Afghanistan’s plunge into chaos, isolation and near-destitution under its newly ascendant Taliban rulers appeared to slow on Thursday, with the first significant moves to salvage Kabul’s inoperable airport, an increased flow of UN aid and word that international money transfers had resumed to the country, where many banks are shuttered. But these developments did not signal any diminished suspicion toward the Taliban, the hard-line movement of Islamic extremists, many of them on terrorist watch lists, who seized power last month after two decades of war against an American-led military coalition and the government the United States had propped up. And despite expectations that the Taliban leaders now ensconced in Kabul’s presidential palace would formally announce the makeup of a new government on Thursday, the anticipated announcement was delayed. The desperate, sometimes deadly confusion at Kabul’s international airport, came to symbolize the Biden administration’s hasty American pullout which officially ended on Monday night. The airport remained closed to the public on Thursday, its hangars strewn with debris and some aircraft damaged by shrapnel, bullets and vandalism, but the Taliban permitted reporters inside, where security personnel and technicians from Qatar who had been sent to help reopen the airport were busy. Teams of Qataris ferried back and forth in armored Land Cruisers at the airport’s VIP terminal under a giant billboard of Ashraf Ghani, the former president who fled abroad on Aug. 15 as Taliban fighters entered Kabul all but unopposed. “The airport will open very soon,” said Daoud Sharifi, the chief operating officer of Kam Air, Afghanistan’s largest privately owned airline, which basically shut down even before the Taliban triumphed more than two weeks ago.<br/>
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The Dutch government wants to support Turkey and Qatar in attempts to re-open Kabul airport to resume evacuations from Afghanistan, the country’s foreign minister said on Thursday. Sigrid Kaag said the country was willing to provide E1m in funding, and if necessary, personnel, toward attempts to resume rescue flights. Qatar Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said on Thursday the Gulf state was talking with the Taliban and working with Turkey for potential technical support to restart operations at the airport.<br/>
Missing workers are turning out to be as big a headache for airlines as missing luggage. US carriers hoping to build out flight schedules face headwinds from unfilled jobs and, in the case of Southwest Airlines, a surprising spike in staffing no-shows. The industry is hiring thousands pilots and flight attendants more than a year after trimming jobs as travel collapsed with the coronavirus pandemic. Reservation agents also are high in demand. But the need -- and the challenge -- is greatest for entry-level jobs like baggage handlers, ticket counter and gate agents, cabin cleaners, aircraft fuelers and folks who restock galleys. “Ground ops is where we’re finding the greatest competition for workers,” Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said. “The fact that we can hire one or two is encouraging, but you still can’t grow any faster than the slowest group.” Gary Peterson, an international vice president of the Transport Workers Union, said all the carriers are struggling to hire. “Airlines used to be a place where people flocked to work because the pay was good, the benefits were good. Today there are so many other options,” he said.<br/>
Family members of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, airplane attacks asked a US government watchdog on Thursday to investigate their suspicions that the FBI lied about or destroyed evidence linking Saudi Arabia to the hijackers. The request in a letter to Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz said "circumstances make it likely that one or more FBI officials committed willful misconduct with intent to destroy or secrete evidence to avoid its disclosure." The Federal Bureau of Investigation declined to comment on the letter. The latest in a series of requests over the 20 years since Islamist militants crashed civilian airliners in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, seeks evidence including phone records and a videotape of a party in California attended by two of the hijackers more than a year before the attacks. "Given the importance of the missing evidence at issue to the 9/11 investigation, as well as the repeated mishandling by the FBI of that evidence, an innocent explanation is not believable," said the letter, signed by about 3,500 people - families of victims, first responders and survivors. It asked Horowitz to investigate FBI statements made in response to a subpoena from the families that the agency "lost or is simply no longer able to find key evidence about the individuals who provided substantial support inside the US to the 9/11 hijackers."<br/>
Free movement around Europe is being compromised by the failure of some EU member states to harmonise their Covid-19 entry requirements, holding back the travel industry’s recovery, IATA has warned. The airline association’s research finds that 30% of states using the EU’s Digital Covid Certificate do not accept rapid testing, while 19% do not exempt children from testing, and 41% do not allow vaccinated travellers from non-EU ‘white list’ countries to enter. Additionally, 11% of countries only accept paper versions of passenger locator forms, while a similar proportion have no locator forms at all. “It’s essential that European states come together on Covid-19 travel procedures,” states IATA’s regional VP for Europe, Rafael Schvartzman. “The good work done by the Commission and the states to develop the DCC is being wasted by a mess of unharmonised regulations.”<br/>
Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian gas giant Gazprom , has started to move away from the US dollar to China's yuan in settlements for fuelling planes in China, Gazprom Neft's CEO Alexander Dyukov said on Friday. The deal has been reached with China's national jet fuel operator, he said. "We start from September and may switch to all the settlements on jet fuel to yuan," Dyukov said. He also said that Chinese airlines in Russian airports may soon make their payments for buying fuel in Russian roubles. Russia and China have long planned to increase settlements in their local currencies in mutual trade. Moscow has been pushing for a greater role of the rouble on the global financial market and, eventually, as some form of a reserve currency. Beijing is also seeking a greater international role for the still tightly-controlled yuan. Dyukov said the company and the Chinese operator plan to double total volumes of aircraft fuelling both in Russia and China to 250,000 tonnes by 2025.<br/>
The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) has lifted a ban on operating Boeing’s 737 MAX passenger jet after more than two years, it said in a statement on Thursday. Malaysia suspended the aircraft in March 2019 after it was grounded worldwide following two deadly crashes. CAAM lifted the suspension as it released a new safety directive applicable to Malaysian and foreign air operators on Thursday. On the 737 MAX, the regulator said it had been closely monitoring the approval process and extensive work undertaken, particularly from Boeing and the US FAA, and accepted the comprehensive return-to-service requirements set by the FAA for the plane. <br/>
Auckland Airport will only hire staff vaccinated against Covid-19 in future and existing frontline staff without the jab face losing their jobs. In a move it says will help strengthen New Zealand's defence against the spread of Covid-19, it has drafted new employment contracts for any future employees joining the company to include a vaccine requirement, including those working in non-front-line roles. General manager corporate services Mary-Liz Tuck said the vaccination requirement would be added to standard employment terms in contracts which cover convictions and drug use. Some emergency service staff already have to have hepatitis jabs before getting a job at the airport. "We accept that views will differ and not everyone will agree with our position, but the safety and wellbeing of our people comes first, and we will continue to make the decisions that we think are right to protect our people and the community from the spread of Covid-19."<br/>
Virgin Galactic space planes, which the British billionaire Richard Branson used to launch his journey into space in July, have been temporarily grounded by the US FAA while it conducts an investigation into an issue that occurred during the 11 July flight. “Virgin Galactic may not return the SpaceShipTwo vehicle to flight until the FAA approves the final mishap investigation report or determines the issues related to the mishap do not affect public safety,” the FAA said Thursday. The announcement came shortly after an investigation was initiated into the 11 July incident with Branson’s flight on his own spaceship, which “deviated from its air traffic control clearance” as it was landing back on American soil, according to the FAA.<br/>