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The U.S. airline is trialing the use of a long-lasting antiviral surface protectant known as 'SurfaceWise2' onboard its aircraft, which if showing prolonged success will be perhaps the most effective onboard solution yet to protect against COVID-19 on touch points. Within months the airline hopes to use the product on its entire fleet.

The Dubai-based airline has how resumed flights to Houston, Texas taking its flight network in the U.S. to six cities including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Washington DC. In the total the airline's reinstated network is shortly due to increase to over 74 destinations, offering travellers connections between the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Americas through its hub in Dubai.

The airline has announced that from 1 September it will award tier points on every flight, including redemption bookings; passengers will receive the same number of points as they would when booking using cash, making it easier to progress to Gold and Silver status.

The U.S. airline has said that although it will continue blocking middle seats through to 6 January, it will begin filling more overall seats on its planes beginning in October. This will include raising the capacity on both single-aisle and wide-body jets to 75% in the main cabin from 1 October.

The airline has announced that it will suspend services to 15 smaller U.S. destinations from 7 October, due to low demand related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The suspensions are due to last until at least 3 November initially, and include flights to Del Rio, Texas; Dubuque, Iowa; Florence, S.C.; Greenville, N.C.; Huntington, W.Va.; Joplin, Mo.; Kalamazoo, Mich.; Lake Charles, La.; New Haven, Conn.; New Windsor, N.Y.; Roswell, N.M.; Sioux City, Iowa; Springfield, Ill.; Stillwater, Okla.; and Williamsport, Pa.

The middle eastern airline has published its latest schedule updates, whereby it’s been announced that its network will now be re-built to more than 550 weekly flights to over 85 destinations; this includes the increasing of frequencies to a number of destinations across Asia and the resumption of routes to the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Kenya and the UK.

Airlink has announced that it has now re-introduced five flight routes and increased its frequency on services between Cape Town and both George and Port Elizabeth, following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in South Africa to level two. Re-Introduced routes include those between Johannesburg and Pietermaritzburg, Mthatha, Hoedspruit and Skukuza; also included are services from Cape Town to Upington.

The airline has said that select Middle East flights from 20-28 August will transit at Cebu's Mactan-Cebu International Airport rather than Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport. This will include departures from Dubai, Qatar's Doha and Dammam in Saudi Arabia. Information on what these means for passengers, and requirements for pre-registering with Cebu Airport for those on affected flights, can be found on the airline's website.

The Star Alliance member and flag carrying airline of Panama has resumed operations this month after a five month suspension of operations due to the effects of COVID-19; on 15 August this began with what will for now be a weekly flight between Panama City and New York. Copa has indicated that it plans to further expand in September to about 10% of the capacity it operated a year prior, and by the end of the year, it could be operating 30% to 40% of its usual capacity.

Low-cost airline easyJet has confirmed that it will close its base at London Stansted Airport from 1 September; easyJet will also close bases at the UK's Southend and Newcastle Airports. In-bound flights from Stansted and Newcastle will continue, but all flights departing and arriving in Southend will stop. The decisions have been cited as being due to the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The U.S. airline has announced that from 19 August it will not allow certain types of face coverings on board; this includes those with exhaust valves, those made with materials such as mesh or lace, and those that do not cover the nose and mouth. Face shields without the addition of a face covering are also prohibited. American Airlines’ face mask rules apply to all passengers over the age of two, but the masks may be taken off briefly by passengers while they're eating and drinking.

The national airline of Bangladesh has announced that, in accordance with a government directive, from 16 August it will collect additional fees with the issuance of each new ticket; the fees are cited to fall under the categories of 'Airport Development' & 'Passenger Security'. The fees will be collected for any flights departing from Bangladesh and will appear seperately on the ticket breakdown under tax codes 'P7' and 'P8'.

The Dubai-based airline has announced that it will resume passenger flights to Warsaw, Poland from 4 September starting with twice-a-week services, and increasing to three-a-week from 7 October. The resumption of flights to Warsaw will expand Emirates’ current network to 75 cities in September, offering travellers in the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific connections via Dubai to the Polish capital.

The country's government has announced that it is gearing up to resume international flights in and out of the country after shutting down its airport in March to curb the spread of COVID-19. According to a statement released today, 17 August by the Nigeria's government, flights will resume on 29 August from Lagos, the west African nation's commercial hub, and Abuja, its capital city. Travel within other cities will follow at a later date.

Indian private airline Vistara are reportedly likely to shortly begin flight operations between India and the UK, Germany and France under the bilateral air bubble arrangements that have been signed with these countries by the government of India. A three-times weekly service between Delhi and London Heathrow Airport is likely to the first new flight announced as early as next week, according to industry sources.

The airline has said that it will resume daily flights to the UK's London Gatwick Airport from 20 August, in a move which will see its UK network expand to 45 weekly flights to four gateways. UK passengers will now be able to connect via the airline's Doha hub to over 40 destinations in Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.

The Dubai-based airline has said that it will operate a one-off passenger flight on it's flagship Airbus A380 aircraft to Clark in the Philippines on 19 August; the special flight will help to meet the demand for flights to and from the Philippines, especially serving passengers from metro Manila and the surrounding Luzon areas and beyond.

The Dubai-based airline has announced it will resume passenger services to Birmingham from 1 September, Cebu from 20 August, and Houston from 23 August. This will bring the airline’s network to 74 destinations, offering travellers connections between the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Americas through its hub.

Hong Kong International Airport have announced that outbound passengers from mainland China will be able to transit through Hong Kong to other destinations from 15 August until 15 October, which will provide a boost for Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific. Transit inbound to mainland China will though remain banned at this time

The U.S. airline will this winter offer 17 new routes from Florida to the country's Midwest and Northeast, in a strategic move whereby it chases demand in locations that do not feature a United Airlines hub. The first of the new services will begin from 6 November with flights from New York LaGuardia, Boston and Cleveland to Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Orlando and Tampa.