Heavy snowfall blanketed parts of Britain on Monday, disrupting airports, train networks and roads, and three young boys died after falling into an ice-covered lake as the country recorded its coldest night of the year so far. Parts of London's underground network were suspended or faced delays, while motorways were gridlocked due to snow. London's Gatwick and Stansted airports warned flight schedules could be disrupted. The Met Office issued a yellow weather warning for snow and ice in London and south-east England, with ice and fog warnings in other parts of England and the whole of Northern Ireland. Temperatures dropped below -15 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit) in northern Scotland, with the Met Office confirming it was the coldest night of the year. Further warnings in Scotland and north-east England for potential disruption caused by weather will start at midnight on Tuesday.<br/>
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Heathrow airport will do "everything it can" to ensure no flights are cancelled when Border Force staff go on strike over Christmas. Six UK airports are due to be affected by the strike, starting on 23 December, which is over pay, pensions and jobs. Delays in checking the passports of arriving passengers could lead to long queues and even people being held on planes, disrupting later departures. Heathrow insists "the vast majority of travellers will be unaffected". About 1,000 Border Force staff are expected to walk out every day from 23 December to the end of the year, except on 27 December. The affected airports are: Heathrow, Birmingham, Cardiff, Gatwick, Glasgow and Manchester. This is part of a bitter dispute over pay, pensions and jobs. Military personnel are being trained to step in at airports if required.<br/>
Heathrow said on Monday that 5.6m people travelled through Britain’s busiest airport in November, down from 5.9m in October. It said over 55m people have travelled through Heathrow so far this year, which is nearly 70% of 2019 levels.<br/>
Nigeria on Monday removed COVID-19 testing requirements for international travellers and it was no longer mandatory to wear masks on flights and inside airport buildings, the airlines regulator said. In a notice to airlines, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority said travellers to and from Nigeria did not need to undergo COVID-19 irrespective of their vaccination status. The authority said travellers above 60 years and those with comorbidities were encouraged to use face masks. Nigeria has recorded 266,381 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic and 3,155 deaths.<br/>
Even with infection numbers on the rise across China, its domestic travel sector is enjoying a strong pickup in line with a recent easing of Covid restrictions, and analysts expect that the eventual full reopening will benefit regional economies. Over the past weekend, the number of flights at Beijing’s two international airports more than doubled compared with the same period last year, the official Xinhua reported on Monday. The numbers have recovered to around 70% of the levels seen in 2019 before the pandemic, the report said, as the country has removed testing requirements and cross-provincial travel restrictions. China’s mobility index also increased by 11.9 % last week compared with the week prior, according to Everbright Securities. Flight tracker VariFlight said the number of domestic flights across the country surpassed 5,800 on Friday, after increasing for six consecutive days. The improvement came after China pivoted in its zero-Covid policy, which had been in place for the past three years, with a total of 30 announced measures, including a long-awaited easing of quarantine requirements. “It’s just a matter of time before China reopens and allows domestic residents to travel overseas [unrestricted], and that will be a major positive development for many countries,” said Zhang Zhiwei, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, with the likes of Japan, South Korea and those in Southeast Asia set to benefit. “But timing-wise, there’s uncertainty. The government’s priority is to boost domestic demand, so if they allow Chinese to travel overseas without limit, money might be spent overseas rather than in China. So, I wonder whether the government will open immediately.”<br/>
The civil aviation ministry on Monday issued guidelines to manage congestion at airports as passenger traffic touched record levels with the onset of the year-end holiday season amid capacity constraints at airports across India. According to the ministry, airports and airlines must reduce the number of flights during peak hours between 5 am and 9 am, as part of the action plan. Congestion at major airports, such as Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, came into focus after flyers flooded social media with complaints of delays due to congestion at entry points to the airport and serpentine queues at check-in counters, and security clearances as well as delays in the immigration processes since last week, which led to many passengers even missing their flights. The ministry issued the guidelines following a ground inspection of the Delhi International Airport by aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia earlier in the day. The government is assessing the situation and is looking to shift some of these flights from Delhi’s T3 international terminal to domestic terminals—T1 and T2—or operating some flights from T3 during non-peak hours.<br/>
Embraer has delayed a decision about whether to develop a proposed turboprop airliner after determining that suppliers are presently unable to meet its goals for the aircraft. “As of today, the options available from a few suppliers are not yet there with respect to all targets,” the Brazilian airframer says. “Embraer has decided to postpone the decision on whether to go ahead with a next-generation turboprop aircraft, but will work closely with potential suppliers during the course of 2023 to secure the business the programme requires.” Embraer had previously said it would likely announce its decision on whether to launch the aircraft in the first quarter of 2023. However, it has given no indication as to when any launch will now take place. The news marks a further setback for a turboprop programme that Embraer has pitched for years, most recently saying it intended to develop two variants, one with 70 and one with 90 seats. It has marketed the aircraft as bringing much-needed modernity and efficiency to a segment of the airline market badly in need of update. That segment is now dominated by out-of-production regional jets and turboprops based on decades-old designs made by ATR and De Havilland Canada. But Embraer insists its schedule slip does not reflect lack of interest from operators. “Embraer’s market studies and discussions with airlines shows strong demand exists globally for an advanced next generation turboprop aircraft,” it says. “However, the program only works if it meets targets on performance, maintenance and sustainability.” <br/>