New federal guidance shortening the recommended isolation periods for many infected Americans will provide relief to airlines and other companies struggling with staffing shortages, businesses said on Tuesday, but labor representatives warned that the move could push some employees back to work too soon. The CDC Monday reduced the number of days that infected patients should remain isolated — and, for many workers, sidelined — to five days, from 10. Anyone leaving isolation must be free of symptoms and should wear a mask when near others for an additional five days. The updated policy, which came a day before President Biden lifted travel restrictions on countries in southern Africa, was embraced by representatives for industries including air travel, food and retail. The Omicron variant of the coronavirus has torn through already short-staffed sectors, temporarily shutting restaurants and causing the cancellation of thousands of flights that disrupted Christmas travel. More than 1,000 flights “within, into or out of the United States” were canceled on Tuesday, according to FlightAware, which provides aviation data. “The aviation work force is essential to maintaining the operations of air travel and cargo supply chains,” the trade group Airlines for America said. “The decision is the right one based upon science.” But the Association of Flight Attendants, a union that represents nearly 50,000 flight crew workers, had argued that employees should not be expected to return to work unless they had no symptoms and tested negative. “Already the lack of paid sick leave creates pressure on workers to come to work sick,” said Sara Nelson, the international president of the union. “Corporations that fail to recognize this with paid sick leave, or pressure workers to come to work sick or face discipline, are failing their workers and their customers.”<br/>
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Thousands of flights have been canceled over the past several days as Covid cases surge across the globe. On Tuesday, another 2,800 flights have been canceled, with more than 1,000 of them within, into or out of the United States, according to tracking website FlightAware. More than 8,000 flights have been delayed. Monday presented a similar nightmare for travelers, with more than 2,800 flights canceled, and 11,000 delays. Globally, airlines canceled more than 6,000 flights on Christmas Eve, Christmas and the day after Christmas. In the United States, more than 1,200 flights were canceled and more than 5,000 were delayed on Sunday alone as staff and crew call out sick. The cancellations come at the busiest time of year for air travel. The US TSA said it screened millions of people each day over the holiday weekend, peaking at 2.19m travelers on Thursday, December 23. On Wednesday, more people passed through TSA checkpoints than on the same day in 2019. Saturday, air travel was a bit slower because of the flight cancellations: More than 1.53 million people passed through security checkpoints Saturday. European airlines are also experiencing a small number of cancellations amid record-breaking numbers of Covid-19 cases in several European nations.<br/>
Hours after the US CDC updated its quarantine guidelines for people who test positive for or are exposed to Covid-19, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA International pushed back against the new guidance. The CDC now recommends that people who test positive for the coronavirus need only isolate for five days if they’re no longer symptomatic, and should wear a mask around others for the following five days. The CDC also shortened quarantine timelines for people who come into contact with someone who tested positive. The changes may help minimize disruption for schools, businesses and supply chains as cases rise nationwide. Sara Nelson, the president of the AFA, said in a statement that the changes may give businesses cover for putting staffing needs ahead of worker health. “The CDC gave a medical explanation about why the agency has decided to reduce the quarantine requirements from 10 to five days, but the fact that it aligns with the number of days pushed by corporate America is less than reassuring,” Nelson said. Several airlines have in recent days asked CDC director Rochelle Walensky to reconsider the 10-day isolation guideline. In a letter dated Dec. 21, Delta CEO Ed Bastian noted that the mandate would impact Delta’s staffing and operations. JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes called the 10-day mandate “extremely disruptive” in a Dec. 22 letter, and the lobbying group Airlines For America also advocated for a five-day maximum quarantine in a Dec. 23 missive. Nelson expressed concerns that the five-day timeline will mean flight attendants may be forced to return to work before they’re fully recovered and risk being exposed to contagious individuals who don’t comply with mask guidelines. <br/>
Talks are underway between the US and China on possible changes to the Chinese government’s new aircraft-cleaning requirements that prompted a Delta flight to turn back to Seattle and that could trigger the cancellation of some flights to the Asian nation. The discussions were confirmed Tuesday by a State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The new sanitation mandates -- spurred by the spread of Covid-19 -- significantly extend the time planes are on the ground and largely copy steps that US airlines already take to clean between flights, representatives for the industry said. There also is a shortage of available workers to carry out the added steps, they said. The new requirements are part of the changes that countries and industries are making to try to slow the spread of the highly contagious omicron coronavirus variant. China has been stepping up border restrictions because of delta variant outbreaks and detection of the new strain among foreign travelers ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics in early February. Hong Kong will mandate a three-day hotel quarantine for air-cargo crews to thwart transmission of omicron. The US is seeking changes to the new Chinese cleaning mandates, since rigorous disinfecting procedures already are performed between flights by carriers globally, the State Department official said. Airlines implemented extensive onboard cleaning protocols early in the pandemic. Delta’s service to China “remains very fluid” as it evaluates the change in procedures that caused it to turn around a Dec. 21 flight to Shanghai, returning the plane to where it took off in Seattle. The carrier is assessing its twice-weekly trips from Detroit and Seattle to Shanghai on a flight-by-flight basis, a spokesman said Tuesday.<br/>
The Covid pandemic triggered a 71% drop in international flights in and out of the UK in 2021, says a new report. About 406,060 international flights operated from the UK this year, compared with 1,399,170 in 2019 before travel was restricted. UK domestic flights also fell by nearly 60%, said aviation analytics firm Cirium. Budget airline Ryanair remained the largest carrier in the UK, with more than 100,000 UK flights in 2021. Rival airline easyJet followed closely behind, with more than 82,000 flights in total, according to data collected by Cirium. The busiest international route was between London's Heathrow and New York's JFK. This was despite the US only opening its borders to UK travellers in November. American travellers have been able to travel to the UK since 28 July. Short-haul flights proved to be the most popular, with eight out of the 10 most popular routes being to Europe. London Heathrow to Amsterdam, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt came in third, fourth and fifth place respectively. Meanwhile, the UK's busiest domestic route was between Land's End to St Mary's in the Isles of Scilly. The 31-mile route saw about 2,330 one-way flights between January and December 2021. Following a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases throughout the UK due to the Omicron variant, the outlook for 2022 remains uncertain. The uncertainty has already sparked a rise in cancellations over the festive period because of concerns over potential further restrictions.<br/>
Hong Kong will mandate three-day hotel quarantines for air cargo crew, as the Asian city steps up efforts to prevent any local transmission of the contagious omicron Covid-19 variant. “We have to balance between the risk of infectious disease outbreaks and the cargo operation,” Edwin Tsui, controller of the Center for Health Protection, said at a press briefing on Tuesday in Hong Kong. He didn’t provide a start date for the new rules. He added that the three-day quarantine should “intercept” cases on arrival, noting that the government was mulling similar measures for regular air crew. The move comes as Hong Kong imposes increasingly stringent border control measures as the highly mutated and wildly transmissible omicron variant is spurring record case counts globally. The city is one of the only places to have avoided a delta outbreak, with no local virus spread occurring since early June. Earlier Tuesday, local broadcaster Cable TV reported the Hong Kong government planned to extend its vaccine mandate to schools and workplaces, citing unidentified people. That move would build on inoculation requirements that already apply to bars, clubs, bathhouses, karaoke parlors and some restaurants.<br/>