Impact of the coronavirus crisis on aviation

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TLspotting
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Re: Impact of the coronavirus on aviation

Post by TLspotting »

Passenger wrote: 25 Feb 2020, 20:55
Boavida wrote: 25 Feb 2020, 19:43 If things get really out of hand: is a (temporary) closure of BRU possible ?
Maybe. Maybe not. Most probably not. But I would rather expect a question "is a closure of Italian airports possible?".
At the time of writing (or speaking, you choose :lol:), a decision will come sooner than in China, for sure.
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sn26567
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Re: Impact of the coronavirus on aviation

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United Airlines has suspended flights between the US and each of Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai and Hong Kong through 24 April 2020 due to coronavirus. As a result of ongoing uncertainty, United is withdrawing all full-year 2020 guidance issued in January 2020.
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Re: Impact of the coronavirus on aviation

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jan_olieslagers wrote: 25 Feb 2020, 17:37 Why was the title of the thread modified? For the umpteenth time, "aviation" is much more than commercial air transport, and, as far as I can see, only commercial air transport is affected. Private aviation: no or little effect. There is very little of that in China, anyway. Military aviation: no effect at all. Business aviation: some reduction, perhaps, mainly due to the general stall of business. Only commercial air transport is really affected, and it is also the only aspect of aviation I see discussed in this thread.
The title has been amended from "Airlines suspending or readjusting China routes due to Coronavirus" into a general "Impact of the coronavirus on aviation" simply because corona is not affecting only China nowadays, contrary to the initial breakout (Wuhan Airport closed on 23th Jan).

Military aviation? In general, there is very little information available on military flights. So it's quite obvious that there is even less information available on military flights that are affected by corona.

You will read only about commercial air transport in this forum "Latest Aviation News" because there is another forum for private aviation: forum 14 = "Civil aviation / General aviation" = viewforum.php?f=14. But I wonder if many people here will be interested to discuss why, last Sunday, a OO-registered Pilatus PC12 that departed from Albert-Méaulte (FR) did a go-around at Amaury de la Grange (also FR) during storm Ellen, and then continued to Antwerp... Was it a touch-and-go or a diversion?

Given your ongoing negative critics about the focus on commercial aviation: maybe you can set up your own website? Or maybe you can use your energy to post stories in the above forum 14 Civil Aviation / General Aviation?

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Re: Impact of the coronavirus on aviation

Post by Conti764 »

Boavida wrote: 25 Feb 2020, 19:43 If things get really out of hand: is a (temporary) closure of BRU possible ?
Doubtful.

The Coronavirus is spreading within Europe pretty quickly now and already at Belgian borders beyond BRU. Not much more can be done that isn't already done.

Authorities will focus on containment now, rather then keeping it out.

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Re: Impact of the coronavirus on aviation

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sn26567 wrote: 24 Feb 2020, 22:33 Kuwait will deny entry to any passenger who was recently in Italy, South Korea, Thailand, Iran, or Iraq — significant travel ban. (Source: Alex Macheras)
Jazeera, Kuwait Airways and Iraqi Airways have suspended Iran flights.

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Re: Impact of the coronavirus on aviation

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Turkish and Egypt Air are resuming China but will only serve Beijing.

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Re: Impact of the coronavirus on aviation

Post by jan_olieslagers »

That might mean nobody cares
which is precisely my point: this forum CLAIMS to be about ALL aspects of aviation but was never able to realise that. It would be more honest to style itself as "Airline forum" or "commercial air transport forum". As it is, the flag "aviation" is too large for the load "commercial air transport" carried.

And there have been many people who tried. At one time there was a quite thriving sub-community of "military" spotters - where have they all gone? Recreational aviators have tried too, but mostly gave up rather quick. How come?

Mind you, I know well enough there have been efforts, but "somehow" they never worked out. As a forum about commercial air transport, this forum may be quite good; but management should accept their limitations/failures, and recognise them. Through a change of banner, for example. And at least, by keeping thread titles correct.

As for
The title has been amended from "Airlines suspending or readjusting China routes due to Coronavirus" into a general "Impact of the coronavirus on aviation" simply because corona is not affecting only China nowadays, contrary to the initial breakout
: I could very well live with a change of the title to "Airlines suspending or readjusting routes due to Coronavirus" which would even have been easier to type, too :)

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Re: Impact of the coronavirus on aviation

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jan_olieslagers wrote: 26 Feb 2020, 20:58 which is precisely my point: this forum CLAIMS to be about ALL aspects of aviation but was never able to realise that. It would be more honest to style itself as "Airline forum" or "commercial air transport forum". As it is, the flag "aviation" is too large for the load "commercial air transport" carried.
We do care about all aspects of aviation. The articles on the homepage regularly report about manufacturers like Cessna, Bombardier, Pilatus, etc. And also about military aircraft (F-35, A400M, etc.). Furthermore, in the daily spotting forum entries, tangolima reports essentially about private aircraft. We also have forums about military aviation and private aviation. However, we cannot force our readers to write in such forums if their main interest is in commercial aviation.

This was off-topic. Let's get back on topic now. But I doubt that private or military aviation will be heavily impacted by the coronavirus at present.

On topic

Cathay Pacific staff are taking unpaid leave due to the coronavirus. The airline this month asked its 33,000 workers to take three weeks off between 01 March and 30 June 2020.
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Re: Impact of the coronavirus on aviation

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Twinjet suspends flights to Milan from 25 February until 15 March 2020.

BA drops many flights to Milan as demand falls.
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Re: Impact of the coronavirus on aviation

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Pakistan has suspended flights to/from Iran, affecting Iranian carriers Iran Air, Mahan Air and Taban Airlines.

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Re: Impact of the coronavirus on aviation

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Tigerair Australia to cut flights.

HNL-ICN route by Hawaiian to be suspended.

Air Algérie suspend flights to holiest sites of Islam.
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Re: Impact of the coronavirus on aviation

Post by rwandan-flyer »

As a result of the Corona Virus COVID-19 epidemic in Italy, the Government of Cape Verde by the Resolution of the Council of Ministers N.º 35/2020 of 27-02-2020 determines the suspension of all flights between Italy and Cape Verde for a period of three (3) weeks, with immediate effect and until the 20th of March of 2020.

https://caboverdeairlines.com/coronavir ... z_0fcFFmfo
Rwanda Aviation News (Drones, Air Force, Civil Aviation, Space, Air Balloon): https://www.facebook.com/RwandAn-Flyer-153177931456873

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Re: Impact of the coronavirus on aviation

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Brussels Airlines seems to be ignoring an EASA recommendation concerning Corona (https://ad.easa.europa.eu/blob/EASA_SIB ... 020-02R1_1)
Flew with them twice in recent days and both times the APU was only started when closing the doors, quite surprising as SN is carrying a lot of connecting passengers from all over the world. Putting them together in a small box without proper ventilation, certainly increases the risk of infection.

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Re: Impact of the coronavirus on aviation

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According to La Libre Belgique, a Ryanair Boeing 737-800 is currently on the ground in Thessaloniki because of a case of coronavirus on board.

It is being thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. The newspaper doesn't have more information.

FR24 says that only one B738 is on the ground for more than 24 hours: EI-FRE which arrived on 28 Feb from Chania as FR7777. Its previous destinations were Copenhagen, Eindhoven, Paris-Beauvais, Amman, Bologna, Milan-Bergamo, ...

Make your guess about the source of the contamination...
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Re: Impact of the coronavirus on aviation

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Poiu wrote: 27 Feb 2020, 21:17 Brussels Airlines seems to be ignoring an EASA recommendation concerning Corona (https://ad.easa.europa.eu/blob/EASA_SIB ... 020-02R1_1)
Flew with them twice in recent days and both times the APU was only started when closing the doors, quite surprising as SN is carrying a lot of connecting passengers from all over the world. Putting them together in a small box without proper ventilation, certainly increases the risk of infection.
A recommandation is different than a must-do

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Re: Impact of the coronavirus on aviation

Post by Poiu »

b.lufthansa wrote: 28 Feb 2020, 11:54
Poiu wrote: 27 Feb 2020, 21:17 Brussels Airlines seems to be ignoring an EASA recommendation concerning Corona (https://ad.easa.europa.eu/blob/EASA_SIB ... 020-02R1_1)
Flew with them twice in recent days and both times the APU was only started when closing the doors, quite surprising as SN is carrying a lot of connecting passengers from all over the world. Putting them together in a small box without proper ventilation, certainly increases the risk of infection.
A recommandation is different than a must-do
Nobody said it was an obligation, but potentially putting passengers at risk to save a couple of € is quite surprising and doesn’t fit in “we go the extra smile” philosophy.

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Re: Impact of the coronavirus on aviation

Post by Homo Aeroportus »

b.lufthansa wrote: 28 Feb 2020, 11:54
Poiu wrote: 27 Feb 2020, 21:17 Brussels Airlines seems to be ignoring an EASA recommendation concerning Corona (https://ad.easa.europa.eu/blob/EASA_SIB ... 020-02R1_1)
Flew with them twice in recent days and both times the APU was only started when closing the doors, quite surprising as SN is carrying a lot of connecting passengers from all over the world. Putting them together in a small box without proper ventilation, certainly increases the risk of infection.
A recommandation is different than a must-do
But respecting the AIP is a “must-do”.

Current EBBR AIP authorizes the use of the APU only minutes before push back (MES), and this has been the case for ages.
And it is perfectly understandable as running the APU on the ground is a non-sense, even before Greta told us to behave.
This is why Brussels Airport (aka BATC, BIAC) has always heavily invested in ground support systems to provide the aircraft with electrical power (400Hz) and PCA (Pre Conditioned Air) during the turnaround. This goes back to 1994 (B Pier), 1999 (Apron 60) and 2000 (A Pier).

The prime use of the on-board APU is in flight in case of failure of a main engine or in its delivering electrical power and/or cabin pressurization and it should not been used on the ground as infrastructure provides what the aircraft needs (when Ground Handling connects…).
These are the black 400Hz cable connected to the aircraft near its nose and the yellow PCA hose about mid-ship.
On the ground, the APU (elec + bleed) has a burn rate of about 100kg of jet fuel per hour for a narrow body aircraft like an A320. This not only generates 315kg of CO2, + NOx, + PMs … (Hi again Greta) but it does it with a very poor efficiency (+/- 5%) by burning jet fuel to produce hot bleed air that is routed through the Packs to bring pressure and temperature down before being distributed in the cabin !

Sorry for this long technical digression but, as it is perfectly normal that everyone is not familiar with airport operations, I felt it may be interesting to know more and avoid barking the wrong tree.

H.A.

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Re: Impact of the coronavirus on aviation

Post by Poiu »

Homo Aeroportus wrote: 28 Feb 2020, 14:14
b.lufthansa wrote: 28 Feb 2020, 11:54
Poiu wrote: 27 Feb 2020, 21:17 Brussels Airlines seems to be ignoring an EASA recommendation concerning Corona (https://ad.easa.europa.eu/blob/EASA_SIB ... 020-02R1_1)
Flew with them twice in recent days and both times the APU was only started when closing the doors, quite surprising as SN is carrying a lot of connecting passengers from all over the world. Putting them together in a small box without proper ventilation, certainly increases the risk of infection.
A recommandation is different than a must-do
But respecting the AIP is a “must-do”.

Current EBBR AIP authorizes the use of the APU only minutes before push back (MES), and this has been the case for ages.
...

Sorry for this long technical digression but, as it is perfectly normal that everyone is not familiar with airport operations, I felt it may be interesting to know more and avoid barking the wrong tree
For clarity: in both cases we were on board for well over half an hour, without air conditioning, no ground air no APU!
Can you explain why the Belgian AIP about BRU should be adhered to in other countries? If it would have been Brussels, a simple request to ATC would have overridden the restriction though.

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Re: Impact of the coronavirus on aviation

Post by sn26567 »

A ray of hope: China’s three biggest airlines have restored a fraction of the international flights they halted in the wake of a coronavirus outbreak, heeding a call from the aviation regulator as business activity recovers slowly.
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Re: Impact of the coronavirus on aviation

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ITB Berlin has just been cancelled:
Important Announcements regarding Coronavirus - Update: Coronavirus 28.02.2020

ITB Berlin 2020 will not take place. Due to the increasing spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19, the Federal Ministry of Health and the Federal Ministry of Economics have decided to cancel ITB Berlin. The responsible health authority of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf of Berlin has increased the requirements for the event to take place early this evening (18:27). Among other things, the authority orders Every trade fair participant must prove to Messe Berlin that they do not come from the defined risk areas or have had contact with a person from the risk areas. Messe Berlin is unable to implement all these requirements.

Messe Berlin has been pointing out for weeks that the decision to hold or cancel major events can only be made on the basis of the recommendation or instruction of the relevant authorities. Only these authorities have all the necessary information and expertise to draw the right conclusions.

Dr. Christian Göke, CEO of Messe Berlin GmbH, said: "With more than 10,000 exhibitors from over 180 countries, ITB Berlin is of outstanding importance for the global tourism industry. We take our responsibility for the health and safety of our guests, exhibitors and employees very seriously. It is with a heavy heart that we look forward to the cancellation of ITB Berlin 2020, which has now become necessary".

The Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Messe Berlin Wolf-Dieter Wolf explains: "In their now 54-year history ITB Berlin and Messe Berlin have never before experienced a comparable situation. We would like to thank all exhibitors and partners around the world who have supported ITB Berlin in the past days and weeks, and look forward to continuing our trusting cooperation with our partners in the market".

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