Australia's Regional Express has made it mandatory for all its frontline, customer-facing staff to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 by 1 November. This includes employees working at check-in and all pilots and cabin crew across its regional and domestic networks, the operator says in a statement today. The move follows initial consultations with various unions, workplace health and safety representatives and staff. "These consultations will continue as the new policy is formulated," Rex says. Deputy chairman John Sharp states: "As we provide an essential service operating to regional centres and remote communities throughout Australia, it is incumbent upon us to do whatever we can to help those residents remain safe and healthy." Sharp says Rex will offer the small number of unvaccinated frontline staff non-customer-facing roles wherever available.

Shell will establish a biofuels facility at an existing refinery site in Rotterdam, which is scheduled to start production in 2024. The Dutch site will be among the largest biofuels facilities in Europe and produce 820,000t of low-carbon fuels per year using advanced technology developed by Shell, the energy provider says. Sustainable aviation fuel could make up more than half of the annual production capacity, Shell says. Shell Netherlands' president Director Marjan van Loon states: "The project will mean hundreds of millions of dollars of investment each year during construction, it will create hundreds of jobs and help to maintain the facility’s competitiveness for years to come." The new facility will help Shell to meet its own target of becoming a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050, the company says. The facility is expected to use technology to capture carbon emissions from manufacturing processes and store them in an empty gas field beneath the North Sea through a project called Porthos. A final investment decision for Porthos is expected next year, Shell says. Shell notes that it is transforming refineries into five energy and chemicals parks as part of a plan to reduce production of traditional fuels 55% by 2030. The Energy and Chemicals Park Rotterdam is the second park to be announced, following the launch of a site in Germany in July.

Air New Zealand estimates a monthly NZ$20-25 million ($14-18 million) impact from the suspension of trans-Tasman travel, and more from domestic travel restrictions. "Following a month of constrained trading it remains unclear how long these alert levels, the suspension of trans-Tasman quarantine-free travel and associated travel restrictions will continue, as well as how demand will recover when the restrictions are lifted," the flag carrier said today in a corporate disclosure. It puts the monthly impact of nationwide Level 3 or 4 travel restrictions at approximately N$45-55 million, and NZ$25-35 million if such restrictions were limited to Auckland while the rest of the country operates at Level 1 or 2. These estimates include the benefit of any wage subsidy. Government advisory as at 17 September shows Auckland is at Alert Level 4 and the rest of the country at Alert Level 2. New Zealand's four-level alert system indicates a lockdown at the highest Level 4, when Covid-19 is likely not contained, and restricted travel at Level 3, when there are active but managed clusters. Restrictions on social interactions are imposed at Levels 1 and 2, when Covid-19 is contained or there is low risk of community transmission, respectively. Air New Zealand is observing strong demand for domestic travel across regions currently under Level 2 restrictions, it says, while cargo operations are continuing with approximately 50 flights per week. At the last update, it began drawing down on a NZ$1.5 billion standby loan facility extended by the government, NZ$350 million as at 25 August. In today's disclosure, the company says it recently requested additional drawdowns and these will increase its total drawings to NZ$435 million.