Travel companies are set for the busiest weekend of the year as holiday bookings surged following the UK government’s announcement Friday that it would ease travel curbs for the fully vaccinated. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the current traffic light system of red, amber and green countries would be scrapped for England from Oct. 4 and replaced by a simplified red list of countries with high infection rates. “Even though the changes were announced late on Friday, bookings surged, making it one of the busiest days of the year,” David Child, spokesperson for online travel company Thomas Cook Group PLC, said in a phone interview. “We’re looking at this weekend being the busiest of the year so far.” Airline stocks had already climbed in anticipation of the UK easing restrictions, with Ryanair Holdings and British Airways owner IAG both rising around 9% in recent days and EasyJet up 11%. Alan French, UK CEO of Thomas Cook, predicts a rush to book last-minute and October half-term deals, with reservations for next month up more than 200% compared to August. From Oct. 4, fully vaccinated travelers arriving in England from a non-red designated country will not need a pre-departure screening. Later in October, the restrictions will be eased further with the option for the ‘Day 2’ PCR to be replaced by a cheaper lateral flow test. The number of red-list countries will also be cut by eight from Wednesday. Holiday hotspots including Turkey and the Maldives are among destinations opening up, alongside Egypt, Oman, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Kenya and Sri Lanka. “We would now welcome the government working with other countries and international bodies to align vaccination certification and travel rules so that our customers can start looking ahead to holidays around the world – especially the US,” French said Friday.<br/>
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Regulators in Asian hubs like Singapore and Hong Kong have threatened to retaliate against European Union plans to force airlines to start using take-off and landing slots frozen during the coronavirus pandemic, a move that could oblige Europe's carriers to fly empty seats for thousands of miles at a loss. Authorities controlling slots at major Asian airports are ready to slap similar 'use it or lose it' conditions on European carriers flying to Asia's cities - raising the prospect of an industry trade war over the uneven impact of COVID-19. After rare unity during the pandemic, when carriers were being bailed out or trying to stay afloat, industry leaders say the dispute has rekindled fundamental differences across a fragmented sector as the world stages a multi-speed recovery. "Is it a trade war? Certainly the germ of one," said former Australian aviation negotiator Peter Harbison, chairman emeritus of the Sydney-based CAPA Centre for Aviation consultancy. "And it will be accentuated as more airlines collapse and international markets remain closed, or at best, uncertain." Tensions have grown since July, when the EU announced plans to force airlines to use 50% of their rights or lose them to rivals from next month. That move partially reinstated competition rules that had been waived as airlines struggled to survive the pandemic.<br/>
Following a dip in the COVID-19 case in the country, the Ministry of Civil Aviation on Saturday increased the passenger capacity from 72.5 to 85%. In an official notification, the ministry said the decision was taken after a review of the current status of scheduled domestic operations viz-a-viz passenger demand for air travel. "After review of the current status of scheduled domestic operations viz-a-viz passenger demand for air travel in terms of the purpose specified in the initial order dated May 21, 2020, condition laid down in para 2 of the order dated May 21, 2020, as last amended on dated August 12, 2021, is further modified as under: 72.5% capacity may be read as 85% capacity," the order said. The Ministry said the new order will take effect from the date of issue and will be applicable until further order.<br/>
The federal government has announced it will give another $184m to international aviation to tide the sector over until March 2022. The money will primarily include a continuation of JobKeeper-style payments to pilots and cabin crew that was originally due to expire next month, as well as a further $64m for airports to pay for screening of passengers and baggage. It comes weeks after Qantas and Jetstar revealed it will reinstate international schedules in mid-December between Australia and low-risk countries such as Singapore, the US, Japan, the UK, Canada and Fiji. The news that payments will continue suggests the government is anticipating a staggered opening of borders to different countries. Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce, who oversees transport policy, said, “As a driver of so many sectors of our economy, it is essential that the industry is ready to ramp up operations when international restrictions are eased. It’s also important that the sector continues operating now, to maintain the flow of exports and imports and bring Australians home from overseas.”<br/>
The multibillion-pound business of buying and selling commercial aircraft was put on hold during the Covid-19 pandemic. But a rare public spat between Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary and Boeing over the Irish airline’s latest order of 737 Max 10 jets shows the high stakes game is sputtering back to life. It is also a sign that the aircraft market is reviving as airlines return to the negotiating table to place orders for passenger jets in anticipation of the return of more passengers. The pandemic has hit aviation hard, with Boeing saying the virus has cost the industry two years of growth. The breakdown of talks with O’Leary over a new batch of Max 10 jets shows a more confident approach from the US manufacturer, according to industry watchers. “It is good for the industry that Boeing is showing some price discipline. The Max is a good aircraft. They shouldn’t be pressured by O’Leary into giving it away,” said John Leahy, former commercial director at Airbus. Boeing has remained reticent about the disagreement with O’Leary, only noting that it valued Ryanair’s business but had to exercise discipline. A large new order for the Max would have boosted the US group as it continues to build confidence in the aircraft after two fatal crashes. The company has won a series of orders this year, including for 150 of the Max 10 from United Airlines. It has also reduced the backlog of Max jets that had been built but did not have buyers to about a couple of dozen, according to market watchers. “Over the past year or so, Boeing has been going through the friends and family of the Max and offered a good price to help it clear the backlog of Maxes. All existing buyers bought some more,” said Rob Stallard, an analyst at Vertical Research Partners. Across the industry, although the recovery in traffic is patchy, airlines have returned to ordering new planes. Story has more. <br/>
Royal Dutch Shell plans to start producing low-carbon jet fuel at scale by 2025, in an attempt to encourage the world’s airlines to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Aviation, accounting for 3% of the world’s carbon emissions, is considered one of the toughest sectors to tackle due to a lack of alternative technologies to jet fueled-engines. Shell, one of the world’s largest oil traders, said it aims to produce 2m tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) by 2025, a ten-fold increase from today’s total global output. Produced from waste cooking oil, plants and animal fats, SAF could cut up to 80% of aviation emissions, Shell said. Shell, which at present only supplies SAF produced by others, including Finnish refiner Neste, said on Monday it wants green jet fuel, which can be blended with regular aviation fuel with little need to change plane engines, to make up 10% of its global aviation fuel sales by 2030. SAF accounts for less than 0.1% of today’s global aviation fuel demand, which reached around 330m tonnes in 2019, investment bank Jefferies said. Growing the market faces several hurdles, primarily due to the cost of SAF, which is currently up to 8 times higher than regular jet fuel, and the limited availability of feedstock. Shell said it wants others to follow its lead. “We also expect other companies to add to it with their own production plants,” said Anna Mascolo, head of Shell Aviation.<br/>
Bill Franke has spent 20 years disproving Warren Buffett’s adage that airlines are a “death trap for investors”. But as a novice private equity executive touting his first fund in 2002, he struggled to persuade big investors and pension funds to pour money into a notoriously cyclical and unpredictable industry. “They were all like ‘not in the airline industry’,” Franke said. Two decades later, the 84-year-old Franke is considered by some to be the most successful airline investor in history after buying stakes in a clutch of small carriers and pushing them into rapid growth by installing the ultra-low-cost business model pioneered by Southwest in the US and Ryanair in Europe. While passengers often chafe at the no-frills model, which includes piling seats into aircraft and charging for add-ons, this part of the industry is expected to emerge strengthened by the pandemic, reinforcing Franke’s reputation further as the Buffett of the airline business. Franke’s Indigo Partners owns stakes in six airlines, including Frontier in the US, Volaris in Mexico and Canada’s Enerjet. But it is Hungarian airline Wizz Air, which is 40% owned by Indigo and chaired by Franke, that has caught the imagination of a battered industry. Wizz hopes to use the crisis for a breakneck growth spurt, and its ambitions were underlined when an audacious bid for easyJet was revealed, and rejected, last week. Franke would not discuss easyJet, but said Indigo was “actively considering opportunities” as the airline industry emerges from the chaos unleashed by Covid. “It is a time for the industry to look at consolidation, and we would clearly want to be a consolidator [buyer],” he said. Wizz CE József Váradi has also been offered an eye-catching GBP100m bonus if he can more than double the share price over the next five years. “That’s typical Bill,” said John Leahy, the former head of sales for aircraft manufacturer Airbus, who has had first-hand experience in negotiations with Franke as a seller of passenger jets to his airlines. “It won’t pay out unless [Váradi] delivers and if he doubles the stock price, then Bill is willing to share,” he said. Story has more.<br/>