Bombardier will have to wait an extra 2 months to find out if its CSeries commercial jets will be hit by punishing US duties. The US Commerce Department Wednesday granted Boeing’s request to delay its preliminary determination on its petition until Sept 25 from July 21. A final determination is still expected later this year. In April, Boeing petitioned the US Commerce Department and US International Trade Commission, alleging that the Bombardier has been selling CSeries planes in the US below cost thanks to public subsidies in violation of trade rules. Bombardier has rejected the allegations and argued that their CSeries planes never competed with Boeing in a key sale to Delta Airlines. <br/>
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The US will require nearly 200 airlines to meet new heightened security protocols to combat the threat of bombs in electronic devices, but the Trump administration has stepped back from a threat to ban laptops from all flights. The measures will affect 325,000 passengers flying into the US every day. Airlines that fail to comply or are slow to adopt them risk being fined, barred from entry to the US, or banned from carrying laptops in any part of inbound planes. However, the new plan does not expand a laptop ban, introduced in March to airports in the Middle East and north Africa, to Europe, and therefore marks a victory for the EU officials and airlines that campaigned against such a move. The US demands apply to 180 airlines and 280 airports, and are likely to create upheaval as those affected race to implement the measures. <br/>
US representative Bill Shuster’s proposed legislation to separate air traffic control management from FAA has cleared a key committee vote, but a “flags of convenience” amendment added to the bill will likely make it more controversial. The House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed the FAA reauthorisation legislation, clearing the way for the bill that would reauthorize FAA for 6 years and create an independent, non-profit entity to run US ATC to be voted on by the full House, which Shuster, the committee’s chairman, said he believes will happen “before August.” The legislation was amended to include the language of the proposed “Flags of Convenience Don’t Fly Here Act,” which aims to make it more difficult for the US transportation secretary to grant foreign air carrier permits to European carriers. <br/>
To bolster cockpit doors that were hardened after the hijackings Sept 11, 2001, a House panel agreed Tuesday to require airlines to install secondary metal barriers on new planes to prevent terrorists from entering the flight deck. Representative Andre Carson said there are currently no barriers to protect the cockpit when a pilot leaves to use the lavatory, receive food or stretch legs. “This leaves the flight deck vulnerable and pilots defenceless to potential attackers looking to seize control of the aircraft,” Carson said. The current practice is for crew members to remain more alert if a pilot leaves the flight deck and perhaps roll a food cart into the aisle. The TSA also has air marshals, who travel armed and undercover to thwart terrorists, on an unspecified number of flights. <br/>
Air passengers may now be entitled to refunds from airlines who cancel the return legs of flights after the first leg has gone unused. In a case that could affect anyone who has had a similar flight cancelled in the last 6 years, a judge has ordered that Iberia must refund a passenger the cost of his return journey after it prevented him from using it. Though this, a decision by a deputy district judge at the Mayor's and City of London Court, is not binding and Iberia is expected to appeal, it is thought to be one of the first cases to tackle the loss to a passenger of the cost of a return leg of a flight that has been cancelled by the airline in this way. Airlines prefer to cancel return flights when the initial leg goes unused is to avoid passengers buying returns that are cheaper than single flight tickets. <br/>
Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport is looking to give travellers with little or no baggage speedier passage through security by letting them bypass checkpoints clogged with an increasing number of passengers loaded with carry-ons. Beginning in July, the airport will start a trial to streamline processing for passengers with no more than a laptop case, small backpack or handbag. Signs at security checkpoints will direct people to a separate entrance for “Small Bags Only,” with airport employees determining if the luggage is indeed suitable. Airports have been stepping up efforts to ease the mounting inconveniences of travel. In addition to more stringent security controls, checks have become increasingly cumbersome as more and more people opt for hand baggage instead of checking luggage to avoid airline fees and waiting times. <br/>
Egypt’s Cairo airport has started screening passengers arriving from Sudan for signs of cholera because of a reported outbreak there, the head of airport quarantine said Wednesday. Similar measures are already carried out in Cairo airport for people arriving from Yemen due to an epidemic there. “The number of doctors and health monitors in arrival halls has increased to monitor the flights and examine passengers coming from infected areas,” Head of Airport Quarantine Medhat Qandil said. Qandil said any suspected cholera cases would be isolated and sent to hospital. Even if passengers do not show symptoms their details will be recorded so they can be monitored by Egyptian health authorities, he said. <br/>
Stiff competition coming from non-African carriers and failure of African states to establish a single air transport market threatens the death of the continent’s air transport industry, according to delegates at the second ICAO Meeting on Air Cargo Development in Africa. Among the most vocal proponent for change, Ethiopian Airlines Group CE Tewolde Gebremariam reckoned that 30 years ago African airlines carried 60% of the passenger traffic between Africa and the rest of the world. Three decades later, that market share has plunged to 20%, leaving the rest to non-African airlines. “This is a gradual death of indigenous African carriers,” said Gebremariam. “I am not complaining for my carrier because Ethiopian Airlines is doing very well. But I am concerned like any citizen of this continent that we are watching the death of our industry." <br/>