A sticking point in resumption of commercial airline service to Cuba has been resolved: US air marshals will travel on certain flights to Cuba. At the request of the US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, the TSA released a statement addressing the issue of federal air marshals on flights to and from Cuba. Regularly scheduled service to Cuba is tentatively scheduled to resume after a hiatus of more than five decades on Aug. 31 when JetBlue begins service from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International to Santa Clara, Cuba. Pending final approval from the Cuban government, other airlines, including American Airlines, are scheduled to begin their inaugural service to destinations outside the Cuban capital soon after that. The US DoT has tentatively approved Havana routes for eight airlines and is expected to announce final approvals later this month. "In the spirit of enhancing the security of international civil aviation, the United States and The Republic of Cuba entered into an aviation security agreement that sets forth the legal framework for the deployment of US in-flight security officers more commonly known as federal air marshals on board certain flights to and from Cuba," said the TSA statement. "For security reasons, we will not divulge which flights air marshals will be aboard." The TSA said the agreement "will strengthen both parties' aviation security efforts" and that it will continue to work with Cuba to expand air marshal presence on flights and to enhance security.<br/>
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The Indonesian capital's airport opened a new terminal Tuesday after years of operating at far above its passenger capacity. Domestic flights for national carrier Garuda began operating in the morning from Soekarno-Hatta airport's steel and glass $560m Terminal 3. Its international flights will shift to the new terminal next month. Other airlines will gradually move their flights to the terminal and the airport company plans to start refurbishing two old terminals, built in 1984 and 1992, later this year. Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 250m people, is one of world's fastest growing air travel markets. But many international airlines bypass the capital Jakarta in favor of modern, high-capacity airports at Bangkok, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur for their Southeast Asian stopovers. The airport operator and government hopes the new terminal, and a third runway that is under development, will change that. Budi Karya Sumadi, Indonesia's transport minister and former president of the airport company, said "this terminal was built to change the image of the capital Jakarta." Soekarno-Hatta airport will be able to handle 62m passengers a year once the renovated terminals are fully operational again in early 2018. The airport handled about 54m passengers last year, making it the 18th busiest in the world, according to Airports Council International.<br/>
India has just plowed $50m in a new 102m air-traffic control tower in New Delhi. Now comes the hard part: finding qualified flight controllers to operate it. Designed by HOK, the same firm that drafted Apple Inc.’s research headquarters in California, the tower will be operational in about six months. Yet, it may struggle to handle more flights without enough controllers, according to aviation officials. The nation’s busiest airport needs 600 of the technicians ideally for stable operations, but employs only 360, the officials say. The world’s fastest-growing major aviation market is grappling with a paucity of traffic controllers to meet growing demand, as many of them shun employment with the state-run Airports Authority of India, where starting monthly salaries can be as low as $250, and choose monetarily rewarding jobs with private airlines. About a third of India’s planned air-traffic controller positions are vacant, the government said last year. The shortfall has meant existing ATCs are overworked. “It is a huge safety hazard,” said Mohan Ranganathan, a former commercial pilot and an independent aviation safety consultant based in the southern Indian city of Chennai. “The air traffic controllers are being flogged in violation of fatigue rules.” The dearth of talent in the world’s second-most populous country is threatening to reach crisis proportions as a slew of budget carriers unveil plans to add hundreds of aircraft to cater to the travel boom fueled by rising incomes and lower fares. Adding to the challenge is PM Narendra Modi’s ambitious programs to connect smaller towns and villages by air.<br/>
Lufthansa Cargo has added to its stake in express delivery firm time:matters to take control of the company. Lufthansa Cargo, which spun off time:matters as a subsidiary in 2002, owned 49% of the logistics firm prior to the purchase, with the remaining 51% owned by the company’s management and Aheim Capital Funds. Lufthansa did not provide information on the purchase price of the 51% stake. “time:matters has established itself in recent years as the leading specialist for same-day delivery and emergency logistics in Europe”, Lufthansa Cargo CE Peter Gerber said. “With time:matters, we are aiming to grow our business in the special segment as well.”<br/>
Embraer is set to launch a voluntary layoff scheme to cut an undisclosed number of jobs at the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer. According to a union press release the company wants to save US$200m with the layoffs. Embraer last month announced a second quarter net loss of US$99m.<br/>