Search alerts

The airline has announced a first-of-its-kind agreement with select Caribbean governments to directly offer COVID-19 tests prior to travel; the scheme will begin next month in Miami International Airport in collaboration with Jamaica, and will initially be open only to Jamaican residents. If the pilot proves successful, however, the airline hopes to expand availability to all passengers flying from select U.S. airports to around 20 participating Caribbean nations and associate nations.

The latest updates from the country's government show that Canada's borders will remain closed to all international tourists until at least 31 October. This applies to tourism and leisure travel from all countries including the U.S. by land, air or sea. Canadian citizens and permanent residents are exempt from the ban but face a strict 14-day self-quarantine on returning to Canada. The closure of Canada's land border to all non-essential crossings between the country and the United States also remains in place until at least 21 October.

The airline has announced that it will begin to offer drive-thru COVID-19 testing in some U.S. gateway airports; initially it is partnering with a supplier to do so in Los Angeles and San Francisco, with more locations to come. Hawaiian Airlines have said the COVID-19 PCR tests will be shallow nasal-swab tests, a 'gold standard' screening that meets state guidelines; the tests will be $90 (USD) for results within 36 hours and $150 (USD) for day-of-travel express service.

The airline has announced that it will start to offer rapid airport COVID-19 testing for passengers travelling from San Francisco to Hawaii from 15 October; this is the first such pilot program announced by a U.S. airline. Passengers should schedule their tests ahead of time, which will be conducted in the terminal and yield results within 15 minutes. There will also be a mail-in test option available.

The airline said yesterday, 23 September, that it will not further expand its flight offering at this time, instead maintaining a restricted schedule during the winter months, including operating at around 55% of capacity in November.

The airlines of the Lufthansa Group have signalled their intentions to start making rapid COVID-19 antigen tests available to passengers from October, and may consider opening dedicated test centres at airports in the U.S. and Canada. Although rapid antigen tests are thought to be less accurate than PCR testing, they are able to yield results within around 15 minutes.

The airline has announced five new routes due to launch from 17 December, which aim to primarily serve leisure travellers. Alaska Airlines will fly seasonally until 12 April 2021 between: Los Angeles and Cancun; Palm Springs, California and Boise, Idaho; Palm Springs, California and Reno, Nevada. The airline will also fly daily, year-round between Los Angeles and Reno and twice-daily, year-round between Palm Springs and San Jose, California. In addition, last month the airline said it would end change fees long-term on all flights for fare classes other than Saver.

The cruise line has confirmed that it has extended the suspension of all departures until at least 6 December; canceled sailings include those on the Disney Fantasy through to 6 December, the Disney Dream and Disney Wonder through to 11 December and the Disney Magic through to 12 December.

The U.S. government has announced that its land borders with both Mexico and Canada will remain closed to non-essential travel for at least another month until 21 October. The land border restrictions, aimed at controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, were first announced in March and have thus far been renewed monthly.

The U.S. airline has announced that it will launch summer 2021 services from New York's Newark to Hawaii’s Maui, and from Chicago to Kona on Hawaii’s Big Island. Each flight will operate four times weekly, and are among a combined total of seven new domestic and international services announced by the airline yesterday, 9 September.

The U.S. airline has announced that it will offer two new Indian routes, which will commence flying in the coming months. A daily flight between Chicago and New Delhi will operate from December; a flight from San Francisco to Bengaluru, which will be the first non-stop service between the U.S. and South India, will also operate from Spring 2021.

Reports by some news outlets suggest that from as early as 14 September, the U.S. government is set to end some enhanced screening measures for international travellers, which include the requirement that they arrive at one of 15 designated U.S. airports. The U.S. administration in February imposed enhanced screening measures on arrivals who had been in China, the UK, Brazil, Iran and the Schengen region of Europe, and denied entry to most non-U.S. citizens who had been in those locations within the past 14 days.

The U.S. airline has confirmed that it is extending its recent long-term elimination of change fees to include those on flights to Mexico and the Caribbean; previously, United Airlines had planned to cut the fee for domestic U.S. flights only.

The Abu Dhabi-based airline is now offering COVID-19 insurance cover as part of their Global Wellness program; the cover is included with every Etihad ticket travelling between 7 September and 31 December, for the first 31 days of a passenger’s trip.

The airline, along with partner carrier SilkAir, has published its latest schedule update for flights in September, October and November 2020. Among the updates are reinstated flights to three destinations including Phnom Penh, Cambodia and Taipei, Taiwan. The airlines have said that following these resumptions, by the end of November flight capacity will have reached 11% of pre-COVID-19 levels.

The government of Malaysia yesterday, 3 September, added at least nine more countries to its list of those from which long-term immigration pass holders will be barred entry to the country. From 7 September, entry will be restricted for those with the aforementioned visas from countries including the UK, United States, France, India, Indonesia and the Philippines.

The middle-eastern airline has announced that during September it will resume flights to Houston, Kathmandu, Mogadishu, Philadelphia and Sialkot; this will mean that Qatar Airways will from mid-September offer over 650 weekly flights to 85 destinations, which it says will provide flexible travel options to more global destinations than any other airline.

The airline has announced that it will no longer permit passengers to wear face masks with exhalation valves on board, as it claims that they have been deemed ineffective in protecting against COVID-19. In an update published on the airline website, it states that although valves make the mask more breathable for the person wearing it, they also allow infectious respiratory droplets to spread outside the mask.

The country’s tourism ministry has announced that residents of two further U.S. states, plus Washington DC, are now permitted to enter, and three additional states will be added to the list on 15 September; Colorado, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. This will bring the total number of states from which residents are able to enter Costa Rica to 12.

The Irish airline has made a request to six UK airports to offer flights to the U.S. and Canada from 2021 until at least 2024; Aer Lingus reportedly are seeking to swap capacity from Shannon, Ireland to the UK as part of this plan.