Tag Archives: travel curbs

WHO urges countries ‘not to lose gains’ by prematurely lifting COVID-19 measures

ZURICH/BENGALARU (Reuters) -World Health Organization emergencies head Michael Ryan urged countries on Wednesday to use extreme caution when lifting COVID-19 restrictions so as “not to lose the gains you’ve made”.

Ryan’s comments come as England, hosting Europe’s soccer championships, prepares to end many COVID-19 restrictions on July 19, European countries ease travel curbs and Indian states relax their lockdowns, despite accelerating infections with the Delta variant worldwide.

Ryan said that while every nation must decide for itself, individuals including the unvaccinated must take responsibility to protect themselves and others, to keep hospitals from being overwhelmed by another pandemic wave.

“The idea that everyone is protected, and it’s ‘Kumbaya’ and everything goes back to normal, I think right now is a very dangerous assumption anywhere in the world, and it’s still a dangerous assumption in the European environment,” he told reporters during a meeting from Geneva.

“We would ask governments at this moment not to lose the gains you’ve made.”

Ahead of reopening, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the epidemiological situation may be aided by the arrival of summer and school holidays.

Ryan said he believed British scientists were “very aware of the threat represented by variants, especially the Delta variant” and would open cautiously.

The WHO also urged countries including the United States and Switzerland that are vaccinating 12- to 15-year-old children to instead donate doses to the vaccine sharing program COVAX, to improve access for healthcare workers and the elderly in low-income countries.

“It’s not the pediatric population that is suffering the most,” said WHO vaccine expert Ann Lindstrand. “It is the adults, it is the medical risk groups.”

(Reporting by John Miller in Zurich and Manas Mishra in Bengaluru, Editing by Michael Shields and Nick Tattersall)

Airline outlook dims again as new travel curbs threaten summer

By Laurence Frost and Sarah Young

LONDON (Reuters) – Recovery prospects for Europe’s coronavirus-stricken airlines are slipping from bad to worse, as a British minister warned on Tuesday against booking summer holidays and Germany mulled a drastic new clampdown on travel even within the EU.

UK consumers should “absolutely” hold off from booking holidays, said Nadhim Zahawi, the minister responsible for vaccinations. “There’s still 37,000 people in hospital with COVID at the moment – it’s far too early for us to even speculate about the summer.”

Airline shares, which had gained ground since November’s vaccine breakthroughs, have come under pressure this week amid concern that new coronavirus variants and resulting lockdowns now threaten the all-important summer season.

While major carriers have secured liquidity to survive the slump for many more months, analysts say, the latest setbacks mean some may need fresh funds to survive the following winter – tough at the best of times – and weaker airlines may fail.

Mounting restrictions and testing demands threaten more “stress and friction” throughout the summer, as well as “a more truncated recovery in demand than investors currently envisage,” Citi analyst Mark Manduca warned in a note.

The travel outlook for the Easter break – this year falling in early April – already seems almost hopeless.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told party lawmakers on Tuesday that “no tourist travel should be taking place,” as her government weighed tougher measures.

Throughout the crisis, governments have tried to maintain travel links among EU and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) states. Over the weekend, however, Sweden barred travel from neighbor Norway in an attempt to stem the spread of new COVID-19 variants, and Belgium banned non-essential travel.

Britain is also considering mandatory confinement in “quarantine hotels” for some international arrivals, following the example of some Asian countries.

Shares in UK-exposed easyJet and British Airways parent IAG have both fallen 14% over five days amid the resurgent gloom, wiping out some of their gains since November. Ryanair has lost 6% in the same period.

And while aircraft manufacturers have been cushioned by their large pre-crisis order books, some suppliers and engine makers are feeling the heat.

Rolls-Royce further lowered its financial forecasts on Tuesday, predicting a 2 billion-pound ($2.7 billion) cash outflow this year as the collapse in flying hours hit so-called power-by-the-hour contracts as well as maintenance.

British airlines and airports warned that further travel restrictions would prove “catastrophic,” calling for a bespoke support package to help them survive the prolonged crisis.

The new curbs also threaten jobs and cargo shipments including medical equipment, industry body Airlines UK said.

Airlines’ key role in vaccine distribution is also helping some to push back against restrictions affecting staff.

KLM, part of Air France-KLM, won a partial reprieve from Dutch plans to require rapid COVID-19 tests of returning crew, after warning of cargo disruption.

(Reporting by Laurence Frost in Paris and Sarah Young in London. Editing by Mark Potter)

Travel restrictions challenge vaccine rollout, airlines warn

PARIS (Reuters) – Air cargo operators may struggle to distribute new COVID-19 vaccines effectively unless pandemic travel restrictions are eased, global airlines cautioned on Monday.

The warning came in vaccine transport guidelines issued by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which is pushing governments to replace travel curbs and quarantines with testing.

“If borders remain closed, travel curtailed, fleets grounded and employees furloughed, the capacity to deliver life-saving vaccines will be very much compromised,” the IATA document said.

Moderna Inc. said on Monday its experimental COVID-19 vaccine had proved 94.5% effective in a clinical trial, a week after rival drugmaker Pfizer reported 90% efficacy findings for its vaccine. Once approved, both vaccines are likely to require transport and storage well below freezing, posing logistical hurdles.

Widespread grounding of passenger flights that normally carry 45% of global cargo in their holds has taken out capacity, thinning the air freight network and driving up prices.

Existing immunization campaigns have struggled with the partial shutdown. The World Health Organization and UNICEF “have already reported severe difficulties in maintaining their planned vaccine programs during the COVID-19 crisis due, in part, to limited air connectivity,” IATA said.

Vaccines will need to be shipped to developing countries reliant on passenger services for cargo, IATA’s head of cargo Glyn Hughes told Reuters. Even in industrialized states, vaccine dispersal may be a tighter bottleneck than production, requiring shipments to secondary airports on passenger jets.

In preparation for the challenge of mass vaccine distribution, governments should move to reopen key passenger routes backed by robust testing, the airline body argues.

“There are several more months for governments to go through the planning cycle,” Hughes said, leaving enough time to “get passenger networks safely resumed, looking at safe travel corridors (and) mutual acceptance of testing procedures.”

(Reporting by Laurence Frost; editing by David Evans)

MGM Resorts to lay off 18,000 furloughed U.S. employees

(Reuters) – Casino operator MGM Resorts International informed its staff on Friday it would lay off 18,000 furloughed employees in the United States as the coronavirus-induced travel curbs hurt its operations.

The company will start the process on Monday, according to a letter from Chief Executive Officer Bill Hornbuckle to employees and seen by Reuters. MGM employed nearly 52,000 full time and 18,000 part-time people in the United States as of Dec. 31.

“Federal law requires companies to provide a date of separation for furloughed employees who are not recalled within six months. Regrettably, August 31, marks (that) date,” Hornbuckle said in the letter.

Many companies have decided to cut jobs as the U.S. economy recorded its sharpest contraction in at least 73 years in the second quarter due to pandemic-led disruptions, with corporate profits sinking deeper.

MGM was forced to close all of its casinos and furlough about 62,000 of its workforce in the United States in March due to the lockdowns.

It brought back tens of thousands of employees when many of its casinos opened for business as the restrictions eased, but it still had to leave out 18,000 of them.

Hornbuckle said that employees who will be laid off will remain in the company’s recall list and if hired back by the end of 2021, they shall retain their seniority and benefits.

Earlier in the day, Coca-Cola said it would cut thousands of jobs as sales had slumped, while United Airlines confirmed it was preparing for the biggest pilot furloughs and will need to remove 2,850 pilots this year.

(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera and Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Arun Koyyur)

Airline crisis worsens as U.S. puts Europeans in coronavirus quarantine

Reuters
By Laurence Frost and Lisa Baertlein

PARIS/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Airlines bore the brunt of a dramatic expansion of the coronavirus crisis on Thursday, as U.S. travel curbs on much of continental Europe deepened the sector’s misery and piled more pressure on governments to offer emergency support.

The 30-day restrictions will badly disrupt transatlantic traffic key to the earnings of major European carriers and their U.S. airline partners, analysts warned, as the move hit travel stocks already battered by the virus outbreak.

Those routes account for 20-30% of large European operators’ revenue and a majority of profit, Credit Suisse analyst Neil Glynn warned, “highlighting the damage to revenue lines for the coming weeks and potentially well into the summer.”

Glynn added: “A ban on travel to the U.S. will likely mean heavier cuts” than the drastic capacity reductions already ordered as airlines scrapped flights – first to China and then to other destinations including Italy as the virus spread.

Shares in European and U.S. airlines slumped in turn to new lows, with Delta <DAL.N> and United Airlines <UAL.O> down more than 13% and American Airlines <AAL.O> 7.2% lower.

Air France-KLM <AIRF.PA> was down 9.1% at 1506 GMT, with British Airways parent IAG <ICAG.L> down 10.7% and Lufthansa <LHAG.DE> 11.5% lower. Troubled Norwegian Air <NWC.OL> and U.S.-dependent Icelandair <ICEAIR.IC> both plunged more than 20%.

The U.S. curbs on travel from the 26-country Schengen Area – which excludes Britain and Ireland – are similar to restrictions on China that took effect on Feb. 1 and do not apply to U.S. residents or their immediate family.

“The ban effectively stops travel from the Schengen Area to the USA,” said Bernstein analyst Daniel Roeska – predicting a “more substantial” earnings impact than European carriers had suffered from the earlier China flight suspensions.

U.S. airlines had already cut flight schedules to Italy and will take another hit from lower demand for flights from major destinations such as France and Germany.

Among them, American Airlines could be relatively spared by its alliance with British Airways (BA) and higher share of UK traffic, while Air France-KLM partner Delta and Lufthansa ally United Airlines are likely to suffer more, analysts say.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence defended the travel curbs on Thursday, after the European Union complained they had been imposed “unilaterally and without consultation”.

The virus has taken root in the United States after spreading from China to Italy, South Korea, Iran and elsewhere.

‘TOTAL MELTDOWN’

Airlines had already been scrambling to respond to a global travel slump that looks increasingly likely to require government aid to avoid widespread insolvencies. The EU will publish new state-aid guidelines on Friday.

Germany may extend loans and other support to airlines, a government official said on Thursday. The French government also stands ready to help Air France-KLM, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said.

“There is a need for measures from many governments,” said Norwegian pilots’ union president Yngve Carlsen. “This could lead to a total meltdown.”

Scandinavian carrier SAS <SAS.ST> is in talks with the Swedish and Danish governments about potential support measures, a company spokeswoman said.

EU airlines have seized on the crisis to push back on green taxes designed to help the bloc meet climate goals – including proposals to end current tax exemptions on jet fuel.

“New fiscal burdens should be postponed until the industry is back on a sound operational and financial footing,” lobby group Airlines for Europe said.

CRITICAL TIME

The latest travel clampdown could make coronavirus worse than previous aviation crises including the 9/11 attacks of 2001, UK-based consultant John Strickland said.

“It’s coming at the end of the northern hemisphere winter, which is a weak period for airline finances (when) they should be sowing seeds of a strong summer season by getting the bookings in,” he said.

Air France-KLM and Lufthansa said they were still studying the implications of the U.S. move for flight schedules. IAG is potentially less impacted thanks to BA’s Heathrow base.

There were panicky European airport scenes as travelers scrambled to fly to the United States before the restrictions take effect late on March 13.

The fallout is also spreading fast from travel and tourism to aerospace and other industries.

Safran <SAF.PA>, the world’s third-biggest aerospace group, sees a growing threat to aircraft and engine order books, Chief Executive Philippe Petitcolin said on Thursday, adding more cost cuts were now being drawn up.

ADP <ADP.PA> declined to comment on a report it was preparing to close Terminal 3 at Roissy Charles de Gaulle, the French capital’s main aviation hub. Norway may close several airports, operator Avinor said.

Italy announced the partial closure of Rome’s main airports to commercial aviation in response to its own travel lockdown. Near-empty airports in Milan and elsewhere may follow, a government source told Reuters.

(GRAPHIC: European airlines crater – https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/13/3299/3260/airlines.png)

The travel curbs will also decimate European tourists’ spending in the United States. In March 2019, European visitors accounted for 29% of arrivals and $3.4 billion in spending, the U.S. Travel Association said.

“Temporarily shutting off travel from Europe is going to exacerbate the already-heavy impact of coronavirus on the travel industry and the 15.7 million Americans whose jobs depend on travel,” U.S. Travel Association President Roger Dow said.

(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles, Laurence Frost in Paris and David Shepardson in Washington; Additional reporting by Sarah Young in London, Jamie Freed in Sydney, Toby Sterling in Amsterdam, Victoria Klesty in Oslo, Anna Ringstrom in Stockholm, Sayantani Ghosh in Singapore, Tracy Rucinski in Chicago and Andrea Shalal in Washington; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell, Tim Hepher and Mark Potter)

‘Do not travel to China’, says U.S. as virus deaths reach 213

By Brenda Goh and Muyu Xu

SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) – The United States, Japan and others tightened travel curbs to virus-hit China on Friday while businesses struggled with supply problems from an epidemic that has infected nearly 10,000 people and been declared a global emergency.

Russia, Britain and Italy all reported their first two cases, Rome declaring its own national emergency as it sought to reconstruct the itinerary of two infected Chinese tourists.

Deaths from the outbreak rose to 213, all within China where the coronavirus came from animals in central Wuhan city.

“Do not travel to China due to novel coronavirus first identified in Wuhan,” the U.S. State Department said, raising the warning for China to the same level as Afghanistan and Iraq.

Japan also advised citizens to put off non-urgent travel to China, while Bahrain recommended no travel to any country hit by the virus, and Iran urged a ban on all travelers from China.

Singapore, a major travel hub in Asia, stopped entry of passengers with a recent history of travel to China and also suspended visas for Chinese passport holders.

The ban extends to those just transiting Singapore.

With major fallout inevitable for the world’s No. 2 economy, global shares were heading for their biggest weekly losses since August on Friday, and oil and metals markets were showing even more brutal damage. [MKTS/GLOB]

The outbreak could “reverberate globally”, Moody’s said.

In the latest impact to big name corporations, South Korea’s Hyundai Motor said it planned to halt production of a sport utility vehicle this weekend to cope with a supply disruption caused by the outbreak. Sangyong Motor said it would idle its plant in the South Korean city of Pyeongtaek from Feb. 4-12 for the same reason.

Home appliance maker Electrolux issued a similar warning. And French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen said its three plants in Wuhan will remain closed until mid-February.

BEIJING: “WE WILL WIN”

After holding off as the crisis grew, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday the epidemic in China now constituted a public health emergency of international concern.

In response, Beijing said it had taken “the most comprehensive and rigorous prevention and control measures”.

“We have full confidence and capability to win this fight,” added foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying.

The roughly 60 million residents of Hubei province, where Wuhan is the capital, have had movements curbed to try and slow the spread. But some people were leaving and entering the area by foot on a bridge over the Yangtze river, a Reuters witness said, and infections have jumped in two cities flanking Wuhan.

Wuhan’s Communist Party chief said the city should have acted earlier to contain the virus.

The number of confirmed cases in China has risen beyond 9,800, Beijing’s envoy to the United Nations in Vienna said.

More than 130 cases have been reported in at least 24 other countries and regions. German cases rose to six with the infection of a child.

The WHO has reported at least eight cases of human-to-human transmission – as opposed to people coming infected from China – in four countries: the United States, Germany, Japan and Vietnam. Thailand said it too had such a case.

EVACUATION FLIGHTS

Amid the rising public alarm, which has also brought a wave of anti-China sentiment around the world, various major airlines have stopped flying to mainland China, including Air France KLM SA, British Airways, Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic [VA.UL]. Others have cut flights.

Russia said all direct flights to China would be halted on Friday, with the exception of national airline Aeroflot.

Governments around the world are evacuating citizens from Hubei and putting them in quarantine. A plane with 83 British and 27 foreign nationals landed in Britain on Friday.

Japan, with 14 confirmed cases, has sent three flights to bring citizens home. The first of four planned flights taking South Koreans home landed on Friday.

Seeking to prevent panic, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has commended China for its efforts and said the global health body was not recommending curbs on travel or trade with Beijing.

A WHO spokesman said keeping borders open actually helped by preventing illegal or unofficial crossings.

China’s statistics show just over 2% of infected people have died, suggesting the virus is less deadly than the 2002-2003 outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

But economists fear its impact could be bigger than SARS, which killed about 800 people at an estimated cost of $33 billion to the global economy, since China’s share of the world economy is now far greater.

There was rare good news, however, for movie fans as cinema attendance plummets across China: martial arts film “Enter the Fat Dragon” was to premiere via video streaming on Saturday, its makers said, after dropping plans for a theater debut.

(GRAPHIC: Tracking the novel coronavirus – https://graphics.reuters.com/CHINA-HEALTH-MAP/0100B59S39E/index.html)

(Reporting by Brenda Goh in Shanghai, Muyu Xu and Cate Cadell in Beijing; Martin Pollard in Jiujiang, Felix Tam and Clare Jim in Hong Kong; John Geddie and Aradhana Aravindan in Singapore; Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Michelle Nichols at the U.N.; Gilles Guillaume in Paris; Dylan Martinez in Brize Norton; Maria Tsvetkova in Moscow; David Shepardson in Washington; Writing by Michael Perry and Nick Macfie; Editing by Timothy Heritage and Andrew Cawthorne)

 

Purge of Saudi princes, businessmen widens, travel curbs imposed

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud poses for a photo with National Guard Minister Khaled bin Ayyaf and Economy Minister Mohammed al-Tuwaijri during a swearing-in ceremony in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, November 6, 2017. Saudi Press

By Stephen Kalin and Reem Shamseddine

RIYADH (Reuters) – A campaign of mass arrests of Saudi Arabian royals, ministers and businessmen widened on Monday after a top entrepreneur was reportedly held in the biggest anti-corruption purge of the kingdom’s affluent elite in its modern history.

The arrests, which an official said were just “phase one” of the crackdown, are the latest in a series of dramatic steps by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to assert Saudi influence internationally and amass more power for himself at home.

The campaign also lengthens an already daunting list of challenges undertaken by the 32-year-old since his father, King Salman, ascended the throne in 2015, including going to war in Yemen, cranking up Riyadh’s confrontation with arch-foe Iran and reforming the economy to lessen its reliance on oil.

Both allies and adversaries are quietly astonished that a kingdom once obsessed with stability has acquired such a taste for assertive – some would say impulsive – policy-making.

“The kingdom is at a crossroads: Its economy has flatlined with low oil prices; the war in Yemen is a quagmire; the blockade of Qatar is a failure; Iranian influence is rampant in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq; and the succession is a question mark,” wrote ex-CIA official Bruce Riedel.

“It is the most volatile period in Saudi history in over a half-century.”

The crackdown has drawn no public opposition within the kingdom either on the street or social media. Many ordinary Saudis applauded the arrests, the latest in a string of domestic and international moves asserting the prince’s authority.

But abroad, critics perceive the purge as further evidence of intolerance from a power-hungry leader keen to stop influential opponents blocking his economic reforms or reversing the expansion of his political clout.

Prominent Saudi columnist Jamal Kashoggi applauded the campaign, but warned: “He is imposing very selective justice.”

“The crackdown on even the most constructive criticism – the demand for complete loyalty with a significant ‘or else’ – remains a serious challenge to the crown prince’s desire to be seen as a modern, enlightened leader,” he wrote in the Washington Post.

“The buck stops at the leader’s door. He is not above the standard he is now setting for the rest of his family, and for the country.”

 

ACCOUNTS FROZEN

The Saudi stock index initially fell 1.5 percent in early trade but closed effectively flat, which asset managers attributed to buying by government-linked funds.

Al Tayyar Travel &lt;1810.SE&gt; plunged 10 percent in the opening minutes after the company quoted media reports as saying board member Nasser bin Aqeel al-Tayyar had been detained in the anti-corruption drive.

Saudi Aseer Trading, Tourism and Manufacturing &lt;4080.SE&gt; and Red Sea International &lt;4230.SE&gt; separately reported normal operations after the reported detentions of board members Abdullah Saleh Kamel, Khalid al-Mulheim and Amr al-Dabbagh.

Saudi banks have begun freezing suspects’ accounts, sources told Reuters.

Dozens of people have been detained in the crackdown, which have alarmed much of the traditional business establishment. Billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, Saudi Arabia’s best-known international investor, is also being held.

The attorney general said on Monday detainees had been questioned and “a great deal of evidence” had been gathered.

“Yesterday does not represent the start, but the completion of Phase One of our anti-corruption push,” Saud al-Mojeb said. Probes were done discreetly “to preserve the integrity of the legal proceedings and ensure there was no flight from justice.”

Investigators had been collecting evidence for three years and would “continue to identify culprits, issue arrest warrants and travel restrictions and bring offenders to justice”, anti-graft committee member Khalid bin Abdulmohsen Al-Mehaisen said.

 

“THE NOOSE TIGHTENS”

The front page of leading Saudi newspaper Okaz challenged businessmen to reveal the sources of their assets, asking: “Where did you get this?”

Another headline from Saudi-owned al-Hayat warned: “After the launch (of the anti-corruption drive), the noose tightens, whomever you are!”

A no-fly list has been drawn up and security forces in some Saudi airports were barring owners of private jets from taking off without a permit, pan-Arab daily Al-Asharq Al-Awsat said.

Among those detained are 11 princes, four ministers and tens of former ministers, according to Saudi officials.

The allegations against the men include money laundering, bribery, extortion and taking advantage of public office for personal gain, a Saudi official told Reuters. Those accusations could not be independently verified and family members of those detained could not be reached.

A royal decree on Saturday said the crackdown was launched in response to “exploitation by some of the weak souls who have put their own interests above the public interest, in order to, illicitly, accrue money”.

The new anti-corruption committee has the power to seize assets at home and abroad before the results of its investigations are known. Investors worry the crackdown could ultimately result in forced sales of equities, but the extent of the authorities’ intentions was not immediately clear.

 

“OVERKILL”

Among those detained is Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, who was replaced as minister of the National Guard, a pivotal power base rooted in the kingdom’s tribes. That recalled a palace coup in June which ousted his elder cousin, Mohammed bin Nayef, as heir to the throne.

The moves consolidate Prince Mohammed’s control of the internal security and military institutions, which had long been headed by separate powerful branches of the ruling family.

Consultancy Eurasia Group said the “clearly politicized” anti-corruption campaign was a step toward separating the Al Saud family from the state: “Royal family members have lost their immunity, a long standing golden guarantee”.

Yet many analysts were puzzled by the targeting of technocrats like ousted Economy Minister Adel Faqieh and prominent businessmen on whom the kingdom is counting to boost the private sector and wean the economy off oil.

“It seems to run so counter to the long-term goal of foreign investment and more domestic investment and a strengthened private sector,” said Greg Gause, a Gulf expert at Texas A&amp;M University.

“If your goal really is anti-corruption, then you bring some cases. You don’t just arrest a bunch of really high-ranking people and emphasize that the rule of law is not really what guides your actions.”

Over the past year, MbS has become the top decision-maker on military, foreign and economic policy, championing subsidy cuts, state asset sales and a government efficiency drive.

The reforms have been well-received by much of Saudi Arabia’s overwhelmingly young population, but resented among some of the more conservative old guard.

The crown prince has also led Saudi Arabia into a two-year-old war in Yemen, where the government says it is fighting Iran-aligned militants, and into a dispute with Qatar, which it accuses of backing terrorists, a charge Doha denies. Detractors of the crown prince say both moves are dangerous adventurism.

The Saudi-led military coalition said on Monday it would temporarily close all air, land and sea ports to Yemen to stem the flow of arms from Iran to Houthi rebels after a missile fired toward Riyadh was intercepted over the weekend.

Saudi Prince Alwaleed’s investments: http://tmsnrt.rs/2j5fE04

 

(Reporting By Stephen Kalin, Editing by William Maclean)