Trips from USA to the rest of the world are surging driven by high inoculation figures. Now with bookings averaging 98 days before departure the rest of the world looks on, yearning to get COVID-19 shots into the arms of citizens . . . Good to announce continued air cargo business overall is up 24%, as compared to 2019 . . . But low-cost carriers, once the darling of the business were off a dreadful 87% while scheduled passenger business at 68% during a couple of days in April. Easter bump was there but sank immediately after the holiday for pax . . . Recall late April 1973 when Fred Smith launched FedEx with a fleet of package vans and a sky full of tiny Falcon jets. Today FedEx has 850 big airplanes and more than 100,000 delivery trucks. Fred Smith is still the boss, but be assured no more at the desk lunches for the Fed Ex visionary . . . In Europe busiest airport as April ended was IGA Istanbul, busiest airline was Turkish but both, compared to 2019, were way down. Positive news was short lived as April ended with Turkey’s government announcing nationwide "full lockdown" from April 29 to May 17 to curb COVID spread with even intercity travel requiring official approval. Pause sounds like the death knell to advancing those numbers at least for the next weeks . . . American Airlines Group $1.3Bn operating loss in Q1 2021 . . . Qatar Airways CEO says that there is ‘no future’ for the A380 . . . South African Airways hoping for regular operations in July/August this year . . . United Airlines aims to restore 67% of its domestic schedule in June as compared to 2019 . . . Finnair opens 60 destinations this summer, but also said it lost of €145M in Q1 . . . IAG says 10% of its services will operate with sustainable aviation fuel by 2030 . . . Ryanair looking ahead to 10,000 weekly frequencies across 500 routes for its summer 2022 schedule . . . Saved by the bell.Tenacious TAP Air Portugal has its bid for a €462M bail-out approved by the European Commission . . . Boeing 787 aircraft totals now top 1,000 aircraft . . . IATA predicts losses of $47.7 billion worldwide for the airlines in 2021 . . . International traffic from/to Middle-East remains almost 60% lower than 2020 . . . About the same story for international flights to and from China . . . Singapore Changi Airport reports year-on-year March 2021, pax down 90% but cargo up 5.5% versus March 2020 . . . ACI Europe said 2,000 air routes have ceased operation in just the first 120 days of this year with passenger numbers not expected to recover until 2025 . . .