Travel website Kayak said on Monday searches related to international travel to the United States spiked 48% on Saturday, from the same day one week earlier. This followed the White House’s announcement on Friday that it would lift COVID-19 travel restrictions for fully vaccinated international visitors starting Nov. 8. Kayak is owned and operated by Booking Holdings Inc. Separately, Expedia said on Monday that there was a 28% increase in UK travelers and a 24% increase in French travelers searching for hotels in the United States, comparing Oct. 8-10 to Oct. 15-17. Delta CE Ed Bastian said last week before the White House’s statement that the airline had seen “improving trends internationally, spurred by the decision to lift” the restrictions, announced in September. “Thanks to this important policy change, many families are going to be reunited this holiday season for the first time in almost two years,” Bastian said. The CDC said late Friday that foreign nationals who had received mixed doses of vaccines would be eligible to travel to the United States, but additional questions remain to be answered, including the government’s policies on exemptions, including for children.<br/>
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Risk of coronavirus transmission on board aircraft is lower than that for most other indoor environments, according to a paper presented to a high-level ICAO conference on aviation recovery from the pandemic. The ICAO conference – running from 12-22 October – is aiming to reach a global consensus on a multilateral approach to enabling safe and efficient recovery from the crisis. Airbus, Boeing and Embraer undertook computational fluid dynamics testing to assess the spread of virus particles and the risk to passengers, says the paper from the International Co-ordinating Council of Aerospace Industries Associations. “While methodologies differed slightly, each detailed simulation confirmed that aircraft airflow systems do control the movement of particles in the cabin, limiting the spread of viruses,” it states. Risk of transmission, it says, is reduced by the high-efficiency particulate air filters, the “natural barrier” of the seat back, downward airflow – minimising forward-aft flows – and high rates of air exchange. “Mask-wearing…adds a further and significant extra layer of protection, which makes being seated in close proximity in an aircraft cabin safer than most other indoor environments,” the paper says, adding that face-to-face interaction tends to be limited because passengers face forwards. Air is exchanged 20-30 times per hour on most aircraft, it adds, a figure which “compares very favourably” with the average of two or three times in an office or 10-15 times in a school. Airbus simulated air movement in an A320 cabin to examine the effect of speed, direction and temperature on expelled droplets, analysing 50 million points in the aircraft, before modelling indoor environments with individuals spaced 2m apart under similar conditions. “The result was that potential exposure was lower when seated side by side on [an aircraft],” says the paper.<br/>
A US House committee will hold a hearing on Thursday with the head of the FAA on its efforts to reform airplane certification following two Boeing 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people. FAA Administrator Steve Dickson will testify at a House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee hearing nearly three years after a Lion Air 610 737 MAX crashed in Indonesia. Congress in December approved legislation boosting FAA oversight of aircraft manufacturers, requiring disclosure of critical safety information and providing new whistleblower protections. House Transportation Committee chairman Peter DeFazio said Monday that "while the FAA continues to make progress on implementing this new law, more work must be done, particularly publishing a rule requiring aerospace manufacturers to adopt safety management systems." One issue is ensuring people performing aircraft certification tasks on behalf of the FAA do not feel undue pressure. On Friday, the FAA issued two memos on its reform efforts. One directs FAA teams for Boeing, Pratt & Whitney, a unit of Raytheon, and General Electric to assign FAA aviation safety personnel with appropriate expertise within 60 days to serve as advisors to the oversight offices for each company. The other requires that FAA employees review for approval or rejection all new unit member selections to the oversight offices. An FAA survey released in August 2020 found some safety employees reported facing "strong" external pressure from industry and raised alarms the agency does not always prioritize air safety. The law requires an independent review of Boeing’s safety culture. That review is still pending.<br/>
Europe could see flight numbers back at 2019 levels as soon as 2023, according to the latest seven-year outlook report from Eurocontrol, as the region’s air travel recovery gathers pace sooner than previously thought likely. Citing a “very encouraging” summer 2021 and the latest economic forecasts, the European air traffic manager says 2019 flight levels will be achieved in 2023 if the industry tracks its new baseline and best-case scenarios. That marks a significant shift from its previous seven-year outlook, published in May, which suggested flight activity in the region would not return to pre-crisis levels until 2024 at the earliest and probably not until 2025. “We are optimistic about traffic recovering to 2019 levels earlier than anticipated, with the baseline scenario indicating 9.8m flights in 2022, just 11% down on 2019,” says Eurocontrol director general Eamonn Brennan. He notes that Europe is on track to see 6.2m flights this year, which is 44% down on 2019. The new best-case – or “high” – forecast scenario envisages strong global vaccination programmes, a coordinated approach to the lifting of inter-regional travel restrictions – meaning most flows restart by mid-2022 – and a speedy recovery of business travel. Under that scenario, 2019 levels of traffic would be reached in early 2023. The new baseline scenario only differs in that flows outside Europe recover more slowly, as does business travel. That would see traffic touch 2019 levels at the end of 2023.<br/>
European Union regulators have signed an air transport services agreement with Qatar which includes capacity caps in some key markets before full access is implemented in 2024. Specifically, the wide-ranging agreement initially limits the number of flights that carriers from either side can operate from five European markets – Belgium, Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands – before a “gradual build-up” in capacity to 2024. The agreement also includes commitments from both sides to “fair competition” and covers “social and environmental protection”. European transport commissioner Adina Valean says: ”This agreement, the first one between the EU and the Gulf region, is a global benchmark for forward-looking aviation agreements. This agreement will bring new opportunities, more choice and higher standards for passengers, industry and aviation workers.” The EC secured a mandate to negotiate an EU-wide air services deal – which will replace existing bilateral agreements – with Qatar in 2016. The negotiations were set against the backdrop of “level playing field” concerns previously voiced by some EU carriers and the rapid growth of Qatar Airways. That has seen Qatar grow to become the 15th largest aviation market with the EU, in which 6.3m passengers travelled in 2019.<br/>
European Union foreign ministers looked at ways on Monday to stop the illegal migration into the 27-nation bloc from neighboring Belarus, including stopping companies from leasing jets to Belarusian airline Belavia. The EU has accused the government of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of facilitating migration into the bloc in retaliation for EU sanctions. Thousands of migrants have been lured to Belarus on tourist visas and encouraged to cross into Poland, Lithuania and to a lesser extent Latvia — all three of which are EU nations that border Belarus. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said after the meeting that the bloc is ready to adopt sanctions against Belavia. “Using migrants for political purposes is not acceptable,” Borrell said.<br/>
Hungary could close the purchase of Budapest Airport “any minute now,” Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Monday, according to state news agency MTI, as he continues his efforts to take back into state hands what the government sees as national interests. The government earlier this year expressed its interest in buying a majority stake in Hungary’s main international airport and submitted a revised offer to acquire the airport from its foreign owners earlier this month. Orban said that “it’s only right” for the country’s biggest international airport to be Hungarian-owned and that the economy is strong enough for the government to repurchase it. Orban had said earlier he wants to see the airport in domestic hands, but its owners have expressed no interest in selling it. Since Orban took power in 2010, his government has boosted Hungarian ownership in strategic sectors such as energy, banking and the media. The revised offer earlier this month, which comes shortly before a national election due next spring, suggests it could be even harder for the foreign shareholders to keep their stake despite earlier signals that they sought to do so. Budapest Airport is a fast-growing, medium-sized airport that benefited from a boom in low-cost travel before the pandemic. <br/>
Brazilian planemaker Embraer and Dutch aerospace companies signed an agreement on Monday to explore opportunities in defense and commercial aviation, including potential new configurations for its C-390 military transport plane. In the commercial aviation market, the agreement with Fokker Techniek and Fokker Services will seek to open opportunities in engineering and logistic support, in addition to development of hydrogen-powered aircraft, Embraer said in a statement. Embraer is the world’s third-largest commercial plane maker. “There is huge potential for both companies in the development of opportunities together,” said Jackson Schneider, CEO of Embraer Defense & Security. “This is a very important step for Embraer’s strategy to establish meaningful and strategic partnerships around the globe,” he said at the signing ceremony in Woensdrecht, the Netherlands.<br/>