The Biden administration will lift travel restrictions starting in November for foreigners who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, reopening the country to thousands of people, including those who have been separated from family in the United States during the pandemic, and easing a major source of tension with Europe. The halt to the 18-month ban on travel from 33 countries, including members of the European Union, China, Iran, South Africa, Brazil and India, could help rejuvenate a US tourism industry that has been crippled by the pandemic. The industry suffered a $500b loss in travel expenditures in 2020, according to the US Travel Association, a trade group that promotes travel to and within the United States. In New York City alone, the lack of tourists wiped out 89,000 jobs and resulted in a loss of more than $60b in revenue, the state comptroller found. “Everyone says New York is back, New York is back, but it’s not really back until tourists are back from all countries,” said Leyla Saleh, 28, a pastry chef whose father was forced to shut down his gift shop in Midtown Manhattan last year because he did not have enough business. Foreign travelers will need to show proof of vaccination before boarding and a negative coronavirus test within three days of coming to the United States, Jeffrey D. Zients, the White House pandemic coordinator, said on Monday. Unvaccinated Americans who want to travel home from overseas will have to clear stricter testing requirements. They will need to test negative for the coronavirus one day before traveling to the United States and show proof that they have bought a test to take after arriving in the United States, Zients said.<br/>
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US airlines will benefit from the Biden administration's decision on Monday to reopen the country to fully-vaccinated air travelers from around the world, experts said, but the outlook for lucrative business travel was less certain. Lifting restrictions will allow tens of thousands of foreign nationals to fly to the US. It also gives the big three air carriers, American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, a chance to recover part of their trans-Atlantic business. Moody's Investors Service estimates the White House decision would result in a "stronger" operating cash flow at US airlines in the next six months. Trans-Atlantic flights accounted for 11% to 17% of their 2019 passenger revenues. Overall, international travel generated 26% to 38% of revenue for the three airlines in 2019, said Colin Scarola, vice president equity research at CFRA Research. Scarola added "the international category has been the one that really hasn't recovered much at all." The lifting of restrictions coincides with the onset of winter season, historically a lean period for international travel. Scarola said the decision would encourage companies to approve overseas business trips, yet the fight against COVID-19 was more important and he does not expect international travel to rebound to pre-pandemic level before late 2022. Savanthi Syth, an analyst at Raymond James, called the White House's decision an "incremental positive" that would give US carriers clarity for next year's summer travel season. Yet it did not prompt her to revise her financial estimates for them or the outlook for air-travel.<br/>
The US travel industry breathed a sigh of relief on Monday after the Biden administration said it would ease longstanding restrictions on international travelers, allowing those who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus to visit the country beginning in November. The 18-month travel ban on travelers from Europe, China, Iran, South Africa, Brazil and India has been crippling for the industry, which suffered a $500b loss in travel expenditures in 2020, including a 79% decease in spending from international travel, according to the US Travel Association, a trade group that promotes travel to and within the country. There were 19.4m international visitors to the United States in 2020, less than one-quarter of the number who visited in 2019. Unvaccinated travelers from many countries, including Mexico, Canada and Japan, who have been permitted to travel to the United States before Monday’s announcement will not be allowed in once the new proclamation takes effect. Roger Dow, the president of the US Travel Association, praised the lifting of the restrictions on vaccinated travelers. “The US Travel Association applauds the Biden administration’s announcement of a road map to reopen air travel to vaccinated individuals from around the world, which will help revive the American economy and protect public health,” he said Monday. “This is a major turning point in the management of the virus and will accelerate the recovery of the millions of travel-related jobs that have been lost due to international travel restrictions.”<br/>
The United States' decision to lift restrictions on incoming travellers vaccinated against Covid-19 was met with a sigh of a relief by the global airline sector, which has been dealt a body blow by the pandemic. With transatlantic flights traditionally among the most lucrative for Europe's biggest airlines, the announcement on Monday (Sept 20) was "formidable news" for a sector that has haemorrhaged tens of billions of euros over the past 18 months, Air France-KLM chief Benjamin Smith said. For most of Europe's flag carriers - such as Air France, British Airways and Lufthansa - the restrictions on long-haul routes across the Atlantic were particularly hard to swallow. Air France-KLM, for example, generates 40% of its sales from its North Atlantic services, and for Germany's Lufthansa, the proportion is 50%. "Today's news... marks an historic moment," said BA chief Sean Doyle. "Our customers should now feel that the world is reopening to them and they can book their trips with confidence." US airlines such as United, Delta and American are much more domestically orientated and less dependent on international services, which account for 25 to 30% of revenues. But they, too, welcomed the news. "Today's announcement marks a positive step in our nation's recovery," said the head of the industry association Airlines for America Nicholas Calio. Sister organisation Airlines for Europe tweeted that it similarly "applauds the decision", which would "give a much-needed boost to trans-Atlantic traffic & #tourism and will reunite families and friends". The IATA described it as "a major step forward".<br/>
Two senior US Senate Democrats urged Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday to investigate and prosecute unruly air passengers in the face of a rising number of incidents onboard airplanes. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin and Commerce Committee chair Maria Cantwell called on the Justice Department and FAA to coordinate efforts to "ensure qualifying passenger behavior is criminally prosecuted." "Civil penalties alone are failing to deter criminal activity by airline passengers," Durbin and Cantwell wrote in the letter to the FAA. The FAA and Justice Depatment did not immediately comment. In June, a group representing major US airlines and aviation unions also asked Garland to prosecute the growing number of disruptive and violent air passengers. The letter from Airlines for America said the "incidents pose a safety and security threat to our passengers and employees, and we respectfully request the (Justice Department) commit to the full and public prosecution of onboard acts of violence."<br/>
The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) is proposing to lift the operational ban on the Boeing 737 Max, and expects China and Indonesia — two key markets in Asia-Pacific where the type is still grounded — to do the same by end-September. In a 20 September notice, the CAAV says it has written in to the country’s transport ministry to allow it to “carry out the necessary procedures” to recertify the type. The agency did not provide any timeline. Vietnam in April allowed overflight of the 737 Max, a month after the CAAV first submitted a proposal to the government. While no Vietnamese operators currently operate the type, low-cost carrier VietJet has a significant 737 Max orderbook — Cirium fleets data shows it has 200 examples on order. In its latest announcement, the CAAV says it is continuing to work with Boeing representatives to get the aircraft back into operation. It notes the evaluations carried out by safety regulators in other regions, as well as the operational performance of the type since its return to service. If Vietnam lifts the grounding of the 737 Max, it will be the third Southeast Asian nation, after Malaysia and Singapore, to do so.<br/>
Veteran aircraft-leasing executive Steven Udvar-Hazy warned Airbus and Boeing to avoid creating a glut of unwanted planes as they race to lift production following the easing of coronavirus travel curbs. Accelerating build rates too quickly could result in surpluses that damage aircraft values, making such a move “one of the biggest dangers” facing the aviation sector, the Air Lease Corp. founder and chairman said Monday at an Airline Economics conference in London. “Overproduction is not something that’s good for the airline industry, because it’s going to drag down residual values, it’s going to result in surpluses that the airline industry cannot really afford,” he said. Airbus said in May it would lift production of its best-selling A320 jets beyond pre-pandemic levels within two years. Boeing, which is starting to emerge from a deep slump triggered by the grounding of its 737 Max model after two fatal crashes, plans to double output of the single-aisle jets by early next year. Udvar-Hazy said he doesn’t expect any “dramatic new aircraft introductions” until the 2030s with the current generation of jetliner engines having pushed the limits in terms of fuel efficiencies. He said he’s not sure whether Boeing will go ahead with a model to replace the 757 in mid-distance markets.<br/>
Aircraft leasing companies are for the first time buying more of the world's passenger planes than airlines after the pandemic clobbered carriers around the world, senior industry executives said on Monday. The historic shift, following decades of gradual growth, is down to leasing giants being able to access cheaper financing than carriers in another sign of the financial woes facing much of the airline industry, they said. Aircraft lessors, who buy planes from manufacturers like Airbus SE (AIR.PA) and Boeing Co (BA.N) and lease them on to airlines, had accounted for around 40-45% of aircraft deliveries before the pandemic, said industry pioneer Steven Udvar-Hazy. "Leased content has grown to around 60% of deliveries," Udvar-Hazy, executive chairman of lessor Air Lease Corp, told the Airline Economics conference in London. Udvar-Hazy, who said he remembered the sector providing finance for just 1% of deliveries when he helped pioneer the industry in the early 1970s, said it was hard to say if the number could go higher.<br/>
AerCap expects further consolidation in the global aircraft leasing sector after its takeover of General Electric’s leasing business, a senior executive said on Monday. The combination of the world’s two largest aircraft leasing companies, which will rank as the largest buyer of airliners built by Airbus and Boeing, is due to be completed by the end of the year. Asked if he expected further consolidation in the industry, which helps finance $150 billion of aircraft every year, Chief Commercial Officer Peter Anderson said: “I do ... and frankly it would be welcome. There is enough room in this industry for several large players.” “We welcome some discipline, rational competition in the market,” he added, speaking to the Airline Economics conference in London. “There are some great platforms out there. Who buys who is a completely different question which I don’t know the answer to.”<br/>