Delta CEO Ed Bastian said Tuesday the carrier does not plan to require Covid vaccines for domestic travel. “It’s very difficult for us to come in and mandate a vaccine that isn’t even federally approved yet, the authorization hasn’t been final yet, so stay tuned,” Bastian said. “We’re continuing to encourage as much as we can amongst our own people and our customers to get vaccinated. The numbers are picking up” on vaccinations, he said. More and more staff and customers have recently gotten their Covid shots as the delta variant, first discovered in India, became the dominant strain in the US, Bastian said. He added that 73% of the airline’s staff is fully vaccinated. Many companies are debating whether they should implement vaccination mandates or solely incentivize more of their staff and customers to get vaccinated. The discussion has intensified as the more contagious delta variant continues to infect the largely unvaccinated areas of the United States, causing the seven-day average daily case count to recently surpass last summer’s peak. However, Bastian said Delta’s flights were more than 90% full over the weekend as people are “learning how to manage and live” with the coronavirus pandemic. He said the airline carries millions of people each week, the vast majority of whom are vaccinated and fully masked. The TSA in the spring extended a federal mask mandate for air, train and bus travel to mid-September, a measure that will likely be extended, barring a sharp drop in infection rates. “I expect as those borders continue to open, you’re going to see more and more of those requirements. Here in the US, I don’t think it’s necessary,” Bastian said. Delta and United Airlines are also requiring proof of vaccination for new hires. <br/>
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Aeroflot Group managed to cut net losses by 38% over the first half, to Rb26.3b ($361m) under Russian accounting standards. The company’s Q2 showed a “significant improvement”, it states, with a net loss of Rb1.4b in contrast to the figure of over Rb26b for the period last year. Aeroflot Group CFO Andrei Chikhanchin says that, despite the “severe” limitations on international air traffic, the company’s work to restore domestic air transport has underpinned its financial performance. Over the second quarter, it says, domestic passenger traffic exceeded the level of 2019 by nearly 18% after accounting for the divestment of eastern carrier Aurora last year. “Recovery of the domestic market has made a significant positive contribution to Aeroflot’s results, even given the increased competition in this segment,” says Chikhanchin.<br/>
French investigators believe the crew of an Air France Boeing 777-200ER misinterpreted weather radar information while trying to avoid thunderstorms, losing awareness of the jet’s position before it strayed into close proximity with an African volcanic peak. It was operating in darkness from Malabo, in Equatorial Guinea, to Douala in Cameroon on 2 May 2015. The 40min flight is operated mainly over water at an altitude of 9,000ft and the eastbound flightplan involved flying south of the 13,200ft peak of Mount Cameroon. But French investigation authority BEA says the crew, after turning right after take-off from Malabo’s runway 22, deviated “significantly” to the north of the planned route in order to avoid storms. Both the captain’s and the first officer’s navigation displays were showing weather radar data. The first officer, who was flying, saw a large red echo in front of the aircraft and a second red echo to the right which appeared to be tracking alongside the aircraft. BEA says that, although the radar filters echoes reflected from the ground, they can appear similar to storm echoes on the display. The first officer did not understand the nature of the second echo and briefly switched his display to ‘terrain’ mode to check, before reverting to ‘weather’ mode about 6s later. But BEA says that the ‘terrain’ mode needs a longer period, about 8s, to fully construct the picture. Story has more details.<br/>