general

Major US airlines, business and travel groups and other companies urged the White House on Thursday to abandon COVID-19 pre-departure testing requirements for vaccinated international passengers traveling to the United States. "Given the slow economic recovery of the business and international travel sectors, and in light of medical advancements and the improved public health metrics in the US, we encourage you to immediately remove the inbound testing requirement for vaccinated air travelers," said the letter signed by American Airlines, Carnival Corp, Marriott International, Walt Disney Co's Disney Parks, the US Chamber of Commerce, US Travel Association and others. Airline executives say many Americans are not traveling internationally because of concerns they will test positive and be stranded abroad. The letter to White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Ashish Jha said "the economic costs associated with maintaining the measure are significant," saying international travel spending is down 78% compared with 2019 levels. The letter noted many foreign governments "with similar infection, vaccination and hospitalization rates—including the United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada—have eliminated pre-departure testing requirements for vaccinated travelers." The letter noted that the Biden administration does not require negative tests for entry at land-border ports of entry with Canada and Mexico but only for air travelers.<br/>

With more US travelers expected to take to the skies and the roads this summer as COVID restrictions ease, unbridled demand will strain capacity in the leisure and travel industry and push prices even higher. Airlines, hotels, rental car companies and booking sites all reported a surge in demand for their services in the latest batch of company earnings. But at the same time, many of those companies face a tight labor market and limited volume as they scramble to restart and expand operations after more than two years of depressed demand due to the pandemic. Tripadvisor said travelers should expect inflation to impact all areas of travel purchases in 2022, and booking now versus later can mean locking in better prices. Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc plans to continue to reprice hotel rooms “every minute of the day” to limit the impact inflation has on its business, CEO Christopher Nassetta told investors on Tuesday. The price of flights this summer are also trending higher, according to travel search engine Skyscanner. Round trip flights within the US will cost $302 per traveler on average, which is 3% higher during the same period pre-pandemic. Long and ultra-long-haul international flights are up to 20% higher than 2019, costing on average $797 and $1182 respectively.<br/>

A week after a federal judge in Florida struck down a government mask mandate on public transportation, the number of unruly air passenger incidents reached its lowest level since 2020, according to data the Federal Aviation Administration released on Wednesday. The agency reported 1.9 incidents per 10,000 flights during the week ending April 24, down from 4.4 incidents per 10,000 flights a week earlier. It declined to cite a reason for the drop. The decrease in incidents comes after the former FAA administrator Steve Dickson implemented a zero-tolerance policy against unruly passenger behavior in January, resulting in hefty fines instead of the warning letters or counseling that were used in previous policies. Last month, the FAA recommended record fines of $81,950 and $77,272 against two passengers involved in separate incidents on flights operated by American Airlines and Delta. One woman was accused of spitting at, head-butting and biting a crew member, while another attempted to hug and kiss the passenger seated next to her before walking to the cabin door and trying to exit the plane during the flight. “The unruly passenger rate dropped by more than 60% after the FAA implemented its zero-tolerance policy and while the face mask mandate was still in effect,” the agency said. The rate dropped further after the mask mandate was lifted on April 18. Since January 2021, 7,200 unruly passenger incidents have been reported to the FAA, and 70% involved the enforcement of masking rules.<br/>

The EASA regulator warned on Thursday of increased risks to airlines due to the war in Ukraine, such as civil planes being accidentally targeted as well as an increased risk of cyber attacks. “As shown by previous wars, misidentification is easy in confused arenas of warfare. The development of this risk is common to all combatants. If we add in the likelihood of jamming of electronic aids that may be involved with navigation and or...identification tools, then it is easy to see the potential for innocent aircraft being subject to missiles or radar laid weapons,” it said in a document published online. The EASA’s statement did not specify that its warning related to Ukraine’s airspace, but was more generically related to risks to planes from the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The regulator added there were also risks related to an increase in the number of military operations using civilian airports, and the fact that “military drones and aircraft operating in the conflict zone may inadvertently infringe adjacent civil airspace.”<br/>

Boeing announced Thursday that it would move its headquarters to Arlington, Va., from Chicago, where it has been based for more than two decades. The choice of Arlington, across the Potomac River from Washington, underscores the importance of the federal government and its regulatory bodies to Boeing, which is a leading military contractor as well as a major manufacturer of commercial aircraft. The company relocated its Defense, Space and Security unit to the Washington area from St. Louis in 2017. “The region makes strategic sense for our global headquarters given its proximity to our customers and stakeholders, and its access to world-class engineering and technical talent,” Dave Calhoun, Boeing’s chief executive, said in a statement. The company, which did not give a timeline for its move, said it planned to establish a research and technology hub in Northern Virginia. The move follows efforts by Boeing, the leading US exporter, to reduce costs. The company sold a number of office parks, warehouses and unused land last year, including its commercial airplane headquarters in Seattle for $100m. Boeing has been trying to regain its footing after a series of crises. Its best-selling 737 Max passenger jet was grounded in 2019 after two of the planes crashed, killing 346 people. It fired Dennis Muilenburg as CE that year, saying he had failed to stabilize the company. Boeing later reached a $2.5b settlement with the Justice Department over the 737 Max debacle.<br/>

The head of the world's second-largest aircraft leasing company said on Thursday Boeing had "lost its way" and might need new leadership to fix a flawed culture that overshadowed its revival. The comments by Avolon CE Domhnal Slattery represented a rare public rebuke of Boeing by a significant customer, albeit one that cancelled orders for over 100 737 MAX jets during the COVID pandemic. Boeing declined comment. "I think it's fair to say that Boeing has lost its way," Slattery told the Airfinance Journal conference in Dublin, a gathering of the world's aircraft lessors who together own most of the world's passenger jets. "Boeing has to fundamentally re-imagine its strategic relevance in the marketplace," he said, adding that this would require "fresh vision, maybe fresh leadership." However, he said the issues could eventually be resolved. "I have faith that they will figure it out," Slattery said.<br/>

Staffing shortages that led to long passenger lines this week at some of Canada's largest airports could see some improvement by the crucial summer travel season, an industry official said. Monette Pasher, interim president of the Canadian Airports Council (CAC), said on Wednesday she is optimistic that recent recruitment efforts by Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA), which screens passenger, baggage and airport workers, could help reduce delays by summer although there are no guarantees. "We're likely going to see longer lines than pre-COVID, but it should be better," Pasher said. Surging travel demand, combined with staffing shortages after a pandemic-induced slump has left airports from Europe to Canada wrestling with delays in recent weeks. Canada, which recently eased travel restrictions, has faced long-lines at airports in Toronto and Vancouver this week. Pasher said she expects domestic airline seat capacity for June and July to be around 95% of 2019 levels for the same months, although actual passengers could be lower. On Monday, passengers complained of long lines at Toronto's Pearson International Airport, the country's busiest. "It's an absolute gong show through security," said Matthew Green, a member of Canada's parliament, on Twitter about the long line-up for his morning flight from Toronto to Ottawa.<br/>

Air Lease Corp Thursday pointed to strong demand for the industry's most popular jet models as travel recovers from the pandemic but warned of potential risks to jet production from stretched global supply chains. The Los Angeles-based leasing giant issued the remarks after reporting a quarterly loss driven by an $800m write-off of jets stranded in sanctions-hit Russia. Global aircraft leasing companies have been scrambling to repossess more than 400 jets worth almost $10b from Russian airlines, which have mostly been unresponsive to demands for surrendering the jets. "We are vigorously pursuing our insurance coverage and believe we have strong and valid claims," Air Lease CE John Plueger told analysts after posting results. Air Lease Chairman Steven Udvar-Hazy added that future aircraft destined for customers in Russia have been placed with airlines in the Americas and Europe, at similar or in some cases higher lease rates.<br/>Air Lease said air travel demand was driving the need for both new and young used aircraft, supporting higher lease rates and boosting the value of jets in its fleet. But they said rising demand for medium-haul jets post-pandemic coupled with industrial and certification risks at top planemakers Boeing and Airbus raises the potential for a jet shortage.<br/>

Airlines face a slew of growing costs in the coming year including higher insurance, fuel, labour and lease rates, the chief executive of major aircraft lessor SMBC Aviation Capital said on Thursday. Managing those will be the industry’s biggest challenge in the next 12-24 months despite a rebound in demand, Peter Barrett told the Airfinance Journal conference in Dublin. “If I had to pick one topic that’s going to be a challenge for the industry over the next 24 months, it will be the cost base and how elastic will demand be relative to that,” Barrett said. After years in which airlines enjoyed growth helped by low interest rates, Barrett said it was inevitable the rising cost of money would eventually be passed on through to the rates charged to airlines for leasing jets. The US Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 50 basis points on Wednesday - the biggest hike in a single day since 2000 - in a bid to control surging prices.<br/>

Bombardier bolstered its business jet backlog in its Q1, ramping up cash flow as more wealthy high-fliers opt for private plane travel in the COVID-19 era. The company increased its backlog of private jet orders by US$1.3b or 11% to US$13.5b, with a book-to-bill ratio -- the ratio of orders received to units shipped and billed -- of 2.5. The bookings uptick left Bombardier with free cash flow of US$173m, far above analyst expectations of a more than US$200m loss, though the company did still report an overall net loss. While airlines struggled amid the COVID-19 pandemic, use of business jets rose by 23% in the United States and 53% in Europe last quarter compared with a year earlier, according to the FAA and Eurocontrol. Those leaps build on large increases in 2021. Flight cancellations, wariness of exposure to the virus and surging wealth among the ultra-rich -- the world's 2,755 billionaires saw their combined wealth rise by US$5t since March 2021, according to a January report from Oxfam International -- have helped drive demand for private aircraft. The taste for luxury has seen buyers snap up used business jets as well, leaving the total number for sale at 3.1% of the worldwide fleet as of late February, its lowest level in more than 25 years, according to market data firm Jetnet IQ -- and making new products a likelier option. Meanwhile airlines captured just 80% of premium travel last year, down from 90% before the pandemic, according to Alton Aviation Consultancy managing director Umang Gupta. The horrific war in Ukraine following Russia's invasion poses some challenges for Bombardier, said CEO Eric Martel. Russian customers account for roughly 5% of Bombardier backlog, according to estimates from J.P. Morgan analyst Seth Seifman. The company has cancelled orders due to Russian sanctions, but views the situation as manageable.<br/>