Oman’s Civil Aviation Authority has initialed a comprehensive air transport agreement with the European Union and its member states, a first step in a five-year implementation leading to "a fully formalised open skies accord". Oman Air says the agreement paves the way for Oman to increase flight frequencies on existing European routes and add other European destinations for the airline and budget carrier Salam Air. Moreover, the agreement will allow EU airlines to fly to all Omani airports from their home country or from any other EU member state. Currently, Air France and KLM are the only EU airlines that fly direct to Muscat International airport. Besides market access, the agreement also contains provisions on a number of other important aspects of aviation including commercial opportunities, doing business, safety, security, air traffic management, environment, fair competition and social aspects. The agreement, which comes after nearly two years of negotiations, strengthens both parties’ commitment to fair access to markets for Oman and all EU member states. Oman holds bilateral third and fourth air freedom rights with several EU member states, including France, Germany and Italy. Both sides will now initiate their respective internal procedures in preparation for the signing of the agreement. Oman Air says since Oman’s reopening to fully vaccinated arrivals in September this year, it has reinstated a number of its pre-pandemic European routes including London, Paris, Zurich and Munich. The carrier says it is "confident" that remaining paused routes will resume in early 2022, as global vaccination rates continue to increase and entry restrictions ease.

British Airways has signed a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) supply deal with Houston-based energy company Phillips 66 that will see waste-based fuel produced at a plant in the UK used to partially power "a number of" the carrier's flights from early next year. BA says the "multi-year" agreement will make it the first airline to use SAF produced "on a commercial scale" in the UK. The fuel will be produced at the Phillips 66 Humber Refinery in Immingham, Lincolnshire. The plant will produce "thousands of tonnes" of SAF, says BA, which will be supplied to the airline "to power a number of its flights from early 2022" as part of its mission to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. BA's parent company, IAG, has committed to power 10% of its flights with SAF by 2030. The fuel provided by Phillips 66 will be produced from a "sustainable waste feedstock" and delivered to BA via existing pipeline infrastructure that feeds directly into UK airports. "The UK has the resources and capabilities to be a global leader in the development of SAF, and scaling up the production of SAF requires a truly collaborative approach between industry and government," states BA chief executive Sean Doyle, adding that the carrier aims to develop its relationship with Phillips 66 "with a view to growing production capacity and using a wider range of sustainable waste feedstocks to supply our future flights". Humber Refinery general manager Darren Cunningham says the Immingham plant was the first in the UK to co-process waste oils to produce renewable fuels. "We're currently refining almost half a million litres of sustainable waste feedstocks a day, and this is just the start," he says. "Markets for lower-carbon products are growing, and this agreement demonstrates our ability to supply them." IAG has previously announced that it is investing $400 million in the development of SAF and has partnered with other fuel providers including LanzaJet and Velocys. It sees the potential for 14 SAF plants to be built in the UK, providing enough government support is available.

The US government is tightening pre-departure Covid-19 testing timelines for inbound international travellers in response to the spread of the newly identified Omicron variant of Covid-19, which may be more contagious than prior variants. All inbound international travellers, regardless of nationality or vaccination status, will have to be tested within one day of departure. The White House says the new testing protocol will commence "early next week". The US government had on 8 November eased restrictions on international travellers who are non-US citizens, lifting quarantine requirements for those arriving in the nation who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19. In addition to showing proof of having received an accepted vaccine, incoming non-US citizens had to provide a negative result from a Covid-19 test taken no more than three days before travel. That timeframe will soon be reduced to 24h. US citizens returning on international flights who are fully vaccinated will also have to be tested no more than 24h before travel. Previously, a negative result from a test taken three days before travel was valid. For US citizens who are not fully vaccinated, there was already a requirement to provide a negative Covid-19 test result taken within 24h of travel. The Omicron variant was first identified in South Africa on 24 November. The US government on 29 November began restricting travel for non-US citizens from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. International capacity for flights to the USA in December is down 37% versus pre-pandemic December 2019, a 12-percentage point improvement compared with the gap in October, when capacity was down 49%.