US air-safety regulators have taken the unusual step of singling out Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 smartphone as a potential airborne fire hazard, urging passengers to avoid using the devices entirely on board airliners, dealing another blow to the technology giant’s smartphone recovery efforts. In a brief but strongly worded statement released late Thursday, the FAA said that “in light of recent incidents and concerns” involving the smartphones, the agency “strongly advises passengers not to turn on or charge these devices” on planes and “not to stow them in any checked baggage.” Identifying a specific brand or model as a potential hazard is a highly unusual move for the FAA, though agency officials previously issued warnings about the overall dangers of checking any kind of cellphones, other battery-powered electronic devices or spare batteries in the holds of airliners. The lithium-ion batteries that typically power such mobile devices can short-circuit or otherwise heat up and cause fires. The statement comes less than a week after Samsung, the world’s largest smartphone maker by shipments, announced a global recall and replacement program for millions of Galaxy Note 7 devices because of batteries exploding or catching fire. The FAA’s statement didn’t cite any specific incidents. Samsung said Friday it was discussing the FAA move internally and declined to comment further.<br/>
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The three largest Australian airlines have banned the onboard charging of the new Samsung Galaxy Note7 phone over concerns it poses a fire risk. Samsung last week announced it would recall Galaxy Note7 smartphones in Australia over “isolated battery cell issues”. Samsung said users should power down their phone and return it to the supplier. Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia said they had introduced the charging ban because of the Samsung recall and as a precaution on safety grounds.<br/>
The agreement between the EU and Canada to share airline passenger data to combat terrorism is incompatible with EU law in its current form, the adviser to the EU’s top court said Thursday. If backed up in a final ruling by the European Court of Justice in coming months, the advocate general’s opinion could undermine similar EU agreements with the US and others. It could also sow fresh legal doubts about tighter data collection rules passed earlier this year, one of the centerpieces of the bloc’s response to the wave of attacks in Europe. Under the agreement, so-called Passenger Name Records data would be transferred to Canadian authorities. The Canadians would be allowed to analyse the records, store them and, in some cases, transfer them to other countries. The agreement between the EU and Canada, signed in 2014, must still be approved by the European Parliament before coming into force. EU lawmakers voted to refer the agreement to the European Court of Justice last year because of concerns over data privacy. In a nonbinding opinion published Thursday, ECJ Advocate General Paolo Mengozzi said a number of provisions in the draft deal were incompatible with fundamental EU rights and others raised serious legal concerns. The court’s judges usually uphold the advocate general opinions. Among the problems identified are the need to properly target heightened scrutiny against people suspected of participating in terrorist offenses or serious transnational crime and to justify why the agreement allows some data to be retained for up to five years.<br/>
More than two months after the UK’s vote to exit the EU sent airlines running for cover, carriers such as British Airways, Emirates and EasyJet have concluded the fallout on traffic will be manageable. While last-minute summer bookings plunged and fares extended their drop in the immediate aftermath of the June 23 referendum, corporate travel demand is expected to come back and Britain is in a position to woo even more visitors than before because of the weak pound, executives said at an industry conference in London. "Brexit is just one of many things that happened in the global economy,” said Tim Clark, president of Dubai-based Emirates. “We have more important things to worry about than that.” Carriers in Europe were already struggling before the vote with weak economic growth and the effects of terrorist attacks in cities including Paris, Brussels and Istanbul that have discouraged leisure and business travel. EasyJet, the region’s second-biggest discount airline, offered its first-ever summer fare promotions this year, while larger low-fare rival Ryanair and Lufthansa either cut 2016 profit forecasts or said targets were at risk. “There was definitely a short-term trading effect” on sales immediately after the Brexit vote, but “from a longer-term point of view, nothing has changed,” EasyJet CEO Carolyn McCall said. “It was a seismic political decision for this country to take, and no one can underestimate that,” the CEO said. “But actually everything we’re doing today is the same.”<br/>
An increasingly competitive European airline market could soon bring consolidation and possibly European low-cost carriers providing local connecting services or "feeder" flights for full-service long-haul airlines, the CEOs of easyJet and IAG said Thursday. Low fuel prices have led to a big growth in capacity on European routes, putting market expansion at a 10-year high on forecasts that airlines will add new capacity of 8% over the next six months. But inevitably increased competition is causing fares to drop, good news for consumers but bad news for the profit margins of airlines. Carolyn McCall, the CE of low-cost airline easyJet said she expected more consolidation over the next 12 to 18 months, with weaker airlines suffering in the tougher trading conditions, as the previous boost to margins from lower fuel prices is competed away. Willie Walsh, the CE of British Airways-owner IAG, said IAG was not currently actively considering any acquisition deals. "I think there are airlines out there that would like to be consolidated into a larger group, I get calls from a lot of them," said Walsh.<br/>
Long-haul travel to Europe during the 2016 summer season stalled, with major markets bearing the brunt of the fall off, according to a research report. The ForwardKeys report said growth due to the UEFA Cup in late June/early July plus a surge in bookings at the end of Ramadan was offset by a decline in late July and early August. Security concerns contributed to an overall decline of 0.9%, with France, Belgium and Turkey particularly affected. Long-haul arrivals into Turkey were down 26.7% against the same period in 2015, Belgium was down 21.4% and France down 9.6%. Some smaller markets not affected by security concerns benefitted from a switch from perceived riskier destinations.<br/>
Boeing is studying two designs for its so-called Max 10, a potential stretch of its largest 737 aimed at making up ground on Airbus’s longest single-aisle jet, according to people familiar with the plans. One option Boeing has discussed with airlines and lessors in recent weeks is a simple lengthening of the 737 Max 9 that would offer much of the range and payload of Airbus’s A321neo, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. The company is also vetting an alternative, more elaborate revamp that would feature the larger engines developed for the Airbus jet. The more straightforward redesign, which would rely on upgrading engines developed for the Max family, would enter the market by early 2020, while the more complex one wouldn’t begin service until almost two years later. Airbus, meanwhile, has already received almost 1,300 orders for the A321neo, with a long-range version scheduled to begin commercial operation in 2019. “Boeing definitely needs to do something,” said George Dimitroff, head of valuations for Flightglobal’s Ascend Consultancy. “The market wants a choice, not an Airbus monopoly, so they can continue to have access to competitive pricing.”<br/>
Losing thrust in both engines but still managing to land an airliner full of people in the Hudson River without the loss of a single life is plenty dramatic. But the drama in “Sully,” the movie about the “Miracle on the Hudson” ditching of U.S. Airways Flight 1549, doesn't stop there. And that's a problem, say the former government accident investigators involved in the real-life investigation into the 2009 accident. The public, as well as pilots and others in the aviation industry, who see the film may get the wrong impression that investigators were trying to smear the pilot, Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, they said. “We're not the KGB. We're not the Gestapo,” said Robert Benzon, who led the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation. “We're the guys with the white hats on.” The film, scheduled for release in theaters on Friday, portrays investigators as more like prosecutors looking for any excuse to blame Sullenberger for the mishap. Could the plane have made it back to LaGuardia Airport if Sullenberger, portrayed by actor Tom Hanks, had turned it around? Did the thrust in both engines quit after the plane struck a flock of geese or was there still some power in one? Was the US Airways captain's performance affected by other factors? When was his last alcoholic drink? Was he having problems at home? It's true that those questions were asked, and many more, over the course of the 18-month investigation, but that's just part of NTSB's meticulous investigation process that is intended to find all possible flaws that contribute to a crash, investigators said. That way the board can make safety recommendations to the government, industry, labor unions, aircraft makers and others in an effort to prevent future accidents. Thirty-five safety recommendations were ultimately issued as a result of the Flight 1549 investigation. “These guys were already national heroes,” said Benzon, who is now retired. “We weren't out to embarrass anybody at all.” But that's not how it comes across in the film, directed by Clint Eastwood.<br/>