PHILIPPINE AIRLINES: Selected international flights from 13-15 August to be diverted to Cebu

The airline has said that select flights from 13-15 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 Singapore. 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.
Middle East
Philippines
Singapore
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Philippine Airlines
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QATAR AIRWAYS: Airline to resume four weekly flights to Lisbon from 14 August 2020

The airline has announced that it is set to resume four weekly flights to Lisbon, Portugal from 14 August on its Boeing 787 Dreamliner, offering 22 seats in Business Class and 232 seats in Economy. This will see the airline’s European network expand to 225 weekly flights to 33 destinations.
Middle East
Portugal
Airline
Qatar Airways
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AMERICAN AIRLINES: Airline extends pause on AAdvantage frequent-flyer program mileage

The U.S. airline has extended its pause on AAdvantage frequent-flyer program mileage expiration through the end of the year. American Airlines had earlier paused mileage expiration through to June due to the COVID-19 crisis. With this extension, all AAdvantage points that had expired since 1 July will now be reinstated.
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American Airlines
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EMIRATES: Airline resumes flights to five cities in Pakistan from 10 August 2020

The Dubai-based airline is increasing its passenger flights to five cities in Pakistan from today, 10 August, bringing its total network connectivity to over 70 destinations worldwide. As of 16 August there will be 53 weekly flights to Pakistan on their Boeing 777-300 aircraft.
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Pakistan
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Emirates
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QATAR AIRWAYS: Airline mandates COVID-19 PCR pre-testing for some passengers from 13 August 2020

The airline has announced that from 13 August it will require passengers travelling from select countries to provide a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR test result at check-in, taken a maximum of 72 hours prior to departure at an approved laboratory; a completed consent form must also be presented. The new restriction will initially be applicable to arrivals from Armenia, Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Iran, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia and Sri Lanka. It is also applicable to Erbil International Airport (EBL) in Iraq.
Armenia
Bangladesh
Brazil
India
Middle East
Pakistan
Philippines
Russia
Sri Lanka
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Qatar Airways
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UNITED AIRLINES: Airline extends 'Global Services' status for members until January 2022

The U.S. airline has announced that it has extended 'Global Services' status for its current members through to 31 January 2022. United had previously also extended 'MileagePlus' status for members at the Premier 1K level and below through to the same date.
Australia
Canada
New Zealand
South Africa
United Kingdom
United States of America
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United Airlines
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QATAR AIRWAYS: Airline to resume flights to Australia's Adelaide on 16 August 2020

The airline has announced that it will be resuming two flights per week to the Australian city of Adelaide from 16 August, which will be its fifth Australian destination; this will make it the only international airline to service this number of Australian destinations, which will account for a total of 23 weekly passenger flights.
Australia
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Qatar Airways
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UNITED AIRLINES: Airline to increase flights between the U.S. mainland and Hawaii in September 2020

The airline has announced that it is planning to increase flights between the U.S. mainland and Hawaii from September, as part of the resumption of a number of services to around 25 international destinations. All in all, the updated September schedule will account for 37% of their normal level of passenger flights compared to 2019.
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QATAR AIRWAYS: Airline to resume 56 weekly flights to U.S. destinations by mid-September 2020

The airline has announced that it will offer 56 weekly flights to eight U.S. destinations by mid-September, meaning it us due to be the largest international carrier flying to the country. In addition, the national carrier of the State of Qatar will also increase frequencies of flights to Los Angeles to daily from 12 August, and twice-daily to New York from 1 September.
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Qatar Airways
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PHILIPPINE AIRLINES: Airline to require passengers to wear face shields from 15 August 2020

The national airline of the Philippines has announced that from 15 August, they will require passengers to wear protective face shields, in addition to face masks; it is unclear whether or not they will be provided by the airline at this stage. The new measure is one of many employed by the airline to minimise the risk of COVID-19 transmission, including thermal scanning and protective shields at airport service desks.
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Philippine Airlines
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EMIRATES: Airline to resume Airbus A380 flights to Toronto from 16 August 2020

The Dubai-based airline has announced that from 16 August it will operate five flights per week to Toronto Pearson International Airport on its flagship Airbus A380; this will take the total number of cities served by Emirates' flagship aircraft to six.
Canada
Middle East
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Emirates
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QATAR AIRWAYS: Airline resumes regular flights to Kenya and Rwanda

The airline has announced the resumption of services to Nairobi, Kenya with 14 weekly flights and to Kigali, Rwanda with three weekly flights. With the addition of Kigali and Nairobi, the airline now operates 33 weekly flights to eight destinations in Africa including Addis Ababa, Dar es Salaam, Djibouti, Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar and Tunis.
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Rwanda
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Qatar Airways
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UNITED STATES: Alaska Airlines and jetBlue extend middle seat blocking until October 2020

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.
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Alaska Airlines
jetBlue
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AUSTRIAN AIRLINES: Airline announces extended summer schedule

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.
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Austrian Airlines
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EMIRATES: Airline's network to grow to 70 destinations in August 2020

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.
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Portugal
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Emirates
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QANTAS: Airline makes face masks mandatory for flights to the Australian state of Victoria

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.
Australia
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Qantas
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VIRGIN ATLANTIC: Airline continues rescue deal enabled restructuring process

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.
South Africa
United Kingdom
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Virgin Atlantic
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AIR TRANSAT: Flights to have resumed to 40 destinations by 1 November 2020

The Montréal-based airline has announced that from 1 November it will have resumed flights to a total of 40 destinations for the winter season across the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America, the U.S., Europe and domestically within Canada. As well as this, Air Transat is presenting even more flexible options to book, change or cancel a trip, and are ensuring a safe experience with its 'Traveller Care' program.
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Air Transat
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LUFTHANSA: Airline resumes flights to six airports in the UK and Ireland

Lufthansa has announced that it has now resumed the operation of flights to six airports in the UK and Ireland, following the reinstatement of additional UK routes; this includes links from the airline's hub in Frankfurt to both Edinburgh and Glasgow, to which flights are available six and five times per week respectively. A daily service from Munich to the UK's Birmingham airport is also now operational - from Munich, Lufthansa offers onward connections to destinations including Turkey and the Greek island of Rhodes.
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Ireland
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