The Senate refused Thursday to come to the aid of airline passengers squeezed by the ever-shrinking size of their seats. An amendment by Sen. Charles E. Schumer would have blocked airlines from further reducing the "size, width, padding, and pitch" of seats, passengers' legroom and the width of aisles. "It costs you an arm and a leg just to have room for your arms and legs," Schumer said. The amendment also would have required the FAA to set standards for the minimum amount of space airlines must provide passengers for their "safety, health and comfort." Airlines would have had to post the size of their seats on their websites so that people could take the information into consideration when buying tickets. The proposal failed on a vote of 42-54, with all but three Democrats in favor and all but one Republican against. Economy-class airline seats have shrunk in recent years on average from a width of 18 inches to a width of 16.5 inches. The average pitch has gone from 35 inches to about 31 inches. Many airlines are charging passengers extra for legroom amounts that used to come standard.<br/>
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The US Senate has agreed to boost security at airports in the aftermath of the Brussels attacks, according to a media report. Reuters reported a source as saying that agreement had been reached to amend an FAA bill with provisions that would bolster the vetting of airport employees with access to secure areas and approve the Transportation Security Administration to donate security equipment to foreign airports with direct flights to the US. Negotiations continue over other security items that could also be added, including federal grant money for training state and local law enforcement to respond to emergencies involving armed attacks. The deal is being brokered by Senator John Thune of South Dakota, Republican chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, and the panel's senior Democrat, Senator Bill Nelson of Florida. In coming days, the Senate is expected to vote on a bill which would renew the FAA's programmes until September 2017.<br/>
London Heathrow is to face more competition in the battle among Europe’s hub airports after Dublin said it would build a second runway by 2020. As the UK government continues to postpone a decision on whether to build a third runway at Heathrow, the announcement on Thursday by the Dublin Airport Authority will fuel the debate over whether London’s hub risks being further sidelined by the delay as rival airports move ahead with expansion plans. The announcement comes a year after Aer Lingus was bought by International Airlines Group. IAG owns British Airways, and as part of its takeover proposal it promised new routes and more long-haul flights from Dublin, where Aer Lingus is one of the two main airline customers, along with Ryanair. Willie Walsh, IAG’s CE, said at the time that the addition of Aer Lingus would allow IAG “to develop our network using Dublin as a hub between the UK, continental Europe and North America, generating additional financial value for our shareholders”. A big attraction for Walsh of buying the Irish carrier was the prospect that a second runway would be built in Dublin in the next few years, which he said was “inevitable”. IAG said on Thursday: “One of the advantages of IAG is that we can expand the group’s flights via Dublin or Madrid should there be no capacity increase in south-east England. A second runway in Dublin provides more opportunity to achieve this.” “of major strategic importance to Ireland”.<br/>
Winning global agreement on how the airline industry is charged for carbon emissions blamed for climate change will be the top item on Alexandre de Juniac’s agenda when he becomes director of the IATA this summer. “If we have a system of taxing carbon emissions, it’s got to be global -- it’s got to be applied across the board, not so that some zones pay and others don’t,” DeJuniac, the outgoing CEO of Air France-KLM Group, said. “You can’t have a system that penalizes some airlines and not others.” An assembly of the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Authority is scheduled for September, with the aim of delivering a goal to cap the industry’s emissions at 2020 levels. Aviation wasn’t included in last year’s Paris climate deal. <br/>
Boeing's commercial aircraft deliveries fell about 4.3% in Q1 compared with the year-ago period, according to Boeing data released on Thursday. Deliveries dipped to 176 in the quarter ending Mar 31 from 184 in the first quarter of 2015. The biggest share came from Boeing's single-aisle 737 planes. Boeing also delivered 30 of its "Dreamliner" models, which employ light-weight materials and are more fuel-efficient. The other plane with significant orders was the Boeing 777 wide-body model, with 23. Boeing shipped just one 747 and one 767.<br/>
Boeing landed new four orders valued at $1.5b for its 747 jumbo jetliners, giving life to a program starved for sales amid waning demand for four-engine aircraft. The orders were reported on Boeing’s website Thursday and the identity of the customer wasn’t disclosed. The US planemaker also reported that it delivered fewer jetliners than a year earlier as it navigates transitions for two long-range aircraft: the hump-nosed 747 and the 767.<br/>The new sales provide a much-needed lift for the 747-8, the latest model in a jetliner family that debuted in 1970 and ushered in an era of affordable long-range travel for the mass consumer market. Last year Boeing netted only two orders for the aircraft, which have a $379 million list price. The company has repeatedly slowed the 747 assembly line, most recently to an output of six jets a year, as the order book thinned. Boeing had 23 unfilled jumbo orders as of March, although the tally includes two planes already built for defunct Russian carrier Transaero Airlines that are in storage.<br/>