Ryanair seeing big demand hit for January.
Its has reduced its network monthly expected boardings to 6-7mil, down from 10mil with about 1/3 of planned frequencies not operating.

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/travel ... ry-travel/

This time Lufthansa gets ban for importing Covid passengers to HKG.


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FITs412VgAE ... name=large

And now Air Canada gets 14-day arrival ban. AC will in turn suspend HKG service entirely until March 1.

https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_16157969
Starting from January 9 to January 23, all civilian aircraft carrying passengers from outside China will be forbidden from landing in Macau.
The article claim this is due to continuous discovery of coronavirus cases among inbound patient, as just in the single day of January 5, they found as much as 3 cases of asymptomatic coronavirus patients entered Macau from the United States, United Kingdom, and the Philippines, all through Singapore.
The news article didn't mention which definition of "China" is being adopted for the purpose of this announcement.

To comment on it, I can only say,

I mean good for them since this will mean Macau will then be 100% rid of all COVID moving forward!

HKG is a fluid situation. From what I understand in total 21 airline routes are currently banned at HKG due COVID importation. Additionally, flights from 8 countries are banned entirely 8-21January per pandemic measures.

https://www.routesonline.com/news/29/br ... two-weeks/

CALMSP wrote:

I mean good for them since this will mean Macau will then be 100% rid of all COVID moving forward!

LOL. If air were the only access to Macau then that might be true, but of course that's not the case.

Draconian travel restrictions might, arguably, have made some sense in the early days of COVID. I don't think it's the right tool today, not with vaccine availability.

125 passengers test positive on an Italy-India flight!

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-59894989

CAAC says China will focus on expanding domestic flights first and restoring international air travel in 2023-2025 as part of a five-year development plan.
In 2022 the country will continue efforts in COVID control, and look for growth in 2023 and beyond.

https://skift.com/2022/01/07/china-targ ... ir-travel/

After the Argentinian government lifted the embargo on flights from Africa, Ethiopian reinstated its ADD - EZE flights. Initially ET will cover the route 3x week with 788 equipment. First flight operated today with ET-AOU, 198 paxs, 73.3% LF.

https://twitter.com/SpottersArg/status/ ... 2709506050

Virgin Australia trims its flying by 25% for January and February as COVID hits demand and staff availability.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/virgin-a ... 11251.html

TokyoImperialPa wrote:

The US CDC is advising against travel to Canada. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel ... isory.html

Whoever is working in this area of the CDC seems to be having a stroke in installments? Like Florida alone had over 120K cases over the weekend but somehow you are advising agaInst travel to Canada? Every week their “travel advices” are more and more bizarre.

santi319 wrote:

TokyoImperialPa wrote:

The US CDC is advising against travel to Canada. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel ... isory.html

Whoever is working in this area of the CDC seems to be having a stroke in installments? Like Florida alone had over 120K cases over the weekend but somehow you are advising agaInst travel to Canada? Every week their “travel advices” are more and more bizarre.

I think it has to do with the powers allocated to the federal government. They cannot impede interstate commerce, but they can issue these "travel warnings" against international travel even if the target country is in much better shape than the US.

I agree - it's a farce. Since we can't even get mask mandates in schools here, let's make it look like we're doing something by blaming responsible foreigners .

It's kind of funny that most of the "most dangerous" COVID countries cited by the U.S. are less dangerous than the United States.

Air Greenland has suspended ticket sales for a week due to health issues affecting staff, while getting authorization to fly DHC8 without a flight attendant.

https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/111477

Since March 2020, restrictions around Covid have always had a political nature. Politicians has been thinking (amongst other things) "What restrictions are legal?" and also "What restrictions are politically acceptable?"
Medics tend not to think in these political terms - they tend to think only about the corpse count and how many spare beds there are in the hospital
The result throughout the world has been a mess of inconsistent restrictions

Flights from Miami to NY shall be permitted... but those from NY to Toronto shall be banned

CDC is so full of mixed messages. They warn of the danger of Cruise Travel and recommend not cruising. However the CDC is going to allow the conditional sailing order to expire January 15 2022. My flight from PHX to Mia was 2 empty seats (last Week). My Flight to LAS (Yesterday) was 100% full asking for voluntary denied boarding. CDC says nothing about flying. Remember flying not only includes the time on the airplane but the very crowded airports. People are over the CDC.

TSA says it has about 3,700 employees out with active Covid infections.
As a comparison was only averaging about 275 back during Thanksgiving.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerow ... c7e9f312c3

Finnair says it will trim its flying schedule by 20 percent through February due to staffing shortfalls with Omicron.

https://www.bloombergquint.com/onweb/fi ... k-kybmftke

Related, its also delayed start-up of Dallas route until end of March, while the resumption of Nagoya won't happen this year, and KIX,SIN and HKG will see frequency reductions

travaz wrote:

CDC is so full of mixed messages. They warn of the danger of Cruise Travel and recommend not cruising. However the CDC is going to allow the conditional sailing order to expire January 15 2022. My flight from PHX to Mia was 2 empty seats (last Week). My Flight to LAS (Yesterday) was 100% full asking for voluntary denied boarding. CDC says nothing about flying. Remember flying not only includes the time on the airplane but the very crowded airports. People are over the CDC.

1 - Average flight is 2-3 hrs at airport + the time on the plane. Not 24hr times 3, 7, 10, or 14 days on a ship.
2 - Airplane air is HEPA filtered. Not so on Cruise ships

Apples and oranges.

People on cruise ships, particularly in warm weather, tend to spend a fair bit of time outdoors, with wind blowing and lots of fresh air to blow away any viruses quickly. People in aircraft and airport terminals tend not to have that outdoor fresh air / wind blowing experience (unless flying on an ULCC)

Apples and oranges.

davidjohnson6 wrote:

People on cruise ships, particularly in warm weather, tend to spend a fair bit of time outdoors, with wind blowing and lots of fresh air to blow away any viruses quickly. People in aircraft and airport terminals tend not to have that outdoor fresh air / wind blowing experience (unless flying on an ULCC)

Apples and oranges.

And then when those cruise ship passengers are not outside they are packed inside, with passengers unable to get away from each other until the end of the cruise meaning risk of constant prolong exposure (resulting in greater risk of infection). And your typical cruise ship might have over 10x the number of people on board compared to a plane. That’s why viruses (not just Covid) typically fester on cruise ships. They are floating Petri dishes.

And to be honest the CDC would probably recommend against all travel if they politically could. Travel is why most people are flying. Most people take cruises as a means of recreation.

Hong Kong has pretty much shut down transits at HKG from 16JAN22 to 15FEB22, 150 countries on the list.

This is a big blow to Cathay Pacific, whose fortunes have not been the best lately.

https://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_HK/ ... tions.html

Argentinian ULCC Flybondi, faced with flight cancellations and schedule disruptions due to crew calling in sick with COVID/Omicron, has wet leased an Argentina Air Force (FAA) Boeing 737-700 to operate 3 flights a day, initially from today until 21JAN22.

https://www.aviacionline.com/2022/01/el ... -flybondi/

Iberia returns to Rio de Janeiro GIG eff. 27JUN22, 3x w with A330 equipment. It will mark the resumption of the route after a 27-month suspension. Rio is one of three cities in South America that Iberia has yet to return to, the other two being Caracas and Medellin (not sure about Cali now...)

IB6025 MAD 11:5O GIG 17:25 330 136
IB6024 GIG 18:55 MAD 10:10+1 330 136

Both Finnair and Turkish Airlines receive 2 week bans for importing COVID positive passengers to HKG.

https://twitter.com/tripperhead/status/ ... 15808?s=20
https://twitter.com/tripperhead/status/ ... 58721?s=20

WestJet extends its schedule reduction till end of February as it struggles with staffing levels.

https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/news/2022 ... y-28--2022

Yes you can get COVID in an airplane cabin.

Another study looks at previous reported transmissions, along with simulation modeling airborne droplets on flights of different lengths and aircraft cabin widths.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/ful ... /ina.12979

Good news -- if everyone wears a quality well fitted mask full-time, avoids conversation along with food and drink, transmission risk can be meanigfully reduced.

Update from IATA of how traffic has recovered (or not)



https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FJ8yh61XsAk ... name=large

After almost 2 years, Venezuela has authorized the resumption of regular flights to Spain. Surprisingly, only 5 weekly frequencies are allowed, 2 for Venezuelan airlines and 3 for Spanish ones. So far Spain's Plus Ultra and Air Europa are the only ones that have confirmed their return in February. Nothing from Iberia yet and I am not sure about Venezuelan airlines. Conviasa is the only one with the right equipment (1 A340-200 and 1 A340-300) but they seem busy flying them to Iran via Belgrade or Moscow with the occasional flight to EZE, HAV, SCL or MEX/CUN. In any case, no word from Conviasa yet.

https://www.aviacionline.com/2022/01/sp ... equencies/

dcajet wrote:

After almost 2 years, Venezuela has authorized the resumption of regular flights to Spain. Surprisingly, only 5 weekly frequencies are allowed, 2 for Venezuelan airlines and 3 for Spanish ones. So far Spain's Plus Ultra and Air Europa are the only ones that have confirmed their return in February. Nothing from Iberia yet and I am not sure about Venezuelan airlines. Conviasa is the only one with the right equipment (1 A340-200 and 1 A340-300) but they seem busy flying them to Iran via Belgrade or Moscow with the occasional flight to EZE, HAV, SCL or MEX/CUN. In any case, no word from Conviasa yet.

https://www.aviacionline.com/2022/01/sp ... equencies/

With all the turmoil in Venezuela I'm not sure too many airlines will be rushing to return.

altairF28 wrote:

dcajet wrote:

After almost 2 years, Venezuela has authorized the resumption of regular flights to Spain. Surprisingly, only 5 weekly frequencies are allowed, 2 for Venezuelan airlines and 3 for Spanish ones. So far Spain's Plus Ultra and Air Europa are the only ones that have confirmed their return in February. Nothing from Iberia yet and I am not sure about Venezuelan airlines. Conviasa is the only one with the right equipment (1 A340-200 and 1 A340-300) but they seem busy flying them to Iran via Belgrade or Moscow with the occasional flight to EZE, HAV, SCL or MEX/CUN. In any case, no word from Conviasa yet.

https://www.aviacionline.com/2022/01/sp ... equencies/

With all the turmoil in Venezuela I'm not sure too many airlines will be rushing to return.

Not a fan of Maduro, but one must recognize that Venezuela has been in the last few months the most stable and calm it's been in years, particularly around the year end holidays. It is still a mess, but less so than what it was a year ago.

How does this translate to commercial aviation and demand, not sure. Turkish has upgauged some flights to 77W equipment, so that's a start.

Iberia will return to its traditional double daily flights on the MAD-EZE route eff. July; currently it is operating at 9x week. Pre pandemic it was operating 17x week with a mix of A332 and A359.

And Air Europa returns to the MAD-COR route on Feb 1st, initially 4x w with 787 equipment.

https://www.sirchandler.com.ar/2022/01/ ... -y-madrid/

U.S. CDC adds Mexico along with 11 other nations to its highest warning level due "very high" level of COVID-19 transmission.
In practice probably does not stop many American's however it can impact the availability of travel insurance, and certainly, impacts travel decisions by corporations.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/cdc-add ... 07831.html

After a 23-month long hiatus, COPA returned last night to its 4th destination in Argentina, Rosario ROS, the 3rd largest city in the country. Initially it plans to serve ROS 4x week (it was daily before the pandemic). Of interest, the first inbound flight brought only 46 paxs but left right back to PTY with 154 paxs. All flights to ROS operate with the 737-800, same as COR and MDZ while EZE sees the MAX 9 mostly and some flights with the 738s.

COPA still has one destination left to resume service in Argentina, Salta SLA. While flights are not loaded yet, the airline has said it plans to return to SLA around mid 2022.

https://www.aviacionline.com/2022/02/co ... a-rosario/

Finnair and Turkish Airlines are banned again for 14-days at HKG for again importing 11 COVID positive pax.

https://twitter.com/tripperhead/status/ ... 4514309120

With spike in COVID cases Indonesia bans foreign tourists at Jakarta, though arrivals into the island of Bali still allowed.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-paci ... 022-02-07/

EK again banned at HKG 12-25Feb for importing Covid cases

https://twitter.com/tripperhead/status/ ... 89/photo/1

HKG extends ban on flights from high-risk countries (incl UK & US) till April 20th.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-paci ... 022-02-22/

After an absence of 27 months, Aerolineas Argentinas returns to Rome FCO effective 02JUN22, initially 3x w with the Airbus A330-200.

AR1140 EZE 22:45 FCO 17:00+1 247 A332
AR1141 FCO19:15 EZE 04:40+1 135 A332

This is the longest by distance A332 route in the world, AR uses the 242T MTOW version on this route.

US extends COVID mask mandate by a month till April 18.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/tsa-ext ... 27163.html

Aeromexico resumes daily services to Buenos Aires EZE, effective 11MAR22, operating with 787-8 &-9. Currently operates 5x w.

AM030 MEX 09:45 EZE 21:50 787 X
AM029 EZE 23:50 MEX 06:35+1 787 X

https://www.aviacionline.com/2022/03/ae ... nos-aires/

UPlog wrote:

US extends COVID mask mandate by a month till April 18.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/tsa-ext ... 27163.html

If they think compliance was low before.......

It also wouldn't shock me if some crews and airport workers were somewhat less enthusiastic about enforcement.

Aerolineas Argentinas has announced the full resumption of its Brazilian network and a new route; Salta SLA - Sao Paulo GRU

Bariloche BRC to Sao Paulo: resumes in June
Buenos Aires AEP to Brasilia BSB: resumes in April
Buenos Aires AEP to Curitiba CWB: resumes in April
Buenos Aires AEP to Florianopolis FLN: operating
Buenos Aires AEP to Porto Alegre POA: resumes in April
Buenos Aires AEP to Rio de Janeiro GIG: operating
Buenos Aires AEP to Salvador SSA: operating (used to be seasonal, operates year round eff 01APR22)
Buenos Aires AEP to Sao Paulo GRU: operating
Cordoba COR to Rio de Janeiro GIG: operating (seasonal, summer only)
Salta SLA to Sao Paulo GRU: begins in July



https://www.aviacionline.com/2022/03/ae ... do-el-ano/

Over 90 percent of flights at Shanghai Pudong and Hongqiao airports were canceled on Monday amid a resurgent Covid-19 outbreak.

https://www.msn.com/en-xl/travel/other/ ... ar-AAV2Jiy

In addition the Shenzhen went into lockdown over the weekend leading to the cancellation or rail, air, and road connections to the city.

The Shenzen lockdown likely will seriously impact freight coming out of the region with so much of high tech production in the area.

Heathrow Scraps mask mandate BA and Virgin to follow.
https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/ne ... 35605.html

Shanghai bars international passenger flights until May 1st!

https://theloadstar.com/capacity-cuts-s ... d-flights/

This will have a ripple effect.