Europe’s air safety regulator Friday followed the lead of its US counterpart urging passengers not to use or charge Samsung Electronics’s Galaxy Note 7 smartphone in flight. The European Aviation Safety Agency said passengers should not pack the smartphone in checked bags, also echoing the FAA guidance. A spokesman said a so called Safety Information Bulletin about the restrictions was being sent to European national aviation authorities that enforce safety rules. The FAA late Thursday said the Galaxy Note 7 phones should not be used on board planes because of the a potential airborne fire hazard. Air safety regulators have long had concerns about transporting some lithium batteries on planes, because of the potential fire hazard. Late last year hoverboards, the gliding vehicles which were a popular Christmas present, raised similar safety concerns because of the risk their batteries could catch fire.<br/>
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Major US airlines are carving up cattle class, hoping to nab every customer from the tightwad to the spendthrift amid intensifying competition from discount carriers and declining ticket revenues. Delta is ahead among US carriers in adopting this “segmentation” strategy. The carrier started experimenting about three years ago and has since rolled it out in a big way, which for the Atlanta-based airline means splitting its coach fares into three categories: Basic Economy, Main Cabin and Delta Comfort+. The airline by traffic is trying to compete with budget rivals and wring more out of recent product upgrades by selling them to fliers willing to pay more rather than giving them away free to elite frequent fliers. American Airlines and United Continental said they would introduce tiered offerings later this year. Some European carriers already have embraced the strategy; Air Canada was a pioneer. “Finally, airlines are putting some thought into retailing,” said Peter Belobaba, principal research scientist at the International Center for Air Transportation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “You can be upfront with consumers and show them different options with different prices and characteristics.” Divvying up coach is a big strategic shift, driven in part by a need to counter discount carriers that make up a third of the US market. Airlines also are eager to raise ticket revenue that has been falling for years as budget airlines have grown.<br/>
Serving a region whose economy is fueled by the technology industry, San Francisco International Airport is embarking on a $5.7b expansion as it grapples with traffic that has nearly doubled in nine years. The city’s sale next week of $881m in airport bonds, its biggest ever, is the first in a series that will draw demand from municipal investors who’ve snapped up airline-related debt, leaving the securities on pace to outperform the overall municipal market for a sixth straight year. Overall, airports have benefited from lower fuel costs and the recovering US economy, as higher numbers of passengers boost collections from parking fees and bar tabs. San Francisco’s airport is seeing even more travelers, thanks in part to Silicon Valley. "Traffic has been booming," said Kevin Kone, the airport’s managing director for finance. "Here in the Bay area, the economy is strong. We’re responding to the needs of the traveling public." At San Francisco International, tourists, budding tech executives and professionals browse high-end boutiques and stretch in yoga rooms as they pass through the region or head to the Pacific Rim. Arrivals and departures total 51.4m in the 2016 fiscal year, up from 33.9m nine years ago.<br/>
World airport passenger traffic increased by 6.4% in 2015, the strongest growth rate since 2010, ACI said in its annual report. Airports Council International, the trade association for airports worldwide, released its 2015 World Airport Traffic Report which showed an increase in passenger numbers to 7.2b for the year. The report said international tourism was resilient in 2015, considering the geo-political risks in areas such as Eastern Europe and the Middle East. ACI Director General Angela Gittens said, “There are several impediments that could curtail the continued rise in demand, which could potentially encumber growth prospects over the short- and medium-terms. Specifically, these are related to geo-political unrest, terrorism and threats to security in certain parts of the world... It is important to maintain cautious optimism as we navigate through 2016." Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport maintained its number one spot with a 5.5% increase to 101.5m passengers.<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 percent, 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/>
A group of 44 countries in Europe committed today to participation in a global carbon market for airlines starting in 2021. The EU, its 28 member states and 16 other nations adopted a political declaration on emissions in Bratislava on Friday ahead of a UN’ aviation body meeting next month. The ICAO, whose general assembly is scheduled for Sept. 27 to Oct. 7 in Montreal, plans to agree on how airlines are charged for carbon emissions after 2020.<br/>Countries in the European Civil Aviation Conference “intend to implement the global market-based measure scheme for international aviation from the start,” according to their declaration. The group also welcomed the commitment of a number of key aviation states and regions to join in the first phase and called on other nations “and those having the capacity to do so to do likewise and make their decision public before the end of the ICAO Assembly.”<br/>
Air fares in India are the lowest in the world, according to a global transportation study, underscoring the intense competition between carriers in the South Asian country. In India, it costs an average of just $2.27 to fly 100 km on domestic routes on a budget airline and $2.67 on a full-service carrier, according to a survey conducted by Kiwi.com, a Czech Republic-based online travel agency. The most expensive place to fly domestically is the United Arab Emirates where flights are 80 times costlier than India. It costs $181.38 for 100 kilometers on a budget airline in the UAE and $220.36 on a full-service airline, according to website’s 2016 Aviation Price Index, which analyzed more than one million flights worldwide. Domestic budget airline fares in India are similar to those in Malaysia—the second least expensive country–which cost $2.32 per 100 km. Fares on full-service carriers in the Southeast Asian nation are however more expensive, at $5.81 for a similar distance. Indian fares are cheaper thanks to strong competition and comparatively lower jet fuel prices. Prices in India have fallen as competition increased with the arrival of new carriers. Russia is ranked third least expensive for domestic air travel, with prices at $7.02 for budget airlines and $6.32 for full-service, the survey showed. On the steep side, Finland — where it costs $39.61 and $130.80 to fly 100 kilometers on a low-cost and a full-service airline respectively — is the second most expensive.<br/>
Europe’s largest satellite-services provider and the region’s leading aircraft-electronics maker are teaming up to offer enhanced broadband-via-satellite connections to airline passengers. After months of negotiations and decisions to scale back their initial plans, France’s Thales SA and Luxembourg-based SES SA, with a global fleet of more than 50 satellites, on Monday will announce they are jointly entering the already crowded field of companies marketing such high-bandwith links. By 2020, the partners hope to leapfrog competitors with a powerful new satellite designed specifically for efficient and low-cost cabin connectivity to airliners flying across the US, Latin America and busy trans-Atlantic routes. For passengers, the service aims to be “the equivalent of what you have at home with fiber connectivity,” Thales Chief Executive Patrice Caine said in an interview. That would include streaming movies in high definition, videogames and live television. But two entrenched rivals, London-based Inmarsat PLC and ViaSat Inc. of Carlsbad, Calif., already have or soon will have significant capacity in orbit to serve the same fast-growing segment—and both can build on longstanding relationships with certain carriers. Current competitors also rely on capable satellites designed for global connectivity. Thales and SES likely won’t be able to match such coverage until at least the middle of the next decade, even if they opt to invest in additional satellites.<br/>