Source: IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that both international and domestic travel demand showed significant momentum in July 2021 compared to June, but demand remained far below pre-pandemic levels. Extensive government-imposed travel restrictions continue to delay recovery in international markets. Because comparisons between 2021 and 2020 monthly results are distorted by the extraordinary impact of COVID-19, unless otherwise noted all comparisons are to July 2019, which followed a normal demand pattern. Total demand for air travel in July 2021 (measured in revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) was down 53.1% compared to July 2019. This is a significant improvement from June when demand was 60% below June 2019 levels. International passenger demand in July was 73.6% below July [...]

Source: US FAA Using the Tableau software platform, the tool identifies trends that include geographic area, per capita data, time of day and year. The FAA is sharing the information in the new format to draw attention to the dangerously high rate of laser strikes on airplanes. “Pointing a laser at an aircraft can temporarily blind a pilot and not only affects the crew but endangers passengers and the communities they fly over every night,” said FAA Administrator Steve Dickson. Laser strikes increased in 2020 despite the decrease in flights due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Pilots reported 6,852 laser strikes to the FAA last year, up from 6,136 in 2019. The number of incidents reported in 2020 incidents was the [...]

Source: IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released July 2021 data for global air cargo markets showing that demand continued its strong growth trend. 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 July 2019 which followed a normal demand pattern. Global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTKs*), was up 8.6% compared to July 2019. Overall growth remains strong compared to the long-term average growth trend of around 4.7%. The pace of growth slowed slightly compared to June which saw demand increase 9.2% (against pre-COVID-19 levels). Capacity continues to recover but is still 10.3% down compared to July 2019. Economic conditions continue to support [...]

Source: IATA Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General, gave the following comments in response to EU travel restrictions for US visitors: "While this is a disappointing development for businesses and people who rely on travel, the data from the US and Israel supports the value and benefit of vaccination. As governments rightly urge their populations to be vaccinated, governments need to be confident in the benefits they bring—including the freedom to travel. At a minimum, those who are fully vaccinated should be free to move without restriction."

Source: IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released July 2021 data for global air cargo markets showing that demand continued its strong growth trend. 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 July 2019 which followed a normal demand pattern. Global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTKs*), was up 8.6% compared to July 2019. Overall growth remains strong compared to the long-term average growth trend of around 4.7%. The pace of growth slowed slightly compared to June which saw demand increase 9.2% (against pre-COVID-19 levels). Capacity continues to recover but is still 10.3% down compared to July 2019. Economic conditions continue to support [...]

Source: European Council Following a review under the recommendation on the gradual lifting of the temporary restrictions on non-essential travel into the EU, the Council updated the list of countries, special administrative regions and other entities and territorial authorities for which travel restrictions should be lifted. In particular, Israel, Kosovo[1], Lebanon, Montenegro, the Republic of North Macedonia and the United States of America were removed from the list. Non-essential travel to the EU from countries or entities not listed in Annex I is subject to temporary travel restriction. This is without prejudice to the possibility for member states to lift the temporary restriction on non-essential travel to the EU for fully vaccinated travellers. As stipulated in the Council recommendation, this list [...]

Source: IATA Key points: Initial Q2 2021 results show that net losses of airlines at the aggregated level diminished compared with Q1 2021. In particular, North American airlines’ financials showed a significant improvement amidst the rebound in U.S. domestic travel. Although the financial performance of the airline industry at the aggregated level improved considerably, new COVID-19 restrictions in some large domestic markets that are on the recovery track together with tight international travel restrictions pose downside risks to the recovery. Global airline share price index increased in August following the FDA approval of COVID-19 vaccines in the United States. However, the year-to-date performance of global airline stock index is still lagging wider global equity markets. Brent crude oil and jet [...]

Source: ICAO With countries working to re-establish global travel and trade through aviation, the need to provide internationally verifiable health proofs to travelers has become an urgent global concern. The new ICAO Visible Digital Seal (VDS), originally adopted by countries for travel document verification, is now gaining expanded international acceptance as an affordable and efficient solution to this critical global challenge. “This is an urgent priority for the international community, and a number of countries are now actively engaging with ICAO on suitable formats for their national health proofs,” confirmed ICAO Secretary General Mr. Juan Carlos Salazar. “Considering the core security and information aspects involved, the new VDS is an important part of our recommendations for facilitating travel under the [...]

Source: IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA) commended the European Commission for its leadership and speed in delivering the EU Digital COVID Certificate (DCC) and urged states to make it their global standard for digital vaccine certificates. “The DCC was delivered in record time to help facilitate the reopening of EU states to travel. In the absence of a single global standard for digital vaccine certificates, it should serve as a blueprint for other nations looking to implement digital vaccination certificates to help facilitate travel and its associated economic benefits,” said Conrad Clifford, IATA’s Deputy Director General. The EU DCC meets several key criteria which have been identified as important if a digital vaccination certificate is to be effective: [...]