A federal judge in Florida struck down the federal mask requirement on airplanes, trains, buses and other public transportation on Monday, less than a week after the CDC had extended it through May 3. In a 59-page decision, Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, an appointee of former President Donald J. Trump, voided the mandate — which also applies to airports, train stations, and other transportation hubs — nationwide on several grounds, including ruling that the agency had exceeded its legal authority under the Public Health Services Act of 1944. Because of the ruling, the masking order was not in effect for the time being, an administration official said on Monday evening, and the TSA would not enforce it. The official said the administration was still reviewing the decision and assessing whether to appeal it, and that the CDC still recommended that people wear continue to wear masks in enclosed public transportation settings. It remained unclear whether any local transportation agencies or airlines would seek to keep their mandates in place. Earlier in the day, before the official said the TSA would not enforce the mandate, a series of state and local transit agencies across the country suggested they would keep their mask mandates for now. Still, governments and businesses across the nation have largely loosened precautions even as new known coronavirus cases are sharply rising again. Last week, the CDC extended the mask rule until May 3, citing a desire to assess the potential severity of the Omicron subvariant known as BA.2, which recently became the dominant version among new US cases. On Monday, the city of Philadelphia reinstated a mask mandate in response, becoming the first major city to do so. There were signs the ruling could lead to some confusion. On Monday afternoon, Sara Nelson, the president of the Association of Flight Attendants, a union representing around 50,000 workers at 20 airlines, said that she was awaiting “more legal analysis on what this means” and that it would take a minimum of 24 to 48 hours to enact and communicate new procedures. “We urge everyone to practice patience, remain calm, and to continue to follow crew member instructions,” she said. “And we remind passengers that it is legally required to follow crew member instructions, and that disruptive behavior has serious consequences as it puts everyone at risk.”<br/>
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The US CDC said on Monday it had dropped its "Do Not Travel" COVID-19 recommendations for about 90 international destinations. Last week, the CDC said it was revising its travel recommendations and said it would its reserve Level 4 travel health notices "for special circumstances, such as rapidly escalating case trajectory or extremely high case counts." The countries and other regions dropped to "Level 3: High," which still discourages travel by unvaccinated Americans, include the United Kingdom, France, Israel, Turkey, Australia, Greece, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain and Russia. Also being lowered are Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central African Republic, Chile, Czech Republic, Jordan, Lebanon, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Poland, Somalia, Uruguay and Vietnam. The CDC currently lists no countries at "Level 4" that it has renamed "Special Circumstances/Do Not Travel." The US State Department said last week it was also sharply cutting back on "Do Not Travel" advisories for international destinations. Out of about 215 countries and territories that it rates,the department currently lists nearly 120 at "Level Four: Do Not Travel", including much of Europe, Japan, Israel and Russia. The department last week said its update due later on Monday "will leave approximately 10% of all travel advisories at Level 4 " including all risk factors, not just COVID. "We believe the updated framework will help US citizens make better informed decisions about the safety of international travel," it said.<br/>
Miami International Airport saw the biggest increase in passenger seat capacity from pre-pandemic levels amid a surge in domestic tourism in the Sunshine State. Airport capacity in Miami rose 23% in April from the same month in 2019, according to a report from OAG Aviation Worldwide Ltd. that examined the world’s largest hubs. Orlando saw capacity rise 2.4% over the same period. Airports in Miami and Orlando are among five of the largest 20 airports in the world that are seeing higher traffic from three years ago. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said in February that tourism to the state had topped pre-pandemic levels for the second quarter in a row, with 30.9m visitors arriving from October through December. Miami International Airport reported its busiest day ever on March 13, and it’s been advising travelers to arrive to the terminal early. While Atlanta is the largest airport in the world in terms of seat capacity, traffic this month remains 15.8% below levels seen in April 2019, according to OAG. <br/>
Singapore air passenger traffic jumped sharply after the city state fully opened its borders at the beginning of April. The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) on 18 April says traffic levels at Changi Airport are currently 31% pre-pandemic levels, up from just 18% a month ago, when the decision was made to fully reopen borders. It adds: “The increase in air passenger traffic was broad based. Traffic volume increased for all major markets, with particularly strong growth for traffic to and from Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.” The number of passenger flights to and from the city-state rose from 29% a month ago to 38% pre-pandemic levels. The agency notes that flights from countries including Australia, Malaysia and Vietnam saw the sharpest increase, in tandem with the loosening of border restrictions. Singapore on 1 April fully reopened borders, replacing its Vaccinated Travel Lane arrangement with a blanket “vaccinated travel framework”, where travellers from any “low-risk” country can enter Singapore quarantine-free. As part of the shift, the CAAS removed arrival quotas and did away with designated travel lane flights. It also eased testing requirements for inbound travellers by removing on-arrival tests. The CAAS expects traffic to continue to rise, particularly in the coming weeks with a long weekend in early May, as well as the June school holiday period. It is “on track” to hit 50% pre-pandemic traffic by year-end, an estimate first disclosed earlier in the year. <br/>
Mitsubishi Corp. and Eneos Holdings on Monday jointly announced that they will produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), which significantly cuts down on carbon dioxide emissions from aircraft. The companies will as soon as 2027 establish a domestic supply chain that handles everything from procurement of raw materials to manufacturing and distribution. With aviation decarbonization regulations becoming more stringent around the world and competition for SAF picking up, the two companies aim to reduce their dependence on imports by establishing their own system for mass production. The Japanese government has set a goal of replacing 10% of aviation fuel used annually (about 1.3 billion liters) with SAF by 2030. The plan is to build a facility to receive SAF at Chubu International Airport in the fall of 2022. All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines (JAL) have partially introduced SAF but are still dependent on imports. Story has more. <br/>