A Republican congressman has introduced legislation in the new US Congress that could complicate Boeing and Airbus sales to Iran Air, made possible by a multinational nuclear agreement signed in July 2015. The action came on the heels of Airbus’s first new airliner delivery to Iran Air 2 days earlier. Rep. Peter Roskam introduced H.R. 566 Jan 13. It calls for the incoming Trump administration to report on Iran’s use of commercial aircraft and related services for “illicit military or other activities.” The bill was referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. In the previous, 114th Congress, Roskam introduced legislation to prohibit the US Export-Import Bank from providing financing that would benefit Iran. <br/>
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The US airline industry has enjoyed 3 straight years of surging profits and has poured much of that windfall into buying new planes, building swankier airport lounges and paying big dividends to investors. Although US airlines are expected to remain profitable in the near future, industry watchers say 2017 could mark the end of the industry’s financial nirvana. An expected increase in fuel and labour costs is likely to be the biggest source of turbulence, along with uncertainty about the effect that the incoming Trump administration might have on travel from Mexico and the Middle East to the US. As a result, airfares are more likely to rise this year, particularly for business travellers, experts say. But price hikes are not guaranteed because increasingly popular LCCs are sure to make larger carriers think twice before raising fares. <br/>
The federal DoT reported Tuesday that 86.5% of US flights in November arrived on time, an improvement over both the previous month and Nov 2015. Less than one-third of 1% of domestic flights on the busiest 12 airlines were canceled, the lowest rate in any month since the department started keeping comparable records in 1995. The previous low was set in September. And the rate of bags that got lost, delayed or damaged was the lowest in figures that go back to 1987, the department said. Hawaiian Airlines and Delta Air Lines posted the best rates for on-time arrivals, over 90%. Virgin America, which is now owned by Alaska Airlines' parent, had the worst mark, 81.4%. Consumers filed 642 complaints about airlines with the DoT, down from 987 a year earlier. Complaints about foreign airlines rose, however. <br/>
The Middle East is set to be the fastest-growing region of the world for the airline industry this year, according to new forecasts issued by ratings agency Moody’s, with the highest growth in terms of both new airline capacity and revenue passenger kilometers. The bright predictions for the region comes despite some recent worrying signs of a slowdown among two of the region’s largest carriers, with Etihad laying off staff and Emirates Airline reporting a sharp fall in profits. And while the Middle East may be the strongest market, its lead is being chipped away. “The Middle East and Asia-Pacific will continue to lead among all regions, with RPK growth of 9% and 7%, respectively,” says Jonathan Root, VP at Moody’s. “However, these rates represent declines of 1.8 and 1.9 percentage points in their respective growth rates." <br/>
China’s efforts to develop a second airliner to boost the nation’s economic competitiveness and prestige is slowly coming to fruition in the form of the C919, the inaugural flight of which officials expect as soon as late March. Developed by Comac, the narrowbody has reached the early stages of pre-flight trials, including taxi and brake tests, according to a Comac official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “Every day, the experimental test pilots get progressively more involved in testing different things,” he said. “It looks like it will fly late in Q1 or early in Q2. After that you probably won’t see it fly for quite a while.” According to the same official, the C919’s major avionics systems such as the navigation, flight management system and autopilot remain incomplete, however. Final design reviews also remain pending. <br/>