China, the US and Europe all pledged support on Saturday for a new deal to curb carbon dioxide emissions by airlines which is due to be finalised at a meeting of the UN's ICAO in September and is expected to go into effect from 2021. Aviation was excluded from last December's climate accord in Paris when countries agreed to limit the global average rise in temperatures to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.The proposed new deal on aviation, which aims to cap the carbon pollution of all international flights at 2020levels will be voluntary between 2021 and 2026 and then mandatory from 2027 for the world's largest emitters. Airlines in participating countries would need to limit their emissions or offset them by buying carbon credits from designated environmental projects around the world. ICAO has estimated that carbon offsetting will cost operators 0.2-0.6% of total revenue from international aviation beginning in 2025, and 0.5-1.4% from 2035. "Today, the United States and China are expressing their support for the ICAO Assembly reaching consensus on such a measure," the two countries said in a joint statement Saturday. The statement, released ahead of a G20 summit in the Chinese coastal city of Hangzhou, said both countries "expect to be early participants in the measure and volunteer to join". In a separate statement, the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC), a grouping of the EU and 16 other countries, said it would join the market-based plan from the outset and urged all other major airline operating states to do so.<br/>
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The first off JetBlue 387 were the TV cameramen, the US secretary of transportation and the airline executives. As the tropical sun beat the tarmac, the VIPs traded congratulations on the arrival of the first commercial flight from the US to Cuba in more than 50 years. Away from the cameras, a small but potentially more important group made its way through Santa Clara's single-terminal airport: a pair of backpackers from Oregon and a book editor from Chicago and his 16-year-old daughter — the first US tourists on the newly reestablished flights. By December, the four will have a lot of company, with some 300 direct flights a week scheduled from the US to 10 cities across Cuba. America's biggest airlines and the Obama administion hope the planes will carry hundreds of thousands of US travelers, both Cuban-Americans visiting family and sightseers who will turn the largest island in the Caribbean back into a major US vacation destination. For US airlines it's a chance to move into an untapped market less than an hour's flight from Miami. For Cubans, it means waves of demanding but high-tipping Americans could transform the landscape in cities like Santa Clara that have been off the well-trod tourist track for now. "The best tourist there is, is the American tourist," said 25-year-old Liban Bermudez as he sold 16-year-old Sophia Compton a pair of handmade leather sandals from his stand off Santa Clara's main plaza. "They're the ones that buy the most." For President Barack Obama, the reestablishment of commercial air links with Cuba is the last major chance to make a key part of his foreign policy legacy irreversible before he leaves office.<br/>
US airlines would be able to hire new pilots with far less cockpit experience than currently required under a proposal aimed at addressing a staffing shortage, a move likely to rekindle a debate over aviation safety. Certain military pilots with as little as 500 hours of flying experience would be allowed to become commercial co-pilots, according to people familiar with an advisory panel’s recommendations, compared with the mandatory at least 750 hours required today. That is already down sharply from the minimum of 1,500 hours set for typical nonmilitary pilots in 2013. The proposal comes from a joint industry-labor group created by the FAA to help it draft new regulations amid worries by the airline industry that there aren’t enough pilots to keep up with demand. None of the recommendations have been released, and further details are expected to remain confidential until top FAA officials decide how to proceed. Co-pilots without a military background or an academic degree related to aviation would still need at least 1,500 hours of total flight time to be eligible to be hired by carriers, these people said. Co-pilots are sometimes called first officers. The committee, which includes representatives of pilots, airlines and passengers, didn’t recommend any changes for requirements to fly as a captain. Captains need 1,500 hours among other requirements, but airlines usually require more flight time for them than federal minimums.<br/>
Passengers were temporarily evacuated Sunday from a terminal at Los Angeles International Airport after an arrest inadvertently led to a security breach during the busy Labor Day weekend, authorities said. The incident began about 9 a.m., when Los Angeles Airport police pulled over a driver in a stolen vehicle at the airport’s lower level outside Terminal 3, said Officer Rob Pedregon. During the arrest, officers drew their guns and instructed nearby passengers on the sidewalk to move inside, he said. Fearful for their safety, some passengers moved past the TSA screening area without being screened, creating a security breach, Pedregon said. As many as 20 others went through an emergency exit and onto the airfield, officials said. Airport security rounded up those travelers and evacuated the gates, shops, restaurants and corridors inside Terminal 3, sending passengers back to the ticketing area, Pedregon said. LAX police searched the terminal with bomb-sniffing dogs and, once the area was cleared, allowed passengers to return and be rescreened, he said. Larry McKenney, 35, of Texas was arrested on suspicion of possessing a stolen 2013 Chevrolet Sonic and possessing narcotics, police said. He was taken to the LAPD’s Pacific Division jail, Pedregon said. Four others who were in or near the car were questioned and released, police said.<br/>
Two Nigerian airlines are suspending service as a recession grips this oil-producing West African nation. Shouting matches and scuffles have become common at airports over hours-long delays or canceled flights. Some airlines blame shortages of aviation fuel. Aero Contractors and First Nation airlines stopped flying this week. Aero Contractors called it a "strategic realignment" to make the airline profitable. Labor unions besieged their offices over the "indefinite unpaid leave" forced on hundreds of workers. SBM Intelligence risk analysts said Friday an estimated 4.5m people have lost jobs since 2014. Oil prices halved and the oil industry contracted by 17.5% this year.<br/>
Bombardier confirmed it had received the final US$500m payment for the investment by the Government of Québec in the CSeries aircraft. As part of Québec’s total investment of US$1b, Bombardier in July said it would transfer the assets, liabilities and obligations of the CSeries to a limited partnership in which the company holds a 50.5% equity stake and Québec the rest.<br/>