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One returning pilot lost control of an aircraft during landing and skidded off the runway into a ditch. Another just returning from furlough forgot to activate a critical anti-icing system designed to prevent hazards in cold weather. Several others flew at the wrong altitudes, which they attributed to distractions and lapses in communication. In all of these incidents, which were recorded on NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System, a database of commercial aviation mistakes that are anonymously reported by pilots and other airline crew, the pilots involved blamed their mistakes on the same thing: a lack of practice flying during the pandemic. “It’s not quite like riding a bike,” said Joe Townshend, a former pilot for Titan Airways, a British charter airline, who was laid off when the pandemic hit in March last year. “You can probably go 10 years without flying a plane and still get it off the ground, but what fades is the operational side of things,” he said. “There is a multitude of information being thrown at you in a real working environment, and the only way to stay sharp and constant is to keep doing it.” Story has more.<br/>

The US CDC said Friday that US-bound international air travelers can meet COVID-19 entry requirements using certain self-administered tests. In January, the CDC mandated that all airline passengers aged two and older -- including US citizens -- be able to provide negative COVID tests within three days of coming to the United States or show proof of recovery from COVID-19. The CDC's decision was praised by Airlines for America, a trade group, saying it would "allow FDA-approved proctored home testing for international passengers entering the US. This is an encouraging step in facilitating the international travel process." Some Americans have feared they would be unable to have access to testing in some foreign countries. The CDC noted that some countries may restrict importation of tests that are not authorized or registered there. Passengers using a self-test must use a telehealth service that provides real-time supervision remotely during testing. Airlines must be able to review and confirm the person’s identity and test result details.<br/>

The US TSA said it screened 1.64m passengers on Thursday at US airports, the highest number since March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic slashed travel demand. The number of US air travelers is still about 35% lower than the same date in 2019, down nearly 1 million travelers, TSA said. US airlines have been adding more flights, anticipating rising summer travel demand. This is the second new post March 2020 high set this week. TSA said it had screened nearly 1.63m passengers on Sunday at US airports. Thursday's figure was up about 17,000 over Sunday. By comparison, just 190,000 people were screened at US airports on the same day in May 2020. <br/>

India’s airlines are under renewed pressure to raise cash or face the risk of having to downsize, consolidate or have their planes repossessed by lessors as a surge of COVID-19 infections roils travel. Passenger traffic fell by nearly 30% in April from a month before and has halved again so far in May, forcing even the country's biggest and most cashed-up carrier, IndiGo, to act. IndiGo's parent, Interglobe Aviation, met Friday to consider an equity raising, just months after it abandoned plans to raise up to 40b rupees ($543m) in January in response to a speedy recovery in travel. InterGlobe's board has decided to continue exploring all options to increase liquidity, including by way of a share sale to institutional investors, the company told the stock exchange. With traffic plummeting, according to aviation ministry data, IndiGo's cash burn is expected to rise to $3.4m a day - a level last seen in September - from $2m a day at the end of 2020, an analyst who tracks the company said. This means IndiGo, which has more than a 50% share of the market, may look to raise $543m to $679m amounting to at least two quarters of cash burn, said the analyst. While IndiGo is seen as a survivor, the situation is worse for smaller carriers, particularly those without large backers, some of which were struggling before the novel coronavirus hit, analysts say. Story has more.<br/>

Emirates airline said on Sunday it will fly medical supplies from Dubai to nine cities in India free of charge from this week to help battle a devastating upsurge in the coronavirus. International aid has poured in for India, where record infection rates have overwhelmed hospitals, depleting medicines, oxygen tanks and other supplies. Earlier this month, Qatar Airways also airlifted 300 tonnes of aid free of charge from Doha to India. Emirates will provide free spare capacity to transport supplies from charities based in Dubai, divisional senior vice president Nabil Sultan told reporters, saying the mechanism could later be extended to bring aid from other parts. “We are absolutely committed to helping India,” he said. The supplies will be organised through Dubai’s International Humanitarian City, a hub used by many non-governmental organisations to transport aid globally. Supplies would be flown for free until further notice, Sultan said. The first flight under the new “airbridge” is scheduled to depart for New Delhi on May 13 carrying 12.6 tonnes of multi-purpose tents from the WHO. India reported 4,092 new deaths from the virus on Sunday, bringing the total to 242,362. <br/>

Britain will allow international travel to resume from May 17 after months of banning most trips abroad, but nearly all major destinations were left off its list of countries open for quarantine-free holidays. Just 12 countries and territories made the so-called "green list". They include Portugal, Israel, New Zealand, Australia and the tiny Faroe Islands. The top four destinations - Spain, France, Italy and the United States - were among those left off, angering stricken airlines and holiday companies battling for survival. Those four sit in the amber category, requiring self-isolation for those returning to the UK. Turkey, another big holiday destination, was added to a red list. Thatrequires travellers to spend 10 days in managed hotel quarantineon their return, which they must pay for themselves. While a legal ban on all non-essential international travel will be lifted for the first time since January, the government said people should still avoid travelling to countries on the amber or red lists for leisure. "Today marks the first step in our cautious return to international travel, with measures designed above all else to protect public health and ensure we don’t throw away the hard-fought gains we’ve all strived to earn this year," transport minister Grant Shapps said. Airlines, holiday companies and tourist hotspots in southern Europe have been waiting for big-spending Britons to start travelling again, but they will have to wait a few months longer for a full rebound to take off. The list will be reviewed every three weeks. <br/>

Employees of two Chinese state-owned companies in Iraq are blocked from returning to China for two months after 14 coworkers flew home with the coronavirus, Beijing’s embassy in Baghdad said Friday. China has repeatedly suspended the rights of airlines to fly certain routes after infections were found among their passengers. But a decision to target Chinese citizens working for state-owned companies abroad is unusual. The 14 employees who flew home with the virus in April worked for China Power Construction Corp. in Rumaila and for the China Machinery Engineering Corp. in Basra, the Chinese Embassy said on its social media account. Beijing suspended issuing health codes to other employees on those projects for two months, the embassy said. That blocks them from boarding flights to China. Failure to detect the virus before the employees boarded two Iraqi Airlines flights “caused a serious risk of importing the epidemic,” the statement said. It gave no details of whether they passed the virus to anyone in China.<br/>

New Zealand will lift a travel pause with the Australian state of New South Wales at midnight Sunday after officials determined that community cases of Covid-19 in Sydney pose a low risk to public health. “The Ministry of Health is advising airlines that flights can resume from 11:59 p.m. tomorrow subject to there being no further significant developments,” Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said. New Zealand began operating a free travel zone with Australia last month, allowing travelers from its near neighbor to avoid mandatory 14-day quarantine provided they haven’t been in any other country for at least 14 days. The government suspended travel from New South Wales on May 6 after two community cases were identified. Since then state officials haven’t detected any more community cases.<br/>

Some of the world’s biggest airlines are shrinking their mammoth fuel-hedging programs after losing billions of dollars in derivatives markets last year. BA parent IAG said it will cut its year-ahead fuel hedging to about 60% of its requirements. The company was about 90% hedged for the comparable period when the pandemic began. Similarly, Lutfthansa will cut its hedging volumes by about 20 percentage points. “Given our experience of over hedging losses during the pandemic, we’ve been reviewing our hedging policy,” said Steve Gunning, CFO at IAG. “The key amendments are we’ve moved from a three-year rolling policy to a two-year rolling policy and we’ve reduced the maximum levels.” The move comes after airlines were hit badly by oil derivatives they purchased when the pandemic first began. While they usually buy contracts to cap their costs, airlines often cheapen the deal by simultaneously selling other ones that lose money if prices fall. In normal times that’s offset by lower actual fuel costs, but with so few planes flying in 2020 the companies were suddenly left with massive losses from that side of their trades. In addition to cutting the amount of fuel that they will hedge, the companies are also looking less far out. While IAG plans to reduce its presence in the market to just two years out from three, Air France-KLM previously said it is now only hedging 12 months forward.<br/>

Airbus delivered 45 jets in April, bringing its total so far this year to 170 - up 25% from the same period of 2020 when airlines were reeling from the first shock of COVID-19. April deliveries trebled compared to the same period a year earlier, but slipped from 72 in March, company data showed. US and Chinese domestic markets have seen a surge in travel as vaccinations widen and Britain said on Friday it would cautiously allow international travel to resume. But a humanitarian crisis in India caused by a surge of coronavirus infections has caused air travel in another key Airbus market to plummet even as some deliveries continue. Airbus plans to increase production of medium-haul jets from Q3, partially restoring cuts sparked by COVID-19. While deliveries have recovered faster than some experts anticipated, they have not kept pace with Airbus' current production rates of just over 50 aircraft a month, suggesting additions to an end-year surplus of almost 100 undelivered jets. Airbus may be storing jets in anticipation of higher deliveries this year, Agency Partners analyst Sash Tusa wrote. An Airbus spokesman noted that it had stated that its deliveries would not be linear, but had kept targets unchanged.<br/>