general

IATA figures show the impact of Covid-related slowdowns in key domestic markets, notably China, contributed to a faltering in the overall passenger traffic recovery in August compared with July. Global passenger traffic had been 53% down on its pre-crisis levels in July. But this was 56% down on the 2019 level for August the fresh figures from the airline association shows. That was driven by a stall in domestic traffic. In July domestic passenger traffic had been just 16% below the 2019 level the for the month. But in August the figure was 32% down on the corresponding month for 2019. Notably this includes the impact of efforts to counter the Delta strain of the Covid virus in China, the world’s biggest market and which accounted for around a fifth of global traffic in 2020. Passenger traffic in the domestic Chinese market in July had been just 2.5% down on 2019 levels. But in August it was down some 57% as capacity and demand were hit by rising Covid cases in the country. Of the big domestic markets, only India and Russia reported improved passenger traffic levels against 2019 for August, compared with July. Domestic traffic accounted for just over half of industry RPKs in 2020, reflecting its increased share of the market since the pandemic.<br/>

Transport and health ministers of the G-7 countries agreed to work toward common standards to accelerate a pickup in international travel as the aviation industry clamors for an end to a patchwork of rules and restrictions. In a statement issued after a virtual meeting held Thursday, officials from the Group of Seven countries said they would align their policies around principles such as fairness, protecting privacy, and relying on scientific evidence when setting travel rules. However, the meeting was short on concrete action. European officials pressed the US to set a date to implement a planned lifting of a ban on most EU and UK citizens, according to a person who was briefed on the discussions. While U.S. representatives said they were working toward the first half of November, airlines, airports and governments need to plan for a possible upswing in traffic and the need for public education, the person said. Airlines have been calling for a unified approach to global travel rules since the start of the coronavirus crisis. Airlines for Europe, the industry lobby group, called on the G-7 to promote the EU’s approach using so-called vaccine passports as a global standard. Citizens within the bloc have been able to move across borders without Covid-19 tests since summer, if they can show they’ve been fully inoculated or have recovered from the disease. <br/>

US Senator Dianne Feinstein has introduced legislation that would require all domestic air travellers to prove they are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, or show a negative test result in accordance with guidelines set forth by the CDC. The democratic Senator from California says on 29 September that the rules as laid out in the “US Air Travel and Public Safety Act” would mirror those for travellers returning to the USA from overseas. “We know that air travel during the 2020 holiday season contributed to last winter’s devastating Covid-19 surge. We simply cannot allow that to happen again,” Feinstein says. “Ensuring that air travelers protect themselves and their destination communities from this disease is critical to prevent the next surge, particularly if we confront new, more virulent variants of Covid-19. It only makes sense that we also ensure the millions of airline passengers that criss-cross our country aren’t contributing to further transmission, especially as young children remain ineligible to be vaccinated.”<br/>

Passenger disobedience, rudeness and aggressive behaviour is on the rise and directly impacting the health and well-being of airline employees, according to unions representing flight attendants at the country's major airlines. “Our people go to work and they anticipate having altercations with our guests on board,” said Chris Rauenbusch, an active cabin crew employee with Calgary-based WestJet Airlines Ltd. and president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 4070. “Some people have mental health conditions and need to take leaves due to these circumstances. It's not what we signed up for as flight attendants, but it's unfortunately become our new reality.” While reports of increasingly disruptive behaviour in recent months on American flights have prompted calls for US lawmakers to crack down on the problem, data suggests the problem is escalating in Canada as well. Flight attendants say many of the problems stem from passengers who refuse to obey the federal requirement to wear a face mask on board. “Every time you approach someone you have in your mind that this could be stage one of a seriously escalating situation,” said Troy Winters, senior officer for health and safety with CUPE National. The union represents more than 15,000 flight attendants at nine different Canadian airlines, including WestJet, Air Canada and Transat. “It's not as bad as it is in the States, there's not as much serious violence, but we certainly do have folks who are overly belligerent.”<br/>

A group of European airlines agreed on Thursday to refund passengers whose flights were cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic, and committed to provide better information on passengers’ rights in future. After talks with the European Commission, 16 airlines agreed to clear refund backlogs, to better inform travellers when companies would cancel flights and to offer vouchers only when passengers chose them. The airlines included Air France-KLM, British Airways, Easyjet, Lufthansa, Ryanair, TAP, and Wizz Air among others. “In the early phase of the pandemic, some airlines pushed vouchers on passengers,” said Didier Reynders, European commissioner for justice. “They were acting against EU consumer protection rules. That was unacceptable,” he said. National authorities in individual EU states are responsible for the enforcement of EU consumer protection laws. The EU law, the Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation, has created a network of state enforcers to coordinate on such issues. The EU Commission said this was the biggest Consumer Protection Cooperation action in the CPC network’s history and the first action that was based on an alert from the Commission. “Airlines have breached European consumer rights on a massive scale during the pandemic,” Monique Goyens, general director of the European Consumer Organisation CEUC, which led the complaint to the EU in July 2020, said in an emailed statement. “It’s time for airlines to clean up their act ... Many consumers across Europe are still waiting for their money back, for flights cancelled during the first lockdowns in 2020.”<br/>

The number of people arriving and leaving Ireland roughly doubled between July and August as the country relaxed some of Europe’s toughest travel restrictions, but numbers were just one-third of pre-pandemic levels, data showed on Thursday. Ireland has been repeatedly criticised by its largest airlines, Ryanair and Aer Lingus, for maintaining some of the strictest travel restrictions in the European Union over the course of the pandemic. Since late July it has allowed quarantine-free travel from people from the European Union with COVID-19 vaccine certificates and is allowing free travel with neighbouring Britain. The number of arrivals increased by 116% between July and August but were 64% lower than in the same month of 2019, data from the central statistics office showed. The number of departures increased by 82% between July and August but were 64% lower than in the same month of 2019.<br/>

Lao Airlines and Lao Skyway have suspended all domestic flights from Vientiane to the provinces until further notice as COVID-19 cases hit a new high in the capital city. The suspension of domestic flights became effective on September 20, 2021. This followed a government-imposed lockdown from September 20 until September 30 after a spike in the dreaded Delta variant of the disease was reported on September 18 involving factories in Vientiane. Destinations affected and served by both airlines include Luang Namtha, Luang Prabang, Oudomxay, and Pakse, as well as Lao Airlines' flights to Savannakhet and Lao Skyway's rotations to Phongsaly, Sam Neua, and Xieng Khouang. Lao Airlines said its ticketing and reservation offices would be closed during this period but its call centre and official WhatsApp contact line remained open, according to announcements on its social media pages. Lao Skyway carried the government lockdown notification on its website but made no further announcement.<br/>

The FAA said Thursday it will review safety concerns raised by former Blue Origin employees about billionaire Jeff Bezos’ space company. Alexandra Abrams, former head of Blue Origin Employee Communications, and 20 other unnamed Blue Origin employees and former employees, said in an essay they had “seen a pattern of decision-making that often prioritizes execution speed and cost reduction over the appropriate resourcing to ensure quality.” The FAA said Thursday it “takes every safety allegation seriously, and the agency is reviewing the information.” A Blue Origin spokesperson said Abrams “was dismissed for cause two years ago after repeated warnings for issues involving federal export control regulations.” Abrams said she never received any warnings related to export control issues. Blue Origin said it provides “numerous avenues for employees, including a 24/7 anonymous hotline, and will promptly investigate any new claims of misconduct. We stand by our safety record and believe that New Shepard is the safest space vehicle ever designed or built.”<br/>

An undisclosed customer has placed firm orders for 20 of Bombardier’s recently-launched, still-under-development Challenger 3500 super-midsize business jet. The Montreal airframer disclosed the order on 30 September. It declines to specify the name of the customer, saying the buyer “wishes to remain confidential”. “This is Bombardier’s largest business jet transaction of 2021, representing a value of $534 million… based on list pricing,” the company says. The news comes just weeks after Bombardier on 14 September revealed it is developing the 3500, which is an updated version of its Challenger 350. Bombardier aims for the 3500 to enter service in the second half of 2022. The company 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.<br/>

Private jet providers are experiencing “unprecedented demand” from wealthy customers seeking to avoid the “mosh pit” of commercial flights on autumn getaways as coronavirus travel restrictions ease. Flexjet and PrivateFly, which supply private jets to rich families and business executives, said they were “experiencing exceptionally strong demand” for September and October travel at a time of year when bookings normally fall away. Flexjet, which offers shared ownership in its fleet of private jets in Europe, said it operated 53% more flights in September than the previous month, bucking the usual seasonal trends. Marine Eugène, the European managing director of Flexjet and PrivateFly, said: “Our industry in Europe traditionally sees a significant peak in July and August, followed by a tailing off in September – but not this year. “We are currently experiencing exceptionally strong demand, with the appetite for personal travel not yet sated after a later start to summer due to restrictions, and now business flying is also taking off alongside.” Eugène said the UK government’s relaxation of travel restrictions from 4 October and the US relaxation of rules for vaccinated European visitors propelled the demand for increased private jet flights, with wealthy travellers continuing to make plans for short breaks or holidays by private jet into the autumn period and later than usually seen. She said business destinations such as Paris, Zurich, Munich, and Amsterdam had climbed back into the top 10 list of European destinations, which were previously dominated by holiday hotspots. “Many of our Flexjet owners and PrivateFly clients are starting to fly for business again and we are witnessing a release of pent-up demand for in-person meetings,” she added. “We have senior executives and entrepreneurs in sectors such as finance and technology, booking multiple itineraries to see investment targets, or make site visits. The US easing of its ban on UK and European travellers from November is also adding to the unusually high demand in the final quarter of the year.”<br/>