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A federal judge rejected a bid by the four largest US airlines to dismiss nationwide antitrust litigation by passengers who accused them of conspiring to raise fares by keeping seating capacity artificially low. In a decision late Friday, US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said she could "reasonably infer the existence of a conspiracy" among American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest and United Continental to fix prices. Kollar-Kotelly did not rule on the merits of the proposed class-action case, which combines 105 lawsuits filed around the country and seeks triple damages. The US Department of Justice last year began its own probe into a possible conspiracy among the airlines, which, according to government data, command a roughly 69% domestic market share. Passengers claimed that the conspiracy began in early 2009, and has resulted in higher fares and reduced flight choices. They said the conspiracy, together with low fuel prices and higher fees for checking bags and other services, helped the airlines post a record $21.7b combined profit in 2015. The airlines said the litigation should be dismissed because there was no proof of an agreement to collude, or that they reduced capacity in tandem. But in her 41-page decision, Kollar-Kotelly pointed to statements by several airline executives about the need for "discipline" in seating capacity.<br/>

Low-cost air carriers are spreading their wings across the Atlantic, much to the chagrin of the major airlines now forced to serve new destinations and cut fares. Transatlantic flights operated by Norwegian Air, Iceland's Wow air, Canada's WestJet and Morocco's Royal Air Maroc have multiplied in recent years as jet fuel has grown cheaper. Frequently offering fares less than half that of major airlines, low-cost carriers have quickly attracted travelers. Traditional players have seen their collective market share decline, dropping from 75% in the summer of 2014 to 72% this summer, according to the air travel data company OAG. While low-cost carriers remain small players, larger airlines "are looking over their shoulders," said George Hobica of airfarewatchdog.com. "They could be a growing threat as they add more seats," he told AFP. "Currently, if you look at the percentage of seats they have compared to major airlines, it's very small." Booked in advance, a round-trip flight between London and New York currently runs an average of US$398 on the low-cost carriers, according to Hobica, compared to more than US$600 with the major airlines. WestJet even has flights linking Canada and London at US$149. Even with other costs added in, such as charges for meals, luggage and headphones, passengers can get a good deal, according to Hobica. Aware of the threat, the larger companies have not wasted time, offering cheaper seats, more direct flights and new connections. BA recently began serving a route between London and San Jose, California. Delta Air Lines, United and American, the three largest US companies, recently said they saw a drop in transatlantic traffic due to Britain's vote to quit the eurozone, terrorist attacks in Europe and overcapacity. Revenues could fall as a result.<br/>

Standard Chartered is in advanced talks over a Chinese joint venture in aviation financing that will aim to help the country’s airlines pay for the $1t-worth of new aircraft they are set to buy in the next two decades. The Asia-focused bank will partner with either a state or a provincial entity to break into China’s aircraft lending market, said a person with knowledge of the plans. Standard Chartered’s Dublin-based aviation finance unit is a sizeable player in the global industry, with more than 100 aircraft on lease to 25 of the world’s leading airlines. But the Chinese market has proved difficult for foreign banks to crack, especially because the country’s own banks have plenty of money to lend to their airlines. Standard Chartered’s role in the new joint venture will be to “asset manage the portfolio” of planes leased to Chinese airlines, rather than providing finance, the person said. China is home to two of the 10 largest airlines in the world, and Boeing, the US aircraft maker, expects the country’s aviation industry to spend more than$1tn on new planes in the next 20 years. However, China also has homegrown aviation finance giants, led by HNA Group, which recently created the world’s third-biggest aircraft rental fleet byagreeing to pay $10bn for CIT Group’s aircraft leasing business.<br/>

China has a dream of challenging the duopoly of Airbus and Boeing in the global market for air planes. That ambition is slowly taking shape in a hangar in Shanghai. The state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China Ltd., locally known as COMAC, is building the 168-seat, single-aisle aircraft C919, betting the model would help the planemaker break into the big league. It’s banking on expertise gained from its smaller 90-seat jet, the ARJ21, which has won commercial orders worth at least $2b, mostly from local companies. Despite delays to the C919 program -- the first test flight has been postponed at least twice since 2014 -- COMAC’s message to the world: Watch this space. The builder says it has already got commitments from 21 customers for 517 planes. At the Zhuhai Air Show this week, COMAC is set to showcase the aircraft with a mock-up and could announce more interest from prospective buyers. The passenger jet project is part of an ambitious plan by President Xi Jinping to transform China from a maker of sneakers, apparels and toys into one that can compete with the likes of Airbus and Boeing. Getting the C919 from the design board to the skies is crucial for Xi, who has identified aerospace among sectors that could help accelerate modernization of the economy to resemble Japan and Germany. “Domestic airplane manufacturing is a good case of the country’s ambition to secure a foothold at the very top of the global value chain,” said Liu Yuanchun, executive dean of the National Academy of Development and Strategy at Renmin University of China in Beijing. “There’s still some serious groundwork to do to eventually realize its ambition of mastering sophisticated design and manufacturing processes.”<br/>

The out-of-control landing that sent Republican vice president candidate Mike Pence’s plane fishtailing off the runway Thursday at New York’s LaGuardia Airport is the latest in a series of runway mishaps at one of the US’s tightest and busiest airports. The NTSB sent an 11-person team to investigate the accident. Since 2013, the agency has conducted two previous major accident investigations involving planes sliding off runways at LaGuardia. Pence’s chartered Boeing Co. 737-700 landed hard, slid sideways and came to rest in a grassy area during a rain storm at about 7:42 p.m., NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt said Friday. There were no injuries, although the airport was briefly closed and emergency crews were called to the scene. “When we landed, it was obvious I think to everybody on the plane that the pilots were hitting the brakes very hard,” Pence said Friday . “It was about 10 seconds of uncertainty but we were all fine.” The plane’s crash-proof data recorder showed the plane touched down at 140 miles an hour, Sumwalt said. While landing speeds vary depending on weight and other factors, that seemed to be within a normal range, he said. The preliminary data released by the safety board may offer some clues hinting at why the plane didn’t stop. Devices known as spoilers, panels on the top of the wings that come up after touchdown to help slow a plane, were broken, requiring pilots to set them manually, Sumwalt said. They deployed four seconds after touchdown, which is several seconds later than if they had come up automatically, he said.<br/>

A FedEx DC10 cargo plane caught fire at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport on Friday after the landing gear collapsed. The airport was closed as firefighters responded to the incident, but reopened at 7pm local time. FedEx said the pilots were safe. The airport tweeted that 29 flights were diverted due to the incident, but it was operating again using the south runway.<br/>

Thanks to new technology, flying in a private jet is no longer just for business titans and the super-wealthy. But in a paradox, that means aircraft manufacturers like Cessna and Bombardier are selling fewer planes. The general aviation industry is undergoing a major shakeup as new business models attempt to match idle aircraft with passengers, many of whom now can’t afford their own plane. Membership companies, ride-sharing programs, on-demand charter providers and start-ups claiming to be the Uber of private aviation are all looking to introduce more people to the convenience of flying without the hassle of commercial airports. “Unfortunately for airplane manufacturers, these new programs aren’t out buying a lot of new jets,” said Brian Foley, a business-aircraft consultant. “They’re just trying to use existing assets out there and get more utilization out of those parked airplanes.” Manufacturers have throttled back production of some models to adjust to weaker demand for private aircraft. New jet deliveries are expected to drop 6.4% this year to 645 and slip another 3.7% to 625 next year, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.<br/>

Myanmar has halted an investigation into unconfirmed reports of an aircraft crashing into the sea off the country's west coast on Friday, a senior official with the Civil Aviation Department (CAD) said. Staff from CAD's office on Manaung Island off the coast of northwestern Rakhine state had been sent to the area where the plane was reported to have gone missing, but could not find any evidence of any crash taking place, CAD official Tin Maung Ni said. The department had not received any reports of missing aircraft from airlines operating in Myanmar airspace. "So far as we have heard from the CAD staff on the Manaung Island things are normal there, so we're not doing anything," said Tin Maung Ni. The official had earlier told Reuters about "an unidentified aircraft" that had crashed into the sea off the west coast and that authorities were trying to locate it.<br/>

The UK’s government’s decision to expand London’s Heathrow airport is about “50 years too late,” according to the CEO of Dubai Airports, which is building one of the world’s largest aviation hubs. “Unfortunately the bureaucracy in the UK seems to be the world’s most refined and the world’s most comprehensive when it comes to strangling infrastructure projects,” Paul Griffiths said. “Whether they’ll ever build it or not we’ll just have to wait and see, but I don’t think it will be in the next 10 years.’’ PM Theresa May’s government gave the green light to the GBP16b construction of a third landing strip at Heathrow amid a crunch in UK flight capacity. The first full-length runway in southeast England since World War II will allow the 70-year-old airport to handle 135m passengers a year. The government is leaving open questions about how the runway would be funded and how long it will take to get built. While approving the runway was “absolutely the right decision,” the UK’s track record on delivering projects on time and within budget isn’t “great,” Griffiths said. However, the project is vital to London and Heathrow will be able to “use every ounce of capacity that the runway will create,’’ he said. Griffiths is leading the expansion of Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport, which is set to be the world’s largest, with an ultimate capacity target of 220m passengers. The master plan for the airport’s second phase has been approved and the detailed-design work is under way, he said.<br/>

Airports of Thailand expects to call bidding to upgrade Suvarnabhumi Airport under its third phase of development next year, with the aim of relieving overcrowding of passengers with a new passenger terminal and runway. The move follows phase two of the airport's expansion in which projects are being auctioned as authorities race against time to cope with the soaring number of air travellers, AoT president Nitinai Sirismatthakarn said. Currently, authorities are working on two things to pave the way for phase three of the development project. They are preparing Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environmental and Health Impact Assessment (EHIA) reports, required by law, as well as drafting the terms of reference to hire designers for the new facilities. The latter is expected to be completed first, allowing the AoT to start the bidding within one and two months of its completion, Nitinai said. The AoT should be ready to call bids in Q4 next year or no later than Q1 the following year. <br/>

The government is considering inviting foreign investors to operate Komodo Airport, in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara. Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said the government was currently assessing whether state-owned airport operator Angkasa Pura I, or a foreign investor, would operate Komodo Airport. "There are two options. Either Angkasa Pura I will operate the airport or a foreign investor. We will examine the profitability," he said as quoted by kompas.com during an inspection of Komodo Airport, Labuan Bajo, on Sunday. Budi said the decision on who operated the airport would consider the number of passengers and the operational costs. However, based on the negative investment list, a foreign investor would only be allowed to own 49% of the airport, while Angkasa Pura I would own 51%, he noted. The Transportation Ministry, through its Airport Operator Unit, currently operates Komodo Airport, along with seven other Indonesian airports, which burdens the state budget. Therefore, the government is considering handing over airport operations to Angkasa Pura I and Angkasa Pura II.<br/>