Cathay Pacific has welcomed the Hong Kong government's decision to remove the amber code restrictions under the vaccine pass for inbound travellers, effective 14 December. The adjustments "will help further boost sentiment for travel, especially among inbound visitors, thereby facilitating the resumption of travel activities and strengthening of network connectivity at the Hong Kong aviation hub", the Oneworld carrier says. Cathay Pacific recently resumed flights to destinations such as Tokyo Haneda, Sapporo and Fukuoka in Japan, Denpasar in Indonesia, Zurich in Switzerland, Penang in Malaysia, and Dhaka in Bangladesh. It plans to restore flights to destinations including Phuket in Thailand and Nagoya in Japan in January. Meanwhile, its low-cost subsidiary HK Express recently restored services to Tokyo Haneda, Chiang Mai in Thailand, and Da Nang in Vietnam, with flights to Jeju and Busan in South Korea scheduled to restart in January. Cathay says the group is on track to achieve its target of operating up to one-third of its pre-pandemic passenger flight capacity levels by the end of this year. It expects to operate around 70% of its pre-pandemic passenger flight capacity by the end of 2023, with an aim to return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2024.

Ryanair has dropped plans to appeal a UK court ruling that it cannot withhold compensation from passengers affected by strike action taken by airline staff. This follows the budget carrier's failure, earlier this year, to overturn the ruling, which relates to industrial action taken by Ryanair pilots in 2018. Ryanair had argued that it should not be required to compensate affected passengers because industrial action was an "extraordinary circumstance". The carrier had secured permission to appeal the decision with the UK Supreme Court. However, the UK Civil Aviation Authority now says Ryanair has decided not to appeal the ruling and will provide compensation to passengers. "The Civil Aviation Authority undertook enforcement action against Ryanair due to the belief that strike action by airline staff does not constitute an 'extraordinary circumstance' and, as such, affected passengers should be entitled to compensation where this results in the delay or short-notice cancellation of their flight," states CAA consumer director Paul Smith. "Ryanair's decision to discontinue the Supreme Court appeal of the Court of Appeal judgment means that affected passengers will now be able to make a claim for compensation from Ryanair if they were impacted by strike action taken by Ryanair pilots in 2018, and we would encourage all passengers on flights that were affected to claim the compensation they are entitled to."

The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has approved Japanese airline group ANA Holdings' target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. With this, ANA has become the first airline in Asia to receive the approval, the group says. It aims to reduce carbon intensity by 29% by 2030 compared to the 2019 levels. ANA plans to reduce its carbon emissions through operational improvements, introduction of fuel-efficient aircraft, usage of sustainable aviation fuel and other measures. As part of its efforts, the group also plans to convert airport vehicles to electric/fuel-cell vehicles and to use renewable energy in its facilities and offices. Compared to 2019 levels, ANA aims to reduce CO2 emissions from electricity and fuel used in its facilities and airport vehicles by 27.5% by 2030. The group notes that its targets are consistent with reductions required to keep warming to well-below 2°C. The SBTi initiative is focused on accelerating companies and financial institutions across the world to halve emissions before 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions before 2050.