Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Sunday that a federal no-fly list for violent airplane passengers "should be on the table" after an American Airlines flight attendant was hospitalized with several broken bones in her face following an attack from a passenger last week. The FAA reported more than 4,600 incidents of unruly passengers so far this year, as flight crews have had to handle hostile passengers at unprecedented rates amid a travel rebound to pre-pandemic levels. "It is completely unacceptable to mistreat, abuse or even disrespect flight crews," Buttigieg said, adding, "We will continue to look at all options to make sure that flight crews and passengers are safe." "There is absolutely no excuse for this kind of treatment of flight crews in the air or any of the essential workers -- from bus drivers to air crews who get people to where they need to be," he said. The FAA announced earlier this year a new "zero tolerance" policy after seeing a spike in passengers disrupting flights with threatening or violent behavior, and so far has proposed more than $1 million in fines, CNN has previously reported. Enforcing mask mandates and dealing with drunk passengers are ranked among the top causes for such confrontations. <br/>
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The CDC said on Saturday that unvaccinated foreign nationals under the age of 18 traveling to the United States by air do not have to self-quarantine upon arrival. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on Saturday signed a revised order clarifying that foreign national children who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 do not need to isolate for seven days upon arrival in the United States. A CDC order issued on Monday had raised alarm among some foreign travelers that their children would need to quarantine for that long after arriving. On Nov. 8, the United States is lifting the extraordinary travel restrictions that have barred most non-US citizens who within the last 14 days have been in Britain, the 26 Schengen countries in Europe without border controls, Ireland, China, India, South Africa, Iran and Brazil. It is also imposing new rules requiring nearly all foreign adult air visitors to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Airlines and others had pressed for the changes for foreign children, saying it would harm international tourism if children had to self-quarantine upon arrival. The exemption from self-quarantine also applies to unvaccinated foreign visitors who are part of clinical trials.<br/>
The FAA has raised significant concerns about a plan to use spectrum for 5G wireless networks on aviation safety and is planning to issue a formal warning about the issue, according to sources and a letter seen by Reuters. The aviation industry has voiced alarm about the plan to use C-Band spectrum for more than a year. Network carriers are expected to begin using the spectrum starting Dec. 5 starting in 46 markets. FAA Deputy Administrator Bradley Mims in a previously unreported Oct. 6 letter said the agency shares "the deep concern about the potential impact to aviation safety resulting from interference to radar altimeter performance from 5G network operations in the C band." An FAA spokeswoman said Friday it "continues to engage with other agencies so that aviation and the newest generation of 5G cellular technology can safely coexist."<br/>
Heathrow Airport’s top shareholder Ferrovial has signaled it will cut off new investment in the airport, dealing a “killer blow” to plans for a third runway, according to a report in the Sunday Telegraph. Executives from the Spanish infrastructure company criticized the Civil Aviation Authority’s decision to block plans for a 90% increase in landing charges from next year. The regulator has proposed allowing charges to rise by up to 56% instead. Ferrovial Portfolio Management Director Ignacio Castejon told the newspaper he was skeptical about the company’s appetite for future investment in Heathrow after the decision on landing charges, which he said would leave investors shouldering low returns. The withdrawal of support by Ferrovial, which owns 25% of Heathrow, means that the third runway project is unlikely to go ahead, the report said. The expansion has also been threatened by the sharp drop in air traffic during the pandemic. <br/>
China will allow 408 scheduled international passenger flights to and from the country per week in the winter season ending in March next year, down from 644 in the summer season, China's aviation regulator said on Friday. That is down 21.1% from a year ago when international travel remained heavily depressed due to the surging COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement will likely douse hopes for any immediate reopening of Chinese borders as more and more countries reopen their economies. China has so far adopted a zero-COVID approach towards sporadic domestic outbreaks, which has far-reaching implications for the Chinese economy. "The shift of season for international passenger flights will continue to be in line with the relevant requirements from epidemic prevention and control policy and transportation support," said the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).<br/>
Australia eased its international border restrictions on Monday for the first time during the coronavirus pandemic, allowing some of its vaccinated public to travel freely and many families to reunite, sparking emotional embraces at Sydney's airport. After 18 months of some of the world's strictest coronavirus border policies, millions of Australians are now free to travel without a permit or the need to quarantine on arrival in the country. While travel is initially limited to Australian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate families, it sets in motion a plan to reopen the country to international tourists and workers, both much needed to reinvigorate a fatigued nation. Passengers on the first flights from Singapore and Los Angeles arrived in Sydney early in the morning, many greeted by tearful friends and relatives they had not seen for several months. Travellers were also welcomed by airline staff holding banners and were gifted Australian wildflowers and chocolate biscuits. In one of the world's toughest responses to the coronavirus pandemic, Australia slammed its international border shut 18 months ago, barring foreign tourists and banning citizens from either exiting or arriving unless granted an exemption. The strict travel rules effectively prohibited many Australians from attending significant events, including weddings and funerals, as well as preventing people from seeing family and friends. There are 16 scheduled international flight arrivals at Sydney's airport on Monday, and 14 scheduled departures, the airport operator said. Foreign ministry data shows about 47,000 people abroad are keen to return home.<br/>
For the airline industry it was as “momentous decision”; for environment campaigners it was “essentially meaningless”. Earlier this month, the global airline trade body Iata passed a resolution, approved by almost 300 of the world’s biggest carriers, to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Like Santa Claus, millions of passengers wrestling the desire to fly with environmental guilt would love to believe in it. Willie Walsh, the Iata DG, is famously no Santa, but has pushed the policy, whose adoption perhaps met less acclaim than airlines hoped. Airlines first promised a 50% net reduction in emissions back in 2009, a target that after the 2015 Paris accords, “clearly wasn’t enough”, Walsh says. Some airlines – including the one Walsh was then running, British Airways owner IAG – have since committed to reach net zero by 2050. Nonetheless, he says the agreement at Iata’s AGM this October remains “a big deal”. “In Europe the appreciation of the need to address this is more advanced,” Walsh says. “The important thing was to translate a commitment from some airlines into one on behalf of the industry.” How it will be done is a bigger question. Iata has fleshed out a plan that depends action by government and other industry players, such as fuel suppliers and aircraft manufacturers, as much as airlines, and will have a cost – to be borne somewhere between carriers, governments or passengers – of about $2t. Speaking Sunday, Walsh is unrepentant, comparing airlines to car drivers: “You’ve got to mandate the people who produce the planes, the engines, the fuels, operate the air traffic control systems. They’re all standing there staring at us, saying, ‘OK guys now, you do it.’ In the same way as the car industry was forced to deliver, they’ve got to be forced to deliver. It clearly requires proper government policy.”<br/>