Donald Trump, a hotelier and former airline executive, has said plenty about immigrants, borders, and free trade. But he hasn’t said much about the multibillion-dollar aviation industry. This huge segment of the American economy has some priorities and complaints that have gone essentially nowhere during the Obama administration, due in part to political gridlock. With Republicans running both houses of Congress and the White House next year, airlines are now ready to push their case on several issues they hold dear. Most aviation experts say it’s hard to gauge how Trump’s administration might respond, given that it doesn’t owe the industry any favours. “This is probably not the kind of pro-business Republican administration you might expect,” said Seth Kaplan, managing partner at Airline Weekly, an industry journal, as Trump isn’t tied firmly to a particular ideology and “doesn’t really have any core beliefs. He’s said certain things in the campaign that he had to, to bring himself in line with the Republican Party a little bit, but it’s not like there’s a history with anything.” It’s also not clear that the Trump administration would see regulating aviation as a priority, said Bob Rivkin, a Chicago attorney who formerly worked for Delta and at the US DoT. “It becomes a question of priorities and capacity to push through Congress laws invalidating regulations when you’ve got a whole lot of other things going on,” Rivkin said. “In transportation, there are number of things that could be affected, but I think they’re going to be down the list of priorities.”<br/>
general
Indonesia, under pressure to rein in its budget deficit, plans to sell minority stakes in some of the nation’s airports and ports to private investors as President Joko Widodo seeks investment to fund his ambitious infrastructure agenda. The government intends to sell as much as 45% in 10 airports and 20 ports but will retain state control of the facilities, Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said in an interview Wednesday in Jakarta. The sale will start in 2017 with Kualanamu airport in North Sumatra and Sepinggan airport in East Kalimantan. It will invite companies including Incheon International Airport, GVK Power & Infrastructure and Vinci to bid, he said. “Airports and ports that generate profits will be given to the private sectors to be managed professionally,” said the 59-year-old Sumadi, who was appointed by Widodo in July to replace Ignasius Jonan. Amid dwindling state revenue, the government wants spending on major airports and ports to be reallocated to those in remote areas, he said. Widodo is turning to private investors for funds as a shortfall in tax revenue and sputtering economic growth caused by a slump in commodity prices stymie his plans to ramp up spending on new roads, ports, railways and airports. He wants to boost economic growth to 7%, while the central bank last month forecast expansion for this year at the lower end of its 4.9 to 5.3% range.<br/>
Sri Lanka's main international airport will be closed during daytime for three months during the peak tourist season early next year for badly needed maintenance on its only runway, sparking fears of a financial setback for the tourism industry and SriLankan Airlines, the national carrier. From Jan. 6 to April 5 next year, Bandaranaike International Airport will be closed from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day. It will be open outside those hours, but airlines will have to reschedule, reroute or cancel many daylight flights. The closure will cost SriLankan Airlines $47m in lost earnings and force the cancellation of roughly 600 flights to key destinations such as Singapore, Chennai, Trichy, Male, Cochin and Bangalore. BIA operates 150 to 185 flights a day, about 30% of which will be affected by the closure. SriLankan Airlines CEO Suren Ratwatte said: "Our request to carry out the renovations during the night was turned down, despite other airlines managing to convince their (airport) authorities to shift renovations to the daytime ... The decision to shut down the airport during the day is a huge setback for us." <br/>
Buyers of Airbus Group’s troubled re-engined A320 narrow-body jet are preparing for delays to the aircraft extending into next year as they scale back fleet plans and seek compensation. IndiGo, India’s biggest airline, will operate fewer of the A320neo jets in the current financial year than previously estimated, while AerCap Holdings NV, which has more than 220 on order, said it expects the delays to continue into 2017. US-based Air Lease Corp. said last week it’s discussing financial remedies with the European planemaker with as many as eight deliveries now expected to be delayed next year. Output of the A320neo is being disrupted by manufacturing delays at Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp. that builds the plane’s geared turbofan engine. Pratt in September cut this year’s delivery target to 150 engines from 200, saying it couldn’t produce certain parts fast enough.<br/>“There’s a lot of uncertainty around the exact timetable for deliveries at the moment particularly those that are powered by the geared turbofan,” AerCap CEO Aengus Kelly said. He said he expects more clarity before the end of the year.<br/>