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The Icelandic flag-carrier has announced that it is to offer 'Covid Plus' medical insurance to passengers, which it says will enable instant payouts to affected passengers and give greater peace of mind for current or future travel bookings.

The government of the British island territory has announced a phased program of tightened entry and on-island COVID-19 restrictions to be enforced throughout June in order to curb a recent spike in cases of the virus. Effective 6 June, all visitors aged 10 years and over must submit proof of a negative COVID-19 PCR test result obtained a maximum of three days prior to arrival; currently, the window applies to a test result obtained at least five days prior to arrival. Test results must then be entered as part of the online travel authorisation process.

The low-cost airline has made an early release of the schedules for over 1,800 flights per week on 160 routes during summer 2022. The schedule includes destinations such as Faro, Fuerteventura, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Marseille and Malta; cities such as Budapest, Copenhagen, Lisbon are Rome included.

The low-cost airline has said that it will introduce more flexible policies ahead of the 2021 summer travel season, in an effort to boost passenger confidence; passengers will be able to change their flights without a fee at any time up to two hours prior to departure. If a mandatory hotel quarantine impacts a destination, passengers can also now request a refund for their flight within four weeks prior to departure if the restriction is still in place, even if flights are still operating.

The country's government said yesterday, 28 April, that it is considering plans to allow public events with up to 3,000 spectators from July, although such events would be restricted to attendees who have been vaccinated against COVID-19, can prove they've recovered from the illness or test negative. Elsewhere, Switzerland this month further eased other COVID-19 restrictions, allowing restaurants to re-open outdoor terraces and sports events to take place with much more limited audiences; cinemas and concert venues can also re-admit limited numbers of guests.

The UK transport secretary has confirmed that an NHS mobile app will from 17 May be used to allow Britons to demonstrate whether they have had a COVID-19 vaccination, or tested negative for the virus, before travelling internationally; the country is hoping to re-open international borders to leisure travel from this date, with confirmation expected in the coming days. Officials are planning to launch a ‘traffic light’ system, with safe countries rated ‘green’, while travel to ‘red’ countries will be prohibited.

The Dubai-based airline and the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) have said that they have started to implement full digital verification of COVID-19 medical records connected to testing and vaccination for travellers based in the UAE; the new streamlined verification procedures will enable secure and faster processing times for customers departing from Dubai International Airport.

The Spanish low-cost airline has said that it's set to offer twice-weekly flights between the UK's Newcastle International Airport and Barcelona this summer; the services will operate to and from Barcelona-El Prat Airport on Wednesdays and Sundays between July and October.

The airline has announced four new short-haul routes to Wroclaw and Gdansk in Poland, Riga in Latvia and Cluj-Napoca in Romania; all are due to start from the beginning of July and operate throughout the summer season. All flights will be served from London Heathrow Airport, with those to Wroclaw operating twice per week, and those to Gdansk, Riga and Cluj-Napoca operating three times per week.

London Luton Airport has announced that in preparation for the expected restart of UK international travel from 17 May, it has opened a new in-terminal COVID-19 testing facility with its partner, Collinson. The expansion adds to the existing drive-through facility located in the mid-term car park, which launched in December. Across both facilities, the full range of UK government-approved COVID-19 test options will be on offer.

The government of New Zealand has confirmed that quarantine-free travel between the country and the region of Western Australia will begin again at 12 midday (local time) on 28 April, for passengers who are not close contacts of known COVID-19 cases. The same arrangement had previously been paused after the announcement of a three-day lockdown in Perth, Western Australia which ended at 00.01 (local time) on 27 April.

The middle-eastern airline has announced that it will operate three weekly flights to Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire via Accra from 16 June; the route becomes the fourth new destination in Africa announced by Qatar Airways since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Abidjan service will be operated by a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft featuring 22 seats in business class and 232 in economy.

The national carrier of Belgium has said that it will start of resume flight services to 43 destinations throughout the spring and summer, including its first flights across the North Atlantic in more than a year; once added, the airline will serve a total of 79 destinations.

The prime minister of Australia has today, 27 April, announced in a televised news conference that the country has suspended direct flights from India in response to a surge of COVID-19 cases in India. The suspension is currently due to be in force until at least 15 May, and primarily impacts two passenger services from India into Sydney, plus two repatriation flights from India to Darwin, totalling around 500 arrivals.

The government of the territory has announced that the British Virgin Islands will from 15 May reduce its quarantine requirement to one day for passengers fully vaccinated against COVID-19, pending a negative PCR test undertaken upon arrival. All passengers, including those who are vaccinated, will still be required to produce a negative COVID-19 PCR test result obtained within five days of travel and will then be subjected to the additional PCR test upon arrival. Otherwise, entry protocols will remain the same for un-vaccinated arrivals.

The U.S. airline has announced that it will add more than 480 daily flights to its domestic schedule in June, bringing its total number of daily domestic departures to more than 3,100. The increase will put the Chicago-based carrier at 67% of its June 2019 domestic schedule and 60% of its total June 2019 flying. Among the new routes the airline will introduce in June are Hawaii services from Chicago O'Hare to Kona, and from Newark to Maui.

The country's tourism ministry has outlined plans for Spain to begin welcoming visitors from June, following a pilot trial of COVID-19 digital health certificates at all 46 Spanish airports in May. The nation's government has been reportedly planning for vaccine certification since February due to the importance of tourism to the Spanish economy.

The major of the Austrian capital has announced that the city will cautiously loosen its current COVID-19 'lockdown' measures from 3 May, a month after they were introduced; thus far nationally, Austria has undergone three such periods, the last of which was eased in February. Vienna, however, reintroduced a full 'lockdown' on 1 April to help hospitals facing rising cases of the virus.

Government officials in India have announced that from today, 27 April, the city of Bengaluru will enter a 14-day COVID-19 'lockdown' as both it and the country nationally battles a sharp surge in infections; Karnataka state, of which Bengaluru is capital, will also face the same measures during this time frame.

The country's finance minister has warned that Germany's government does not expect moves to be made to ease current COVID-19 restrictions until the end of May, following a further rise in COVID-19 infections in the past week, despite stricter measures. New laws passed by Germany's parliament last week also give the federal government more power to impose overnight curfews in areas where COVID-19 cases exceed 100 per 100,000 population on three consecutive days.