The return to JFK is focused on the premium and business travelers between the east and west coast of the United States. It is a move that now allows the airline to provide air travel service from all three of the major New York airports.

“United’s return to JFK reflects not only our strong commitment to the New York City area, but also to increasing service to and from the places our customers want to fly,” said Ankit Gupta, Vice President of Domestic Network Planning and Scheduling. “With the addition of JFK, United now offers unmatched service, greater convenience, more choice and a best-in-class product for travelers throughout the New York City region as they return to the skies.”

This new service currently offers one round-trip flight, five days a week to each West Coast airport. United says that passengers can expect to see the number of flights double in the near future as the demand increases.

The premium cabins on these United Airlines flights feature flat-bed seats on all flights. This is similar to the current flight to Los Angeles and San Francisco from its hub in Newark.

According to the airline, amenities onboard the trans-con flights include the signature cooling gel pillow along with the Saks Fifth Avenue day blanket and pillow. Meal on the flights, offer seasonal menus crafted by renowned chefs and distinctive amenities.

These offering are available to travelers in United Business and United Premium Plus sections who enjoy a complimentary hot entrée, mixed nuts, salad and dessert, as well as complimentary alcoholic beverages.

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Earlier this week, the airline announced the COVID-19 testing for passengers headed to Hawaii from its hub in San Francisco. This is a pilot program that may be expanded to other locations.

As an island, Hawaii has been virtually shut down to travel. An economically painful thing for an island state that relies so heavily on tourism.

All travelers, including residents returning home, to Hawaii have been subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine. This is clearly not attractive to someone headed there for a vacation.

This new COVID-19 testing program from United may be just what the state’s tourism industry needs. If expanded, the program may help eliminate quarantine restrictions to other popular destinations.

But most importantly, the program by the airline will help stop the spread of the corona virus.

“Our new COVID testing program is another way we are helping customers meet their destinations’ entry requirements, safely and conveniently,” said Toby Enqvist, Chief Customer Officer at United.

“We’ll look to quickly expand customer testing to other destinations and U.S. airports later this year to complement our state-of-the-art cleaning and safety measures that include a mandatory mask policy, antimicrobial and electrostatic spraying and our hospital-grade HEPA air filtration systems.”

The testing program will begin on October 15 at the SFO airport. Passengers will have 2 COVID-19 testing options. A rapid test at the airport just before departure, or a mail-in test kit.

In a press release, the airline indicated that passengers will be able to schedule their rapid test online ahead of their travel date. At the airport, they will be tested for COVID-19 and can expect to receive their results in approximately 15 minutes.

For the mail-in option, United will send the passenger an option to receive a test kit 10 days prior to departure. The passenger would use the test kit at home and return it for analysis 72 hours prior to their flight. The kit should be sent via overnight mail, or can be dropped off to a drop box at the SFO airport.

United Airlines was the first carrier to offer this service in the US.

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At the height of the outbreak, the U.S. restricted international travelers coming into the country to a small number of specific airports. This was an attempt to provide better screening and tracking of individuals arriving from outside of the U.S. The goals was to limit the spread of COVID-19.

The prior restrictions limited arrivals to fifteen airports in the U.S. This applied to anyone traveling in from China, Iran, England, Ireland, Brazil and the Schengen region of Europe.

The government is now lifting that restriction on international travelers.

For some, this may sound pre-mature as COVID-19 is certainly still an issue. The change does not mean that the government is not concern about the spread of the virus. It means that they have had time to learn more about screening and monitoring. Now, they are simply implementing a more appropriate strategy.

The focus of and methods of international travel restrictions is changing, not being eliminated.

In a press release the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services wrote, “We now have a better understanding of COVID-19 transmission that indicates symptom-based screening has limited effectiveness because people with COVID-19 may have no symptoms or fever at the time of screening, or only mild symptoms.”

“Transmission of the virus may occur from passengers who have no symptoms or who have not yet developed symptoms of infection. Therefore, CDC is shifting its strategy and prioritizing other public health measures to reduce the risk of travel-related disease transmission.”

According to the agency, the new approach will be one that is more individual focused. It will also include educating the passengers and working with airports and airlines to control procedures to try to minimize lines and crowds.

The focus will also narrow in on travel from countries when spikes of the virus become prevalent.

The goal of the government remains protecting the health of the American people. It believes that this new approach is the more effective way of doing that.

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Today’s 9/11 remembrance ceremony honors the crewmembers of American Flight 11, American Flight 77, United Flight 93, and United Flight 175.

Typically, a large number of pilots gathers for the ceremony. Due to COVID-19 restrictions however, this year’s event will be performed via a webcast.

We’ve provided link to the 9/11 memorial remembrance ceremony live webcast here.

The live stream will begin at 8:30am eastern.

ALPA is the union that represents more than 63,000 airline pilots from 35 different airlines across the U.S. and Canada.

The ceremony had been held each year at a memorial garden built at the ALPA headquarters in Reston VA. This year’s ceremony will take place at ALPA’s new headquarters located in McLean, VA.

Friday’s ceremony will be led by ALPA’s national officers and held in a new Remembrance Garden at the new location.

Also expected to speak in today’s ceremony, remotely, are the Chairman of the United MEC (representing the pilots of United Airlines) and the ALPA Canada president.

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While another almost 24,000 employees have already taken retirement buyouts and voluntary separations, according to CNN, the company will need to reduce their staff by at least another 40,000 employees to stay afloat.

Reuters.com states that these cuts “comprise of 17,500 furloughs of union workers -including 1,600 pilots and 8,100 flight attendants – and 1,500 management positions.”

The CARES Act, which provided $50 billion worth of help for the airlines, did not allow the companies to lay-off or involuntarily furlough any staff members until October. With that deadline quickly approaching, American has become more fearful for the future of the company.

A letter warning of the impending lay-offs was sent on Aug. 25 to over 17,500 American Airlines employees, reported CNN.

“The only problem with the legislation is that when it was enacted in March, it was assumed that by September 30, the virus would be under control and demand for air travel would have returned,” American CEO Doug Parker and President Robert Isom wrote in a letter sent to employees.

“That is obviously not the case. Based on current demand levels, we at American now plan to fly less than 50% of our airline in the fourth quarter, with long-haul international particularly reduced to only 25% of 2019 levels,” they added.

According to ABC News, “…other airlines are also announcing job cuts as air travel remains down around 70% compared with last year and experts predict it will not return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024.”

Earlier this summer, United Airlines announced that it would need to lay-off a total of 36,000 employees and sent furlough warning letters to 2250 of its pilots.

Earlier this week, Delta Air Lines also announced that just under 2000 of its pilots would be furloughed on October 1.

Aside from the furloughs, American will also suspend services to 15 small cities in October if their financial needs are not met.

Forbes.com reported that in order to avoid lay-offs and suspended flights, there will need to be an extension of the federal aid program.

Across the Airline industry, there will be well over 100,000 lay-offs without an extension of the CARES Act to include relief for the industry. This will mean these same unemployed individuals will add to already strained unemployment services in states across the country. Industry leaders and unions are urging Congress to take action and save these jobs before it’s too late.

The post American Airlines to Furlough 19,000 Employees unless Congress Helps appeared first on CitizenNewsWire.

Earlier this year the airline announced a partnership with the Cleveland Clinic and Clorox to team up and make their airplanes as virus-free as possible.

In addition to cleaning each aircraft between flights with electro-static disinfectant sprayers, and wiping down all high-touch surfaces in the cabin, United has also been requiring face masks for both passengers and employees.

Cleaning crews and the pilots also wipe down surfaces in the cockpit to keep crew members safe, but this can be challenging give the number of buttons, knobs and other sensitive equipment at the front of each aircraft.

Now, the airlines says it will being using a new handheld tool ideal for disinfecting sensitive switches and touch screen displays with the power of UV light.

The devices, AUVCo blades from the American Ultraviolet company, are able to effectively “kill any viruses that may reside on sensitive switches and touch screen displays within the flight deck,” according to a press release from United.

“Safety is our highest priority and we continue to research, test and roll out new technologies to keep our aircraft and terminals safe for both customers and crew,” said Bryan Quigley, United’s senior vice president of flight operations.

“Flight decks have many working parts, screens and components that are challenging to clean with traditional hand wipes and liquids, especially for someone who isn’t a pilot. The UVC lighting gives us a faster, more effective disinfection of one of the most important areas of the aircraft.”

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Nicholas Bubeck will soon be traveling from his home in Arizona to the United Airlines Pilot Training Center in Denver Colorado where he will be a “pilot for a day” and get some training in a real multi-million-dollar flight simulator. The same training simulators used by real pilots every day at the airline to earn ratings in new aircraft or maintain their proficiency in the aircraft they currently operate as a United Airlines Pilot.

The family appeared on Good Morning America (GMA), in the video seen here, where morning host Michael Strahan broke the news to them about the inspired offer from the global airline.

So how did this young man earn this amazing opportunity? It all started with some arts and crafts with his mother and siblings to keep busy at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nicholas, who loves aviation, started making model airplanes out of popsicle sticks and some other odds and ends. To encourage his entrepreneurial spirit his mother suggested that he should take orders to sell the airplanes online and donate the proceeds help the families of first responders, as well as, babies in neonatal intensive care units.

To this end, they created a web site – Creations by Nicholas (https://www.creationsbynicholas.com/) to sell the model airplanes, and airplane kits that children can assemble at home as well. United Airlines,

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