IATA is confident network connectivity will not be impacted by the UK’s impending departure from the EU at the end of the year. Talks continue between officials over a possible Brexit deal, which would come into effect after the current transition agreement ends in December. But IATA’s regional vice-president Europe Rafael Schvartzman said during a briefing today that he expects connectivity to be maintained even if a Brexit deal is not reached. ”We see positive trends on an agreement on Brexit,” he says. ”In principle we are not seeing a situation where connectivity will be lost, so at this stage we are looking to maintain connectivity with a Brexit deal. “But if not, even before in the previous scenario, there were some already pre-agreed measures to be taken that will maintain connectivity. So we trust that remains an option.” He notes this contingency would extend the current conditions for a further period. “So that could be the fall-back if there is no agreement,” he says. “The other option if there is not agreement is we go back to the old bilaterals, which would be a very dramatic situation that we are not expecting to see. But that that would be the worst-case scenario.” Schvartzman adds: ”But we do believe today we are… looking forward potentially to an agreement. And if there is no agreement, for these temporary measures to kick to maintain connectivity in Europe.”

Delta Air Lines' pilot union members have ratified an agreement that will enable the carrier to avoid involuntary furloughs of pilots through the end of next year. The Atlanta-based carrier had reached a tentative agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA) in late October to delay furloughs until 1 January 2022. Approximately 1,700 pilot furloughs had been looming, Delta tells Cirium. The airline states that the agreement aims to "reduce costs and avoid involuntary furloughs". ALPA represents 13,000 Delta employees. “Delta will be well-positioned to bring all our pilots back into active flying status as customer demand returns,” the airline's chief of operations John Laughter states in a 25 November memo to pilots. Laughter reminds pilots that there are still difficult times ahead. “Our recovery will be uneven, as evident by the recent increase in Covid rates which are affecting our bookings for the holiday season.” US airlines faced the decision of whether to furlough workers after payroll support funds under the CARES Act expired on 1 October. Delta had previously announced that it would not involuntarily furlough flight attendants and ground-based frontline employees, although furloughs had still been a possibility for pilots before this vote. United Airlines and American Airlines have had to furlough approximately 13,000 and 19,000 employees, respectively.

Several airlines plan to take part in the rollout of a coronavirus travel pass in December, the nonprofit trust Commons Project Foundation discloses. The CommonPass, launched by the Switzerland-based Commons Project Foundation and the World Economic Forum, allows travellers to show that they have satisfied a country's entry requirements such as coronavirus tests when boarding a flight. The app uses information from a network of approved data sources, including lab testing sites, to display whether the passenger has met the requirements to travel to a particular country. JetBlue Airways, Lufthansa, Swiss International Airlines, United Airlines and Virgin Atlantic will be among the first airlines to roll out the pass, the Commons Project Foundation states. It will be used at first on certain flights leaving New York, Boston, London and Hong Kong. Airports Council International (ACI) World has also joined the "CommonTrust Network" of organisations, which includes airlines, labs and healthcare organisations. In October, Cathay Pacific Airways and United performed a trial of the CommonPass on flights from Hong Kong, Singapore, London and New York. "We are excited to be one of the first airlines in the world to partner with CommonPass to provide another layer of safety to air travel in the United States and around the world,” JetBlue president and chief operating officer Joanna Geraghty states. “Reliable testing, combined with digital health passes, is another way to restore customer confidence and safely restore air travel." IATA announced on 23 November that it was working on its own health pass app, which also includes information about entry requirements and enables passengers to show authorities that they have completed the necessary procedures. IATA's head of airport, passenger and security products Alan Murray Hayden said at the organisation’s Global Media Days event that he hopes IATA’s app will work in combination with similar tools being developed by airline alliances.