Source: ACI Europe In the last few weeks, Europe has seen a surge in COVID cases and the spread of the latest and highly-transmittable variant, Omicron. Whilst the European Commission announced in December 20211 that the EU Digital COVID Certificate (DCC) would be valid for nine months without a booster shot, several EU countries – including France, Italy, Denmark and Malta – decided to shorten the validity of vaccination passes for national use to seven or three months. A number of countries have also introduced additional testing requirements that apply to vaccinated/recovered EU travellers, going against the current Council Recommendations.2 Transport and tourism associations are very concerned at this emerging new patchwork of rules across Europe. The industry supports the European [...]

Source: IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA) urged governments to accelerate relaxation of travel restrictions as COVID-19 continues to evolve from the pandemic to endemic stage. IATA called for removing all travel barriers (including quarantine and testing) for those fully vaccinated with a WHO-approved vaccine, enabling quarantine-free travel for non-vaccinated travelers with a negative pre-departure antigen test result, removing travel bans, and accelerating the easing of travel restrictions in recognition that travelers pose no greater risk for COVID-19 spread than already exists in the general population. “With the experience of the Omicron variant, there is mounting scientific evidence and opinion opposing the targeting of travelers with restrictions and country bans to control the spread of COVID-19. The measures have [...]

Source: EASA The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has published FAQs on PBN Airspace Usage Requirements. The single European sky is transitioning to a performance-based navigation (PBN) environment thanks to common airspace usage requirements. These requirements stipulate the implementation of ATS routes and approach procedures based on a set of ICAO PBN navigation specifications. The implementation will contribute to obtaining significant safety, capacity, flight efficiency and environmental gains. As part of its implementation support activities, EASA has decided to provide answers to questions frequently asked by those individuals  and organisations interested in the implementation of COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2018/1048 of 18 July 2018, which lays down airspace usage requirements and operating procedures concerning performance-based navigation (the ‘PBN IR’). These FAQs supplement [...]

Source: US Department of Transportation The U.S. Department of Transportation announced a final rule that will help it move more swiftly to protect aviation consumers from unfair and deceptive practices. The rule will simplify and speed up the hearing procedures that the Department uses when it issues aviation consumer protection rulemakings to prohibit unfair or deceptive practices by airlines and ticket agents. Most of the Department's aviation consumer protection regulations, such as the Department's advertising, overbooking and tarmac delay rules, are based on the Department's authority to prohibit unfair or deceptive practices. The Department's upcoming consumer protection rulemakings on airline ticket refunds and transparency of airline ancillary fees will also be based on this authority. Currently, if the Department proposes [...]

Source: IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced full-year global passenger traffic results for 2021 showing that demand (revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) fell by 58.4% compared to the full year of 2019. This represented an improvement compared to 2020, when full year RPKs were down 65.8% versus 2019. Because comparisons between 2021 and 2020 results are distorted by the extraordinary impact of COVID-19, unless otherwise noted all comparisons are to the respective 2019 period, which followed a normal demand pattern. International passenger demand in 2021 was 75.5% below 2019 levels. Capacity, (measured in available seat kilometers or ASKs) declined 65.3% and load factor fell 24.0 percentage points to 58.0%. Domestic demand in 2021 was down 28.2% compared to [...]

Source: IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for global air freight markets showing that full-year demand for air cargo increased by 6.9% in 2021, compared to 2019 (pre-covid levels) and 18.7% compared to 2020 following a strong performance in December 2021. This was the second biggest improvement in year-on-year demand since IATA started to monitor cargo performance in 1990 (behind 2010’s 20.6% gain), outpacing the 9.8% rise in global goods trade by 8.9 percentage points. As comparisons between 2021 and 2020 monthly results are distorted by the extraordinary impact of COVID-19, unless otherwise noted, all comparisons below are to 2019 which followed a normal demand pattern. Global demand in 2021, measured in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTKs*), was up [...]

Source: ACI-LAC Airports Council International Latin America and the Caribbean (ACI-LAC) recommends governments avoid reintroducing restrictive air travel measures so as not to jeopardize the recovery of the aviation and tourism industry. In 2021, the significant progress made on vaccination was accompanied by the elimination of many of the restrictive air travel measures in all countries in our region, translating into a progressive improvement in air traffic recovery. While in January 2021, traffic at Latin American airports represented 45% of the same month in 2019. In November it recovered to 73%. However, the emergence of the Omicron variant in recent weeks has shown that nothing should be taken for granted and that our recovery path remains fragile. But the extent [...]

Source: US FAA The FAA issued new approvals Thursday that allow an estimated 78 percent of the U.S. commercial fleet to perform low-visibility landings at airports where wireless companies deployed 5G C-band. This now includes some regional jets. Airplane models with one of the 13 cleared altimeters include all Boeing 717, 737, 747, 757, 767, 777, 787, MD-10/-11; all Airbus A300, A310, A319, A320, A330, A340, A350 and A380 models; and some Embraer 170 and 190 regional jets. The FAA is working diligently to determine which altimeters are reliable and accurate where 5G is deployed in the United States. We anticipate some altimeters will be too susceptible to 5G interference. To preserve safety, aircraft with those altimeters will be prohibited [...]