Delta Air Lines is terminating its policy not to sell reservations for middle seats, citing improving vaccination efforts in the USA that have increased the perception of the safety of air travel during the pandemic. One hundred percent of the seats on Delta aircraft will be available for purchase beginning on 1 May. The Atlanta-based airline in early February had extended through the end of April its ban on selling middle seats to give customers the additional "peace of mind" that comes with fewer passengers and the perceived lower risk of getting infected with the coronavirus. "The relationships we’ve built, together with the knowledge that nearly 65% of those who flew Delta in 2019 anticipate having at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine by May 1, are what’s giving us the assurance to offer customers the ability to choose any seat on our aircraft," the carrier's chief executive Ed Bastian states.

IATA is recommending governments switch from PCR to rapid antigen tests to meet their Covid-19 travel requirements.
The association says a study it commissioned from OXERA and Edge Health shows that the best antigen tests are "broadly comparable" with the accuracy of their PCR equivalents. The BinaxNOW test, for example, misses just one positive case in a thousand travellers. They also produce a similar level of false negatives as PCR tests. Antigen tests are also around 100 times faster than PCR equivalents, and cost, on average, around 60% less, the research has found. This is important because IATA points out that the cost of testing can easily spiral above the price of the airfare itself. For example, the cost of 16 tests for a return journey for a family of four from the UK to the Canary Islands would be around £1,600 ($2,200), IATA notes. Its research estimates that on many key routes the cost of PCR testing would reduce passenger demand by an average of 65%, compared to just 30% if it was switched to antigen. IATA also highlights the problems that PCR testing capacity presents. In the UK, for example, capacity for PCR tests only covers around 25% of 2019 passenger levels, clearly demonstrating the block it would present on enabling a widescale return to flying. "Restarting international aviation will energise the economic recovery from Covid-19," states IATA's director general Alexandre de Juniac. "Along with vaccines, testing will play a critical role in giving governments the confidence to reopen their borders to travellers." He adds: "For governments, the top priority is accuracy. But travellers will also need tests to be convenient and affordable. The OXERA-Edge Health report tells us that the best-in-class antigen tests can tick all these boxes. It's important for governments to consider these findings as they make plans for a restart." IATA warns that testing requirements are often fragmented and difficult for travellers to navigate, and that many governments do not allow rapid testing. "Travellers need options. Including antigen testing among acceptable tests will certainly give strength to the recovery," states de Juniac. "And the EU's specification of acceptable antigen tests offers a good baseline for wider international harmonisation of acceptable standards. We now need to see governments implement these recommendations. The goal is to have a clear set of testing options that are medically effective, financially accessible, and practically available to all prospective travellers."

Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury has expressed confidence about an air traffic recovery and that travel demand, at least, for single-aisle flights will return to pre-crisis level "around 2023". Speaking on Eurocontrol's Aviation Straight Talk on 30 March, Faury acknowledged that "not everything is clear" about the timing of a recovery and what long-term impact the pandemic might have on future travel demand. "Everybody is trying to figure out what this new demand will look like," he says. "It is reasonable to say [demand will be] not very different to what it was before, and the time it takes to be back to 2019 figures is really what we are trying to understand better."Despite the uncertainty, Faury predicts that a recovery in single-aisle flights is "probably going to be around 2023". In regard to widebody flights, he estimates a recovery to take until 2024 or 2025, but admits "we don't really know". "There is more uncertainty how fast and how strong the international traffic will recover," he says. Airbus was "quite lucky" that its decision to terminate A380 production had been made before the pandemic in late 2018, Faury says, "because we saw some acceleration of [market] trends" – suggesting perhaps that a sudden decision to end production might have been more painful for the airframer. The ultra-large aircraft has been particularly affected by the crisis, with most A380s being placed in storage and multiple operators having prematurely retired at least part of their A380 fleets. Earlier this month, Airbus ferried its final production A380 – to be delivered to Emirates – from the final assembly line in Toulouse to Hamburg for interior outfitting and painting. With A380 production now "squarely behind us", Airbus's efforts for the type will concentrate on supporting in-service aircraft "for as long as possible", Faury says. Still, he describes the A380 as providing a "fantastic flight experience" for travellers and suggests it will "probably remain the aircraft of choice for many passengers". Perhaps not just with passengers in mind, he adds wryly: "Sometimes it is more [about] the plane than the destination when it comes to the A380." Among the accelerated trends, Faury sees increased airline demand for single-aisle, long-haul aircraft, and mentions Airbus's sales success in recent years with the A321LR and under-development A321XLR. "The pandemic has probably brought more light on that segment," he says. He highlights the versatility of such aircraft for airlines and predicts that single-aisle deployment on long-haul routes will be a "long-lasting" trend. Noting airlines' use of smaller aircraft amid the pandemic, he says that smaller, more adaptable units give carriers with "more agility" as they can be operated at lower cost than widebodies. "They [airlines] want to have less expensive assets [and] be able to open new routes." Providing versatile aircraft has become more important for the manufacturer than in the past. "There is a huge diversity of airlines around the world," observes Faury. He notes the different pace of recovery across different regions and predicts: "There will be even more diversity… after the pandemic than we had before." Versatility is central for aircraft lessors too, which Faury attributes with playing a "very important role" during the crisis. Lessors maintained Airbus's ability to deliver aircraft, he says. "This was extremely important in this very moment, also for the supply chain." Noting the size of the global fleet of leased aircraft, Faury says that lessor play a growing role for operators and manufacturers alike compared with a decade ago. "They are now really completely part of the industry." He argues it is the lessors' ability to be versatile moving assets between operators that has maintained asset values during the crisis for the benefit of operators, investors and manufacturers. This has been "extremely important" during the pandemic, asserts Faury. "Lessors really play a crucial role in that situation."