Heavy rains fell across the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana on Tuesday as tropical storm Nicholas strengthened into a hurricane and spun toward land, bringing the threat of widespread flooding, power outages and storm surges. Nicholas was some 30 km southeast of Matagorda, Texas as of 10 p.m. central time, heading northeast with maximum sustained winds of 120 kph, the National Hurricane Center said in a bulletin on Monday night. US President Joe Biden declared an emergency for Louisiana and ordered federal assistance to supplement local response efforts due to conditions resulting from Nicholas, the White House said. Hundreds of flights were canceled or delayed at airports in Corpus Christi and Houston.<br/>
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Britain's Health Secretary Sajid Javid signalled on Tuesday that a requirement for expensive PCR tests for COVID-19 for international travellers arriving in Britain would be dropped in favour of cheaper lateral-flow-tests. Asked by a lawmaker if lateral flow tests could be used for initial screening, with the small proportion of positive cases then needing a PCR test, Javid said: "I don't want to pre-empt the statement of my right honourable friend the transport secretary but I believe when he makes that statement that my honourable friend will be pleased." Javid said on Sunday he wanted to "get rid of" PCR tests as soon as possible. read more Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is due to issue an update on England's transport rules this week.<br/>
Qatar warned Tuesday it would not take responsibility for Kabul airport without "clear" agreements with all involved, including the Taliban, about its operations. Doha has become a key broker in Afghanistan following last month's withdrawal of US forces, helping evacuate thousands of foreigners and Afghans, engaging the new Taliban rulers and supporting operations at Kabul airport. "We need to make sure that everything is addressed very clearly otherwise... we are not able to take any responsibility of the airport (if) all these things are not addressed," Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said. "Right now the status is still (under) negotiation because we need to have an agreement that's clear for everyone for all the parties and who is going to take care of the technical (side), who's going to take care of the security aspects. There is a possibility for collaboration with other countries if needed, but until now the discussion is only among us and Turkey and the Taliban." Since the US pullout, Qatar Airways planes have made several trips to Kabul, flying in aid and Doha's representatives and ferrying out foreign passport holders.<br/>
New local COVID-19 infections more than doubled in China's southeastern province of Fujian, health authorities said on Tuesday, prompting officials to quickly roll out measures including travel restrictions to halt the spread of the virus. The National Health Commission said 59 new locally transmitted cases were reported for Sept. 13, up from 22 infections a day earlier. All of them were in Fujian, a province bordered by Zhejiang to the north and Guangdong to the south. In just four days, a total of 102 community infections have been reported in three Fujian cities, including Xiamen, a tourist and transport hub with a population of 5m. China's air passenger traffic plunged 51.5% in August from a year earlier, data released on Tuesday showed, highlighting the vulnerability of Chinese airlines to repeated outbreaks even though COVID-19 is largely under control in the country.<br/>
China’s aviation regulator advised against international travel during national holidays later this month and in October due to coronavirus outbreaks overseas and the low volume of international flights. Prior to the pandemic, Chinese travelers were major sources of tourist income for countries globally, but numbers have dropped sharply due to the virus and tight restrictions on movement even as places such as Europe reopen. Domestic air travel has been more robust, though that hasn’t been immune to outbreaks and subsequent clampdowns. Passenger volume slumped over 50% from a year earlier to 22.4 million trips in August, largely because of a Covid flareup in Nanjing, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said Tuesday. China now faces another outbreak in the southeastern province of Fujian and has locked down the city of Xiamen. Still, CAAC said domestic air traffic will increase in October from summer. Public holidays are looming, with Mid-Autumn festival from Sept. 19 to 21 followed by the National Day break from Oct. 1 to 7. <br/>
The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has outlined a three-stage plan to restore domestic traffic, as Vietnam works towards reining in the coronavirus pandemic ravaging the country. The plan, which has been submitted to Vietnam’s transport ministry, will involve capacity limits, as well as other mandatory requirements for passengers and crew members. Underpinning the move to resume domestic flying is the need to “promote economic recovery”, and follows similar comments made by Vietnamese prime minister Pham Minh Chinh who on 6 September said that his government was looking at “gradually reopening economic activities in safe areas”, while keeping the pandemic under control. Vietnam has imposed domestic travel restrictions through July and August, as the country experienced a record spike in fresh infections, caused by the more contagious Delta variant. Under its latest plans to restore domestic traffic, the CAAV has outline three phases of reopening, with capacity limits benchmarked against April levels, before the latest wave. Story has details.<br/>
Foreign airlines won’t be able to ramp up operations to meet the mass reopening of international travel into Sydney when 80% vaccination is reached because they will need several months to recall laid off staff and retrieve planes that have been parked in deserts. Barry Abrams, the executive director of the Board of Airline Representatives of Australia, said that airlines continued to be left in the dark about what the new rules and passenger limits would be, leaving them stuck “in a holding pattern” unable to commence planning for resuming routes. Passenger allowances were a key factor for airlines in determining the financial viability of their routes, and Abrams warned that carriers that had not flown to the country in more than a year had not yet begun allocating aircraft or staff to Australian routes, nor had they begun renegotiating contracts with ground handling crews and local supply businesses. His warning comes as Singapore Airlines confirmed it would be further cutting the number of flights flying into Australia, blaming a lack of certainty over plans to lift passenger caps for the move which will see dozens of flights cancelled before the Christmas period.<br/>
Boeing said on Tuesday it handed over 22 airplanes to buyers in August as revived domestic travel fuels 737 Max deliveries, and received orders for seven 787s even as the program for that jet remains hobbled by industrial defects. The closely watched monthly orders and deliveries snapshot comes as Boeing bids to recoup billions of dollars in lost sales from the coronavirus pandemic, and move beyond the safety scandal caused by two fatal 737 Max crashes. Of the 22 jetliners handed over to airlines and other buyers last month, 14 were 737 Max jets and two were P-8 maritime patrol aircraft. The remaining six jets were widebodies, including three KC-46 tankers for the US Air Force. For the year to date, Boeing has delivered 206 aircraft. Airbus delivered 40 jets in August to bring supplies of its new jets to 384 since the start of the year, remaining broadly on course to meet an annual goal of 600 deliveries, which would preserve its crown as the No. 1 aircraft manufacturer. Through the end of August, gross orders for Boeing aircraft totaled 683, up 53 from July. Factoring in canceled orders or instances where a buyer converted an order to a different model, Boeing sold 280 aircraft.<br/>
Boeing says it expects that it will take another two and a half years for global aviation to return to pre-pandemic levels. Its vice president of commercial marketing, Darren Hulst, said: "The industry recovers to 2019 levels of traffic by the end of 2023, early 2024" and domestic flying would be at the forefront of any recovery. Long-haul international routes would take the longest to recover, according to Boeing's forecast, partly because of government restrictions. Boeing says these will need to be eased to enable "the recovery of the pent up demand that exists already in the marketplace". Last year, passenger numbers fell 60% to 1.8b and the industry lost $126b, according to the airline body IATA, which said it was the worst year on record. Boeing says that the strength of the global economy is key to recovering from the slump. Using data from IHS Economics it says that "the global economy is actually trending back towards where it would have been had the virus not actually happened".<br/>
Energy group Eni and Atlantia's airport unit Aeroporti di Roma have signed an agreement to develop biofuel for aviation to fight climate change, the two Italian groups said on Tuesday. Airports operators and airlines are under pressure to contribute to the EU's goal to cut economy-wide net carbon emissions by 55% by 2030 from 1990 levels. In July, the EC proposed to force suppliers to blend a minimum of 2% of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) into their kerosene from 2025, rising to 5% in 2030 and 63% in 2050. Eni and ADR said they would work together on decarbonisation and digitalisation projects for the airports managed by ADR, including Rome's Fiumicino and Ciampino. Under the agreement, ADR plans to introduce sustainable fuels for aviation and ground handling at Rome airports in the coming months. "We are deeply committed to ensuring carriers have access to biofuels in the coming months, ahead of expectations," ADR CE Marco Troncone said, speaking of Rome's two airports, which are both managed by the company. Eni has been converting its refineries in Italy to produce biofuels as part of its drive to become net carbon neutral by 2050.<br/>
Bombardier has dropped the curtain on a cabin mock-up of a refreshed version of its Challenger 350 super-midsize business jet – a new variant called the Challenger 3500, for service entry in the second half of 2022. The company revealed the Challenger 3500 development programme on 14 September during an event at the jet’s production facility in Montreal. Bombardier is giving the Challenger a modern cabin – complete with features standard on larger-cabin aircraft like the manufacturer’s Globals. It is also making a few technical changes. Those include reducing the Challenger’s cabin-pressure altitude and equipping the jet with its first auto-throttle system. The 3500’s performance specifications remain unchanged from the 350, which entered service in 2014. The 3500 will be a 10-passenger jet powered by twin Honeywell HTF7350 engines, with 5,926km of range and top speed of March 0.83. The 3500 will cost $26.7m. “We are raising the bar on our competition with a refreshed product,” says Bombardier chief executive Eric Martel. Business jet manufacturers often promote the range and speed of their products. But, at the end of the day, a jet’s “cabin is the most important”, Martel insists.<br/>