The EU is still deciding whether it will include new rules meant to curb state subsidies given to foreign airlines, the executive’s competition commissioner said Tuesday. The EC has drafted a “fair competition clause” that it wants to include in air service agreements with a number of countries including Qatar and the UAE. The clause outlines what is unfair state support such as the provision of capital, proposes a 30-day consultation day period if a dispute should arise and the power to suspend or revoke traffic rights if the complaining country is not satisfied. “We of course would like to try to enable more people to do business in Europe on a level playing field,” European commissioner for competition Margrethe Vestager said. “Nothing is final yet,” Vestager said about the new fair competition clause. <br/>
general
Global satellite operator SES and Wi-Fi provider Gogo, which has struggled to offer passengers fast Internet access on jetliners, have signed a contract to provide a major boost for in-flight connectivity over the US, Latin America and the North Atlantic. The agreement covers capacity on 2 high-powered satellites SES plans to launch next year. It also gives Gogo—with systems installed on more than 2,500 commercial aircraft operated by a dozen commercial carriers —the option to tap additional capacity on a third advanced SES satellite intended to begin serving Asia, the Middle East and other regions around the same time. Gogo officials have described the pact as the largest single agreement ever for airborne connectivity, though neither company disclosed the total value or other financial details of the agreement. <br/>
The US FAA proposed a new airworthiness directive for some Boeing 787-8s after a report found a defect in a wing component. The report said certain web fastener holes might not have been "deburred properly when manufactured". This can develop fatigue cracking and weaken the primary wing structure so it cannot sustain limit load, the FAA said. The directive, effective March 9, required revising the maintenance or inspections to include an airworthiness limit for repetitive inspections of the web fastener holes in the overwing flex-tees, the FAA said. Boeing issued a service bulletin to its customers about this in March 2015, a spokesman said. "Our recommendations, however, are not binding. Only a regulatory agency has the authority to require them. That is what the FAA's rule does," the spokesman said. <br/>
US airlines have slashed leisure fares to Puerto Rico in recent months to lure travellers to the debt-strapped island, hit by economic turmoil and lately the arrival of the mosquito-borne Zika virus. The lowest fares to San Juan have fallen 22% on average from a year ago, according to an early February analysis of 6 of the busiest US domestic routes to the island's capital by Harrell Associates, shared exclusively with Reuters. The drop outpaced an 18% fall nationwide in the high-restriction fares during that time, according to the travel consultancy's analysis. "It's a combination of slack demand in both directions," said an airline industry consultant. "Leisure travellers going to Puerto Rico are concerned both about the state of the economy and the extent to which leisure resort facilities are going to be properly maintained," he said. <br/>
A British exit from the EU would make the need for a third runway at Heathrow even more urgent, the boss of the airport has warned. Even though John Holland-Kaye, Heathrow's CE, has publicly supported Britain's continued membership of a reformed EU, he conceded a Brexit would strengthen the airport's campaign for another runway. "If we were to exit the EU we would become more dependent on trade with those non-EU markets which means we need more long-haul flights," Holland-Kaye said. "These long-haul airlines to emerging markets can't make it work at other UK airports, but can make it work at Heathrow and unless we add a new runway here we're not going to be able to do that." However, Holland-Kaye said he was still in favour of Britain staying in a reformed EU. <br/>
Russian airlines carried 16,770 passengers in January through the commuter subsidy program, according to Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsia. The agency said 388 flights were performed on 105 routes. Fifteen airlines took part in a program in January, including Angara, Aurora, YuVT-Aero, RusLine and Komiaviatrans. Last year, 26 carriers were involved in the subsidy program. The most popular route of the program is Novosibirsk-Talakan, which connects Novosibirsk with the oil-and-gas field airport in Yakutia (Sakha). The flights are operated by Angara Airline, which carried 1,097 passengers in January. In 2015, the program cost RUB4.1b (US$48m) out of a planned RUB4.2b. Airlines in the Volga region commuter program carried more than 9,100 passengers in January on more than 1,000 flights. <br/>
Iran has ordered 50 planes from Embraer in its latest move to modernise its ageing fleet, a govt spokesman said Tuesday. Like other orders since the lifting of sanctions Jan 16 under a nuclear deal with world powers, it will be a hire purchase contract, a spokesman said. “The govt is not going to spend its limited resources on things like buying planes,” he said. Iran has already announced orders for up to 40 planes from ATR, and a contract for the purchase of 118 Airbus aircraft, to be delivered over the next 4 years The Airbus deal — for 73 long-haul and 45 medium-haul aircraft — is worth US$10b to $11b, Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan, a deputy transport minister said. It too is a hire purchase deal, the govt spokesman said. It includes orders for 15 long-haul A350 aircraft. <br/>