US airline delays eased on Monday as weather improved, a relief for travelers and airlines as the July Fourth holiday weekend comes to an end. As of Monday afternoon, about 1,200 US flights were delayed and 183 were canceled, down from nearly 4,700 delays and more than 300 cancellations a day earlier, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. This year through July 3, 2.8% of the more than 4.1m flights scheduled by US airlines were canceled, up from 2.1% of the more than 4.74m flights scheduled in the same period, according to FlightAware. And so far this year, 20.2% of flights were delayed, up from 16.7%. about a fifth of US airlines’ flights were delayed and 2.8% canceled, up from 2.1% canceled over the same period of 2019. The weekend was key for airlines as executives expected a surge of travelers after more than two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. Passengers shelled out more for tickets as fares surpassed 2019 levels. Industry staffing shortages, many the result of buyouts that airlines urged workers to take during the pandemic, have exacerbated routine challenges like bad weather. US airline executives will begin detailing their summer performances and providing updated outlooks for the year in quarterly reports starting midmonth. A big question is what happens after the summer-travel peak fades, as many children in the US go back to school in August. Airlines spent the last few weeks focusing on limiting summer travel disruptions. <br/>
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Delays, cancellations and strikes. It’s been a messy time for many European tourist hotspots as airlines and airports struggle to cope with staffing problems and pent-up travel demand after Covid-19 lockdowns. Thousands of flights have been canceled and travelers have queued for hours at passport control and luggage collection at airports across Europe — and the issues are expected to drag on. On Monday, Scandinavian airline SAS canceled 173 flights, more than half of its schedule, as a breakdown in pay talks set off a pilot strike. It said the strike would force it to cancel half of SAS’s scheduled flights and affect about 30,000 passengers each day.“Air travel this summer is fraught with uncertainty, both for passengers and airlines,” said Laura Hoy, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. “Long delays and cancellations are likely grating on consumers’ desire to travel while airlines toe a fine line between trying to grasp hold of the post-pandemic travel boom and preparing for the likely slowdown ahead as economic conditions deteriorate.” According to aviation data firm Cirium, 400 flights were canceled in all UK airports between June 24 and June 30, representing an increase of 158% from the same seven days in 2019. And that’s outside of the peak summer season — usually between July and early September in Europe. London’s busiest airport, Heathrow, asked airlines last week to cut flights, as passenger numbers were above what it could cope with. Some passengers were unaware their flight had been canceled, while others complained about the long queues. Story has more. <br/>
Canadian airlines and airports claimed top spots in flight delays over the July long weekend, notching more than nearly any other around the world. Air Canada ranked No. 1 in delays on Saturday and Sunday as two-thirds of its flights - 717 trips in total - landed late, according to tracking service FlightAware. At 67 per cent on Sunday, it was more than 14 percentage points above the three carriers tied for second place, two of which are Air Canada-affiliated. Jazz Aviation - a Halifax-based company that provides regional service for Air Canada - and the lower-cost Air Canada Rouge both saw 53% of flights delayed, putting them in the No. 2 spot alongside Greek regional carrier Olympic Air on Sunday. On Saturday, WestJet and budget subsidiary Swoop placed third and fourth at 55%. On the airport front, Toronto's Pearson claimed the No. 2 spot Sunday after 53% of departures were held up, below only Guangzhou's main airport in China. Pearson, Air Canada's main hub, beat out Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and Frankfurt Airport in Germany. Montreal's airport placed sixth Sunday at 43% of takeoffs delayed, on par with London's Heathrow, according to FlightAware figures. Air Canada said last week it will cut more than 15% of its summer schedule, or nearly 10,000 flights in July and August, affecting hundreds of thousands of passengers as the country's aviation network sags under an overwhelming travel resurgence.<br/>
Traffic at Paris’s main airport is expected to return to normal on Sunday after some workers called a halt to a strike there, even as travel disruptions appear set to continue across Europe. After as many as a fifth of flights were canceled for parts of Friday and Saturday, Aeroports de Paris, which operates Charles de Gaulle airport, doesn’t expect any impact on traffic on Sunday, a spokesman said. Air France is planning to maintain its flight schedule out of the Paris airport on Sunday. The strikes and cancellations turned Paris into the latest chokepoint for Europe’s snarled travel networks this spring and summer. Hubs in cities including London, Amsterdam and Frankfurt have scrapped thousands of flights amid labor shortages and disputes over pay. The easing of the strike action at Charles de Gaulle hasn’t lifted the threat of further disruptions in Europe. SAS AB extended a labor talk deadline to Monday as it tries to reach a deal with pilots to avoid a crippling strike. Ryanair’s Spanish cabin crews called today for additional 12 days of strikes this month while staff at EasyJet Plc bases there began the first of a series of three-day strikes on Friday.<br/>
China's state-owned BOC Aviation is expecting to slip into a net loss of at least $310m for the first six months of the year, affected by a substantial write down in its Russia business. The Hong Kong-listed unit of Bank of China said in a filing on Sunday evening that it has decided to cut the net book value of 17 leased aircraft remaining under control of Russian airlines to zero from $803.6m. The company believes "it is unlikely to be able to recover those aircraft from Russia in the foreseeable future, if ever." It has recovered only one from the country so far since the start of the war in Ukraine. The net impact of the write-down to its pretax profit is $580.7 million, as it will be partially offset by cash collateral of $222.9 million from the airlines. Nevertheless, the company is not able to avoid a net loss of between $310m and $330m for the first half of the year, compared to a profit of $254m a year ago. The size of BOC Aviation's Russia-related loss is similar to that of Japan's SMBC Aviation Capital, which, with 35 aircraft stranded in Russia, has the largest exposure to the country among Asian lessors. Its parent Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing said in mid-May that it recorded an extraordinary loss of 81.96b yen ($605m) for the financial year that ended in March. Most regional and global lessors acknowledged months ago that they have sustained financial losses due to European Union sanctions requiring the termination of all aircraft leases with Russian companies by March 28. Apart from Avolon Holdings, co-owned by China's Bohai Leasing and Japan's Orix, which reported $304m in Russia-related losses, major Chinese aircraft lessors had yet to announce how they would treat their exposure to the Russian market.<br/>
Hong Kong suspended flights from three airlines Monday, bringing its bans this year to 100 as the city continues to impose onerous Covid travel restrictions while the rest of the world beyond China has removed curbs and allows much freer entry. Emirates Airline, Qatar Airways and Thai Airways International Pcl were the latest to fall foul of rules that punish airlines for carrying passengers infected with Covid. Bans are triggered if either 5% or five or more people on a flight test positive on arrival. Bans and fines are also handed out if passengers have improper paperwork. The flight suspensions come even as Hong Kong slowly loosens its quarantine rules, which have deterred many people from traveling out of the hub for more than two years. The city’s new Chief Executive John Lee said in a television interview Sunday that the quarantine policy for international arrivals could be adjusted. Bloomberg News reported last week that the government is considering cutting the time inbound travelers must stay isolated in hotel rooms to five days, followed by two days at home. The requirement is currently seven days hotel quarantine, down from as long as 21 days earlier in the pandemic. The flight bans, which last five days, are yet another burden and concern for travelers already tasked with finding hotel rooms for quarantine and lining up Covid tests to get back into the city. If a flight is banned, then carefully crafted hotel bookings fall through. <br/>
Just 20 minutes north-west of Singapore’s Changi Airport—regularly voted the world’s best—is Seletar Airport, the city-state’s second, and far well less known, airfield. It’s predominantly where the super rich land in their private jets. It’s also where the future of aviation could be taking off. The neighborhood, more known for its laid-back cafes in restored British-era colonial buildings and sleepy fishing villages, is positioning itself as a hub for flying taxis. Singapore has already signed two agreements with advanced air mobility startups Skyports Ltd. and Volocopter GmbH that may convert the aging aerodrome into a vertiport, or an airport where the aerial devices take off and land vertically, Jetsons-style. It isn’t some way off dream, either. Plans for flying taxis to be operational at Seletar are pretty immediate—as soon as 2024—and the airport, or vertiport, could serve as a global model for what the future of mobility may look like. Recent interest in so-called eVTOLs (electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles) has been immense. “Singapore is, and continues to strive to be, the world leader in mobility, and this development is another brick in that wall,” said Sunny Xi, a principal at consultancy Oliver Wyman’s transportation and services practice. “This is more than simply solving traffic on roads. Singapore has all the right ingredients to test, learn and scale both the mobility adoption and the business to then export it across the world.” But flying taxis—until recently the stuff of science fiction—have one big and crucial hurdle to clear. Not one has been approved by regulators anywhere to actually take to the skies with passengers onboard. Authorities can take years to approve new technology and it’s only recently that flying taxis have a taken the giant leap from being a concept to a reality. Regulators are now examining the safety of such vehicles before green lighting them for commercial operations.<br/>
Travelling to Australia is going to be easy starting 6 July. According to a new plan by the government, visitors will not have to declare their COVID-19 vaccination status. They will also not be required to obtain a travel exemption to be able to tour Down Under. The government has also scrapped the maritime travel declarations. This means the exemptions apply to maritime crew and passengers coming by sea on cruise ships as well. The announcement was made on 3 July by the Minister for Home Affairs of Australia, Clare O’Neil, and the Minister for Health and Aged Care, Mark Butler. Restrictions have been in place since the late 2021 when the country reopened its borders. One of the requirements before entering the country was to file the Digital Passenger Declaration (DPD) that was introduced in September. Following the advice from the Chief Medical Officer, Paul Kelly, the government decided to make changes to the Biosecurity Act 2015, thereby removing the need for passengers to file the DPD before entering. “The Chief Medical Officer has advised it is no longer necessary for travellers to declare their vaccine status as part of our management of COVID,” Health Minister Butler said.<br/>