JERUSALEM - Israeli carrier Israir operated a flight from Tel Aviv to Bahrain on Wednesday, flight-tracking website FlightRadar24 showed.

LONDON - The airline industry is never going to get back to the way it was before Covid-19, warned the former chief executive of IAG , adding it will be smaller but more efficient in the future. "It's never going to get back to the way it was," Willie Walsh, who retired this month, said in an online interview with Eurocontrol.

PARIS - Global airlines called on Tuesday for airport COVID-19 tests for all departing international passengers to replace the quarantines they blame for exacerbating the travel slump.

CHICAGO - Major U.S. airlines launched a last-ditch bid to persuade Congress to grant them a new $25 billion bailout to help avert tens of thousands of employee furloughs set to begin Oct. 1. While American Airlines already tapped government loans in addition to payroll assistance, United is likely to follow its lead.

PARIS - Airbus will do its best to cut costs without resorting to compulsory redundancies, but it cannot guarantee they won't happen, CEO Guillaume Faury told French radio station RTL.

LONDON - British pilot union BALPA has called for the Government to provide much-needed clarity for the aviation industry on Brexit.

TOULOUSE - It is the planemaker's latest effort to draw public attention to its "zero-emission" ambitions as European governments push for cleaner technology in their post-COVID recovery plans. Airbus has set itself a deadline of 2035 to put a carbon-free commercial aircraft into service, a target engine makers described as ambitious.

SEATTLE - The U.S. aviation regulator should require new cockpit procedures for Boeing's 737 MAX to help pilots disable an erroneous stall alert that could be a serious distraction during mid-flight emergencies, major pilots unions said on Monday - at the deadline for comments on recertification requirements.

CHICAGO - When Megyn Thompson landed her dream job as a commercial pilot last year, she was one of thousands being recruited globally to boost the number of women in the cockpit and meet record pilot demand. Now an industry-wide campaign to recruit more female aviators is under threat in the male-dominated sector.

PARIS - France is preparing to put plans for new environmental taxes on the airline sector on hold, officials said, despite a government push to speed up moves towards a greener economy. Before the coronavirus crisis brought air traffic to a standstill, the sector had been fighting a losing battle against emissions taxes in Europe.

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa has pledged 10.5 billion rand ($650 million) to South African Airways (SAA), one of the administrators of the ailing state-owned airline said on Friday. The administrators took control of SAA in December after almost a decade of financial losses and have been trying to keep it afloat through pandemic.

LONDON - An increasing reliance of private households and businesses on ecommerce during the pandemic, coupled with a reduction in passenger flights, has driven significant growth in air cargo at the Manchester Airports Group (MAG) owned East Midlands and London Stansted airports over the summer period.

BRUSSELS - Leaders of Europe's coronavirus-stricken travel and tourism industries have appealed to the EU's chief executive to press governments to end quarantine requirements and instead embrace coordinated restrictions and testing.

SYDNEY - The total pay for Qantas CEO Alan Joyce fell by 83% in the financial year ending June 30 because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the airline said.

DUBLIN - The Irish government on Thursday tightened its COVID-19 travel restrictions by imposing quarantines on travellers from major holiday markets Italy and Greece, angering the country's dominant airlines Ryanair and Aer Lingus. A safe arrival "green list" cannot mitigate airline frustration.

JOHANNESBURG - Administrators at struggling South African Airways (SAA) have called creditors to a meeting on Friday after the government missed a deadline to make funding available for a restructuring plan.

WASHINGTON - White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows met with major airline chief executives on Thursday as the industry braces for thousands of job cuts in two weeks, and urged lawmakers to embrace a $1.5 trillion coronavirus aid package proposed by a bipartisan congressional group and endorsed by President Donald Trump.

WASHINGTON - Southwest Airlines said late Wednesday it temporarily grounded 130 Boeing 737-800 aircraft after it discovered discrepancies in aircraft weight data. The airline faced regulator scrutiny before when FAA proposed a million dollar fine for "non-compliant weight and balance data" on Southwest flights.

LONDON - There will be airline bankruptcies and thousands more job losses if a waiver requiring airlines to use airport slots is not extended, warned British Airways chief executive Alex Cruz on Wednesday.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has opened criminal investigations into 50 pilots and at least five civil aviation officials who allegedly helped them falsify credentials to secure licences, according to cabinet meeting minutes seen by Reuters.

WASHINGTON - An 18-month investigation by a U.S. House panel blasted Boeing Co and the Federal Aviation Administration over the 737 MAX which has been grounded since March 2019 after two fatal crashes killed 346 people.

LONDON - British Airways is having to take every measure possible to make it through the winter because any hope of a rapid return to normality has been destroyed, its boss Alex Cruz said. He told a parliamentary select committee that the airline was running at 25 to 30% of its normal flight schedule.

SYDNEY - Air New Zealand said it aims to cut up to 385 more cabin crew jobs due to the lack of long-haul international flying, which would take its COVID-19 related job losses to around 37% of its workforce.

CHICAGO - Families of Boeing 737 MAX crash victims are urging U.S. lawmakers to ensure the planemaker is held accountable for accidents that together killed 346 people by blocking a key legal defense, according to a letter sent and seen by Reuters.

FRANKFURT - German airline Lufthansa could cut its fleet by 130 planes in response to the coronavirus crisis, two people familiar with the matter said.

CHICAGO - Delta Air Lines will avoid involuntary furloughs for frontline employees on Oct. 1 except for pilots, but will continue to reduce work hours and executive pay through the end of the year, Chief Executive Ed Bastian said in a memo to employees on Tuesday.

DUBAI - The chief executive officer of Bahrain's Gulf Air has stepped down from his role, the airline said in a statement.

PARIS - European governments should focus on developing coherent air travel policies as airlines struggle to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, rather than shielding national carriers, Easyjet Chief Executive Johan Lundgren said.

DUBLIN - Ryanair expects the European Commission this week to unveil a new system of Covid-19 travel advice that will open up most regions of the continent to travel without quarantine, Chief Executive Eddie Wilson said. A regulatory patchwork in Europe caused Ryanair to curb its winter schedule.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department eased a travel advisory for Americans considering travel to China or Hong Kong from "Do Not Travel" to "Reconsider Travel," citing "improved conditions."

TOULOUSE - The head of European planemaker Airbus has warned staff of compulsory layoffs as air travel fails to recover as quickly as expected from the coronavirus crisis. The warning in a letter to its 130,000 staff from Chief Executive Guillaume Faury, seen by Reuters, marks a more pessimistic tone from the planemaker.

LONDON - London City Airport said it needed to cut up to 239 jobs or 35% of its staff as part of a restructuring plan as the coronavirus pandemic pushed down passenger numbers to much lower levels than previously.

SEOUL - Creditors plan to inject $2 billion into debt-ridden Asiana Airlines after a planned sale of South Korea's second-largest carrier collapsed, a state bank said on Friday.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Friday it is proposing extending temporarily waiving minimum flight requirements at some U.S. airports through late March 2021.

MONTREAL - As Covid-19 grounds swaths of airline fleets, companies that profit off the dismantling and trade of aircraft parts are seeing early signs of an expected rebound in activity as carriers accelerate plane retirements. The number of aircraft going to the scrapyard could double through 2023.

LONDON - A training review for the grounded Boeing 737 MAX will begin on Monday in London, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said, in a key milestone for the plane's eventual return to service. The consultations are part of a multi-stage process to clear the 737 MAX for commercial flights by 2021.

DUBLIN - Ireland plans to replace its current system of travel quarantines with the European Union's proposed coordinated system as soon as it is ready, Prime Minister Micheal Martin told RTE television on Saturday.

LONDON - Airlines including British Airways and Easyjet urged the UK government this week to introduce coronavirus testing as an alternative to quarantine by the end of the month, in what they described as a "last chance" to save the industry and prevent "economic ruin" for the sector.

HELSINKI - Finland will ease tight restrictions on entry as it tries to attract back business travellers and tourists ahead of winter.

SAO PAULO - A U.S. bankruptcy judge rejected a $2.4 billion financing plan for struggling LATAM Airlines on the grounds that a convertible loan included as part of the package would amount to "improper" treatment of other shareholders.

SEATTLE - Boeing said late on Thursday it was in discussions with U.S. safety regulators about a manufacturing issue found last year in its 787 Dreamliner. KOMO News Radio in Seattle reported the issue involved the vertical tail fin on the 787, citing federal records, and could affect 680 airplanes.

SINGAPORE - Singapore Airlines said on Thursday it would cut 4,300 positions, or around 20% of its staff, due to the debilitating impact of the coronavirus pandemic on demand in the largest job losses in its history. The airline will continue to review its fleet for its post-Covid strategy.

LONDON - IAG launched a heavily discounted rights issue to raise 2.74 billion euros ($3.2 billion) to help strengthen its pandemic-hit finances, in a first test of faith in its new boss Luis Gallego. Qatar Airways, which has a 25.1% holding, has undertaken to subscribe for its pro-rata entitlement in the fully underwritten capital increase.

BEIJING - China's International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, the country's biggest airshow, will go ahead in November, the organiser said on Wednesday, backtracking on an earlier announcement the 2020 event had been cancelled due to COVID-19.

MADRID - Workers in the Spanish aerospace sector that includes various Airbus facilities will go on a one-day strike on Sept. 22 in a bid to protect their jobs amid the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, the UGT and CCOO unions said.

DUBLIN - Ryanair slashed its annual passenger target by another 10 million on Wednesday, becoming the latest European airline to signal more capacity cuts as resurgent COVID-19 infections and travel restrictions dent recovery hopes. "The winter of 2020 will be a write-off," Ryanair Group Chief Executive Michael O'Leary predicted.

HELSINKI - Finnair will cut back its October flight program and fly around 70 to 80 flights daily instead of the approximately 200 flights it had planned due to weak demand, the Finnish national carrier said.

BEIJING - China's International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, the country's biggest airshow, scheduled for November, has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

DUBLIN - Ryanair has told staff at Shannon and Cork airports in the south of Ireland that it intends to close both bases for the winter unless the government relaxes strict travel restrictions, RTE reported on Tuesday. The airline cited "terrible" forward bookings out of airline in a letter to its Irish employees.

SEATTLE - Boeing warned on Tuesday of delays in deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner, as three separate production flaws over the past year hamper efforts to develop an alternative cash cow to its grounded 737 MAX. The 737 MAX secured its first firm order in 2020, Boeing said in separate news.