Carriers in Germany are vehemently objecting to government plans to re-introduce compulsory mask-wearing on flights, arguing that such measures are unnecessary and will harm the country’s airline industry at a time of recovery. The German health ministry states that new protective measures for the winter season will apply from 1 October and run to 7 April next year, following a federal cabinet decision. Federal health minister Karl Lauterbach says the mask requirement will apply nationwide to air services and long-distance public transport – part of a broader strategy to cut the risk of Covid-19 resurgence. “The aim of our [coronavirus] policy remains to avoid high fatality rates, many lost working days, and serious long-term consequences,” he says. But German airlines describes as “completely inconsistent” the obligation for passengers to wear a specified high-protection mask as soon as they board an aircraft operating to or from Germany, given that this has not been mandatory at German airports for months. “Germany’s position on the air transport market would be put at a considerable disadvantage in international competition by such an unjustifiably strict regulation,” says the Board of Airline Representatives in Germany, which counts both German and foreign carriers among its membership. BARIG is expressing “sheer incomprehension” at the cabinet decision, and is urging the federal parliament to revise the proposal. “There is no epidemiological basis for such a step,” insists secretary general Michael Hoppe, adding that the government’s plan is “not reasonable”. “Germany is completely on its own with this decision,” adds the organisation, which also point out that the risk of Covid-19 infection on board aircraft is “very low” in any case.<br/>
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Ryanair in August flew a record number of passengers for the fourth month in a row as it continued to consolidate its position as Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers. The Irish low-cost carrier, which unlike many airlines made a point of keeping its pilots and crew up-to-date with their flying hours during the pandemic, flew 16.9m passengers in August compared to a pre-COVID peak of 14.9m in August 2019. Ryanair last week flew an average of over 3,000 flights a day, almost double the 1,600 flights of its next largest rival easyJet, according to European air traffic control agency Eurocontrol. The average proportion of empty seats per flight were 4%, for the second month in a row compared to 3% in August 2019.<br/>
Scandals at well-known Indonesian charity Aksi Cepat Tanggap (ACT) have rocked the nation, as the organization allegedly misused donations including those for victims of the Lion Air crash in 2018. Investigators suspect that part of 1.7t rupiah ($114m) in contributions was even transferred to terrorist organizations, exacerbating the scandal. When Neuis Marfuah's daughter died at the age of 23, her mother was bereft. Her daughter, Vivian Hasna Afifa, was a passenger aboard Lion Air Flight JT 610, which crashed into the Java Sea shortly after takeoff from Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta Airport on Oct. 29, 2018. Marfuah struggled to make sense of the tragedy in the months that followed. Yet following the crash that claimed the lives of all 189 passengers and crew, one glimmer of hope emerged for Marfuah and her family in the form of the Boeing Community Investment Fund (BCIF). The $50m fund was established by Boeing in 2020 "to support communities affected by Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 accidents" and "empower families who lost loved ones to support charitable organizations in affected communities," according to Boeing's website. Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 crashed on March 10, 2019, just five months after the Lion Air tragedy, prompting families of the victims on both planes to take legal action against Boeing. The U.S. manufacturer had supplied the 737 Max planes. In both cases, it was found that identical flight control systems on the planes had malfunctioned. As part of the settlement the BCIF was created, with the funds distributed to charities chosen by families across the globe, including Marfuah, who selected ACT. "I chose ACT because it was a popular social and charitable body and I trusted that the money was safe with them," she said. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Story has details.<br/>