Some airlines are allowing Mexico City travelers to change their tickets without paying fees after a deadly and powerful earthquake measuring 7.1 rocked central Mexico Tuesday. More than 100 people died when homes and businesses collapsed across hundreds of miles. Delta is waiving change fees for travelers with tickets to, from or through Mexico City Tuesday and Wednesday, according to its website. American Airlines and United also will waive fees for travellers ticketed Tuesday and Wednesday. Alaska Airlines said Tuesday: “At this time there is no waiver. We are planning on having flights to/from MEX tomorrow.” The quake’s epicenter was about 80 miles southeast of Mexico City in the state of Puebla.<br/>
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Airlines were flying bigger planes and adding flights Tuesday to get travelers out of Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands in the path of Hurricane Maria. American Airlines capped fares at $99 for standard coach seats and at $199 for premium seats through Sept. 24 for departures from 12 locations in the Caribbean. The fare caps apply to non-stop flights; connections may cost more. United capped fares at $384 for non-stop in economy class. It also added 500 seats to its flights Tuesday out of Puerto Rico. A larger flight left Aguadilla for Newark at 1:53 a.m. and seats were added to three Tuesday flights from San Juan, with an extra departure at 3:30 p.m. Delta added two flights Tuesday from San Juan to Atlanta on a Boeing 757 and Airbus A321, as it continued flying its full schedule to San Juan from Atlanta and JFK. Delta flights to St. Thomas remain canceled because of damage from Hurricane Irma, but are expected to resume Thursday and to St. Martin on Saturday. Delta capped main cabin fares at $199 through Sept. 21 for non-stop flights departing San Juan in Puerto Rico and from the Dominican Republic cities of Punta Cana, Santiago and Santo Domingo.<br/>
Mexico City International Airport (MEX) suspended operation for several hours on Tuesday after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck 75 miles south of the country's capital, in the town of Raboso. The facility remained closed as crews evaluated whether its terminals and runways were safe for operation, airport authorities announced via Twitter. The airport announced that it had reopened for business at 4:00 p.m. local time. However, airport authorities are advising travellers to contact their airlines for details on how the shutdown will affect their reservations. As a result of the quake, the normally crowded airspace over the Mexican capital was virtually deserted. Commercial air travel came to a halt and the only things flying in the area were either military or private aircraft. The 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck on the 32nd anniversary of an 8.1-magnitude quake that killed as many as 40,000 people in and around Mexico City. Tuesday's earthquake has so far caused 79 deaths with many more casualties expected. The aftermath — including collapsed buildings and significant property damage — is still being assessed. MEX is the second busiest airport in Latin America and is home to AeroMexico as well as low-cost carriers Interjet and Volaris. <br/>
Just as passenger anger rises over airline charges and customer service, the world’s leading carriers are squeezing more money out of fees on everything from baggage, food to hotel bookings. Over the past decade, so-called ancillary fees have experienced huge growth. The top 10 airlines, ranked by total ancillary revenue, generated $2.1bn in 2007. In 2016, this had grown to more than $28b, according to research by IdeaWorksCompany and CarTrawler. Among the most successful groups at selling ancillary services are United, which generated $6.2b in revenue last year, Delta, which generated $5.17b, and American, which generated $4.9b. Globally airlines are estimated to have earned $67.4b of income from ancillaries last year, representing about 9.1% of airline revenue for 2016, up from 4.8% in 2010. It is not a new trend. Ancillary fees have been creeping in across the whole airline industry as carriers search for ways to make up for lost revenue from falling ticket prices. But airlines have become more inventive over charging for services other than the ticket price. Activities include anything from frequent flyer miles, bidding for spare seats next to you, on-time guarantees, lounge access to hotel bookings, holidays and car hire. “Airline management teams have clearly identified ancillary revenues as a way to add incremental, high-margin revenue to the core seat product offer,” says Anand Date, aviation analyst at Deutsche Bank. However, it has raised scepticism from some within the industry who argue that the majority of these fees are for things flyers used to get for free and are therefore hidden fare increases.<br/>
Heathrow is urging the UK government to scrap a punitive travel tax on domestic flights to support economic growth as part of a nine-point Brexit plan. The airport has written to the Chancellor Philip Hammond ahead of the Budget in November with a plea for air passenger duty (APD) to be removed on domestic routes, arguing that UK passengers pay an extra GBP225m each year compared to those in Europe. The UK’s rate of APD is the highest in Europe and the second highest globally, behind only the central African country Chad. Passengers on a return domestic flight from Heathrow pay GBP26 in APD. Scrapping the charge would result in a GBP24m annual saving just for those flying from that airport. The airport said the tax acts as a brake on the number of domestic flights offered by airlines and that removing it would be a sensible move post-Brexit given that most European countries have little or no tax on internal flights to support their domestic industries. Consultancy Frontier Economics reckons removing APD on domestic flights would increase GDP growth and boost tax receipts to offset the loss to the Treasury from the abolition of the tax.<br/>
Korean Air is joining Asiana Airlines in reducing the number of flights to China and operating smaller planes bound for the country in line with the declining number of Chinese visitors. Korea's six low-cost carriers have also taken similar steps amid China's escalating economic retaliation against Seoul's deployment of a US missile defense system, which has invited a strong backlash from the world's second-largest economy. Since March when Korea decided to deploy the U.S. anti-missile Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery, Chinese authorities have instructed travel agencies not to send tour groups to Asia's fourth-largest economy. According to the Korea Tourism Organization, the number of Chinese visitors plummeted 41% to 2.25m in the first half of 2017 from the previous year. In addition, the number of Koreans flying to China has dropped sharply amid the tense Korea-Sino relations, forcing local carriers to scale back flights between the two nations. Korean Air said Monday it will not operate a route linking the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian to Incheon International Airport, beginning Oct. 29. Korea's largest flagship carrier also plans to stop flying between Busan and Shanghai, citing a drop in the number of passengers. Story has further details of changes.<br/>
Airline passengers will be able to avoid the pre-flight ritual of lugging heavy bags to the airport and around the departure terminal as the world’s first pop-up check-in system enters service. Devised by Amadeus IT Group SA, the technology will facilitate check-in for groups of travellers at hotels, schools, conference centers and sports stadiums, the world’s biggest flight-bookings provider said Tuesday. Bags are taken onward to the airport by truck for the usual security screening. Virgin Australia will pioneer the service after a successful trial at Sydney’s main cruise terminal, where it allows passengers to enjoy the time before their flight unencumbered by luggage, according to local logistics specialist OACIS, which has partnered with Amadeus. The system, which uses cloud-based technology to remotely access an airline’s passenger-processing system, is likely to rolled out across Virgin airports in Australia and New Zealand over the next 12 to 18 months. <br/>
FAA has awarded approximately US$733m in airport improvement program (AIP) grants so far in September, including $448.1m in discretionary funds, pushing AIP awards in 2017 over the $3b mark. According to the US DoT, more than 1,660 new grants have been announced this year thus far, providing funds for 681 runway projects and 588 taxiway projects, in addition to signage, terminal renovations, and numerous other allotments, to nearly 1,360 US airports. Grants are awarded to commercial-passenger (primary), commercial service and general aviation airports alike, as well as block grant programs to individual states for non-primary development projects. According to DOT, US airports are entitled to a certain amount of airport improvement program (AIP) grants every year based on passenger volume. Discretionary funds are provided as supplements if an airport’s capital project exceeds its entitlement.<br/>
Chinese airlines could need between 60 and 100 Airbus A380 jets over the next five or so years as passenger traffic grows, the plane maker’s China head said on Tuesday, amid rising questions over future demand for the super jumbo. Strong demand in China - if translated into orders - would be a major boost for the A380, the world’s biggest jetliner, which has faced sluggish demand as airlines shift focus towards a generation of nimbler, more fuel-efficient long-haul planes such as the A350 and rival Boeing's 787. China is the world’s fastest growing aviation market and is a key battleground for Airbus as well as Boeing which recently predicted the country would spend over $1t on planes over the next 20 years. “When I look at the market flow, the passenger flow, route by route and the economics, I‘m fully confident that the Chinese carriers will need a minimum of 60 A380s over the next 5 to 7 years,” Airbus China Head Eric Chen said. Airbus has sold five A380s to China Southern Airlines but has otherwise failed to penetrate the market with the double-decker jet despite its robust demand forecasts.<br/>
China’s Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC) Tuesday signed 130 new orders for its C919 passenger jet with four Chinese leasing firms, after the plane took its maiden flight in May this year. COMAC is leading China’s efforts to become a key player in the global civil aerospace market, threatening the dominance of US and European rivals Boeing and Airbus. The deals take total orders for the C919 single-aisle aircraft to 730 planes from 27 customers. China Nuclear E&C Group placed an order for 40 jets, while Huabao Leasing and AVIC International Leasing each signed up for 30 of the aircraft, according to COMAC.<br/>