Pressure intensifies to drop quarantines in favour of EU-wide passenger testing protocol

With less than 90 days to go before the year-end holiday season, European aviation bodies have intensified their call to replace quarantine measures with passenger testing. This will provide far greater assurance and ability for cross-border travellers to plan family reunions or vacations during this important holiday period. It will also serve as a lifeline […]

Resumption of Europe, U.S. flights into Cancun International announced

The government of Quintana Roo has confirmed the resumption of numerous flights into the Cancun International Airport. In a press release, the governor reports that according to the Comité de Aerolíneas de Cancún, flights from Europe and the United States will begin starting October. Domestically, “we have the reactivation of the Guadalajara-Cancun-Guadalajara route of Aeroméxico […]

Europe’s airline capacity begins slow climb

Total seat numbers in Europe are down 84.6% year-on-year in the week of 18-May-2020, according to schedules from OAG combined with CAPA Fleet Database seat configurations. This is almost 2ppts narrower than the previous week’s 86.5% drop and the smallest rate of decline since Mar-2020. Nevertheless, it is the seventh successive week of cuts broadly […]

EASA/ECDC Guidelines Welcomed – Essential that European States Adopt Harmonized Measures

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) welcomed the release by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) of the COVID-19 Aviation Health Safety Protocol guidelines for the safe restart of air transport in Europe. The EASA and ECDC guidelines are aligned with recommendations provided by both […]

COVID-19 and European airlines: zero capacity becomes a reality

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has summarised the priority for his airline, which applies equally to all airlines currently: to preserve cash. «If we have to operate for three, six, nine, maybe even 12 months, with no flights and no revenues how do we survive?», he said (Financial Times/Reuters, 21-Mar-2020). The main tool at airlines’ disposal […]

Air France-KLM group chief executive Ben Smith appointed A4E 2020 chairman

Ahead of the annual A4E Aviation Summit in Brussels today, we speak to the association’s incoming chairman – Air France-KLM group chief executive Ben Smith – about the key challenges facing the European airline sector and the role A4E can play for its members. What do you hope to achieve as Chairman of A4E? I […]

TUI joins airline industry group A4E as sustainability shoots up the agenda

TUI’s move to join the Airlines for Europe (A4E) industry association at the end of 2019 came after the leisure giant decided to seek a louder lobbying voice on pressing issues such as sustainability and taxation. The European group’s chief executive for airlines, Kenton Jarvis, tells FlightGlobal that joining A4E gives TUI’s five operators – […]

Delta Air Lines Expanding Service Between US, Europe in 2020

Delta Air Lines announced plans to expand flight options between the United States and Europe beginning in 2020. Delta already offers more flights connecting the U.S. and Europe than any other carrier, but the airline plans to add about 780,000 additional seats in 2020, including new summer service between Boston and Rome. Starting this winter, […]

JetBlue considers serving ‘multiple’ London airports

JetBlue Airways is evaluating the possibility of serving more than one London airport under its plan to start transatlantic flights to Europe in 2021. Speaking at the Aviation Festival in London on 5 September, JetBlue chief operating officer Joanna Geraghty said that the airline is looking at London Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton and Stansted as potential […]