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The airline are continuing to add to a raft of COVID-19 testing programs available for passengers, with the addition of now also being the first carrier to facilitate at-home pre-testing for all domestic U.S. flights due to land in states or cities with travel restrictions. Available from today, 9 December, for travel commencing from 12 December, tests are available for $129 USD via third party provider ‘LetsGetChecked’. Currently around 14 domestic U.S. states or cities have travel restrictions in place.

The airline has announced that it is connecting the island-state more closely with three mainland U.S. cities; Austin, Texas; Ontario, California and Orlando, Florida. New, non-stop services will begin by March 2021 to and from Honolulu.

The government of the U.S. territory has entered into an American Airlines pre-flight COVID-19 testing program, allowing passengers access to at-home nasal swab testing and virtual observation by a medical professional; it’s available from 9 December for passengers from the U.S.. The airline has previously partnered with Grenada, St Lucia and Jamaica to provide similar programs.

The country is the first in Latin America to welcome passengers from the U.S. under the new American Airlines digital ‘health pass’. Called ‘VeriFLY’, the mobile app allows passengers to securely store required travel documentation, including flight details and proof of a negative COVID-19 test; it will then verify if the given information provided by the passenger matches the entry policies of the user’s destination before giving them the green light to travel. Passengers travelling from Miami to Chile's Santiago were the first to be given access to the service from yesterday, 7 December.

The airline has announced a second European flight route on which passengers can be tested for COVID-19 to become exempt from a quarantine requirement; from 15 December a four-times weekly transatlantic service from Atlanta to Amsterdam will operate the program, which is very similar to the program launched on flights between Atlanta and Rome from 19 December.

The airline is to become the first in the U.S. to partner with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to introduce an international contact tracing app for passengers, in a bid to continue to make travel safer during the era of COVID-19. Data supplied voluntarily by passengers will be submitted to the CDC upon their arrival and will help to identify, notify and isolate people potentially affected by the virus.

The airline has said that it will begin to offer COVID-19 tested flights to Atlanta in the U.S., with passengers receiving one test five days before their flight, a second test shortly before the flight and a third test after landing. U.S. and EU passengers travelling inbound to Amsterdam from the U.S. will be able to skip a five-day quarantine on arrival if testing negative on all three stages. The flights will run four times per week from 15 December, with more expected providing that the pilot is successful.

The airline has further expanded its COVID-19 testing options to assist passengers arriving from the mainland in complying with the U.S. state’s testing protocols. Hawaiian Airlines is now offering drive-through and walk-up options for pre-flight testing in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Portland (Oregon) and Seattle; it first offered $90 USD nasal-swab testing near San Francisco Airport in October. Mail-in options are also available nationwide through a third-party provider.

The hotel group has announced a new COVID-19 ‘test and rest’ initiative at the Sofitel London Heathrow and Sofitel London Gatwick. From a cost of around £179 per person based on single occupancy, passengers receive a one-night stay plus a fully certified COVID-19 PCR saliva test; when the test is submitted to reception by 20.00, an overnight result is then received by the morning via a dedicated mobile app.

The airline has announced that free of charge COVID-19 insurance will be automatically applied to flights booked from today, 7 December, through to 28 February 2021; the policy will cover medical expenses related to a COVID-19 diagnosis.

The airline has announced that it will be resuming flights from Manchester Airport for the first time since March. The first service is scheduled for tomorrow, 5 December, from Manchester to Barbados; services to Islamabad will be added next week, and U.S. services to destinations such as Los Angeles, Orlando, New York and Atlanta are expected in the coming months.

The low-cost airline will set up a new base at Cardiff Airport, basing a single A321 aircraft to provide year-round services from the UK to Spanish destinations as well as seasonal services to Greek and Egyptian airports, including Sharm El Sheikh.

The airline has today, 3 December, published updates to its flight schedules following a reported 400% increase in bookings over the last week; insights suggest that particularly in demand are destinations such as South Africa, the Canary Islands, Madeira, the Mediterranean and even northern Finland. More insights, information and a link to their updated schedules can be found in a press release on the airline website.

The airline has announced that COVID-19 vaccination will be a mandatory travel requirement for international flights. Exceptions would likely be made only for New Zealanders, any other countries involved in additional COVID-safe ‘travel bubbles’, and passengers who qualify for a medical exemption. The announcement was made at a market update, with CEO Alan Joyce saying "once a safe and effective vaccine becomes readily available, it will be a requirement for travel on our international services."

The airline has announced that the British Airways Galleries First and Club South lounges at London Heathrow Terminal 5 are open from today, 2 December - as are The First Wing and Concorde Terrace. Food and beverages will be available to order via a QR code system.

The UAE's northernmost Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah has welcomed its first scheduled passenger flight by low-cost Indian airline SpiceJet. The arrival of the aircraft has been heralded as the commencement of both a new phase of operations for the United Arab Emirates’ transport hub, and a new era of connectivity between India and Ras Al Khaimah.

Indian airline Vistara has announced that it will operate non-stop flights between Mumbai and London Heathrow from 16 January; the airline will operate the flights three times a week – on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays - complementing its recently-launched service between Delhi and London Heathrow. The departures are part of a ‘transport bubble’ agreement between India and the UK and will be operated on Vistara’s brand-new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft.

Etihad Airways has announced that it will begin flying to Beijing from its base in Abu Dhabi from 7 December, on a weekly service operated by a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. The airline resumed services between Abu Dhabi and Shanghai in late July this year; with the second weekly flight soon to be added to Etihad’s global network, the airline becomes the only carrier in the MENA region operating non-stop passenger flights departing from both Shanghai and Beijing.

The airline has announced that from 9 December it will trial free of charge, rapid lateral flow COVID-19 antigen tests on flights from London Heathrow to Barbados, including onward connections to Antigua and Grenada. The testing will be delivered at a Terminal 2 departure facility at Heathrow, and Virgin hopes that it will further demonstrate the deliverability of a pre-departure COVID-19 testing regime at scale.

It’s been reported that Rome’s Fiumicino Airport will begin hosting COVID-19-tested flights to and from the U.S. operated by Delta Air Lines and Alitalia, making it the first European airport to have such facility for transatlantic flights. From December, passengers can be tested 48 hours before departure and on arrival at the airport.