Hundreds of stranded tourists and Puerto Ricans seeking to leave filled the sweltering halls of San Juan International Airport on Monday anxious for a seat on one of the few flights operating after Hurricane Maria devastated power and communications across the island. Fearful of checking out of hotels in case they could not get on the few flights available, worried visitors waited in long lines at Puerto Rico’s main airport, struggling to reach loved ones and airlines by phone. “Everything is hearsay at the moment because there is no communication,” said 31-year-old Rene Kessler, a medical student from Baltimore, Maryland. A microcosm of the storm-battered island, San Juan airport is a top priority in efforts by Puerto Rico’s cash-strapped government to rebuild after Maria. Experts say the work will take months and likely cost tens of billions of dollars. The screens above American Airlines’ desks were dark, while JetBlue’s displays flowed with red rows of cancellations. Staff called out the names of passengers who won seats on the few departing planes. Carriers said downed infrastructure had caused operations to be scaled back sharply. In some cases, airlines used a nearby hospital to print flight manifests. And some customers were given handwritten boarding passes. Airlines on Sunday were restricted to one or two flights a day, and TSA workers manually inspected bags and patted down passengers.<br/>
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The US House of Representatives on Monday failed to approve a bill to allow the FAA to continue to operate and a package of tax relief bills to aid hurricane victims after ranking Democrats objected. Authorization for the FAA is set to expire on Saturday. The bill would have extended the agency for another six months as Congress debates whether to privatize the country’s air traffic control system and considers new airline passenger protections. The bill, which was considered under fast-track rules that require two-thirds of members to support it, failed on a 245 to 171 margin. House Democratic leaders on Monday had urged their colleagues to oppose the measure, citing Republican’s decision to only extend some healthcare programs and refusing to allow immigration legislation. “Democrats support reauthorization of the FAA, which is long overdue as a result of Republicans’ failure to craft a bill that can obtain bipartisan majority support,” the statement said. “It is outrageous that the majority is hijacking the must-pass FAA bill as a vehicle for its pet priorities.” President Donald Trump in March proposed handing over control of US air traffic control to a privately-operated board, but has faced resistance among Democrats and owners of private planes. Major U.S. carriers, including American Airlines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways, all back the privatization proposal.<br/>
Commercial airlines are again on the front lines of the US government's latest round of travel restrictions, which have had several iterations since the Trump White House's first, issued in January. The first set, placed upon citizens of seven majority-Muslim nations, threw airports into chaos. Failing to scrutinise traveller documents is costly: Airlines have to pay to fly the passengers back home and sometimes pay hefty fines for passengers who are denied entry into the US upon landing. Immigration authorities worldwide turn away some 60,000 air travellers a year at destination or transfer points, according to the IATA. Those authorities can fine carriers an average of $3,500 for the error. Gate agents and other airline employees this year have had to become quick studies in the sometimes vague and abruptly changing requirements on which documentation was acceptable for boarding US-bound flights. They also were forced to change their boarding and luggage-loading procedures after the Trump administration in March issued a ban on personal electronics larger than a cell phone in the cabin. The White House's latest rules added a ban on most US travel from Chad and North Korea, to a list that included Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and Iran. Sudan was removed from the list of countries that were in an earlier ban. The administration also will bar the entry of some government officials and their families from Venezuela. The new restrictions will take effect Oct. 18, the White House said.<br/>
Berliners voted to keep the historic Tegel airport open even after a new international hub is completed, creating a headache for the German capital's government, which wanted it closed. Tegel sprang up in just 90 days in 1948 to support the Berlin Airlift, a huge operation to ship supplies and thwart a Cold War Soviet blockade. It is much-loved by many Berliners and business travellers for its proximity to the city centre. Berlin's government will now have to rethink its plans to close Tegel after some 56% of voters supported the non-binding referendum on Sunday, the same day as Germany's federal election, to reconsider the proposal. This had envisaged the closing of Tegel six months after the Berlin Brandenburg International (BER) airport - a grand project bedevilled by repeated construction and planning problems - finally starts operating. It still has no fixed opening date. Michael Mueller, Berlin's mayor said the result created a "very, difficult situation" and told rbb radio he would now talk to the airport's state owners about taking a different approach that could be "legally and financially challenging." The chief executive of Berlin Airport, Engelbert Luetke Dalderup, said it was up to the airport's owners to decide and that the operator was working on its aim to complete the construction work for BER by August 2018.<br/>
Airlines risk missing out on $30b in extra revenue unless they adapt business models to treat passengers as online consumers rather than travellers, a new study has found. In-flight broadband, which will bring new services such as high-speed film and TV streaming and online shopping to passengers, has the potential to create a $130b global market within the next 20 years, according to a report by the London School of Economics and Inmarsat, the satellite operator. The share that could be captured by airlines, which would provide access to these services during flights to a captive audience, is forecast to climb from $900m in 2018 to $30bn by 2035. The report, to be published on Tuesday, estimates that by 2035 this could add $4 per passenger to the $17 already earned from ancillary services such as in-flight purchases of duty-free goods, or food and drink. Ancillary services have become increasingly important to the world’s airlines as the emergence of low-cost carriers has driven down fares and undermined the hold of legacy airlines on air travel. The report estimates that non-broadband enabled extras generate roughly $60bn in supplementary revenue for the world’s airlines. Alexander Grous, media and communications lecturer at LSE and author of the report, said most carriers remain too focused on the simple service of offering broadband access. For example, airlines could team up with brands to offer continuous online shopping during the flight, with delivery either to the holiday destination or the home, he said. “Airlines have a broadband mindset and have not fully embraced the potential of ecommerce,” he said.<br/>
Airlines are now able to uplift 80% of their usual jet fuel allocations at Auckland airport, with signs that the crisis caused by the severing of a fuel pipeline is starting to ease. New Zealand energy minister Judith Collins says that a replacement of the damaged part of the pipeline from the Marsden Point refinery to the airport’s fuel farm has been completed, and later today will start operating at its allowable capacity from the afternoon of 26 September. In the meantime, trucks have been delivering jet fuel from storage tanks at Wynyard Wharf and the refinery. “Two million litres of jet fuel has now arrived at Auckland Airport’s JUHI storage facility, and 15 million litres is expected to be available by the end of the week,” says Collins. She adds that although it may take another week before full supply is available at the airport, international operations at Auckland have largely returned to normal with only three flight cancellations planned for 26 September.<br/>
Netflix wants more members to binge-watch its TV shows and movies while flying the friendly skies. The on-demand video service announced Monday it will offer its low-broadband mobile technology to airline carriers in early 2018. This would allow airlines to offer cheap, or free, WiFi access to passengers to stream Netflix on their personal devices. The low-broadband service could help airlines save up to 75% in bandwidth costs, the company said at the 2017 Airline Passenger Experience EXPO in Long Beach. The technology is most used in markets that are still developing their broadband infrastructures. While this is good news for Netflix fans, its likely a strategic move for the company, too: it hopes to expand its user base. In addition, it said the tech offering could help airlines "enhance passenger satisfaction and likelihood to fly."<br/>