United said late on Monday the current US 5G wireless rollout plan would negatively impact an estimated 1.25 million United passengers and at least 15,000 flights annually and urged President Joe Biden's administration to take action. US airlines warn 5G interference could compromise key safety systems and result in suspended passenger and cargo flights. They want some 5G deployment set for Wednesday delayed around key US airports. United said the current rules "will result in significant restrictions on 787s, 777s, 737s and regional aircraft in major cities like Houston, Newark, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago."<br/>
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EC assurances that existing airport slot regulations make so-called ‘ghost flights’ unnecessary have failed to placate two of the region’s largest airline groups, with Air France-KLM since joining Lufthansa Group in asking for rules to be relaxed during the current northern hemisphere winter season. The EC on 13 January cited “new Covid-19 variants” as a potential reason for airlines to use the ’justified non-use exception’ clause in the regulations, which would allow them to cut flights beyond the 50% threshold required to retain slots for the next equivalent season. That clause provides an exception “when state-imposed measures severely impede passengers’ ability to travel”, EC documents state, adding that it addresses “future unforeseen circumstances without unduly blocking airport capacity” – the latter point being a key issue for airports, which oppose relaxation of the regulations. But Lufthansa continued to insist on 17 January that the current regulations are not flexible enough, noting its need to operate “many thousands of unnecessary flights with only a few passenger on board”. “The current slot regulation for the winter schedule 2021/22 in the EU was decided before the occurrence of the Omicron variant and it fits no longer the current pandemic situation,” Lufthansa says. “Therefore, there should be short-term exemption rules for the use of take-off and landing rights that are flexible, practicable and applied consistently throughout Europe.” Air France-KLM added its voice to the debate on 14 January, saying that the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 is acting to “jeopardise the trajectory” of airline capacity increases in Europe. It would like “the current situation to be better taken into account in the application of European regulations so that airlines can continue to adjust their offer to actual demand levels”.<br/>
EgyptAir, the state-owned flag carrier, would operate the first environment-friendly service flight from Cairo to Paris on January 22, 2022. The company also offered a 40-percent discount on booking this eco-friendly flight, it announced Monday. Chairman of the Holding Company for EgyptAir Amr Aboul-Enein said that this flight with environmentally friendly services and products, which bear logo of “Green Service Flight,” aims to reduce environmental pollution and enhance awareness of the harmful effects of using “single-use” plastics.<br/>
Almost 600,000 passengers flew on Singapore Airlines and Scoot planes in December, in its strongest set of results since the Covid-19 pandemic rapidly worsened in early 2020. The number is almost double the figure in November, and seven times the figure in December 2020, according to data released on Monday. But experts said the rate of recovery is expected to slow down in the coming months owing to the Omicron variant and the reduced quota for a quarantine-free travel scheme. The SIA Group, which is made up of the full-service SIA and its budget arm, Scoot, said the significant increase in passenger demand in December came on the back of a continued expansion of its Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) flights and the year-end travel season. It noted that eight cities - including Bangkok - have joined the SIA Group's VTL network in December. As at end-December, the SIA Group's passenger network, including to non-VTL countries, covered 85 destinations.<br/>