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world news Diabierna 7 Januari 2022

Near-empty flights crisscross Europe to secure landing slots

(AP) — Europe’s sky is Even if the holidays brought
filling up with near-emp- a big increase in passengers
ty polluting planes that — marked by thousands of
serve little other purpose flight cancellations that left
than safeguarding air- travelers stranded — the rest
lines’ valuable time slots of the winter period could
at some of the world’s be slow as omicron surges
most important airports. worldwide.
The highly contagious omi- Landing and departure slots
cron variant of COVID-19 for popular routes in the big-
has put many off flying, and gest airports are an extremely
because of it, getting people precious commodity in the
and goods from point A to industry, and to keep them,
point B has become an af- airlines have to guarantee a
terthought for thousands of high percentage of flights. It
flights. It has created strange is why loss-making flights
bedfellows, with environ- have to be maintained to en-
mentalists and major air- sure companies keep their
lines united to cut down on slots.
empty or near-empty flights
by pressuring the European It was an accepted practice
Union — a pledged global despite the pollution con-
leader in combating climate cerns, but the pandemic
change — to tweak the rules slump in flying put that in
on airport slots. question. Normally, airlines pandemic might finally wane, just to secure their slots.” flying as much as possible.
had to use 80% of their given the European Commission EU Transport Commission-
“The EU surely is in a climate slots to preserve their rights, confirmed the 50% rule but KLM agreed. er Adina Valean last month
emergency mode,” activ- but the EU has cut that to said it would be increased to acknowledged the threat of
ist Greta Thunberg tweeted 50% to ensure as few empty 64% at the end of March. “So if the remainder of the omicron to the travel indus-
sarcastically this week, link- or near-empty planes criss- season is very disappoint- try, but as of Thursday, she
ing to a story about Brussels cross the sky as possible. However, major airlines like ing, as an airline you can find had not announced any new
Airlines making unnecessary Lufthansa, Air France and yourself in the situation of ei- regulations.
flights. In the U.S., the Federal KLM say they are counting ther losing slots because you
Aviation Administration has on further flexibility, includ- cancel flights or flying with Belgian Transport Minister
The company has said that if waived similar minimum ing further decreasing the half-empty aircraft. Both sit- Georges Gilkinet wrote her
the EU doesn’t take action, it slot-use rules through March threshold level on the time uations are not desirable,” the a stinging letter and was lob-
would have to fly some 3,000 26, citing the pandemic. Slots slots. Dutch company said. bying his EU counterparts
journeys this winter primar- are limited at only a hand- to join the initiative and in-
ily to safeguard its network ful of U.S. airports, includ- “More flexibility in the short It puts the EU in a bind. On crease pressure.
rights. ing Kennedy and LaGuardia term is required, not just in one hand, it needs to ensure
in New York and Reagan summer but also in the cur- that airport slots are open to “The high-level pollution
German giant Lufthansa said Washington National outside rent winter schedule,” a Luf- fair competition, allowing created by these flights runs
it would have to fly an addi- Washington. thansa statement said. “With- newcomers to vie for them if totally counter to the EU’s
tional 18,000 “unnecessary” out this crisis-related flex- they are not used sufficiently, climate objectives,” accord-
flights through the winter Just last month, when there ibility, airlines are forced to and on the other, it wants to ing to the letter obtained by
to hold on to landing slots. were still some hopes the fly with planes almost empty, keep polluting planes from The Associated Press.

In South Korea, hair loss emerges as new election issue

(AP) — South Korean the governing party candi- Lee, an outspoken liberal, is
presidential candidate date, to win votes. leading public opinion sur-
Lee Jae-myung isn’t bald. veys. Some critics have called
But he is enjoying the sup- Messages on social media him a dangerous populist.
port of many bald voters include, “Jae-myung bro. I
over his push for govern- love you. I’ll implant you in “(Lee’s idea) may appear to
ment payments for hair the Blue House” and “Your be a necessary step for many
loss treatments. Excellency, Mr. President! people worrying about their
You’re giving new hope to hair loss but it’s nothing but
Since his proposal was dis- bald people for the fist time serious populism, given that
closed earlier this week, in Korea.” it would worsen the financial
hair loss has emerged as a stability of the state insurance
hot-button topic ahead of Lee told reporters Wednesday program,” the conservative
March’s presidential vote in that he thinks hair regrowth Munhwa Ilbo newspaper said
South Korea, where previ- treatments should be covered in an editorial Thursday.
ous elections have focused by the national health insur-
on North Korea’s nuclear ance program. Currently, hair loss related to
program, relations with the aging and hereditary factors
U.S., scandals and economic “Please, let us know what is not covered by the gov-
problems. has been inconvenient for ernment-run insurance pro-
you over hair-loss treatments gram. Hair loss treatments
Online communities for bald and what must be reflected are only supported if the loss
people are flooded with mes- in policies,” Lee wrote on is caused by certain diseases.
sages supporting his proposal. Facebook. “I’ll present a per-
There is also strong criticism fect policy on hair-loss treat- Reports say one in every five
that it’s just a populism-driv- ment.” South Koreans suffers from
en campaign pledge by Lee, hair loss.