The UN Security Council will hold an informal closed-door meeting Wednesday on Belarus, which is accused of diverting an airliner and arresting a dissident on board, diplomatic sources said. After weathering a wave of protests and Western sanctions last year, Belarus's President Alexander Lukashenko faced extraordinary new pressure over Sunday's rerouting of the Ryanair flight to Minsk and arrest of opposition journalist Roman Protasevich. "We will do a (meeting) tomorrow," one diplomat told AFP on Tuesday, with two other diplomatic sources confirming the plan for the virtual session. Diplomats said it was unlikely the security council could agree at the meeting on a collective statement. Belarus's unwavering supporter Russia was expected to be in opposition, one diplomat said on condition of anonymity. More Western leaders joined calls on Tuesday demanding Protasevich's release, after the EU agreed at a summit on Monday to ban Belarusian airlines from the bloc and called on EU-based carriers not to fly over its airspace. <br/>
general
Belarus may have become increasingly isolated with every year that dictator Alexander Lukashenko clings to power. But the country has remained an important fly-over territory for airliners, particularly since parts of neighboring Ukraine were deemed unsafe to traverse in the wake of the 2014 downing of a Malaysian Airlines aircraft. About 400 flights a day use Belarus airspace, including about 300 that pass over without landing, according to Eurocontrol, which is responsible for managing Europe’s airspace. Now European airlines have begun skirting around Belarus at the directive of European Union leaders. The move follows international furor over the interception on May 23 of a Ryanair jetliner, which was forced to land in Minsk en route from Greece to Lithuania so that authorities could arrest a dissident Belarusian journalist who was on board. On Tuesday, long-haul airliners belonging to Air France-KLM, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and British Airways began flying over Latvia instead of the traditional route over Belarus, adding extra distance and time to the flights. Most carriers overflying Belarus will be re-routed through the Baltic states, Eurocontrol said, which might add about 40 nautical miles to their journeys. The airspace over Belarus is part of a major through-way for flights between Asia and Europe. The country charges airlines between E245 for an Airbus SE A320 jet to as much as E770 for an A380 super-jumbo to use their airspace, Eurocontrol said. In 2019, Eurocontrol collected E85m in air navigation charges on behalf of Belarus, it said. Barring overflight by European airlines may deprive Belarus of as much as half of its air transit fees, said Oleksandr Laneckij of aviation consultancy Friendly Avia Support.<br/>
Airlines will face a new cash-crunch challenge as the resumption of operations sees a range of costs return alongside a lack of liquidity, in the view of IATA director general Willie Walsh. Walsh said that “for some airlines, the cash crunch is ahead of them… when they start trying to ramp up… because they don’t have the traditional cash reserves that you have from sales in advance of carriage, because nobody is selling tickets”. That will be “a real challenge”, he continues, “because a lot of costs that have been eliminated because people aren’t flying” will return as flights come back. He cites costs associated with fuel, employee salaries – for staff who had previously “either been furloughed or receiving support from governments” – airport charges, and air traffic control fees. All of these costs will ramp up very, very quickly, and if you get an imbalance between the cost ramp-up and the revenue build-up then the cash burn is going to be quite significant... Undercapitalised, cash-poor airlines are going to have to be really cautious as they see evidence of the recovery.” Walsh highlights earlier estimates from IATA that the global industry has increased its debt levels by $220b, or around 50%, during the pandemic, to $650b.<br/>
Mexico’s aviation-safety ranking has been downgraded by the U.S., prohibiting an expansion of flights from the nation’s carriers to its northern neighbor. The move by the FAA Tuesday is a symbolic blow to Mexico at a time when it has become by far the biggest international market with the U.S. and may force an end to business agreements between the two nations’ carriers. Existing flights to the US on Grupo Aeromexico SAB and Volaris can continue, but they can’t add service. It could also end Delta’s ability to sell tickets on Aeromexico flights and a similar cooperation agreement between Volaris and Frontier Airlines Holdings. Mexico joins another eight nations listed as what FAA calls “Category 2” for not meeting international safety standards, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Venezuela and Thailand. The FAA audits look at whether nations have adequate aviation regulations and the ability to enforce them. The standards are set by the ICAO. “The FAA will increase its scrutiny of Mexican airline flights to the United States,” the agency said. “The FAA is fully committed to helping the Mexican aviation authority improve its safety oversight system.” The FAA didn’t cite specific problems it found during an audit from October through February, saying only it had identified multiple areas where the country didn’t comply with minimum international standards. The audits look at issues such as regulators’ technical expertise, training, records and inspection procedures.<br/>
US government officials monitoring the airways say they won’t tolerate passengers who refuse to don masks as airline travel surges ahead of the summer season. A recent spike in unruly passenger reports, many of them involving people refusing to cover their faces, prompted Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday to issue a stern warning to travelers. “Let me be clear in underscoring something,” Mayorkas said. “It is a federal mandate that one must wear a mask in an airport, in the modes of public transportation, on the airplane itself -- and we will not tolerate behavior that violates the law.” Mayorkas didn’t specify how passengers would be punished, but both the TSA and the FAA have the authority to fine passengers who violate the law. In extreme cases, such as assaulting flight crews, people can face federal criminal charges. In the past two weeks, the FAA has proposed fines against nine passengers who allegedly interfered with flight attendants, including several in which flight crews were physically assaulted. Passenger counts still lag behind pre-pandemic times, but have risen dramatically this year. Since late January, the low point for air travel this year, airlines have added almost 1 million passengers a day on average, or an increase of about 150%. Despite fewer passengers, federal agencies have received thousands of complaints about unruly behavior this year.<br/>
US airlines and agencies are preparing for increased domestic air travel this summer even as the government continues to debate whether to allow more foreign travelers to visit. Shares in American Airlines, United and Delta were sharply higher on Tuesday after top executives said that the pace of a leisure travel recovery was increasing. "We've been very, very pleased with the pace of demand recovery," Delta President Glen Hauenstein told an industry conference. "Bookings have been better than expected." As more Americans pass through airports, the TSA plans to hire another 1,000 officers by July 4, a peak US travel period, after hiring 3,000 officers since Jan 1. "We have already seen a sharp rise at the nation's airports and will continue to experience steady increases throughout the summer," Acting TSA Administrator Darby LaJoye told a news conference at Reagan National Airport outside Washington. The TSA screened 1.86m passengers on Sunday, the highest daily total since March 2020. <br/>
France will likely decide on Wednesday whether additional restrictions are needed at its border with the UK to fend off a coronavirus variant first identified in India. The UK is trying to make a case to France that extra curbs aren’t necessary, citing the large share of its vaccinated population, a person familiar with the discussions said. About 70% of adults in Britain have received at least one vaccine dose, and 40% both doses, but a new and potentially more contagious strain of coronavirus is spreading fast. Tougher restrictions on UK arrivals, such as mandatory quarantine or the need to justify travel, could affect the already-struggling operations of the Eurostar International Ltd. high-speed rail service, which shareholders including France have rescued, as well as airlines. France continues to strongly recommend against international travel. France aims to re-open international air travel to some countries by mid-June, in coordination with the European Union. The bloc, which closed external borders in March for non-essential travel, will establish a “green list” of countries whose citizens will be allowed to move around the bloc by June 9, Le Drian has said.<br/>
New Zealand will pause the trans-Tasman bubble with Victoria on Tuesday evening for at least 72 hours after the state’s new COVID cluster grew to nine. The country’s minister in charge of responding to the virus said the decision was a “close call” but the correct one given many unknowns about the outbreak remain. Victoria’s current cluster today more than doubled from just four yesterday, though in positive news one of the latest cases is now believed to be the source of the outbreak. “While the case announced today is not unexpected as a contact of a case announced yesterday, New Zealand officials have assessed that the most cautious option is to pause the travel bubble with Victoria as there are still several unknowns with the outbreak,” COVID Response Minister Chris Hipkins said. “The government understands the disruption this will temporarily cause affected passengers. It was a close call but the correct one given the current unknowns.”<br/>
Aircraft leasing business SMBC Aviation Capital has agreed to buy an additional 14 Boeing 737 MAX jets configured for low-cost carriers, with delivery starting later this year. The company, a major Boeing customer, Tuesday said the order is for jets that have already been built and will increase its MAX fleet to 121. Last year during the grounding of the MAX and at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic SMBC deferred delivery of 68 jets by four years until 2025-2027 and indicated that it had not ruled out cancellations. But CE Peter Barrett on Tuesday said he was confident in demand for the MAX, which he said was finding increasing acceptance after regulators cleared it to fly late last year after its two-year grounding. "We thought this was a good opportunity to increase our portfolio of young, fuel-efficient, environmentally friendly narrowbody aircraft - the kind of planes we think are going to be in demand as this recovery takes a firmer footing," Barrett said. "There seems to be good acceptance for the aircraft with airlines and customers." Aircraft leasing companies, which control more than 40% of the global fleet, are among the largest MAX customers.<br/>