Source: ICAO During its ongoing 222nd Session, the ICAO Council today adopted new and amended Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) driving important progress on the international safety and interoperability of remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS). The new provisions will become effective on 12 July 2021, and applicable as of 26 November 2026. The most important pertain to Annex 8 — Airworthiness of Aircraft to the Chicago Convention, and cover certification requirements for remotely piloted aeroplanes and helicopters, in addition to the remote pilot stations (RPS) they are operated from. “These Annex 8 provisions will now importantly serve as the foundational international SARPs for issuing Type Certificates and Certificates of Airworthiness for remotely piloted aircraft and all of their required components,” [...]

Source: Copa Copa Holdings, S.A. (NYSE: CPA), today released preliminary passenger traffic statistics for October 2020: Operating Data October October % Change 2020 2019 (YOY) Copa Holdings  (Consolidated)   ASM (mm) (1) 300.2 2,030.9 -85.2%   RPM (mm) (2) 209.8 1,726.1 -87.8%   Load Factor (3) 69.9% 85.0% -15.1p.p. 1.  Available seat miles - represents the aircraft seating capacity multiplied by the number of miles the seats are flown. 2.  Revenue passenger miles - represents the numbers of miles flown by revenue passengers 3.  Load factor - represents the percentage of aircraft seating capacity that is actually utilized After virtually no operations since March 2020 due to air travel restrictions related to the Coronavirus pandemic, the Company has now restarted [...]

Source: UNWTO The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has released a set of guidelines to help tourism sector emerge stronger and more sustainably from COVID-19. The guidelines highlight the need to act decisively, to restore confidence and, as UNWTO strengthens its partnership with Google, to embrace innovation and the digital transformation of global tourism. The guidelines were produced in consultation with the Global Tourism Crisis Committee and aim to support governments and private sector to recover from an unparalleled crisis. Depending on when travel restrictions are lifted, the United Nations specialized agency warns that international tourist arrivals could fall by between 60% and 80%. This puts 100-120 million jobs at risk and could lead to US$ 910 billion to US$ 1.2 trillion lost in [...]

Source: Avianca Avianca Holdings S.A. (NYSE: AVH, BVC: PFAVH) (the “Company” or “Avianca”) and certain of its subsidiaries and affiliates today filed voluntary petitions under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to preserve and reorganize Avianca’s businesses. LifeMiles™, Avianca’s loyalty program, is administered by a separate company and is not part of the Chapter 11 filing. The filing was necessitated by the unforeseeable impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in a 90% decline in global passenger traffic and is expected to reduce industry revenues worldwide by $314 billion, according to the International Air Transport Association. Avianca’s scheduled passenger operations have been grounded since mid-March, [...]