Australia reopens

Australia will open its borders to all vaccinated tourists and business travelers from Feb. 21. The country imposed some of the world's toughest travel restrictions on its citizens in March 2020 to prevent them from bringing COVID-19 home. Tourist operators have been lobbying the government to bring tourists back sooner. "It's been a long, hard and desperate road for every tourism business across the country and we have lost many along the way, but this news will give those who have survived a clear target to work towards and a start point for the rebuilding of the industry," said Peter Shelley, managing director of the Australian Tourism Export Council.

Associated Press

Join the Mile High Club

For $995, Love Cloud will fly you and a partner in a private plane for 45 minutes so that you can have sex. Granted, you don't have to have sex. You could pay $1,195 to get married on board. For $100 more, it can be booked for a romantic one-course meal; for $1,595, you'll get three courses. But according to Andy Johnson, 40, a pilot and the founder of Love Cloud, which operates out of North Las Vegas Airport, the Mile High Club Flight is the most popular offering. It even comes with a commemorative membership card. Those who buy the flight will find a Cessna 414 plane decked out with a twin mattress and pillows, all ensconced in red satin. A curtain separates the passengers from the pilot, who wears noise-canceling headphones. Yes, the plane and its bedding are cleaned after each trip.

New York Times

Cruise line unmasks

Norwegian Cruise Line said in an update to its Sail Safe guidance that it will nix masking rules for all departures starting March 1. The changes arrive while the omicron surge continues an overall decline. The company recommends passengers wear masks indoors — except when they are actively eating or drinking — and outside when social distancing is not possible. Norwegian will continue to enforce mask requirements on European sailings depending on local government rules. For sailings that embark after Feb. 28, "the decision to wear a mask covering when onboard is at the discretion of each guest," the Norwegian guidance said.

Washington Post

Budget airline merger

Budget airlines Frontier and Spirit have announced plans for a merger that would create the fifth-largest airline in the United States. Will ticket prices go up for Frontier and Spirit flights? Michael Boyd, president of aviation consulting firm Boyd Group International, said he does not expect it. That's because they don't compete against one another in many of the same markets, unlike the situation for Delta and Northwest, which merged in 2008. He noted that Spirit and Frontier primarily target customers traveling for leisure, so "it's a different market strategy." Scott Keyes, founder of Scott's Cheap Flights, said his fear is that the merger could result in higher fares by decreasing competition. "Competition between airlines is the single biggest determinant of how many cheap flights travelers can expect to see on a given route," he said.

Washington Post