INTERNATIONAL FEBRUARY 2021 Turkish Airlines to fly YG Cargo airlines starts from SIAL freighter service to Pakistan The mother of all motorways FEBRUARY 2021 - 3 I n t e r n a t i o n a l a v i a t i o n f New By Abdul Sattar Azad Phone 34615924 Fax 34615924 Printed by Sardar Sons 4 - FEBRUARY 2021 Vol 28 FEBRUARY 2021 No.05 ICAO updates global tourism 06 PIA sets new rules for crew: passports held, mobility restricted 08 IATA welcomes opening of new terminal at Bahrain International Airport 08 Turkish Airlines to fly from SIAL, Qatar Airways and Gulf Air to resume flight operation 09 Gulf Air moves into the new terminal at Bahrain International Airport 09 08 CAA to outsource pilots licensing exams to UK 10 IATA urges support for common european digital vaccination certificate 10 It's time for airline loyalty programs to add value 11 Gulf Air takes another Airbus A321LR 12 Why air cargo prices will not be back to 'normal' by 2023 14 China authorities extend anal Covid-19 tests for passengers arriving from abroad 15 Qatar-Saudi border reopens after thaw 17 FIA to attach properties owned by Shaheen Air 18 Walton airport likely to be shifted 19 IATA: 2020 was the worst year in history for air travel demand 21 Gulf Air to start European long-haul flights with Airbus A321LR 23 Emirates' self check-in screens are now fully touchless 30 European Plan for Aviation Safety 2021-2025 published 30 27 Lufthansa cuts first class on all US routes until at least May 32 Multan's mangoes and multinationals 34 Utilise Gwadar Port for transit trade with Kabul 35 Textile exports reached historic high in Dec. 36 Speed breakers and a long corridor 36 Nepalese team makes history, scales K2 in winter 38 The mother of all motorways 39 No contact with Sadpara, two others on K2 mission 41 Preferred Hotels & Resorts renews successful strategic partnership with Sabre 42 Murad vows to undertake tourism-oriented development in city 43 Rise in leopard population on Margalla Hills linked to healthy ecosystem: IWMB 45 Experts fear Makli necropolis may lose World Heritage Site status after `renovation` 47 38 FEBRUARY 2021 - 5 ICAO updates global tourism Crisis Committee on latest vaccine and testing developments in air transport peaking to the 8th Virtual recognition leading to the possible Meeting of the UN World reduction of quarantine measures. STo u r i s m O r g a n i z a t i o n The technical solutions for both (UNWTO) Global Tourism Crisis the vaccination and a testing certificate Committee this week, ICAO Secretary c o u l d b e b u i l t u p o n I C A O General Dr. Fang Liu acknowledged that specifications for Visible Digital Seals the latest measures to confront the most (VDS), as already defined in ICAO Doc recent waves of COVID-19 transmission 9303 on Machine Readable Travel are weighing heavily on global travel and Documents (MRTDs), to ensure tourism. globally interoperability and a secure, She emphasized that there were few customer friendly approach. signs of near-term relief ahead for travel “VDS-based testing certificates and tourism markets, given that the world will be secure, trustworthy, privacy- is still faced with limited supplies of protecting, and interoperable, built on vaccines, and insufficient data on the conditions, and financially reasonable for internationally recognized standards transmission of the virus by persons that all concerned,” Dr. Liu underscored. “A and specifications and tailored to the have been vaccinated. number of different approaches are capabilities of existing infrastructure,” she currently being developed, and it is said. essential we work to ensure their effective Dr. Liu concluded by underlining that interoperability.” international alignment on the acceptance She further noted that ICAO is of test results and vaccination certificates collaborating with the WHO, IATA and remains a key global objective, and the other travel sector stakeholders to best way forward to the resumption of standardize vaccination and testing global travel and tourism. certificates, thereby promoting mutual Dr. Liu underscored that ICAO is collaborating with States, partner agencies and industry on the global vaccine distribution challenge, and to develop further guidance applicable to current and future pandemics. The ICAO Secretary General drew her colleagues' attention to ICAO's newly issued manual on Testing and Cross Border Risk Management Measures, stressing that the multi-layered health measures it outlines may likely continue to be pursued by states in the medium- to long-term, “Proper certification of vaccines may be required in the near future, but in the meantime the international acceptance of test results must be a key priority,” she noted. “Currently there is no agreed-upon means to do so country-to-country on an irrefutable and fraud-resistant basis.” When and where they are required, ICAO is also recommending that COVID-19 test results and vaccination certificates should be provided in a timely and reliable manner, allowing for the rapid facilitation of travellers while ensuring equity in access. “Such solutions should also be respectful of privacy and personal data, adaptable to varying infrastructure and 6 - FEBRUARY 2021 FEBRUARY 2021 - 07 PIA sets new PIA makes cabin IATA welcomes rules for crew: crew's alcohol opening of new passports held, testing mandatory terminal at Bahrain he Pakistan International International mobility restricted Airline has announced its decision to make alcohol Airport fter the recent incident when T testing compulsory for its cabin crew in a flight attendant of Pakistan line with European Union's Safety AInternational Airlines went Assessment of Foreign Aircraft (SAFA) he International Air Transport missing in Canada during the layover at programme. Association (IATA) has the end of January 2021, the air carrier A notification issued in this regard to Twelcomed the opening of the decided to adjust its internal working all cabin crew members said that European new terminal at Bahrain International rules. The airline is set to implement new Union Aviation Safety Agency will be Airport. tighter rules under which it would control initiating alcohol testing during safety “The opening of the new terminal at its crew movement during international assessment of foreign aircraft ramp Bahrain International Airport is not only layovers. inspection. The test will be mandatory an important milestone in the development Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) from Feb 14. of Bahrain International Airport as a issued new strict directives for its cabin It said the test result would be regional hub but also welcome news for crew members. Under the new rules, all considered negative when the breath the industry during this difficult time. The crew members will be required to hand alcohol concentration, measured by a new terminal will provide vital capacity their passports over to the station manager breath alcohol tester is lower or equal to and capabilities to cargo operators at the airport as soon as they clear the equivalent level of 0.2 grams of blood shipping essential vaccines and PPE immigration and customs checks post- alcohol concentration (BAC) per liter of equipment immediately, and open the door arrival in foreign countries. The passports blood or the national statutory limit, for increased connectivity once passenger will be returned to each crew member at whichever is the lower. traffic starts to pick up. Aviation is a key the time of check-in for departing PIA's The flight services authorities also pillar of Bahrain's economythis has been flights. said that any refusal by crew members will strengthened today, taking the country one In addition, security staff at hotels, be considered a “positive result” and step closer to achieving its Economic where cabin crew members stay, would further legal and departmental Vision 2030 to establish the Kingdom as conduct checks to see if every crew proceedings would be initiated against the an aviation center in the region. We member checked in on arrival. The hotel individual. congratulate all involved in this significant staff would inform the air carrier about Earlier, the PIA management had infrastructure project,” said Muhammad any discrepancy. In addition, due to the issued a fresh Standard Operating prevailing COVID-19 pandemic Albakri, IATA regional vice president for Procedure for the crew members after a Africa and the Middle East. situation, the mobility of cabin crew steward and an air-hostess of separate The 210,000sq m terminal, which is members would be also restricted, flights went missing in Toronto. four times the size of the existing facility, prohibiting the PIA's employees from The PIA management has launched an increases the airport's capacity to 14 leaving the hotel premises at night time. inquiry into disappearing of two crew million passengers a year, having handled PIA clears 110 pilots after fake members. license scandal around 9 million in 2019. Pakistan's national flag-carrier PIA representative informed the country's Supreme Court that the airline had confirmed the validity of 110 pilots' licenses out of 141. The measures are implemented following a recent incident in Toronto, Canada. Soon after the flight PK-789 landed at Toronto Pearson Airport (YYZ) on January 29, 2021, a flight attendant went missing. According to Pakistani media, the flight attendant boarded the PIA flight at Allama Iqbal Airport (LHE), Lahore, and disappeared straight after landing in Toronto without informing the airline seniors. The recent incident became the fourth case in four years when PIA's crew members go missing during international layovers. The new terminal replaces a 60-year-old facility. 08 - FEBRUARY 2021 Turkish Airlines to Gulf Air moves into the new terminal fly from SIAL, at Bahrain International Airport ahrain International Airport Qatar Airways has a brand new terminal, and Bthe country's national airline is the first carrier to move in.