In this week's news roundup, Kauai opts out of Hawaii's pre-testing program, San Francisco International has a new "touchless" option for its parking garages, and also introduces COVID testing for Cathay Pacific; Hawaiian Airlines adds more mainland testing sites; CDC has new testing guidelines for international travel and warns against trips to Mexico; Delta finds a way around Italy's mandatory quarantine; Air India will add a new San Francisco route; Alaska Airlines bets on the 737 Max for fleet renewal; JetBlue will still fly to London but not to Heathrow; the Delta/WestJet joint venture is scrapped; American Express reopens its Phoenix Centurion Lounge; and United gets some new gates at Denver International.
Kauai will temporarily opt-out of the Hawaii's pre-arrivals testing program, which essentially stops all non-essential travel to Kauai, according to the Honolulu Star Advertiser. In a news release, governor David Ige said, "We must protect Kauai residents and visitors and ensure that Kauai's hospitals do not become overwhelmed . . . Kauai County currently has the fewest number of ICU beds in the state, and private providers are seeking ways to increase capacity. This moratorium aims to stabilize the situation on Kauai." The Star Advertiser reports that the decision is effective Wednesday, Dec. 2, at 12:01 a.m., and means that all travelers (including interisland travelers) arriving in Kauai are subject to the 14-day quarantine regardless of COVID-19 test results. The governor made the request in the wake of dozens of new COVID-19 infections, especially travel-related cases on Kauai. Hawaii's pre-travel testing program currently remains in place for the rest of the state. Kauai-bound travelers should contact airlines and hotels to cancel or rearrange their travel plans.
Bangalore, India – also known as Bengaluru – is known as the Silicon Valley of India. And that reputation will bring plenty of new airline service to the city next year. Air India reportedly plans to begin new San Francisco-Bangalore service on Jan. 11 with two flights a week, marking a big change for the carrier because its current U.S. routes are all to Mumbai and Delhi. Air India will also introduce twice-weekly flights from Chicago O'Hare to Hyderabad on Jan. 9. Air India joins United and American in scheduling Bangalore service from the U.S. United is due to begin San Francisco-Bangalore flights in May 2021 as the longest route in its international network. American had initially proposed new Seattle-Bangalore service to start in October of this year as an element of its growing partnership with Alaska Airlines, but due to pandemic concerns that has been pushed back to sometime in 2021.
A big part of preventing coronavirus infection during the travel experience involves reducing "touchpoints," and San Francisco International Airport has introduced a new procedure designed to do just that. It's a touch-free parking process that lets travelers prepay online for their parking at a number of airport garages. Customers simply go here, select their dates and times, enter payment information and that's it. Then they'll get a personal QR code they can use to enter and leave the garage without having to take a ticket or use a payment machine. The airport is offering an introductory parking rate of $18 a day for prepaying online. The online booking system is available for full-day parking at Long-Term Parking, Domestic Garage, International Garage A, International Garage G and ParkFAST. Hourly and short-stay parking is not available online. "Bookings are flexible and can be changed or canceled up to 2 hours before the booked entry time," the airport said.
In other developments at SFO, the airport has launched a pilot program with Cathay Pacific to provide on-site testing for the airline's passengers traveling to Hong Kong, which requires a COVID-19 PCR test within 72 hours of departure from SFO. The tests are provided at the airport's rapid testing facility on Level One of the International Terminal by Dignity Health-GoHealth Urgent Care, which promises results for Cathay passengers within 15 minutes. The test costs $261 per person, and Cathay customers can book an appointment here. Appointments should be scheduled for two to three hours before flight departure time.
Travelers planning to fly to Hawaii from Bay Area airports should be aware that COVID testing facilities at SFO and Oakland International are booking up fast, so don't wait until a few days before travel to reserve a test at the airports. Those flying out of Oakland should also be aware that the airport's free on-site COVID testing at is no longer free: it now costs $120 for expedited results (24 hours) and $20 for regular results (48-72 hours). OAK's two testing sites require a reservation made within three days of travel, and it does not recommend relying on same-day tests. An airport spokesperson says, "the online [reservations system] sometimes provides last-minute availability whenever there is a cancellation."
In other testing news, Hawaiian Airlines – which offers COVID tests for San Francisco passengers at a site 10 miles from the airport at 261 Loomis St. – is expanding its mainland pre-flight testing network with new locations in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Portland and Seattle. It just opened a second LA location in Culver City, in partnership with Worksite Labs. In Las Vegas, Hawaiian is teaming up with the University Medical Center (UMC) of Southern Nevada to provide testing at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the UMC Advanced Center for Health, and nine UMC Quick Care locations. And with US BioTek, Hawaiian now offers testing in Portland and in three Seattle locations (Shoreline, Redmond and Tacoma). Click here for details and appointments.
Speaking of testing, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued new guidelines for international air travel "based on the best public health advice available," and those guidelines suggest that a pre-departure test might not be enough. "CDC now recommends that international air travelers get tested with a viral test 1-3 days before their flight to reduce spread during travel. Travelers should get tested 3-5 days after travel and stay home for 7 days. If the test is negative, the traveler should stay home for the full 7 days. If a traveler does not get tested, it's safest to stay home for 14 days," the agency said.
Americans have been flocking to Mexico during the pandemic because that country does not require inbound air travelers to quarantine or to take a COVID test before departure from home. According to Routesonline.com, airline capacity between the U.S. and Mexico the week of Nov. 23 was down just 12% from the same week last year, and Delta and its partner Aeromexico plan to operate 95% of their year-ago capacity during December. (By comparison, airline capacity between the U.S. and Canada – which has severe restrictions on entry – is down 91% from last year.) However, because COVID-19 cases in Mexico are now at a very high level, the CDC's latest advisory urges Americans to "avoid all travel to Mexico." If they do travel there, the agency said, they should get tested before departure from the U.S. and again before departure from Mexico for their return flight. And once they get home, they should get tested again three to five days later and stay at home for seven days. Readers report that trips to Mexico are quite tame these days, with a strong focus on hygiene and the beach and not on nightlife or dining as many bars and restaurants are closed or restricted.
How can Americans get around Italy's mandatory quarantine for inbound travelers? On Dec. 19, when it revives Atlanta-Rome service, Delta will kick off a pilot program designed to do just that for some visitors "in accordance with a decree expected to be issued soon by the government of Italy," the airline said. In a COVID testing partnership with Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson and Rome Fiumicino airports, the test program will require participating passengers to get a COVID PCR test up to 72 hours before departure; a rapid test at the Atlanta airport before boarding; a rapid test at Rome Fiumicino upon arrival; and a final rapid test at Rome's airport before flying back to the U.S. "The tests will exempt from quarantine on arrival in Italy all U.S. citizens permitted to travel to Italy for essential reasons, such as for work, health and education, as well as all European Union and Italian citizens," Delta said.
Even though Alaska Airlines hasn't yet started flying its first new Boeing 737 Max – that won't happen until March of next year now that the FAA has finally agreed to let the troubled aircraft back into the skies subject to software fixes and pilot retraining – the company said this week it expects to add even more Maxs to its fleet in the months ahead. Alaska already has 32 737 Max planes on order and should have five of them in the air by next summer. Now the carrier said it will lease another 13 for delivery starting in the fourth quarter of 2021. At the same time, Alaska will get rid of 10 Airbus A320s. Alaska said the Max planes are 20% more fuel-efficient than the A320s and can fly 600 miles farther. After this deal is done, the airline will still have 39 A320s and 10 A321neos in its fleet.
JetBlue still plans to introduce transatlantic service from New York JFK and Boston to London in the third quarter of 2021 with its new Airbus A321LR aircraft, but it won't be flying into Heathrow Airport. Takeoff and landing slots at LHR are hard to come by, and JetBlue's application for 21 slot pairs (enough for three flights a day) was rejected. Instead, U.K. authorities granted the airline slots at London Gatwick for one daily roundtrip and at London Stansted for two a day. JetBlue reportedly plans to start with one daily JFK-Gatwick roundtrip and one a day from Boston to Stansted, which is 42 miles northeast of central London.
Last month, the U.S. Dept. of Transportation gave tentative approval to the planned transborder joint venture of Delta and Canada's WestJet, but now that deal is off. What happened? Delta and WestJet said the conditions that DOT attached to the approval were unacceptable. DOT said that the joint venture couldn't include WestJet's ultra-low-cost Swoop affiliate, and that the carriers would have to give up 16 takeoff and landing slots at New York LaGuardia to competitors. If it happened, the joint venture would have given Delta/WestJet a combined transborder market share of 27%.
In airport news, American Express this week reopened its Centurion Lounge at Phoenix Sky Harbor, so that 10 of its 13 locations are now back in business after closing down back in March. The Las Vegas and Hong Kong Centurion Lounges are still closed, and AmEx's New York LaGuardia location is being replaced by a new lounge under construction in the airport's Terminal B. The company also said that its new lounges coming at Denver International and London Heathrow have been delayed until sometime in 2021.
Denver International has cut the ribbon on the first four gates of an ongoing construction project that will eventually add 39 gates across all three of its concourses. The four new gates, on the west side of Concourse B, will all be used by United. The addition also includes new restrooms, a nursing room and a "pet relief" area as well as the airport's first outdoor deck for passengers, equipped with fire pits. New concessions are coming soon, airport officials said.
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Chris McGinnis is SFGATE's senior travel correspondent. You can reach him via email or follow him on Twitter or Facebook. Don't miss a shred of important travel news by signing up for his FREE weekly email updates.
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