Coronavirus

Democratic House lawmakers proposed an additional $26 billion to help struggling airlines, airports and manufacturers survive the air travel downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aer Lingus and Dublin Airports Authority (DAA) have both benefited from financial support from the Irish government.

Lessor Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) foresees a sharp improvement in airlines’ fortunes as early as summer 2021 and remains confident that the industry will regain its pre-pandemic pattern of growth.

With large parts of their fleets still grounded amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Europe’s airlines might be burning precious little fuel at the moment.

Etihad Airways said Feb. 9 that it had become the world’s first airline to have vaccinated all its operating pilots and cabin crew against COVID-19.

Israel has extended the temporary closure of Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International (TLV) as the country looks to keep out new variants of COVID-19.

Air Canada is suspending service on 17 more routes until April 30 at the earliest as it grapples with new travel restrictions imposed by the Canadian government designed to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

AirAsia Group recorded a strong recovery in passenger volumes in the 2020 fourth quarter (Q4), notably in domestic carriage across Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.

The big lessors are in much better financial shape than their customers, and their market share and influence will only rise as they provide customers financial help.

Items of interest to professionals in the business aviation industry.

Boeing cautioned the White House against pursuing a COVID-19 testing proposal for domestic air travelers, warning such a policy would produce “severe unintended consequences” that far outweigh any potential public health benefits.

International passengers arriving into England will be required to undergo three self-funded coronavirus tests, in addition to being quarantined.

The impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic may have acted as a “pressure valve release” on the aviation industry’s pilot shortage, but it has not solved the problem, said Sheryl Barden, president and CEO of Aviation Personnel International, based in San Francisco.

The eventual recovery in international air travel is at risk of being slowed if vaccination rates are allowed to lag behind in some countries, according to the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA).

Icelandair will be ready to reintroduce its six Boeing 737 MAX once extensive updates and pilot training are completed.

Confronted with a dramatic drop in traffic, European ANSPs see a chance to modernize and rethink air traffic management.

Mexican ULCC Volaris is scaling back its capacity growth in the 2021 first quarter (Q1) because of new U.S. international testing requirements and growing COVID-19 case counts in Mexico.

Rolls-Royce’s civil aerospace division will stop building jet engines for two weeks in summer 2021 as it continues to contend with the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on its business.

Tightening restrictions are getting in the way of airlines’ expectations of a summer recovery.

A prototype COMAC C919 is heading to Canada in March to conduct certification flight tests involving natural icing conditions.

Air Canada Rouge has become the country’s latest airline to suspend flights to warm weather markets following the Canadian government’s imposition of new travel restrictions for the Caribbean and Mexico.

The National Business Aviation Association has canceled all its in-person events through June 30 because of the COVID-19 pandemic as it explores options for virtual programming.

The head of the largest U.S. flight attendant union warned federal lawmakers that a proposed domestic pre-departure COVID-19 testing mandate would be “devastating” for airlines struggling to scrape by on anemic travel demand.

European airlines which hoped progress in rolling out vaccines­ would lead to some sort of recovery are instead having to face the reality that tighter travel restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus are going to keep demand down in the near term.

UK air navigation service provider (ANSP) NATS is planning to scale back the use of the transatlantic Organized Track Structure (OTS) as new technology enables aircraft to take their own more fuel-efficient route across the ocean.