An appeals court panel said Friday that federal officials must reconsider their decision not to regulate the size of airline seats as a safety issue. One of the judges called it "the Case of the Incredible Shrinking Airline Seat." The Flyers Rights passenger group challenged the FAA in court after the agency rejected its request to write rules governing seat size and the distance between rows of seats. Friday, a 3-judge panel for the federal appeals court in Washington said the FAA had relied on outdated or irrelevant tests and studies before deciding that seat spacing was a matter of comfort, not safety. The judges sent the issue back to the FAA. They said the agency must come up with a better-reasoned response to the group's safety concerns. The airline industry has long opposed the regulation of seat size. <br/>
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The busiest-ever summer for holidays abroad is putting unprecedented strain on airlines, airports and passengers. Thousands of travellers remain stranded after their weekend flights were cancelled, with EasyJet alone grounding at least 28 flights. The airline is blaming “congested airspace, particularly in the London area, adverse weather and air traffic control delays.” Heathrow and Gatwick airports are handling far more passengers than their design capacities. Airspace over France, used by more than 1,000 British flights every day, has too few staff to handle the growth in traffic. And tougher passport checks at European airports mean passengers face queues of up to 4 hours to pass border controls, with thousands of flights delayed as a result. <br/>
Consumer campaigners have accused airlines of ripping off passengers by failing to pass on the full saving of the fall in fuel prices. They say the current low price of oil is not reflected in the cost charged by airlines. The row comes as around 2m people headed overseas this weekend as the holiday season got underway. The Conservative MP Michael Fabricant said that although the cost of flights has been falling over the past few years customers are still not seeing the full benefit of the fall in fuel costs over the same period “There’s a very real argument here to say that airline customers are being ripped off. The price of tickets must go down to reflect the fall in the price of fuel, but airlines are failing to pass on in full the savings they are making as a result of falling fuel prices,” he said. <br/>
Britain Friday eased a ban on laptops and tablets in airline cabins, lifting the prohibition on some flights from Turkey. In March, British authorities banned electronic devices larger than smartphones on direct flights from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. The Department for Transport said Friday that the rule no longer applied on all flights to the UK from Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen airport, and on some flights from Izmir and Istanbul's Ataturk airport. The changes apply to UK-bound flights operated by Turkish Airlines and Pegasus. The department says restrictions at other airports "will be lifted on a case-by-case basis once the UK govt has verified that airlines have put in place alternative security measures." <br/>
Security checks at all major Australian airports have been ramped up following a counter-terrorism operation that foiled an alleged plot to bring down a plane. Four men were arrested in counter-terrorism raids on homes in the Sydney suburbs Saturday after authorities discovered plans for an attack to “bring down” an aircraft, prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said Sunday. Air passengers should expect delays caused by additional security measures at screening points. “Some of the measures will be obvious to the public, some will not be,” Turnbull said. Australian Federal Police commissioner Andrew Colvin said officers became aware people in Sydney were planning to commit a terrorist attack using an “improvised device.” The plot was believed to be inspired by Islamic State, Colvin added. <br/>