Curbside check-in is making a comeback at Delta Air Lines with the carrier’s iconic Sky Caps starting to return this month.

The airline says it is offering the option to help reduce crowding in airport lobbies and Sky Caps will be available in more leisure markets.

The return of the Sky  Caps comes as Delta is making middle seats available again from May 1, re-opening its Sky Clubs and reintroducing onboard snack and beverage services.

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Delta expects almost three-quarters of its US customers to be vaccinated by early summer and this week outlined what they can expect when they travel this summer.

Passengers already enjoy drinks and snacks and by June, customers flying in Delta One or first class on select domestic coast-to-coast flights will see hot food options return while and first-class customers on other key U.S. routes will enjoy fresh boxed meals beginning in early July.

Also on the cards: fast Wi-Fi with streaming connectivity in partnership with Viasat.

Delta customer experience officer Bill Lentsch said the move to reintroduce the onboard snacks and beverages had already produced double digit-improvements in customer satisfaction in that area.

Lentsch said masks would remain a requirement in line with federal law and additional staff would be positioned in airport lobbies to remind customers of the obligation.

One consequence of the expected increase in passenger numbers will be that there will be fewer distancing stickers on airport floors, Delta Sky Clubs, gatehouse seating and jetways.

But hand sanitizer stations and plexiglass shields would remain in place.

“We will also continue to disinfect onboard aircraft, airport lobbies, jet bridges, gatehouses and Clubs with electrostatic spray each night, which takes into account recent CDC guidance on surface sanitization,’’ he said.

The executive noted that air on aircraft was also recirculated 10 to 30 times an hour with fresh, outside air through industrial-grade HEP filters capable of extracting more than 99.9 percent of particles, including viruses.

Lentsch also urged customers to enroll in the Transport Security Administration’s PreCheck program or CLEAR to accelerate their passage through airport security.

He noted the TSA continued to hire security screening officers to ensure checkpoints are adequately staffed for the summer.

“And they’ll continue many of the safety and cleaning protocols they started during the pandemic well through the recovery, such as plexiglass protection and more touchless ID verification in select airports,’’ he said.

Delta has introduced a Travel Planning Center as is a one-stop guide to managing travel restrictions, testing requirements and other issues.

A Delta Discover map has more filters and features to help customers decide where to go and to book tickets.

The airline is also urging customers to download its app to get quick access to digital boarding passes and important notifications about their trip.

Delta started blocking off middle seats in April 2020 and says it continued it for a year to give customers peace of mind.

“While Delta’s decision to block middle seats has given many customers a reason to choose Delta over the past year, the signature hospitality of our employees and the experiences they deliver to customers every day have also deepened their trust in our airline,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in announcing the end of the policy.

“The relationships we’ve built, together with the knowledge that nearly 65 percent of those who flew Delta in 2019 anticipate having at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by May 1, are what’s giving us the assurance to offer customers the ability to choose any seat on our aircraft, while also introducing new services, products and rewards to support the journey.”

Ryanair has released a Summer 2022 schedule featuring more than 10,000 flights per week across 500 routes to its most popular destinations with promises of more to come.

The leading European airline is offering a mix of beach holidays, city breaks, adventurous landscapes “and all of the cultural experiences customers have been eagerly awaiting”.

Popular summer destinations such as Barcelona, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Lisbon, Malta, the Greek islands and Naples are on the list along with Berlin, Krakow, Venice, Rome and Seville.

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The airline spiced the summer schedule announcement with a seat sale with fares available from just €29.99 for travel until the end of October 2022.

“With over 10,000 flights every week and further destinations to be released in the coming months, customers can now make travel plans for Summer 2022 with greater ease, ’’ said Ryanair commercial director Jason McGuinness.

“We have launched routes to firm favorites such as Malaga, Malta, Palermo, Venice, Faro, Tenerife and the Greek Islands, with many more to be added soon,’’ said Ryanair commercial director Jason McGuinness.

Meanwhile, rival British Airways also announced new routes to Europe as its looks “add breadth” to its international network during the crucial northern summer.

The airline announced new short-haul routes to Wroclaw and Gdansk in Poland, Riga (RIX) in Latvia and Cluj-Napoca (CLJ) in Romania using its short-haul Airbus fleet.

Two of the cities have never before been served by BA and flights to all four will head out from London Heathrow from the beginning of July and operate throughout the summer.

“It’s great to be launching new routes as we listen to our customers and assess where they want to travel,’’ said British Airways director networks and alliances Neil Chernoff.

“We know these four new destinations will be popular with people visiting friends and relatives, but they also offer great city breaks, when the time is right, with flights that head out just before the weekend and return on Sunday.”

Flights to Wroclaw will operate twice a week while those to Gdansk, Riga and Cluj-Napoca operating three times a week.

Bookings are already open and return fares start  from £83 to Wroclaw, £85 to Gdansk, £94 to Riga, and £95 to Cluj,

The British carrier last operated flights to Riga in 2007 and flew briefly to Gdansk between 1999 and the early-2000s. It has never served the other two airports.

The airline said the flights complemented an already strong network to most of the countries with regular flights scheduled to Krakow and Warsaw in Poland, and Bucharest in Romania.

It will also launch a new summer service to Perugia on June 28 that was due to start in 2020 but was delayed due to the impact of the pandemic.

Airlines have welcomed comments by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen suggesting vaccinated travelers from the US could be granted unrestricted access to Europe this northern summer.

But the International Air Transport Association has warned the devil will be in the detail.

Von der Leyen told The New York Times that she would propose that the EU’s 27 member states accept visitors who have received EU-approved vaccines. The vaccines so far approved by European Medicines Agency are Pfizer, Astra Zeneca, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

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“The Americans, as far as I can see, use European Medicines Agency-approved vaccines,” von der Leyen told the Times in an interview. “This will enable free movement and the travel to the European Union.

Although von der Leyen did not give a timeline or details, the comments were seen as a shift in policy and were welcomed by airlines. The newspaper said her comments suggested the EC would recommend the travel policy change soon.

“This is a step in the right direction,’’ said International Air Transport Association director-general Willie Walsh.

“It gives hope to people for so many reasons—to travel, to reunite with loved ones, to develop business opportunities or to get back to work.”

However, Walsh noted that details of the EC’s intentions are essential.

“To be fully prepared, it is imperative that the EC works with the industry so that airlines can plan within the public health benchmarks and timelines that will enable unconditional travel for those vaccinated, not just from the US but from all countries using vaccines that are approved by the European Medicines Association,’’ Walsh said.

“Equally critical will be clear, simple and secure digital processes for vaccination certificates.”

“The IATA Travel Pass can help industry and governments manage and verify vaccination status, as it does with testing certificates.

“But we are still awaiting the development of globally recognized standards for digital vaccine certificates.”

Walsh called on the EU to accelerate the adoption of its Green Certificate, which will offer proof that a traveler has either been vaccinated against COVID-19, received a negative test result or recovered from the disease.

The EU is proposing the free certificate will include a QR code, be in a traveler’s national language and English and valid in all EU countries.

But the IATA boss said the freedom to travel should not exclude those who are unable to be vaccinated.

“The presentation of negative COVID-19 test results should also facilitate travel,’’ he said.

“Central to this is acceptance by EU governments of rapid antigen tests that the Commission has approved for use and which fulfill the critical criteria of effective, convenient and affordable.”

The on-again, off-again Singapore-Hong Kong travel bubble is back on again with plans to launch on May 26.

The bubble will start cautiously with one flight a day in each direction capped at 200 passengers each for the first two weeks.

Conditions include remaining in either city for 14 days prior to departure, downloading each city’s contact tracing app and testing negative no more than 72 hours prior to departure and again on arrival.

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The move comes after an aborted attempt to start a travel bubble in November last year and a more recent halt to Singapore Airlines flights to Hong Kong after a passenger tested positive.

Singapore’s Transport Ministry said Monday that both parties had reviewed the arrangements for the air travel bubble (ATB) and made several improvements, including stricter conditions for a resumption should the deal be suspended due to COVID-19 clusters in either city.

“Since then, the COVID-19 situation in Hong Kong has improved, with very few local unlinked COVID-19 cases over the past few weeks,’’ it said.

“Community cases in Singapore remained very low throughout the time. The risk profiles of both cities are therefore now similar.”

Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific Monday welcomed the resumption of the two-way quarantine-free bubble and said it plans to fly the service using Airbus A350-900 aircraft.

It said the flights would be operated by cabin crew and pilots who had been fully vaccinated.

“With travel having been difficult for everyone over the past year, we know that our customers have been eagerly anticipating the launch of our Hong Kong-Singapore air travel bubble flights so that they can rediscover the joy of flying,’’ Cathay said.

“We believe the safe and secure bubble flights will be a milestone showcase for the opening of similar travel arrangements with other popular destinations.”

The first bubble flight will operate as CX759 departing Hong Kong on May 26 with a return flight, CX734, heading back from Singapore on May 27.

The flights will operate May 27, May 29 and June 1, 3, 5, 6 and 8 until June 10, when Cathay will start operating daily return flights.

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