Heathrow reopens runway, terminal on travel optimism

Bloomberg

London’s Heathrow Airport is dusting off facilities that have been mothballed for over a year, as Europe’s busiest airport prepares for a long-awaited surge in air traffic.
The hub reopened its second runway and plans to resume normal operations at Terminal 3 starting from July 15, a spokesman said. T3 closed in May 2020, around the same time Heathrow began using just a single landing strip.
The moves at Heathrow come alongside a relaxation of local lockdown rules after the UK rolled out vaccines against the coronavirus faster than most peers. The benefits for air travel have been delayed by the spread of the delta variant, which has complicated border decisions within the government and abroad.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed plans to scrap social-distancing and face-mask requirements in England. The government has said it will allow vaccinated people to return from medium-risk locations without isolating, but hasn’t given details.
Heathrow expects demand to increase “when ministers permit fully vaccinated passengers to travel more freely,” it said.
With the reopening, three of Heathrow’s four terminals
will be fully functional, the spokesman said.
Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd — which serves green-list destinations including Antigua, Barbados, Grenada and Israel — said it and US partner Delta Air Lines Inc will return to Terminal 3 once it is up and running.
The airport started using Terminal 3 to process arrivals from high-risk locations several weeks ago. Terminal 4 will take on the role for so-called red-list passengers, who are required to quarantine in a hotel.
The aviation industry is looking to rebound from the decimation brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, which spurred travel restrictions and lockdowns.
The UK still mandates quarantines, along with expensive Covid-19 tests, for people arriving from most countries.
The government said last month that it plans to ease the rules further “later in the summer” for returnees from amber-listed destinations.

British Airways settles lawsuit over 2018 data breach
Bloomberg

British Airways Plc settled a UK class-action lawsuit involving hundreds of thousands of customers caught up in a 2018 data breach.
The settlement, for an undisclosed sum, followed the leak of the personal data of 420,000 customers and staff, including bank details, contact information and addresses. The deal between IAG-owned British Airways and law firm PGMBM doesn’t include any admission of liability by the airline.
“The pace at which we have been able to resolve this process with British Airways has been particularly encouraging and demonstrates how seriously the legal system is taking mass data incidents,” said Harris Pogust, chairman of PGMBM, said.
British Airways has been rocked by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on its industry. In October, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office reduced the airline’s fine for the breach from
$254 million to 20 million pounds in the wake of the pandemic’s financial impact.