If you're planning a big vacation trip this summer, move over. You're going to have lots of company. By air or car, traveller numbers are expected to rise over last year thanks to a decent economy and stable gasoline prices. US airlines expect to carry 234m passengers from June 1 through Aug. 31, up from the summer record of 225m a year ago, according to the trade group Airlines for America. While fares are edging up overall, they are still relatively affordable by historical standards. And travelers can find deals, especially on routes flown by discount airlines such as Spirit. Some of the lowest fares on popular routes are coming from United Airlines, which is trying to regain passengers lost to rivals in recent years and to overcome the image, replayed over and over on the news, of a passenger being brutally dragged off a United Express plane. "I call them the mea culpa fares," says George Hobica, founder of airfarewatchdog.com. There is no evidence yet that a spate of viral videos like the United one have hurt ticket sales. Strong demand is helping airlines push up prices. Analysts predict that the amount passengers pay per mile, a rough approximation of average fares, will rise around 3% over last summer. At a few airports, travelers will face increased security measures including placing each large electronic device — laptop, tablet, camera — in a separate bin to go through the X-ray machines, which could slow the screening process.<br/>
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that Moscow had not put forward any new conditions for resuming direct flights to Egypt. Lavrov, on a visit to Egypt, also said Cairo should first ensure travel safety for the flights. The passenger flights between Russia and Egypt were suspended in November 2015 after a Russian passenger airliner exploded and disintegrated over the Sinai Peninsula, killing all on board.<br/>
Russia's new jetliner, which conducted its maiden flight on Sunday, may have a hard time challenging the sales duopoly of Boeing and Airbus, but it does point the way to radical changes in how they could be building jets in the future. The MS-21, a new single aisle airliner produced by Russia's United Aircraft Corporation, is the first passenger plane borne aloft by lightweight carbon-composite wings built without a costly pressurized oven called an autoclave. The manufacturing process provides a test for a technology already being assessed by Western rivals, who are looking for cheaper and faster ways to build some of their aircraft with composites, according to aerospace executives and suppliers. Even as it sets up the world's largest autoclaves to make wings for its giant 777X, Boeing is exploring alternatives for its "New Midsize Airplane" (NMA), in the middle of the market between its big wide-body jets and best-selling 737. "There's a good chance part of the NMA will be built without autoclaves," a person familiar with the project said.<br/>
The number of travellers using Suvarnabhumi airport is predicted to soar to 59m this year, adding more congestion to the already overcrowded terminal. Airport director Sirote Duangratana bases his estimate on the number of passengers during the first five months of this year, which peaked in February with 195,000 people in just one day. The number of flights per day also rose to 1,300 in the same month. This year, Sirote believes, the total number of the travelers will jump to 59m, up around 5% from 55.9m last year. "The numbers show the crackdown on 'zero dollar' tourism had no direct impact," he said, referring to tourism packages from China in which customers<br/>pay very cheap prices, or nothing, for trips to Thailand and are pressured to buy overpriced goods and services here from the company's partners. Despite fewer Chinese tourists, travellers from other countries continue to crowd the airport, Sirote said.<br/>