It is the height of the summer travel season: Airplanes and cruises are packed, hotels are booked, and travelers are crowding theme parks and attractions. Yet throughout the United States, Covid-19 is currently circulating at very high levels. During the peak of the pandemic, masks were ubiquitous in hotels, airports and other public places. They were required to fly, and many travelers donned them elsewhere to help reduce the transmission of the deadly coronavirus. Since the end of the mandate, and as travel has returned to or surpassed prepandemic levels, most travelers have abandoned preventive measures, particularly masks. With updated vaccines not available until the fall, experts are reminding travelers about the benefits of masking, particularly in airports and poorly ventilated indoor environments. Here’s what you need to know about masks and your travel plans. The number of reported cases appears to be climbing both in the United States and abroad. In the United States, there are “very high” levels of the virus in wastewater samples nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The World Health Organization reported that cases around the globe rose by 30% from June 24 to July 21, compared with the previous 28 days. Put simply: There’s a lot of Covid out there. People who want to minimize their risk of respiratory illnesses like Covid (along with colds and the flu) should wear a mask while traveling, experts say. Even if you’re the only person wearing one on a train or at an airport, a mask continues to offer protection — provided you wear it properly, which means covering both your nose and your mouth.<br/>
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Chorus Aviation Inc. says it lost $180.6m in its second quarter, down from profits of $20.3m during the same quarter last year. The Halifax-based company says the results include a previously disclosed $187m impairment on discontinued operations. Operating revenues for the quarter ended June 30 were $351.2m, up from $327.5m last year. Last month, Chorus agreed to sell its regional aircraft leasing arm in a deal valued at $1.9b. President and CEO Colin Copp says the sale, expected to close at the end of the year, will set the stage for steady and sustainable future growth at the company. He says the divestiture will enable Chorus to invest in future growth as well as to implement a sustainable return of capital program for shareholders.<br/>
The government has introduced new regulations aimed at protecting the country's carriers from the growing threat of severe air turbulence, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport, Thursday. The measures were introduced in response to a rise in flight accidents caused by turbulence globally. The most recent incident involved a Korean carrier in May, where 12 passengers on T’way Airlines sustained either serious or minor injuries. The ministry has introduced four new measures developed with input from experts across the aviation industry, academia, and research fields. The authority will first expand data sharing between the country’s state-run and private meteorological agencies and airlines. This will provide pilots with real-time information about existing turbulence, allowing for better-informed flight decisions. Private meteorological data services, such as International Air Transport Association (IATA) Turbulence Aware and Weather Service International Total Turbulence Automated Alerting (WSI-TTA), will be made accessible to all flights, including low-cost carriers (LCCs).<br/>
The Justice Department is defending a plea deal it struck with Boeing over planes that crashed and killed 346 people, saying in a court filing Wednesday that it lacks evidence to prosecute the company for more serious crimes. Prosecutors said if the plea deal is rejected and the case goes to trial, they will not offer testimony or evidence about the causes of two crashes in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia, nor will they charge any Boeing individuals. Boeing agreed last month to plead guilty to a single felony charge of conspiracy to commit fraud for deceiving regulators who approved the 737 Max. Under the plea deal, Boeing would pay a fine of at least $243.6m, invest $455m in compliance and safety programs, and be placed on probation for three years. The Justice Department made Wednesday’s court filing in response to relatives of some of the people killed in the crashes, who asked a federal judge in Texas to reject the settlement. The relatives argue that the sentence approved by prosecutors is light punishment considering the loss of lives. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth, Texas, can accept the plea agreement and proposed sentence, or he could reject the deal, which likely would lead to new negotiations between Boeing and the Justice Department.<br/>
Four years ago, Airbus scored a major victory: For the first time in its history, more of its passenger planes were flying around the world than those made by its rival, Boeing. Airbus has only tightened its grip on the market since. Shifting the balance of power back in Boeing’s favor will be one of the most difficult challenges facing its new CE, Kelly Ortberg, who started last week. Pulling that off will require navigating the industrywide challenges hampering both companies while also landing a string of successes — starting with getting plane production back on track. “Boeing is in a situation that is way more difficult than Airbus,” said Saïma Hussain, an analyst at AlphaValue, an equity research firm. “Airbus is gaining market share while Boeing needs to recover.” The two companies form a duopoly in the global passenger plane market, but Airbus has far outproduced and outsold Boeing in recent years. Airbus has delivered over 3,800 planes to customers since the start of 2019, while Boeing has handed about 2,100, according to Cirium, an aviation data provider. Of late, however, both companies are struggling to make planes fast enough for their customers, who are desperate for aircraft to serve rising global demand for travel. “Is it frustrating? Of course. Would we love to get more aircraft more quickly? Of course,” Campbell Wilson, the CE of Air India, a Boeing and Airbus customer, said last month during a panel discussion at the Farnborough Air Show near London. But there is a silver lining, he added: “We’re all on the same boat. We’re all suffering.”<br/>