Airline

The two U.S. airlines have announced that they will block middle seats through to October 2020 in order to aid social distancing and prevent the spread of COVID-19. Alaska Airlines will do so through to 31 October, and jetBlue has set a current deadline of 15 October; both airlines will however still allow for the use of middle seats for larger parties who wish to sit together.

The airline has added further destinations to its summer flight schedule, including the news that from September weekly services will be added to both Gran Canaria and Tenerife. Other destinations that already have recently resumed include Kalamata, Preveza, Skiathos, Skiros, Cagliari, Olbia, Catania and Ibiza.

The Dubai-based airline has announced that its passenger flight network will now grow to 70 destinations with the inclusion of Kuwait City from 5 August and Lisbon from 16 August. This will account for over 50% of Emirates' pre-pandemic destination network, as the airline gradually resumes operations with the safety of its customers, crew and communities as its top priority.

The airline has announced that it is now mandatory for passengers to wear a face mask if they're flying to, from or within the Australian state of Victoria. When travelling from or within Victoria, passengers need to wear a mask as soon as they enter the airport and also inflight. When travelling to Victoria from outside of the state, passengers need to wear their mask during boarding, in-flight and on arrival.

The airline has continued their restructuring process after having previously secured a £1.2bn recapitalisation deal to secure their future post-COVID-19. This process yesterday, 4 August, involved attending court hearings in both the UK and U.S. as a formality; during the U.S. hearing a Chapter 15 process was filed, which is a mechanism to allow the airline to continue proceedings in the UK despite their multi-national assets. It should be noted that this is not a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, and restructuring is continuing as planned.