Lessors have been given a deadline to respond to new lease terms demanded by Norwegian ahead of the next hearing in the airline's restructuring process in Ireland. A lessor source says Norwegian has cancelled all of its existing operating leases and is seeking new terms to retain a number of its Boeing 737s. Lessors have to respond to these new terms ahead of the next hearing in its examinership process at Dublin's High Court on 4 February. In a company presentation on 25 January, the airline disclosed that it was seeking "significantly" reduced lease rates from pre-Covid levels, an extension of its by-the-hour agreements with lessors until March 2022, and an agreement there there would be no debt to equity conversion process for any non-paid rent beyond that generated via its by-the-hour agreement. A source says that in addition Norwegian is seeking a waiver on paying maintenance reserves, and comments, with reference to the airline's full name of Norwegian Air Shuttle: "It's like they want a Covid deal on all aircraft for NAS 2.0." In January, The Irish Times reported that Norwegian was seeking court approval to return 36 aircraft to their owners. A source says these would include all of the airline's leased 787s and some of the 737s. Negotiations over some of the aircraft returns are ongoing, the source adds. Norwegian has declined to comment, stating that these are confidential commercial discussions. The Oslo-based carrier last month disclosed its intention to exit its long-haul route network and focus on short-haul and domestic services. In its 25 January presentation, Norwegian said that the remaining financed aircraft in its fleet would be subject to interest and principal deferrals until March 2022. The airline is planning to raise capital of NKr4-5 billion ($465- 581 million) in the first quarter of 2021, out of which up to NKr1.5-2.5 billion will come from existing creditors through a "hybrid instrument". Utilising the examinership process, all large creditors are "assumed to be impaired or part of a scheme of arrangement". A dividend for unsecured claims, assumed by Norwegian at approximately NKr1.6 billion in total, is planned. The majority of this will be converted into equity, although a cash element will be considered. A reduction of vendor debt of approximately NKr1.9 billion will also "improve the equity", says the airline. It estimates that an expected writedown of leased and financed aircraft assets will cause a reduction in equity of approximately NKr10 billion prior to the exit from restructuring.

The UK will prevent entry to passengers who have arrived from or transited through the UAE, Rwanda or Burundi, except those with British or Irish passports or UK residency in order to halt the spread of a variant of Covid-19. The move came into force at 13:00 (GMT) on 29 January, with direct passenger flights from the UAE to the UK also banned. Exempted travellers will be required to self-isolate for 10 days at home, along with their household. Passengers returning from these countries cannot be released from self-isolation through the use of Covid-19 testing. The UK Department for Transport says the decision will help to "prevent the spread of the new [Covid-19] variant originally identified in South Africa into the UK". Worsening Covid-19 cases in the UAE led to the country being removed from the UK's travel corridor list on 12 January. Up until that point the connection between London and Dubai was the 22nd busiest international route globally, data shows, with 950 flights and nearly 400,000 seats between 1 and 11 January. London-Dubai was British Airways' second-busiest route in the first 11 days of the year by flight numbers after London-New York, and the largest by number of seats offered at nearly 90,000. For Dubai-based Emirates, the connection to London was easily the largest connection by both metrics, with 629 services and over 300,000 seats operated in the first 11 days of 2021.

Germany has shut its border to travellers from Ireland and Portugal in an effort to halt the spread of coronavirus variants that are more-easily transmitted. The German government has added those nations to an entry ban that already includes travellers from Brazil, the United Kingdom and South Africa, it says on 29 January. The prohibition runs from 30 January to 17 February. Additional restrictions for passengers from the African countries of Lesotho and Swaziland will be imposed from 31 January, Germany adds. There are exceptions for German citizens and permanent residents, as well as those transiting through Germany to non-Schengen region destinations. However, these travellers may not leave transit areas at major air hubs Frankfurt and Munich. “The dynamism of the spread of the variants is particularly worrying in these countries,” says the government regulation. “With an increased entry of the above-mentioned virus variant strains into the Federal Republic of Germany, there could be a rapid increase in the number of cases. The associated and worrying burden on medical facilities to protect the population in the Federal Republic of Germany should be avoided.” German flag carrier Lufthansa currently operates 55 weekly flights to the affected countries. It is as yet unclear how many of these will be cancelled. The prohibition is the first such policy Germany has enacted unilaterally without coordinating with the broader European Union. Germany lists 160 nations in a “high risk group”. Travellers from those countries undergo additional screening when entering Germany. Also on 29 January, Canada said its airlines are halting flights to Mexico and the Caribbean for three months, until 30 April. That effort too is aimed at halting the spread of new Covid-19 variants. The ban comes when many winter-weary Canadians would typically travel south for holidays.