US airline executives have met with administration officials at the White House to lobby against a possible coronavirus testing requirement for all domestic air travellers. Airlines have been wary of such plans since an official at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that the agency was actively looking at expanding the requirement to domestic flights, in late January. The US government has required Covid-19 tests for inbound international travellers since 26 January. Those passengers must present negative coronavirus test results (that are less than 72 hours old) before being permitted to board aircraft bound for US airports. “We appreciated the opportunity to meet with the administration this morning,” says Nicholas Calio, chief executive of trade group Airlines for America (A4A) on 12 February. “We had a very positive, constructive conversation focused on our shared commitment to science-based policies as we work together to end the pandemic, restore air travel and lead our nation toward recovery.” On 29 January, a coalition of travel industry lobby groups and unions, including A4A, had urged the new US administration to reject a coronavirus testing mandate for domestic air travel. More than 20 trade organisations wrote in a letter to the government’s Covid recovery team that such a measure would be superfluous and could cause further economic hardship. In the past weeks, airlines and unions have repeatedly stressed their opposition to implementing testing for travellers within the US. The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association says on 12 February that a domestic testing mandate “would decimate domestic air travel demand, put aviation jobs at risk and create serious unintended consequences”. “International travel demand is down as much as 48% since the implementation of a pre-departure testing requirement,” the union writes. “Decreases in domestic travel demand would run even higher as the cost of testing in many cases would exceed the cost of travel.” “This reality would simply cause travellers to choose an alternative method of travel with a much greater probability of exposure,” the union says. In addition, it would “overwhelm testing and lab resources” and draw resources away from institutions and organisations that need them more. In late January, several airline executives railed against the same threat during earnings calls, saying the burden for airlines would be cumbersome and expensive. Many airlines have said they have seen cancellations rise and bookings decrease after the new mitigation measures were announced. Legacy carrier Air Canada has come out in favour of broad-based testing across that Canada to replace the current strict 14-day quarantine requirement – for all international and some domestic travellers – that has been in effect since March 2020. During the airline’s earnings call on 12 February, Air Canada's chief executive Calin Rovinescu said a more-rigid testing regime might allow the government to relax some travel restrictions that have been in place for almost a year. The airline has suspended numerous flights to the US and international destinations in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as to Asia. The flight suspensions are due to last until 30 April.

Air Namibia has suspended operations and grounded its aircraft. "Effective Thursday, 11 February 2021, all flight operations will be cancelled, with all aircraft returning to base," the African carrier says in a Twitter posting. It adds that its reservation system for taking new bookings has also been suspended. Data shows that Air Namibia has a fleet of 10 jets, the majority of which are leased. Two of its Airbus A319s are managed by Deucalion Aviation Funds and form part of the DVB Bank-serviced DCAL 2015-1 asset-backed securitisation (ABS). Another two A319s are owned by the airline. One of its two A330s is leased from Castlelake while the other is part of the Castlelake-serviced CLAST 2019-1 ABS. The airline leases four Embraer ERJ-135s from Air France subsidiary Hop.

The Canadian government has approved Air Canada’s takeover of vacation specialist Transat AT, subject to numerous conditions. The two companies, which announced the deal in August 2019 and had planned for the transaction to close in mid-2020, clear a major hurdle with the government approval, but are still awaiting a verdict from European regulators before they can proceed. Since then, the coronavirus has disrupted the aviation industry worldwide, and the precipitous decline in business prompted Air Canada last October to slash the price it was willing to pay for its Montreal-based peer to C$5 ($3.94) per share from its original offer of C$18 per share. Transat’s shareholders overwhelmingly approved the new offer in December, seeing it as a lifeline for the ailing company. The deal was set to expire in four days, on 15 February. “Given the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the air industry, the proposed purchase of Transat AT by Air Canada will bring greater stability to Canada’s air transport market,” the country’s minister of transport Omar Alghabra, says on 11 February. “It will be accompanied by strict conditions which will support future international competition, connectivity and protect jobs. We are confident these measures will be beneficial to travellers and the industry as a whole.” Some of those conditions imposed by the government include maintaining the head office and brand in the French-speaking province of Quebec, as well as 1,500 jobs, a commitment to maintain the airline’s aircraft in Canada (preferably in Quebec), the launch of new destinations within the first five years, and what the government calls “a price monitoring mechanism”. In addition, the airline must “facilitate and encourage other airlines to take up former Transat AT routes to Europe”. This seems to imply that Transat will be giving up its transatlantic routes as part of the deal. Prior to the pandemic, Air Transat was flying to France, Portugal, Spain and the UK. Neither Transat nor Air Canada immediately responded to requests for comment on the decision. The acquisition, the government says, “offers the best probable outcomes for workers, for Canadians seeking service and choice in leisure travel to Europe, and for other Canadian industries that rely on air transport, particularly aerospace.” With today’s approval by Canadian competition authorities, the airlines are now waiting for the European Commission to give its blessing to the tie-up.