There’s a lot of talk about how the COVID-19 coronavirus adapts, and understandable concern about the infection rates of new mutations. What’s often overlooked, however, is how significantly humans have adapted, individually and as collectives, and how much has been learned over the past 18 months.
The US is once more experiencing busy airports and full flights as domestic leisure travel numbers surge close to 2019 levels. In their pandemic isolation, however, some Americans appear to have forgotten how to behave in public.
The 2021 northern summer season opened with many in the industry and would-be travelers hopeful of a recovery in international air travel, at least in the leisure and tourist sectors.
New European commercial flight crew mental fitness rules took effect in February as a safety response to the 2015 Germanwings crash caused by a pilot suicide.
Business and corporate travel is vital for airlines. Corporate travel accounts for 10%-15% of airline passenger numbers, yet provides roughly 20% to 30% of airline revenue, depending on the carrier.
The UK government has said throughout the pandemic that it was working in partnership with the air transport industry on when and how to re-open international travel. But airlines and airports appear to have reached the end of their patience with talks that are leading nowhere, and some are looking to a legal remedy.
US carriers JetBlue and United Airlines, Mexican low-cost carrier Viva Aerobus, Qatar Airways Cargo, Incheon International Airport in Seoul, and former IATA director general and CEO Alexandre de Juniac have been named winners in the 2021 Air Transport World Airline Industry Achievement Awards.
If presidents and prime ministers cannot conduct their business via Zoom, they should lift the travel rules they impose on their citizens but cannot comply with themselves.
The UK government’s abrupt reversal on allowing its citizens to travel to Portugal for vacation has severe immediate and long-term repercussions for airlines and the travel industry.
