The global airline industry association’s head said terrorist attacks on aircraft, airports and tourist destinations of the kind that have ripped through Europe and parts of northern Africa in the past year won’t stem surging travel demand. While such outrages have an impact on the industry and people’s perceptions, the effect is generally localized and temporary, IATA CEO Tony Tyler said Wednesday. “The business impact of these events tends to be quite isolated and it’s often not as long-term as some people may think,” Tyler said. “People don’t get frightened off by these thugs. Most people, I think, if they want to travel will travel.” Tyler spoke as investigators probing the loss of an EgyptAir jet in the eastern Mediterranean on May 19 picked up pings likely to coming from black-box flight recorders that should reveal whether the plane was the latest target in an 18-month spate of terrorist attacks focused on Europe and North Africa. The spree has already seen the main terminal at Brussels airport blown up, Paris devastated by blasts and shootings, a Russian jet downed by a suspected Islamic State bomb and dozens of tourists killed in Tunisia and Turkey. Tyler said most people nevertheless view flying as a very safe way to travel. “These outrages must be stopped, but I think that in business terms it’s not something that has a big impact, certainly not at recent levels,” he said. IATA said Monday the March 22 attacks on Brussels had been a factor in passenger-traffic growth slowing to 4.6% in April, the slowest pace since January 2015.<br/>
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Airlines expect the low oil prices that have been propping up the industry will end in about three years, just in time for new fuel-efficient planes to enter service, according to the top executives of jetmaker Airbus Group and lessor AerCap Holdings. “Take the A320neo, the new Airbus product. We have already leased over 100 of those airplanes and we haven’t even taken delivery of the first one,” AerCap CEO Aengus Kelly said. “We’ve never seen demand for a new technology asset that we are seeing for this airplane, and similar for the Boeing 787.” Carriers have kept operating older aircraft, taking advantage of growing demand and relatively low operating costs, while preparing for a rise in crude prices by ordering fuel-efficient Airbus and Boeing jetliners. Those will start arriving toward the end of the decade. “We are definitely seeing airlines extending the life of airplanes, that we had assumed we would be parting out into beer cans,” Kelly said. “However, we’re not seeing them extend the life of these assets past three years.”<br/>
European carriers are bracing for further disruption, as France’s air traffic controllers plan another walkout which threatens to be the worst of 2016. Eurocontrol is warning that French air traffic control could be affected by a French public services strike from 0400UTC on June 2 until 0400UTC on June 3. This will be immediately followed by an ATC-specific walkout from 0400UTC on June 3 until 0400UTC on June 6, in protest against future reforms. European airline lobby group Airlines for Europe (A4E) has warned that the June 3-6 strike threatens delays, cancellations and long detours. “We are looking at up to 3,000 cancellations, or more, if this hits hard,” an A4E spokesman said. Roughly one million minutes of delays are anticipated over the weekend. This is equal to all the other European ATC walkouts in 2016 put together.<br/>
Concerns in the financial community about doing deals in Iran are hampering Airbus Group’s ability to close a multibillion-dollar aircraft deal with Tehran, the European plane maker’s head of sales said Wednesday. “We have to find ways to get money out of Iran through the banking system,” said John Leahy, Airbus COO for customers. While progress has been made, it has been slower than expected, Leahy said. Banks remain reluctant to do deals now that the US and European governments are looking to foster transactions, after facing fines imposed by US regulators on lenders with Iran dealings when western sanctions were in place. “They are all very shy,” Leahy said. Iran, with a population of more than 80 million and pent-up demand for travel after years of isolation, represents one of the few large remaining untapped markets for new planes. Leahy said Iran has “an ancient fleet” that needs replacing and will enjoy growth as the country’s economy recovers. IranAir CE Farhad Parvaresh acknowledged that the banking issue is one of the biggest hurdles to closing plane deals. The banking issue goes beyond the airplane sector. Oil companies also have struggled to line up big banks to back deals. They have, in some cases, had to resort to barter arrangements or using smaller banks.<br/>
Ireland’s Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) is “actively looking” at opportunities in Iran, chief executive Kevin Toland said on Wednesday in what is the latest sign of a closer commercial relationship between the Islamic republic and Europe. Iran has moved to strengthen its economic ties with Europe since the lifting of nuclear sanctions in January. The country has signed billions of dollars of contracts with European firms including a deal with France’s Aéroports de Paris to build a new terminal at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini international airport. “Iran is a tremendously exciting opportunity,” Toland said. DAA’s international subsidiary last year won a contract to manage the new Terminal 5 at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport. An affiliate company has also won the retail contracts for Abu Dhabi’s Midfield Terminal Building (MTB) and Muscat International’s new terminal. It has similar contracts at the two airport’s existing terminals and in Bahrain and in Lebanon. Toland said DAA is “hoping to be part” of the opportunities in Iran who are reconnecting with the global market after decades of isolation.<br/>
The men sleep where they can on airport benches, while others stand or crouch in every corner. Small suitcases and plastic bags filled with treasured possessions fill in the gaps until there is no more floor space to be seen. This waiting room at Seoul's Incheon airport is not for a delayed flight. Instead, it's a temporary home for 28 Syrian men waiting to hear if they can enter South Korea or will be deported back to the war-torn country they have fled. Lawyers say the Syrians are among 180 would-be refugees who are packed into airport facilities that should, at most, hold 50. South Korea's Justice Ministry says only 116 people are there. There are no beds, no windows and only one shower each for men and women. The Syrians are limited to three meals a day of burgers and Coke. Most of them eat just the bread as the meat is not halal, or permissible for Muslims under Islamic law. The refugees get occasional monitored walks through the duty-free store to stretch their legs.<br/>The Justice Ministry refused CNN access to what they call the "repatriation waiting room," citing security concerns. When asked about the conditions, Justice Ministry officials said the refugees' situation was the responsibility of a committee overseeing airline operations. But the committee said they have asked the government to take responsibility. With everyone passing the blame, lawyers fear conditions will simply not improve.<br/>
Moscow's new international airport is set to open next month with only a handful of airlines and faces a struggle to win passengers from rivals after Russia's economic crisis. The Zhukovsky airport terminal was inaugurated by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Monday, part of a 10b rouble (US$152m) project to redevelop a cargo airfield used for Cold War flight testing 40 km south-east of Moscow. The airport, a joint venture between state-run investor Rostec and Lithuania's Avia Solutions Group, will host routes from Moscow to cities in the former Soviet Union. It was conceived at a time when the Russian capital's three biggest airports were regularly operating at maximum capacity and was meant to tap rising airline traffic, then growing at 10% per year. But a steep economic downturn caused by lower oil prices and Western sanctions over Ukraine has hit the aviation market hard. The empty terminal, with 18 check-in desks, two cafes and a medium-sized duty free shop, has an operating capacity of 2m passengers a year. The airport's total capacity is set to rise to 12m passengers by 2020, Rostec said, but so far it has only reached operating agreements with four airlines<br/>
Bombardier said it’s ready to curb a discounting policy that helped secure vital contracts for its struggling C Series jetliner from Delta and Air Canada. “It’s clear that we took a more aggressive position on the recent orders,” said Alain Bellemare, Bombardier’s CEO, adding that the C Series is now “at the right stage” for a higher-margin approach to its sales pitches. “We want to keep trading-value for customers, while at the same time being responsible for managing our business properly,” he said. “It gives us a bit more flexibility.” Bombardier last year signaled a new willingness to offer bigger discounts on the C Series in a bid to end an order drought and help the model compete with Boeing Co.’s 737 range and the Airbus Group SE A320 family. The switch helped the manufacturer seal an outline order for at least 45 CS300s from Air Canada in February, followed in April by Delta’s agreement to buy at least 75 smaller CS100s worth $5.6b at list price.<br/>