The TSA has screened more than 2m people daily for the past four days, but it still remains down about 15% over pre-pandemic levels. TSA said it expects to screen 30m people between Monday and Jan. 3 even as US COVID-19 cases spike and Omicron spreads. Airlines have in recent weeks reported some uptick in cancellations. Still, millions of Americans are expected to hit the highways and board flights to celebrate with family and friends over the holidays. Delta said last week that Omicron had slowed international bookings as many countries imposed new travel restrictions. However, the airline's chief executive officer, Ed Bastian, said that "Omicron (is) not going to impact our holiday bookings." United Airlines is flying its busiest schedule this month since the start of the pandemic, with more than 4,000 flights per day on average during the year-end holidays. The airline said it added more than 200 daily domestic flights to meet holiday travel demand. Similarly, Southwest said Monday the airline is encouraged by holiday demand trends. American Airlines incoming CE Robert Isom said the airline's domestic business remained strong but the new travel restrictions had dampened demand in some international markets. Nationally, COVID cases rose 9% in the past week but are up 57% since the start of December, according to a Reuters tally. The spike in US COVID-19 cases is causing some worry about the future of travel. Omicron fears and new travel restrictions have prompted a rise in global hotel cancellations, according to online hotel search firm Trivago.<br/>
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Airline passengers who misbehave on US flights could lose their streamlined airport screening privileges from the TSA’s PreCheck program under a new effort to curb a surge of incidents this year. The FAA will share information with the TSA on passengers who are facing civil fines for striking flight attendants and other infractions, the FAA said Tuesday. The FAA has logged 5,664 reports of unruly passengers through Dec. 15 this year in an unprecedented wave of misbehavior on aircraft during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to agency. It has initiated 1,030 investigations so far this year, dwarfing the previous high of 310 in 2004. “TSA has zero tolerance for the unruly behaviors, especially those involving physical assault occurring aboard aircraft,” TSA Administrator David Pekoske said. The FAA will share information on the people against whom it has lodged civil cases and TSA “may remove the passenger from TSA PreCheck screening eligibility,” the FAA said in the release. After passing a background check, passengers in PreCheck are eligible for less rigorous screening and generally shorter security lines. <br/>
Two men were arrested after the authorities said they clashed with police officers on Monday at Miami International Airport, which is expecting a record number of passengers for the holiday season. The men — Mayfrer Gregorio Serranopaca, 30, of Kissimmee, Fla., and Alberto YanezSuarez, 32, of Odessa, Texas — were each charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, according to the Miami-Dade Police Department, which is investigating the episode. Serranopaca also faces additional charges, including resisting an officer with violence and inciting a riot. Serranopaca and YanezSuarez could not be reached on Tuesday. The skirmish, which was captured on a cellphone video that circulated widely on social media, took place at about 6:30 p.m. Monday, when officers responded to a call from an airport employee about a disturbance at Gate H8. The employee told police officers that he was driving a transport cart when an “unruly passenger refused to let him through,” according to an arrest report. The man, later identified as Serranopaca, “entered the cart, broke the key and refused to exit the cart,” the report said. The airport worker told the police that the passenger was complaining in Spanish about a delayed flight. As the officers tried to calm Serranopaca, a physical confrontation ensued, attracting a large crowd. The video showed a chaotic crowd of travelers surrounding an officer who appeared to restrainSerranopaca with his arms. When the officer released him from a hold, the two scuffled. Story has more.<br/>
An Italian supplier at the centre of recent industrial snags on the 787 Dreamliner airplane produced more than 4,000 non-compliant parts destined for Boeing Co (BA.N) over five years, a preliminary report from Italian prosecutors shows. Initial results of an investigation launched earlier this year suggest that Manufacturing Process Specification (MPS), or its now-bankrupt predecessor company Processi Speciali, produced flawed parts between 2016 and 2021, according to the document. According to the report, the suspect titanium parts made it into 35 Boeing 787 fuselages. It added that the Brindisi-based supplier also made parts for the Boeing 767, a freighter model which is now also used as the basis for a U.S. Air Force tanker. The investigation aims to establish whether MPS or its predecessor firm produced flawed components that could threaten air safety, a risk that has been denied by Boeing. Boeing declined direct comment on the prosecutors' document, parts of which were first reported by Italian daily Il Corriere del Mezzogiorno. It reiterated, however, that airworthiness had not been affected. "While our assessment is ongoing, this does not present an immediate safety of flight concern," a spokesperson said.<br/>
The European Union’s top court ruled on Tuesday that a flight must be considered as canceled for legal purposes if it is moved forward by more than an hour, a verdict that appears to improve customers’ chances of compensation. The European Court of Justice was asked to deliver its opinion by courts in Korneuburg, Austria, and Duesseldorf, Germany, that are handling disputes involving passengers, claims management companies and five airlines: Azurair, Corendon Airlines, Eurowings, Austrian Airlines and Laudamotion. The court found that “a flight must be regarded as having been ‘canceled’ in the case where the operating air carrier brings that flight forward by more than one hour.” That, it noted, “may result in serious inconvenience for passengers, in the same way as a delay.” In cases where a flight being moved forward by a significant amount of time results in a right to compensation — for example, because of “late communication that the flight has been brought forward” — airlines are liable to pay compensation ranging from 250 to 600 euros ($282 to $676) depending on distance, the court said. They cannot reduce the compensation figure by 50% on the grounds that they offered the passenger re-routing allowing him or her to arrive at the final destination without delay, it ruled.<br/>
Bosses at East Midlands Airport have said they "will be lucky" to see half of the normal volume of passengers during the festive period. It usually sees about 6,000 people a day at the start of Christmas week. But Covid restrictions and fears over the Omicron variant have seen a big reduction in numbers. Claire James, the airport's managing director, called for clarity from the government saying the industry could not take a third summer of disruption. James said: "Consumer confidence has taken a knock. The lack of clarity and the uncertainty around government restrictions has undermined confidence. People just don't want to book because they are not clear on the rules, they are not clear what's going to happen. What we need is a real roadmap like every other sector seems to have so that as we get into 2022, people can book with confidence. We can't take a third summer of this." Restrictions on travel from the UK into Germany and France have already affected the ski season. James said: "The latest variant has pulled the rug from under us. We thought we were coming out of this. At October half-term we saw 50% of pre-Covid numbers and we really felt optimistic about Christmas. Now we will be lucky to get to that, we have that number booked but we have had a lot of no-shows over the past few days."<br/>
Singapore will freeze ticket sales for flights and bus trips under its vaccinated travel lanes for entry from Dec. 23 to Jan. 20 as it tries to stem the importation of the omicron variant that is tearing around the globe. The move applies to all 24 countries with which Singapore has agreements for quarantine-free air travel, as well as overland bus services with Malaysia, the government said Wednesday. People who already have tickets will be able to travel. Singapore will also temporarily reduce quotas and ticket sales for travel after Jan. 20, the Ministry of Health said. “Our border measures will help to buy us time to study and understand the omicron variant, and to strengthen our defences, including enhancing our healthcare capacity, and getting more people vaccinated and boosted,” the ministry said. Omicron has fast become the dominant Covid-19 strain in many countries since it emerged about a month ago, accounting for more than 70% of cases in the US alone. The variant has been found in Singapore, which has been opening its borders to select countries since October after abandoning a Covid-Zero approach still pursued by the likes of China and Hong Kong. <br/>Singapore Airlines Ltd. fell as much as 1.6% after the announcement. Singapore is now also instructing people returning from overseas to avoid high-risk mask-off activities such as dining at restaurants or exercising in gyms for seven days after arrival, even if they test negative each day. Previously, returnees were allowed to move freely once they tested negative. Singapore’s local cases have plunged from a daily high of more than 4,600 in late October to just 221 on Dec. 21, according to Ministry of Health data. Still, imported cases -- most of them omicron -- are on the rise to more than 50 each day.<br/>
The Incheon International Airport Corp. announced, Tuesday, that it reached a 600b won ($503m) deal to develop and operate an airport in Indonesia, according to the nation's main airport operator. Under the deal, the IIAC will renovate the existing passenger terminal and build a second terminal at Hang Nadim International Airport on Batam Island and run the airport for 25 years until 2047. It is Korea's first overseas airport development and operation deal, it said. Construction is scheduled to begin in June 2022. Earlier this year, the IIAC, which formed a consortium with Indonesia's state-run airport operator PT Angkasa Pura 1 (AP1) and local construction firm PT Wijaya Karya Tbk (WIKA), was picked as the final bidder for the project after defeating Zurich Airport of Switzerland, EGIS of France and GMR of India. The signing ceremony with the Batam Indonesia Free Zone Authority was held on the island, attended by IIAC President Kim Kyung-wook, Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto and other dignitaries. Batam is the third-most-visited tourist destination in the Southeast Asian country after Bali and Jakarta. In 2019, some 2 million tourists, including 80,000 Koreans, traveled there. Batam's airport, which has the longest runway in Indonesia, handled 4.54 million passengers and 44,000 tons of cargo in 2019. The IIAC plans to expand the airport to accommodate 25 million passengers by 2040.<br/>
New Zealand on Tuesday postponed its phased border re-opening plans until the end of February over concerns of the rapid global spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The South Pacific nation had just started easing some of the world's toughest pandemic measures and its international border restrictions were to progressively loosen from January, with all foreign tourists allowed into the country from April. Non-quarantine travel, which was to have opened for New Zealanders in Australia from Jan. 16, would be pushed back until the end of February, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said at a press conference in Wellington. "All of the evidence so far points to Omicron being the most transmissible COVID-19 variant yet. "There's no doubt this is disappointing and will upset many holiday plans, but it's important to set these changes out clearly today so they can have time to consider those plans." The measures were a precaution as it was still unclear how sick Omicron makes people and the impact it had on health systems was not yet fully understood, he said. New Zealand also said the length of stay in state quarantine facilities would be increased from a week to 10 days. The pre-departure test requirement to enter New Zealand was reduced from 72 hours to 48 hours before travel.<br/>
Embraer’s Eve Urban Air Mobility unit will merge with Zanite Acquisition Corp. next year, the latest in a string of deals as flying-taxi startups seek capital from public markets. The transaction announced Tuesday includes $237m in cash from Zanite, a special purpose acquisition company, and a $305m PIPE, or private investment in public equity. The PIPE has multiple investors, including $175m from Embraer and $105m from a consortium that includes BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce Holdings and two US regional airlines, Republic Airways and SkyWest. Embraer will retain an 80% equity stake in the company following the merger. Bloomberg News first reported on the talks between Eve and Zanite in June. The combination, expected to close in the second quarter of 2022, values Eve at $2.4b. Embraer has agreed to a three-year lockup on its rollover shares and Zanite’s sponsor has agreed to a three-year lockup on its founder shares. Embraer American depositary receipts traded in New York surged 15% to $15.97 as of 10:08 a.m., the biggest jump in more than six months. Zanite rose 0.3% to $10.18. Zanite is led by co-Chief Executive Officers Kenn Ricci, co-owner of Directional Aviation Capital, which controls private-jet flight provider Flexjet, and Steve Rosen, co-founder of private equity firm Resilience Capital Partners. The Cleveland-based SPAC raised $230 million in an initial public offering last year. Eve said it has amassed more than 1,700 orders for its electric vehicle from 17 launch customers, a backlog it values at $5b. The company, which is based in Melbourne, Florida, will be led by co-CEOs Jerry DeMuro, a former CEO at defense contractor BAE Systems Inc., and Andre Stein, who has been Eve’s top executive since its founding. Eve expects to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker EVEX.<br/>