The developer of the World Trade Center in New York has reached a $95.2m settlement of all claims against American Airlines Group, United Continental and other aviation defendants stemming from the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, which involved the carriers’ hijacked planes. Insurers will cover the payout to entities affiliated with Larry Silverstein and his Silverstein Properties, according to settlement papers filed on Tuesday with the US District Court in Manhattan. The accord requires approval by US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who oversees much of the civil litigation stemming from the attacks. It would have totaled $97m had two of American’s and United’s insurers not become insolvent. Silverstein has received several billion dollars from insurers to rebuild. He wanted to hold American and United responsible for their alleged negligence in failing to prevent the Twin Towers’ destruction by their hijacked planes. The accord would “bring to a close this hard-fought thirteen-year litigation on terms agreeable to the parties,” lawyers for Silverstein and the airlines said in a filing. “We are pleased to have finally reached a resolution to this piece of post-9/11 litigation,” Bud Perrone, a spokesman for Silverstein Properties, said in an email.<br/>
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The rate of fatal crashes on privately owned aircraft in the U.S. dropped to the lowest level in 50 years in 2016. The fatal-accident rate was less than 1 per 100,000 flight hours, the first time it has reached that level in decades, according to statistics released by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday. There were 386 people killed in private-aviation accidents in 2016, compared to 631 in 1997, according to NTSB data. Even though the total number of fatalities last year was up slightly from a year earlier, the rate of those crashes was down because private-plane usage was up. Deaths in so-called general aviation accidents have gradually decreased in recent decades, but at a far slower rate than the drop in airline accidents and fatalities. The recent declines come as the NTSB, the Federal Aviation Administration and private groups like the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association have made concerted efforts to improve safety equipment and training. If 2017 ends with no crashes involving a U.S. airline, it will be the eighth year in a row without a death in that segment.<br/>
China Southern plans to take advantage of its ties with American Airlines to help beef up its US routes and close in on mainland rivals, the Chinese carrier’s President Tan Wangeng said. A new airport in Beijing, once up and running in 2019, will serve as the state airline’s second hub flying almost 50m passengers in and out of China, even more than the 30m the carrier flew in 2016 from its home base of Guangzhou in southern China, Tan said. China Southern plans to operate 250 aircraft out of the new airport, and will introduce more US flights along with American Air, he said. “The market between China and the US is the biggest one,” Tan said. “We now have flights to cities like New York and Los Angeles but they are just not enough. We hope the frequency reaches a point where people can fly to Beijing for a conference and back to New York in a single day.” Tan’s ambition is part of an ongoing race among China’s top three state carriers to fly profitable routes to the world’s major hubs ranging from New York and Los Angeles to London and Frankfurt. The second Beijing airport will free up more slots for members of the SkyTeam alliance such as China Southern, Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines Corp. and potentially break the dominance of Beijing-based flag carrier Air China Ltd. in international long-haul flights. <br/>
Airbus is looking to develop autonomous aircraft and technologies that will allow a single pilot to operate commercial jetliners, helping cut costs for carriers, CTO Paul Eremenko said. “The more disruptive approach is to say maybe we can reduce the crew needs for our future aircraft,” Eremenko said. “We’re pursuing single-pilot operation as a potential option and a lot of the technologies needed to make that happen has also put us on the path towards unpiloted operation.” The aerospace industry has begun seeing a similar trend as the car market, where automakers are investing in or acquiring autonomous driving startups. Plane manufacturers including Airbus and Boeing are racing to develop artificial intelligence that will one day enable computers to fly planes without human beings at the controls. Turning that idea into a practical reality won’t be easy in an industry where at least two pilots in the cockpit have been the norm for commercial flights for several decades. After a Germanwings pilot flew an A320 plane into the French Alps in March 2015, killing all 150 people on board, many airlines around the world made at least two people in the cockpit mandatory at all times. In addition to there being no transport-category aircraft certificated for a single pilot or pilotless flight, it’s unclear whether passengers or their insurers or carriers would accept or permit it, said aviation consultant Robert Mann, a former American Airlines executive.<br/>
Two Boeing 747-400 Freighters were sold on Tuesday on Taobao, the online shopping platform owned by Alibaba, for a combined 322.8m yuan (US$49m), reflecting the first time such jets were sold via online auction in China, and possibly the first-ever globally at online auction. The sale was concluded after six failed attempts at offline private auctions organised by the seller – a state court – in the past few years. SF Express, China’s largest private courier, bought the jets from the Intermediate People’s Court in the southern city of Shenzhen, which seized them after Jade Cargo International filed for bankruptcy in 2013. Three Boeing 747-400s had been put up for sale on Taobao’s judicial auction arm from Monday to Tuesday. One of the jets parked at the Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport went unsold, with a starting bid of 122.6m yuan. Taobao is an online shopping platform similar to eBay. The other two planes bought by SF Express are housed at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport. They had an opening bid of 133.8m yuan and 135m yuan respectively, and both drew two participants during the auction process. The jets were eventually gavelled off at 160.8m yuan and 162m yuan, up 20% from the starting bids. According to rules on Taobao’s auction site, bidders were required to make security deposits of 6.1m yuan, 6.7m yuan, and 6.8m yuan for the respective jets before the auction. The winning bidder is obliged to complete the purchase by sending full payment within 15 working days.<br/>
Airbus has told MPs that Britain risks losing the “crown jewels” of its aviation industry to China as a result of Brexit, putting up to 7,000 wing-manufacturing jobs in Wales at risk. The company’s senior corporate representative in the UK warned the business select committee that the threat of new customs bureaucracy and reduced employee mobility could deter long-term investment and accelerate a shift to Asia. Though there are no current plans to move, Katherine Bennett said, she was “fighting to ensure that wing design – the crown jewels of aerospace – remains in this country”. “I need to let you know, committee, that other countries would dearly love to design and build wings,” she told MPs. “Some of them already do; we do build wings in China now, and believe you me they are knocking at the door as a result of the situation we are in in this country. “Every single thing we export goes into the EU – we don’t export anywhere else – so non-tariff barriers are a really big thing for us,” added Bennet. “[This is] yet another burden going on my shoulder when I am putting a good case for the UK”. The hearing followed written evidence on Monday which saw experts predict new customs obstacles would add GBP1.5b a year to the industry’s costs.<br/>
The Airbus A350-1000 has gained both EASA and FAA type certifications, the manufacturer announced Tuesday. Type certification of the widebody Nov. 21 came almost one year after the aircraft’s first flight. Airbus expects to deliver the first A350-1000 to launch customer and operator Qatar Airways before the end of this year. The first aircraft is in the final assembly line and will be transferred to the flight line in early December. The A350-1000 test program comprised 1,600 hours and involved three aircraft. Around 150 flight hours were dedicated to route proving in an operating environment typical for airlines. Airbus A350 chief engineer Alain de Zotti said all performance targets were met or exceeded. The aircraft also remained within its weight specification, unlike early versions of the A350-900, the first A350 variant to enter service.<br/>