What Does "America First" Mean For Aviation?
London, UK: Mohammad Tariq Mahmood was travelling to L.A with eleven members of his family in December. They were planning a lovely trip to Disneyland when they were stopped at the airport and refused to get on the plane, apparently with no justified reason.
Norwegian Airlines said: "We can confirm that a group of passengers were denied the right to board a flight from London Gatwick to Los Angeles on Tuesday 15 December at the request of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Norwegian fully complies with requests from the border controls of each country we serve."
American, Delta and United airlines also comply with Trump's decision to ban citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, they confirmed that they are offering "refunds and other accommodation" to people without a green card. This measure, according to the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) has cost the travel industry around USD 185 million in lost revenue right after the executive order was implemented. On the words of UK newspaper "The Telegraph:" Donald Trump's Muslim ban would cost US at least USD 12bn a year”. Most of this lost revenue will have a massive impact on the aviation industry.
According to various media sources, in the US, there are not going to be any other countries added to the current list, but other Muslim minority countries seem to be paranoid about a "sudden change" of policy by the US. Pakistan could be the next in line. IATA (International Air Transport Association) called for an proper explanation about this.
The story continues. The Justice Department : "A federal appeals court should not reconsider a ruling that suspended Trump's 27th order" - the legality of this order has been revised by the judges. We will see what the outcome will be and how much more the aviation industry will be affected in the next months.