The federal government is waiving the monthly rent paid by airport authorities to Ottawa for the rest of the year as revenues plummet amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The move applies to 21 airport authorities as well as PortsToronto, which operates Billy Bishop airport and pays a charge to the federal government.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau says the measure will provide support worth up to $331.4 million in ground lease rents from March through December.

Morneau says the air transportation sector has “suffered tremendously,” as airlines cancel the vast majority of their flights and lay off thousands of staff.

Flair Airlines told us they have evaluated the current circumstance and listened to feedback from its passengers, reducing their flight operations to core routes servicing Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton through June 15th. Flair said it has taken measures to implement social distancing practices from boarding to baggage.

• Gate agents and flight attendants may now move passengers to other seats to create a more comfortable environment when time and flight loads permit.

• The seat assignment algorithm has been modified to spread out passengers and restrict access to middle seats wherever possible.

• The boarding process has been slowed to create space between passengers.

• Baggage handler partners have been instructed to increase separation of items on the carousel.

The city of Toronto says it’s cancelling all public events for the next three months to try and halt the spread of COVID-19. Mayor John Tory says all festivals, conferences and cultural events scheduled until June 30 are suspended in a bid to comply with public health advice.

The cancellation includes major city events including the annual Pride festival.

However, Toronto’s ban on city-led events through June 30 does not prohibit sporting events at private facilities.

It was suggested that the Maple Leafs and Raptors could still play games at Scotiabank Arena, and the Blue Jays could play at the Rogers Centre.

The same could hold true for the Queen’s Plate at Woodbine Racetrack on June 27 and the RBC Canadian Open June 11-14 at St. George’s Golf and Country Club.

However, almost all major sports leagues and events around the world have been suspended, cancelled or postponed indefinitely because of the COVID-19 crisis.

The city says the cancellation date will be reviewed every two weeks and extended further into the summer if needed.

Also, Ontario has extended its state of emergency through April 14. It prohibits events or gatherings of more than five people.

There also is an international travel ban in place, prohibiting anyone deemed non-essential from entering Canada.

Prince Edward Island’s chief health officer is urging cottage owners from outside the province to refrain from heading to the Island for their summer vacation until the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided.

Dr. Heather Morrison says anyone coming to P.E.I. must isolate themselves from others for two weeks, which means they will require support from the community to get food and other provisions.

Morrison issued the plea Tuesday after she confirmed the province had recorded three new confirmed cases of the virus, which brought the Island’s total to 21. She said all three new cases are people who had travelled abroad, and the province has yet to record any cases caused by transmission within the community.

Morrison also confirmed that police in Summerside, P.E.I., issued a $1,000 fine Tuesday morning to an individual who had failed to comply with orders to self-isolate.

Officials in Florida are meeting Tuesday to decide whether to let the cruise ship MS Zaandam dock after more than two weeks at sea.

The Zaandam and its sister ship the MS Rotterdam have about 2,700 passengers and crew on board, including 248 Canadians.

The two ships were stranded off the coast of Panama after the novel coronavirus made its way on board.

On Monday they passed through the Panama Canal after being anchored on the west side of the canal with four dead and nearly 200 passengers and crew exhibiting flu-like symptoms.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has said the state’s health care resources are stretched too thin to allow the ship to dock.

Nine US senators are demanding that airlines make cash refunds to customers whose flights were cancelled during the coronavirus outbreak.

The lawmakers said Tuesday that because Congress gave airlines an “unprecedented bailout” in the economic-relief bill, they have a moral responsibility to provide cash refunds to customers whose flights were cancelled and help bring back Americans who are stranded abroad.

Some travellers have complained that airlines< offered them only travel vouchers, not cash refunds. Airlines have operated flights, including some chartered by the State Department, to return stranded Americans.

A trade group for the airlines did not immediately return a message for comment. American Airlines said if it cancels a flight, customers can get a full refund in the form of their original payment.

Mexican naval personnel said Tuesday they have evacuated a suspected coronavirus patient with “acute respiratory infection” from the British cruise ship Marella Explorer 2.

The ship operated by Marella Cruises, part of British company TUI, was anchored 1.5 nautical miles (3 kilometres) off the Yucatan state port of Puerto Progreso.

The Philippine government is studying the possibility of deploying ships that can serve as “floating quarantine hospitals” for people infected by the coronavirus after leading hospitals are filled up to capacity.

The government says in a report to Congress that ships could be fitted with medical equipment and deployed anywhere in the archipelago. At least six private metropolitan Manila hospitals have announced they were full and can no longer accept COVID-19 patients.

Dubai’s government says it will inject equity into Emirates airlines as the Middle East’s largest carrier grounds nearly all of its flights due to coronavirus restrictions on travel at its hub.

Dubai’s Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum says liquidity would be given to the state-owned airline “considering its strategic importance” to Dubai and the economy of the United Arab Emirates. He did not say how much credit would be pumped into the airline.

Emirates carried around 58 million passengers last year, helping to transform Dubai’s airport into the world’s busiest for international travel for several years running.

Also Tuesday, low-cost carrier flydubai became the latest airline to announce pay cuts of its staff of nearly 4,000.

The company told The Associated Press it was reducing salaries between 25-50% for a three-month period starting in April.

Airports are empty and Manhattan avenues typically choked with taxis are almost vacant. The US Transportation Security Administration screened 154,080 people Monday, the fewest yet and a drop of more than 93% from last year, when more than 2.3 million people passed through airport checkpoints.

Visa is reporting a rapid slide in travel-related spending by cardholders. It’s also noticed a decline in spending on restaurants, entertainment and fuel, according to a regulatory filing. US payments volume is down 4% for the month to date, with credit volume off 7%. Cross-border volume tumbled 19% for the period, on a constant dollar basis.

German zoos are asking the government for a €100 ($155.3) million aid package to help cover costs as their revenue has fallen away due to the coronavirus crisis.

Germany has largely shut down public life and introduced a ban over a week ago on gatherings of more than two people in public. The restrictions are expected to remain in place until after Easter. An association representing 56 zoos wrote to Chancellor Angela Merkel, her finance and economy ministers as well as state governors on Tuesday.

The group’s chairman, Leipzig zoo director Joerg Junhold, said that “unlike other facilities, we cannot simply shut down our operations – our animals still have to be fed and cared for.”

With zoos closed to visitors, he said that “at the moment we are working without revenues but with expenses at a consistently high level.” He said that a big zoo currently has a weekly revenue shortfall of about €500,000 ($776,500).