Seen this @Kung-fu Hillbilly?

Covid-19: First UK airport coronavirus testing begins

Passengers flying from Heathrow to Hong Kong on Tuesday will be the first to have the option of paying for a rapid Covid test before checking in.
The test will cost £80 and the result is guaranteed within an hour.
The aim is to help people travelling to destinations where proof of a negative result is required on arrival.

Once governments accept these tests and providing there is enough raw materials available to manufacture them on an enormous scale, this could reopen aviation and tourism very quickly.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54604100

Kung-fu Hillbilly wrote: ↑Wed Oct 21, 2020 11:15 am
Soos Jozsef/Shutterstock.com
Singapore Airlines will add its second non-stop route to the US during the pandemic when New York flights launch in November.

THOMAS PALLINI
OCT 21, 2020,

Singapore Airlines is launching the new world's longest flight....

The new route will connect Singapore’s Changi Airport and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, replacing the former world’s longest flight that served Newark Liberty International Airport in nearby New Jersey. Flying to New York instead of New Jersey adds two nautical miles to the route for a total of 8,287 nautical miles, though actual routings can vary much greater than that.

Newark flights were relaunched in 2018 using modified Airbus A350-900 ULR, or ultra-long-range, aircraft. Only business class and premium economy seats were installed on the aircraft to maximise performance on the 8,285-nautical mile journey.

Journey times in both directions are scheduled at over 18 hours, with the New York to Singapore flight clocking in at 18 hours and 40 minutes. The outbound to New York departs Singapore at 2:25 a.m. and arrives at 7:30 a.m. for a duration of 18 hours and five minutes while the return departs New York at 10:30 p.m. and arrives back in Singapore at 6:10 a.m., two days later.

The challenge to survive the flight is even greater now. As face coverings are required in both airports and on all Singapore Airlines flights, that could mean wearing a mask for nearly an entire day with breaks only to dine and imbibe on the mammoth flight.

The new route will operate three-times-weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays from Singapore starting November 9, and on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from New York starting November 11.

full. https://www.businessinsider.com.au/sing ... rk-2020-10

If, one day, everyone has to take an airport test (see above) then perhaps the mask wearing can be abandoned?

EVA Air launches speed dating ‘flight to nowhere’
‘Love is in the air,’ says airline
Helen Coffey
28 minutes ago

A new “flight to nowhere” concept is taking off in Taiwan with the aim of helping passengers find love.

EVA Air is launching special speed dating flights for singles during which they’ll sit next to someone they’ve been paired with by lucky dip.

“Fly! Love is in the air,” reads the advertising for the event, which also sets up EVA flight attendants as “love cupids”.

Passengers are encouraged to engage in deep conversations on the three-hour flight, which will take off from and land at Taipei airport, circling the airspace above Taiwan in between.

There will also be a two-hour “date” back on the ground where the guests can mingle with more potential partners.

“Because of Covid-19, EVA Air has been organizing ‘faux travel’ experiences to fulfil people's desire for travel,” a spokesperson for You and Me, the speed dating firm that EVA Air has partnered with to run the events, told CNN Travel.

“When single men and women travel, apart from enjoying the fun in travel, they may wish to meet someone – like a scene in a romantic movie.”

Three flights are currently slated: one on Christmas Day, one on New Year’s Eve and one on New Year’s Day.

There are 40 tickets available per flight – 20 for men and 20 for women – with fares priced at TWD8,388 (£223) per person.

Tickets include the flight itself; meals on board, which has been prepared by Michelin-starred chef Motoke Nakamura; plus the on-the-ground dates, which range from a breakfast to an afternoon tea to a candlelit dinner.

The events all finish with a “confession”, in which passengers share who they’ve best connected with.

The initial Christmas flight has already sold out.

Flights are not open to just anyone though. Participants must have a university degree and have Taiwan citizenship, plus fit into the age range – 24 to 35 for women, 28 to 38 for men.

“The biggest advantage of speed dating on a flight comes from the serious nature from our participants,” said the You and Me spokesperson.

“In addition to gathering participants with enough spending power, it also attracts a group of single people who love travelling.

“With the same values, it boosts participants' motivation to meet and helps smoothen their conversation from the start.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/ne ... 41706.html

Will British Airways do anything to attract customers ? Let's fly on the Mile High Club.
From a blog
Bringing a whole new meaning to the mile high club, BA “hostie” double dips, selling sex on board!
December 3, 2020 Aviation

Having flown way too many long haul flights, I am actually delighted to say this has never happened to me, but a report from the USA says that a British Airways flight attendant, who also happens to be what today is rather charmingly called “a sex worker, has been what one might call “double dipping” while working on board, taking “risqué” photos of herself in her British Airways uniform.

Images in the US Sun allegedly shows the attendant pulling up her skirt in the galley and others in compromising positions with the flight attendant reportedly also saying that she sold her underwear on board and could cause turbulence on the flight, charging a $90 securing fee to meet and provide sexual services during flights, adding that ““If you ever want adult entertainment on-board, all you have to do is give me a sum of money and you’ll be treated to a whole different experience of your choice”.

Apparently, BA is attempting to identify the perpetrator! Mmm, I wonder how they’ll do that?

A report by John Alwyn-Jones
https://www.eglobaltravelmedia.com.au/b ... -on-board/