A majority of the FAA’s unruly-passenger reports on airplanes stem from passengers who refuse to comply with mask mandates put in place to guard against the spread of Covid-19. Roughly 75% of the unruly-passenger reports since Jan. 1 have started with people who didn’t want to wear their masks and escalated from there into profanity, shouting matches, even physical violence, the agency said Tuesday. The FAA implemented a “zero tolerance” policy at the beginning of this year with hefty fines that was aimed at curbing unruly passengers after an uptick in incidents, but that hasn’t stopped travelers from swearing at airline workers, disrupting flights and even knocking two teeth out of one flight attendant’s mouth. “It’s out of control,” said Paul Hartshorn, spokesman for the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents American Airlines’ more than 20,000 cabin crew members. “It’s really coming to the point where we have to defend ourselves.” Current federal mask mandates require that travelers on trains, buses, commercial flights and at airports wear face masks. The mandate, which was extended in the spring, is currently set to expire on Sept. 13.<br/>
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The US Transportation Department finalized an order on Tuesday banning ticket sales for air travel between the United States and Belarus, acting after Minsk forced a Ryanair flight to land and arrested a dissident journalist who was aboard. The department on June 29 had issued a show cause order proposing the restrictions after the US State Department determined that limiting travel between the United States and Belarus was in Washington's foreign policy interest in light of the diversion of the Ryanair flight. The order, which is effectively immediately, also applies to "interline" travel in which tickets are purchased through one airline that contain flights operated by multiple airlines. Under consideration by the U.S. government for several weeks, the order is mostly symbolic since relatively few tickets are purchased for travel to Belarus from U.S.-based travel services. The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) said in written comments it strongly supports the action, adding the "aggressive and unwarranted interception of a passenger aircraft over Belarus is a flagrant violation of Belarus’s obligations ... and flaunts accepted norms of international behavior." ALPA urged the department "to ensure that all measures of sanctions at State’s disposal are deployed to compel a final and apologetic resolution by Belarus. A message should be sent that aggressive action against civil aircraft will be met with a swift and appropriate response to deter similar conduct by any other would-be state actors."<br/>
To witness her son’s graduation from the National Guard’s Apache helicopter training program in April 2020, Janet Chen used Expedia to book what she thought was a round-trip ticket on Delta. When the pandemic made travel dangerous, she canceled her trip and received a voucher for its full $500 value, to be used within 18 months. In May, Chen, a 61-year-old accountant, called the online travel agency and tried to use her voucher for a trip to Seattle. And that’s where her odyssey began. After two one-hour waits to speak to a customer service representative (and two disconnected calls), the Expedia agent she finally spoke with told her that she had booked two one-way tickets, and she could not use them to buy a new round-trip ticket. After another four-hour call the following day, she finally succeeded in using her voucher, as long as she paid an additional $200, owed, she was told, because of the new routing. Chen is far from alone these days in experiencing frustrating delays in rebooking flights, or monthslong waits to get reimbursed for flights canceled by the airlines, and even outright refusals by travel companies to honor flight credits, many of which were granted once the CDC recommended that consumers not travel via air during the pandemic. The frustration and resulting chaos have come to the attention of the federal government. Two senators have sent a letter to the airlines, saying they have convoluted credit- and voucher-granting rules. Story has more.<br/>
IATA DG Willie Walsh has hit out at continued uncertainty over EC plans for airport slot rules this winter, amid concerns the strong uptick in summer capacity will prompt too high a threshold for minimum use levels being set. European regulators temporarily suspended the existing ‘use it or lose it’ airport slots rules – which require airlines to operate 80% of slots in a season to retain them for the following year – when the pandemic first hit last summer. That alleviation continued last winter and again this summer, albeit with a requirement for airlines to operate 50% of their slots to retain them for summer 2022. The Commission is still to formally publish proposals for the coming northern hemisphere winter season, which begins at the end of October. European transport commissioner Adina Valean told delegates at the Airlines for Europe (A4E) Summit last month that it was still evaluating the data before deciding on the levels. But in a blog post, Walsh hits out at the European Commission’s approach to the issue and raises concerns that it is looking at implementing a 60% threshold for the coming winter season. ”Clearly when demand is down 80%, greater flexibility is required – otherwise, unnecessary flights to destinations where demand is non-existent will occur. This is why for the first year of the crisis the 80-20 rule was suspended. And to reinstate a significant threshold now, above say 30%, would be a clear policy failure. Yet that is the prospect facing the industry today,” Walsh says.<br/>
Heathrow is to provide fast-track lanes for fully-vaccinated arrivals as the airline industry steps up pressure on ministers to open up quarantine-free travel to amber destinations. Under a pilot programme to be launched this week, passengers from selected destinations will be able to upload their coronavirus vaccination certificate before boarding. On arrival at the airport, they will then be directed to dedicated lanes at the border to speed their passage through immigration. The move comes ahead of an expected announcement of the Government’s plans to end the requirement for travellers from amber list countries to self-isolate on arrival. Boris Johnson is said to favour easing the controls from July 19 – when other Covid lockdown restrictions in England are due to be lifted – according to The Times. Heathrow together with BA and Virgin Atlantic – the two airlines involved in the trial programme – said it was essential that there was no delay in implementing the changes. The scheme will initially involve fully vaccinated volunteers travelling on selected flights from Athens, Los Angeles, Montego Bay and New York. Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: “This pilot will allow us to show that pre-departure and arrival checks of vaccination status can be carried out safely at check in, so that fully vaccinated passengers can avoid quarantine from July 19.”<br/>
Fully vaccinated travellers arriving from countries on Britain's "amber list" are set to avoid quarantine from as early as July 19, British media reported on Tuesday, as airlines prepared to check vaccine status on flights into Britain for the first time. British ministers will meet this week to sign off a policy that will allow people to travel from amber destinations without isolating for up to 10 days, The Times newspaper reported. At present, travellers arriving from a country on the amber list are required to isolate on arrival. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps will unveil the rules change on Thursday, according to The Sun, which also reported that travellers must take a test before they come back to Britain and another gold standard PCR test on the second day of return. British PM Boris Johnson set out plans on Monday for the final step in easing England's COVID-19 lockdown, including the removal of laws governing social distancing and face coverings, and an end to official advice to work from home.<br/>
Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation has signed an agreement for the IATA to set up its Africa and Middle East regional office in the kingdom, the authority said Tuesday. "The presence of the regional office of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in the kingdom will augment the provision of the necessary support for air transport companies within the kingdom and the region," the authority added.<br/>
India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation has issued a new order allowing airlines to raise domestic flight capacity to 65% of pre-Covid levels, up from 50% in June. “Considering the increasing passengers’ demand for domestic air travel, the capacity of domestic civil aviation operations will be increased to 65% from 50% from the date of issue of this order and up to 31 July or until further orders,” the ministry says a 5 July statement via its official Twitter account. Other terms and conditions will remain the same, it adds. Airlines have been allowed to operate at 50% of pre-Covid levels since 1 June, in line with rules issued on 28 May.<br/>
Stranded Australians bracing for their flights home to be cancelled are furious at the prospect of having to join the bottom of the queue for government assistance to return, as international airlines are told they can only allow as few as five passengers on to their planes to comply with Australia’s soon to be halved arrival cap. Airlines have even been allocated “zero” passenger allowances for some flights, meaning they will have to fly empty planes into Australia. Airlines flying zero passenger flights will have to rely on carrying cargo and outbound passengers to make the routes financially sustainable, however some are expected to halt services to Australia entirely as a result of the new caps. Rather than cleanly halving the number of passengers each flight can carry, the new passenger limits, which airlines must comply with by 14 July, appear to incentivise airlines decreasing route frequency to allow them to group their passenger allowances into fewer, more financially sustainable flights. One-third of all flights into Sydney have been given zero passenger allocations, while the remainder will only be allowed to carry between 25-26 passengers. Sydney’s weekly flight cap will be halved to 1,505 from 14 July – the largest of any airport.<br/>