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Airlines say they are offering options — including refunds in some cases — for people worried about flying now that other passengers aren’t required to wear face masks. However, the airlines aren’t providing many details. Customers could find themselves at the mercy of workers at airline customer-service centers. Many people who will be flying in the next few weeks bought their tickets before a federal judge in Florida on Monday struck down the requirement to wear a mask in airports and during flights. That requirement, designed to limit the spread of COVID-19, was due to expire anyway on May 3. United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said his airline will be flexible with people who have a weak immune system or are concerned about mask-optional flying for any other reason. “We are working with those customers ... to find another option, give them a credit, or if they just don’t ever want to fly again, (we are) actually willing to give them a refund,” Kirby told NBC. A United spokesman said customers except those on the lowest-priced “basic economy” fares can delay their travel plans for any reason with no extra fee. He said passengers with special circumstances should call the airline’s customer-service number.<br/>

It’s been a half-century since airlines started hiring women and people of color to fly passenger planes, allowing a handful of pioneering pilots into the flight deck. In the decades since, commercial aviation has grown exponentially, democratizing travel and rewiring how Americans live, work and play. But one part of the industry has remained mostly the same. Piloting is stubbornly monolithic: About 95 percent of airline pilots in the US today are male. Nearly as many are white. Zakiya Percy is one of a small and growing number of people trying to change that. Ms. Percy, 29, used to dream about flying, watching planes pass overhead when she was growing up in San Francisco. “I told myself as a kid, you’re already a captain on a 777 flying international,” she said. “You just have to get there.” Now, Percy, who is Black and a first-generation college graduate, expects to have her airline pilot’s license within a year, bringing her a step closer to that goal. For many like Percy, piloting has long been or seemed out of reach. Few women and people of color aspire to fly planes because they rarely see themselves in today’s flight decks. The cost of training and the toll of discrimination can be discouraging, too. Now there’s urgency for the industry to act. Pilots are in short supply, and if airlines want to make the most of the thriving recovery from the pandemic, they will have to learn to foster lasting change. “The pilot shortage for the industry is real,” Scott Kirby, the chief executive of United, told analysts and reporters on Thursday. “Most airlines are simply not going to be able to realize their capacity plans because there simply aren’t enough pilots, at least not for the next five-plus years.” Airlines have started to do more to diversify. United recently launched a flight school with the aim of hiring thousands of pilots in the years ahead, at least half of them women or people of color. Other carriers have launched similar initiatives, too. The goal is to staff up to meet the industry’s aspirations. But for the people carrying out those ambitions, becoming a pilot is less about meeting an existential need and more about fulfilling a personal dream.<br/>

Lufthansa said on Friday it had to reduce the buy-on-board meal offer for some short- and medium-haul routes departing from Frankfurt as its catering contractor Gate Gourmet struggles with staff shortages. "This means our (catering) offer is currently not available in economy class on these Lufthansa flights to and from Frankfurt. The offer in business class and on long-haul flights is not affected," a Lufthansa spokesperson said. A spokesperson at Gate Gourmet's owner GateGroup said the issues are limited to a small number of flights departing from the Frankfurt airport, which is primarily a Lufthansa hub, and the main reason is the shortage of drivers in Germany. To address the issue, the caterer has introduced measures such as a 250-euro bonus for employees who did not take more than one sick day in April. GateGroup serves more than 300 customers in over 60 countries but has not got any other complaints, the spokesperson said, adding the caterer kept its on-time performance in Frankfurt at 99% over the busy Easter period.<br/>

Asiana Airlines, Korea's second-biggest carrier, said Monday it will reopen the route to India this week as eased virus restrictions unleash pent-up demand. Asiana will offer one flight a week on the Incheon-Delhi route starting Friday after it suspended the route 33 months ago on July 8, 2019, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company said. The company will also expand the number of flights on routes to Sydney, Los Angeles, Osaka, Fukuoka, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Manila from May, it said. Its budget carrier unit Air Busan said it will resume services on the routes from the southern port city of Busan to Fukuoka, Da Nang, and Cebu. The routes have been suspended for the past 26 months. The Busan-Fukuoka route will be available from May 31, with the routes to Da Nang and Cebu set to begin on June 29 and July 15, respectively, the statement said. Air Busan also plans to open five new international routes from Incheon to Osaka, Tokyo, Guam, Nha Trang of Vietnam, and Kota Kinabalu of Malaysia next month.<br/>

Japanese airline ANA Holdings lifted on Friday its full-year operating loss estimate to 175b yen ($1.37b) from 125b yen previously because domestic and international revenue had failed to meet its expectations. The airline, which ended its financial year on March 31, cited the impact of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in the fourth quarter, continued border restrictions and rising fuel costs among the factors affecting its estimate. Rival Japan Airlines said last week it expected to report a wider full-year loss than its prior forecast for similar reasons. In Q3, ANA had surprised the market with a small operating profit, its first since the start of the pandemic, as it benefited from cost cuts and record cargo revenue. read more . ANA said on Friday that international cargo revenue had remained strong during Q4.<br/>