Ireland is putting the army on standby to help alleviate staffing issues at Dublin Airport if the hub is hit by more shortages in the coming weeks. The army will be made available if needed to assist the Dublin Airport Authority during the peak holiday season of July and August, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan told RTE Radio on Tuesday. The DAA fears a renewed surge in Covid-19 cases could worsen staff shortages, leading to even longer queues for passengers. “The army we think could have a role that could free up about 100 of the airport’s own security staff who in the event of a difficult period could then be working in the main security center,” Ryan said. “The airport themselves came with this proposal.” Dublin has been one of numerous airports across Europe that has been hit by staffing issues as passenger numbers surge again after a two year hiatus. The airport authority pledged to compensate some passengers who missed their flight because of long queues last month. Soldiers could be used to secure the airport perimeter among other tasks, which would leave airport employees free to deal directly with passengers, Ryan said.<br/>
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London’s Heathrow airport has been ordered to reduce its landing charges over the next four years, a proposal that will please airlines while the airport said it would result in a worse experience for passengers. The move by the Civil Aviation Authority deals a blow to the airport, which had argued for higher fees to help protect customer service, at a time when the travel industry is recovering from the pandemic. The regulator said the average maximum price for each passenger that airlines will pay Heathrow will fall from GBP30.19 now to GBP26.31 in 2026. Excluding the effects of inflation, this is equal to a near-6% reduction every year until then. The CAA said its final proposals would “be in the best interest of consumers”. It is undertaking a consultation and will announce its final decision later this year. In a bitter dispute, airlines had pushed for a reduction in landing charges, while Heathrow argued that this would hit customer service. The CAA said the two sides had “starkly divergent views on the level of charges for the next five years”. The airport’s CE, John Holland-Kaye, said: “The CAA continues to underestimate what it takes to deliver a good passenger service, both in terms of the level of investment and operating costs required and the fair incentive needed for private investors to finance it. Uncorrected, these elements of the CAA’s proposal will only result in passengers getting a worse experience at Heathrow as investment in service dries up.” The cap on landing charges was GBP22 a customer in 2020, but was raised to more than GBP30 in January. Richard Moriarty, the CAA CE, said: “Today’s announcement is about doing the right thing for consumers. We have listened very carefully to both Heathrow airport and the airlines who have differing views to each other about the future level of charges. Our independent and impartial analysis balances affordable charges for consumers, while allowing Heathrow to make the investment needed for the future.”<br/>
China slashed the quarantine time for inbound travellers by half on Tuesday, in a major easing of COVID-19 curbs that have deterred cross-border travel and resulted in international flights running at just 2% of pre-pandemic levels. Quarantine at centralised facilities has been cut to seven days from 14, and subsequent at-home health monitoring has been reduced to three days from seven, the National Health Commission said. China's adherence to strict anti-COVID measures even as the rest of the world tries to live with the virus has battered its economy, frustrated businesses and infuriated many of the millions people caught up in draconian lockdowns in cities like Shanghai. In recent months, China has cautiously eased curbs on cross-border travellers, with health officials saying the shorter incubation period of the Omicron variant allows for an adjustment of quarantine time. <br/>And earlier this month, China's aviation regulator said it had been in touch with some countries to steadily increase flight numbers in the second half of 2022. The new quarantine rules were welcomed by American, British and European business lobby groups in China.<br/>
China's Sinopec Corp produced its first aviation fuel from used cooking oil at an industrial-scale facility in east China, the state refining giant said on Tuesday. The biojet facility, built in Sinopec Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Co and able to process 100,000 tonnes of used cooking oil or "gut oil" each year, paves the way for Sinopec to start commercial manufacturing of the biofuel. Biojet fuel cuts the emission of carbon dioxide by more than half over the whole life cycle, Sinopec added. Sinopec began developing the fuel since 2009 and in 2014 won the country's first airworthiness certificate for the fuel. The International Energy Agency predicted in late 2021 that global biojet demand could range between 2 to 6b litres by 2026, up from around 0.1b litres.<br/>