Intel in the Air: March Roundup of the Latest Aviation News
The month of March showed the most positive momentum for the aviation industry than we’ve seen in the past year. With multiple airlines adding new routes, airline startups making noise, and a return to pre-pandemic policies.
Read on for the latest ‘Intel in the Air’ news roundup, where we keep our users informed and in-the-know on the industry’s latest happenings.
Government Aid Saves Airline Workers
This month, the US government passed a COVID-19 relief package that gave the aviation industry the little push it needed. In response to the aid, domestic airlines cancelled planned furlough notices for staff, intended to be enacted in April. Right in the nick of time, we saved our pilots, cabin crew, and airport staff-hooray!
Reversal of Pandemic Procedures
After a year of COVID-19 travel restrictions, travelers are all to familiar with new policies like mask requirements and boarding changes. This month, we saw a reversal of some of these emergent policies including JetBlue’s return to group-based boarding processes after a year of front-to-back boarding. Delta recently announced an impending end to middle seat blocking, one of the last airlines to continue this practice. By the end of March, nearly every airline recommitted to fully booked planes.
U.S. Aviation Emissions Growth
The international council on clean transportation released a report that provides the first bottom-up, detailed fuel consumption inventory for all commercial flights to, from, and between U.S. airports using the Global Aviation Carbon Assessment model. The analysis found that overall fuel burn and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from U.S. airlines increased by 7% from 2005 to 2019, with low-cost carriers being the major driver of this growth.
Book with Bitcoin
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency has made its way to the skies. In March, AirBaltic expanded its list of accepted cryptocurrencies to include popular options including Ethereum, Binance USD and Dogecoin through its partnership with BitPay. AirBaltic is the first airline in the world to accept Bitcoin.
CDC Gives a Green light to Vaccinated Travelers
As of April 2nd, the CDC announced that fully vaccinated people can travel at low risk to themselves and others. The news will likely inspire a new surge of bookings and air travel, one that has already been in the works for the past few months. Domestic airports recently reached a new milestone of eighteen straight days with more than one million travelers processed.
The future is looking brighter than ever, just in time for summer travel. Want to stay up to date with the latest travel restrictions and safety protocols? You can stay in-the-know through our covid restrictions landing page.
