agency said. According to excerpts from the survey responses, the concerns included finding that management would stall when design issues were raised so that the company could continue delivering planes and feeling that a manager would shop around for approval if an employee didn’t provide it. Boeing said it took the concerns seriously.<br/>
Federal authorities want passengers to know that thousands of violent outbursts on commercial flights are not only a problem for flight attendants, but they distract pilots from keeping the entire flight safe. In a Tuesday public service announcement video, the FAA says, "You don't want your pilots distracted. Unruly behavior doesn't fly." The FAA says the dramatic video features actual recordings of flight crews informing air traffic controllers of emergency situations in the passenger cabin, interspersed with audio of in-flight scuffles that continue to surface on social media. "We've got a disruptive customer in the back," says the voice of one unidentified flight crew in the video. "Declared an emergency, we'd like to divert." The new video comes as the number of unruly passengers on board commercial flights continues to soar. New FAA numbers released Tuesday show there have been 3,988 reports by flight crews this year, an increase of 99 reports in the last week. More than 73% of the reports are over the federal transportation mask mandate, which was just extended to remain in place through January 18, 2022. "The moment that it happens in the back, the attention of the whole crew goes to that," American Airlines' Captain Dennis Tajer, of the Allied Pilots Association, told CNN. "The first thing you want to do is not distract from your primary duties," chief of which is "keeping this airplane safe."<br/>
President Joe Biden is sticking to the deadline he set for evacuations from the Kabul airport, according to a senior administration official, leaving less than a week to fly out thousands of people from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The decision means Biden rebuffed calls from the US’s closest allies to extend the Aug. 31 deadline during a meeting of the Group of Seven leaders Tuesday. The virtual summit convened by UK PM Boris Johnson was likely the last chance to persuade the president to push back the date to complete the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. Civilian evacuations at Kabul airport must now end within the next few days to allow enough time to get remaining US and other troops out. The fate of foreigners and Afghans whose ties to outside powers leave them vulnerable to reprisals dominated the buildup to the meeting. That point was underscored earlier in the day when Zabihullah Mujahed, a Taliban spokesman, told a press conference that “the Islamic Emirate is really trying to control the situation. The airport is now closed and Afghans are not allowed to go there now. Only foreigners are allowed to go.” The Pentagon has committed as much as one-third of its total mobility air forces fleet to Operation Allies Refuge -- more than 230 aircraft, including C-17 and C-5 transports, KC-10 and KC-135 tankers and a small number of newer KC-46 refuelers, according to Air Mobility Command figures. <br/>
When several US carriers were activated to help with the evacuation efforts in Afghanistan, they were quick to say that the operations would not impact their businesses. It turns out that the flights, part of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet and ordered by the Pentagon on August 22, may actually boost participating airline revenues in the third quarter — a period when revenues otherwise face downward pressure from the Covid-19 Delta variant. Each civil reserve fleet carrier flies under a “cost-plus” contract, or one where the Department of Defense pays the costs of the flights plus a previously agreed to profit margin. In addition, participation gives carriers preferential treatment for non-civil reserve military charter contracts. At least American Airlines, Delta, Hawaiian Airlines and United are participating moving Afghanistan evacuees. “These are probably good opportunities for them to be able to fly those aircraft and get paid for it,” said Daniel Friedenzohn, an associate dean and professor of aeronautical science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. In non-pandemic times, activation could be a drag on airlines’ earnings. The logistics of taking large, wide-body aircraft out of their regular schedule can be disruptive, and the cost-plus contracts can be worth less than flying the planes on lucrative long-haul routes where travelers can pay thousands of dollars for posh lie-flat seats. But these are not normal times. Long-haul international travel down as much as 40% per trade group Airlines for America, and American, Delta, Hawaiian and United are all utilizing their wide-body jets less than in normal times. Story has more.<br/>
Britain wants to see a functioning airport in Afghanistan after the departure of troops, Sky News reported on Tuesday, citing comments by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab’s briefing to UK lawmakers. "If we want to do this in a more managed way and really take the steep angle off the cliff edge, what we really could do with is the Taliban being able to run a functional airport in Kabul," Raab was quoted as saying by Sky News. “I’m sure there will be various neighbouring countries that will want to see if they can help them keep that airport open or indeed whether they want to get in members of the previous government, or the officials, to do that job”, he said.<br/>
Australian airlines were again forced to cancel thousands of flights throughout July as Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs COVID outbreak began to cross domestic borders. According to the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics On-Time Performance report, a total of 31.8% of all scheduled flights were cancelled in July, with 9,351 flights cancelled. It nears the 9,406 flights that were cancelled in June, almost 25 per cent of all scheduled flights for the month, following the beginning of the Delta outbreak in Sydney mid-June. June was noted by BITRE as seeing the highest number of flights cancelled in one month since reporting began in 2003. While most states had already slammed their borders shut to NSW travellers in June, the sustained high levels of cancellations came as over 12 million Australians were plunged into lockdown, as the virus spread between states. By mid-July, South Australia, Queensland and Victoria had all introduced snap ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown orders. Compared to July 2020, when the country began to exit its first nationwide lockdown, just 4.4% of flights were cancelled, according to BITRE.<br/>
Uber-style flying taxis are set to be launched in Melbourne within the next five years, according to Florida based company Eve Urban Air Mobility. At an announcement made fittingly in Melbourne, Florida on Monday (local time), the company - which is owned by aircraft manufacturer Embraer - said it planned to launch the flying vehicles across Southeast Asia in 2026 as part of a partnership with Ascent Flights Global. The EVA branded vehicles will first launch in key cities such as Bangkok, Manila, Melbourne, Singapore and Tokyo. New Zealand is not currently included in the rollout plan. The vehicles will be available through an Uber-like app.<br/>