general

The new head of a panel advising the govt on modernising air-traffic control is calling on the US to take on one of the most difficult political and technical challenges: the crowded skies around New York. Seventy-eight percent of airline delays start in the region and efforts to improve the aviation system need to start there, FedEx COO David Bronczek Wednesday. “It’s time to be bold and aggressive”. Efforts to use NextGen’s global-positioning technology and other tools to create more precise flight paths have run into opposition from New York politicians concerned about aircraft noise, while also generating technical challenges due to the proximity of the area’s 3 major airports. Some airlines advocated shifting the FAA project to a non-profit corporation in a Feb 9 meeting with president Trump. <br/>

African govts have been urged to consider forming alliances with other airlines across the continent to maintain a strong aviation sector. The experts attending the Aviation Africa 2017 forum Wednesday argued that most of the continent’s airlines were not strong enough to maintain a viable aviation industry on their own. Abdullah M. Al-Sayed, founder and chairman of Nexus Flight Operations Services, an international aviation firm, said that promotion of airlines collaboration could boost the continent’s aviation sector. “There is no open skies among African countries, which has limited African airlines capacity to tap into the opportunities available in the global aviation market. The air transport industry provides significant economic benefits, playing a major role in the economic transformation of Africa,” he said. <br/>