A Belgian-British teenager has flown into the record books by becoming the youngest woman to fly solo around the world. Zara Rutherford, 19, touched down at Kortrijk-Wevelgem airport in Flanders, completing a 52,000km (28,100 nautical mile) journey that took in 31 countries across five continents. 'It’s just really crazy. I haven’t quite processed it,' Rutherford, draped in British and Belgian flags, told reporters
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Belgian-Briton Zara Rutherford is youngest woman to fly solo around world
Nineteen-year-old completes 52,000km journey that took in 31 countries and five continents
A Belgian-British teenager has flown into the record books by becoming the youngest woman to fly solo around the world.
Zara Rutherford, 19, touched down at Kortrijk-Wevelgem airport in Flanders just after 1pm local time on Thursday, completing a 52,000km (28,100 nautical mile) journey that took in 31 countries across five continents.
Continue reading...Heathrow demands end to Covid testing for vaccinated as 600,000 cancel flights
Airport says passengers abandoned plans because of Omicron variant and uncertainty on restrictions
Heathrow airport has said at least 600,000 passengers cancelled their travel plans from the airport in December because of Omicron, warning aviation would take years to recover from the pandemic.
Only 19.4 million passengers passed through the airport in 2021 – less than a quarter of 2019 levels and below even 2020, the year when the Covid-19 pandemic started in March.
Continue reading...Canada charter passengers who flouted Covid rules could be stranded in Mexico
Justin Trudeau calls revellers who partied onboard flight ‘idiots’ as three airlines refuse to fly them home
A group of passengers who filmed themselves partying without masks onboard a chartered flight from Montreal to Mexico face being stranded after three airlines refused to fly them home to Canada.
Sunwing Airlines cancelled the return charter flight from Cancún that had been scheduled for Wednesday and Air Transat and Air Canada also both said they would refuse to carry the passengers.
Continue reading...Air travel in and out of UK slumps by 71% in 2021 amid pandemic
Report from aviation analytics firm Cirium shows domestic flights were down by almost 60%
Air travel in and out of the UK slumped by 71% in 2021 as the second year of the Covid-19 crisis took its toll on international flying, according to a report.
Just over 406,000 international flights operated from the UK up to 22 December this year compared with almost 1.4m in 2019 before the pandemic struck and travel restrictions were imposed, the aviation analytics firm Cirium said. UK domestic flights were found to have declined by almost 60%.
Continue reading...Covid live: US, UK, France, Portugal and Greece all break new daily cases records
US reports 512,553 cases; UK reports 129,000; France reports 179,807; Portugal 17,172; and Greece 21,657
- Denmark infection rate at 1,612 cases per 100,000 people
- Omicron ‘not same disease’ as other Covid waves, UK scientist says
- What to do about the UK’s unvaccinated? No 10’s Covid dilemma
- Covid pills are ‘very promising’ but what are challenges in using them?
- See all our coronavirus coverage
Stock markets have continued to gain ground despite the surge of Omicron around the world.
Asian markets lifted on Tuesday with the Nikkei in Japan up nearly 1%, Shanghai up 0.2%, Seoul up 0.1% and Sydney’s ASX200 is up 0.44%.
Continue reading...Christmas travel chaos as airlines cancel more than 3,000 flights
Passengers returning home for festive season face disruption as Omicron leaves airlines short-staffed
Passengers travelling home for Christmas have been hit with disruption worldwide after airline companies cancelled more than 3,000 flights on Friday, according to a flight tracking website.
The surge of Christmas Eve cancellations came as the rapidly spreading Omicron coronavirus variant meant carriers were unable to staff their flights.
Continue reading...The best of the long read in 2021
Our 20 favourite pieces of the year
After growing up in a Zimbabwe convulsed by the legacy of colonialism, when I got to Oxford I realised how many British people still failed to see how empire had shaped lives like mine – as well as their own
Continue reading...Stowaway survives flight from Guatemala to Miami hidden in plane’s landing gear
The Guatemalan man was taken to hospital by immigration officials after emerging from the plane on the tarmac
A stowaway hidden in the landing gear compartment of an American Airlines jet survived a flight from his home country of Guatemala to Miami, where he was turned over to US immigration officials and taken to a hospital for evaluation.
The US customs and border protection agency confirmed the incident in a statement initially cited by Miami-based television station WTVJ, which posted video taken of the man at Miami international airport shortly after the plane landed on Saturday.
Continue reading...US to restrict travel from southern Africa over Omicron Covid variant fears
- WHO names variant found in Belgium and Israel Omicron
- White House adviser Fauci: no indication variant is in US
- BioNTech says vaccine can be tweaked in 100 days if needed
Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, said on Friday there was “no indication” the new “Omicron” coronavirus variant discovered in southern Africa had reached the US.
Nonetheless, the the Biden administration said it would restrict travel from South Africa and seven other countries in southern Africa, starting on Monday.
Continue reading...Australia news live update: Barnaby Joyce sure Australia and France can ‘get over’ submarine rift; Mark McGowan stands firm on WA hard border policy
Barnaby Joyce says WA premier ‘lost his marbles’ when asked about opening the border; Victoria records 1,471 new Covid-19 cases overnight; NSW records 135; vaccine mandate for ACT disability workers; first flights land as NSW allows fully vaccinated people to enter without quarantining. Follow all the day’s news
- Follow live updates as former NSW Gladys Berejiklian faces second day of questioning at Icac hearing
- Australians can travel overseas again: what you need to know
- Vaccine rollout tracker; cases and data tracker
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Frydenberg:
[France’s] disappointment is obvious, and it’s understandable too. I mean, this was a large defence contract that they were hoping to see through to completion, but it’s not going to happen that way – because of the Aukus arrangement.
With respect to the next steps, well, the prime minister and the president will, you know, no doubt talk about those in subsequent conversations. But we’re thinking about how to build that partnership back, the areas of activity where we can continue to cooperate.
Do you believe Emmanuel Macron is lying? Somebody is not telling the truth here.
Well, the prime minister has made it very clear that he refutes those claims that have been made.
He’s also said, in other statements, that the French knew that we were considering various options and that that contract wouldn’t necessarily meet our strategic and national interests.
Continue reading...Mothballed planes stored in the Australian desert being returned to service – video
For more than a year Alice Springs airport has been the temporary home for a host of aircraft as airlines parked parts of the fleets in the Australian desert. The dry conditions and low humidity reduce the potential for corrosion on the planes, with carriers including Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines storing planes on the site. Qantas stored part of its fleet at Victorville Airport in California's Mojave desert due to having an engineering group already based in Los Angeles two hours away. Alice Springs aerial footage courtesy of Stefan Drury, and Immanuel Debeer of Flight Hacks.
Continue reading...‘I’ve got to get to my daughter, I’ve got to hold her’: families reunite at Sydney airport after international border reopens
Fully vaccinated Australians are allowed to fly in and walk straight into arms of loved ones for first time in 583 days
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Sydney airport has become the scene of tearful family reunions, with fully vaccinated Australians able to fly home and walk straight out of the airport for the first time in 583 days.
Many of the passengers who were onboard the first flights from Singapore and Los Angeles walked into the arrivals terminal shortly after 6am on Monday morning to be greeted by emotional family members and loved ones.
Continue reading...‘There could be snakes’: planes mothballed by Covid prepare to fly again
In deserts in Australia and the US, engineers are dusting off aircraft, testing engines and ridding them of rattlesnakes and insects
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In the red dust of the Australian desert, more than a hundred shiny planes are lined up nose to tail, an aviation long-term parking lot.
Hundreds more form geometric patterns in California’s Mojave Desert, where engineers whack the wheel hubs of Qantas A380s to scare off rattlesnakes.
Continue reading...Ryanair to shake up refunds policy after pandemic criticism
Airline, which even barred some people who sought redress, commits to refunds within five working days
Ryanair has promised to start refunding customers for cancelled flights within five working days, after criticism of its reimbursements policy during the pandemic.
The Dublin-based carrier, which has previously described itself as a “no-refunds airline”, has also announced significant improvements to the way it treats customers whose flights are delayed or cancelled.
Continue reading...Aeroplane toilets: how concerned should we be about the chance of airborne sewage?
A man in Windsor received an unwelcome and surprising gift in his garden, courtesy of a passing aeroplane. Was he especially unlucky, or should all of us keep an eye on the skies?
Name: Aeroplane toilets.
Location: At the back, sometimes in the middle – and at the front if you are rich enough.
Continue reading...Airline industry past worst point of Covid crisis, says trade body
International Air Transport Association chief calls for simpler travel rules and fewer border restrictions to help sector recover
The International Air Transport Association (Iata) has said the airline industry is now over the worst of the Covid pandemic, but urged governments to simplify travel rules and open borders to help the aviation sector operate within a now “endemic” phase of the virus.
Total industry losses are expected to fall to $11.6bn (£8.5bn) in 2022, according to Iata forecasts, which would mean a cumulative loss of just over $200bn in three years as a result of Covid.
Continue reading...EU fears citizens will be barred from flights to UK due to rules confusion
Airlines may turn away EU nationals with settled status due to complex residency rules, says Brussels
Concerns have been raised that EU citizens living in the UK may not be allowed to board flights into the country because of confusion created by new government rules over ID cards and passports.
From 1 October, EU citizens who do not have the post-Brexit right to live in the UK will not be able to use EU, EEA or Swiss national ID cards to enter the country.
Continue reading...Half-term holiday bookings expected to surge after England scraps amber list
Traffic-light system replaced, with foreign countries now listed as either ‘red’ or OK for travel
Half-term holiday bookings are expected to surge after ministers unveiled a simplification of Covid foreign travel rules, replacing the traffic-light system with a single red list and bringing in a laxer regime for tests.
But while MPs and some travel groups welcomed the new system, airlines voiced anger that fully vaccinated travellers returning to England will still have to take a test after they return, even if this will be changed to a cheaper lateral flow version.
Continue reading...NSW Covid update: state to trial seven-day home quarantine for international arrivals
Tourism minister announces pilot scheme as NSW records 1,284 new Covid cases and 12 deaths
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New South Wales will introduce a home quarantine “pilot” for international arrivals as part of a plan to begin opening international borders even as parts of the state returned to lockdown.
The pilot, which will be run as a partnership between the NSW government and the commonwealth, will trial a seven-day home quarantine program for about 175 fully vaccinated people.
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