Indonesian and regional authorities heightened flight warnings around Bali’s Mount Agung on Sunday as the volcano’s eruptions sent a plume of volcanic ash and steam more than 6,000 metres into the skies above the popular holiday island. Ash covered roads, cars and buildings near the volcano in the northeast of the island, while scores of flights were cancelled and overnight a red glow of what appeared to be magma could be seen in photographs by Antara, the state news agency. “The activity of Mount Agung has entered the magmatic eruption phase. It is still spewing ash at the moment but we need to monitor and be cautious over the possibility of a strong, explosive eruption,” said Gede Suantika, an official at the volcanology and geological disaster mitigation agency. Bali, famous for its surf, beaches and temples, attracted nearly 5m visitors last year but business has slumped in areas around the volcano since September when Agung’s volcanic tremors began to increase. Agung rises majestically over eastern Bali at a height of just over 3,000 metres. When it last erupted in 1963 it killed more than 1,000 people and razed several villages. Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology’s Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VACC) in Darwin issued maps showing an ash cloud heading southeast over the neighbouring island of Lombok, away from Bali’s capital, Denpasar, where the main international airport is located. Indonesia also upgraded its Volcano Observatory Notice for Aviation (VONA) to red, its highest warning, and said the ash-cloud top could reach 19,654 feet or higher. However, officials said the airport would remain open for now as the ash could be avoided.<br/>
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A group of European leisure airlines has called for tight limits on EU aviation infrastructure charges and controls on organisations that hold monopoly positions in the industry. Airlines International Representation in Europe DG Sylviane Lust told EU transport commissioner Violeta Bulc in a Nov. 23 meeting that urgent improvements were needed in the EU’s air transport policies. AIRE, which represents 16 carriers mainly involved in the leisure and charter sectors, wants significant progress towards a more cost-efficient infrastructure in the EU, as well as improved harmonization and standardization of EU rules. “We must now see concrete steps to address the unjustifiable cost of the EU infrastructure,” Lust said. “Airports have shown through a number of criteria that they have significant market power and hence they must be subject to economic regulation at EU level. “Other monopoly providers of air navigation services keep increasing their profits while not delivering the required capacity. Airlines and their passengers need a strong EU regulator to prevent these monopolies from abusing their position. A thriving airline sector will result in a wider choice for passengers, an objective that the EU liberalization process should continue to pursue.” AIRE’s newly-appointed president Rafal Milczarski, who is CEO of LOT Polish Airlines, added that ANSPs’ charges should be capped and that there should be an annual 10% reduction in the costs of the European Network Manager, which is part of Eurocontrol. “The aviation industry in Europe faces many challengers such as open sky development, airspace availability as well as regulations regarding state support for the airlines,” Milczarski said on his election.<br/>
Spain will have a backup plan in place to shield its tourism industry from any disruption to air travel caused by Brexit regardless of the outcome of talks between the UK and the EU, Deputy Minister for European Affairs Jorge Toledo said. Airlines tend to make their flight plans one year advance, so Spain still has about four months to see if a back-up plan will be necessary, with the U.K. planning to leave in March 2019, Toledo said in an interview Thursday in Madrid. If the plan the EU is working on doesn’t come through, Spain will have one of its own so that UK tourists can keep coming, he said. “If there isn’t an agreement, then we will have a plan B ready,” said Toledo, 52. “It would be necessary to work on a European solution but also on a national-based solution.” With negotiations over Britain’s departure stalled, Spain is taking steps to protect a tourism industry that drew 18 million Britons last year. Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary warned in August that airlines would be “screaming blue murder” next year if a wide-ranging deal on aviation isn’t reached to stop flights to and from the UK being grounded as a result of Brexit. Spanish officials like Toledo are taking care to stress the importance of commercial links with the UK. While Spain fully supports the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, a collapse of the talks would be disruptive in Spain because of the tourism and commercial links and the role played by Spanish firms including Banco Santander SA and Iberdrola SA in the UK economy.<br/>
Rising incomes and cheaper fares offered by budget carriers are fuelling air travel in India, an aviation market set to be the third biggest behind China and the US. In signs traffic is surging, Mumbai Friday handled 969 flights in a 24-hour period, a world record for an airport that operates only one runway at any given point of time, the Times of India reported Sunday, citing an official at the Mumbai International Airport Ltd. The aim is to reach 1,000 aircraft movements, the official told the newspaper. Indian carriers flew about 100m domestic passengers last year, and the International Air Transport Association estimates the market will add about 337m more in the next two decades. About 97% of India’s 1.3b people have never been on an airplane, according to low-cost airline SpiceJet Ltd., indicating the potential for growth in traffic.<br/>
The busy Thanksgiving travel week is ending the same way it started for airline passengers: with busy airports, but mostly on-time flights. There were few air travel trouble spots Sunday, one of the busiest days of the year for air travel as Thanksgiving travellers return home. Nationwide, only 123 flights had been cancelled nationwide as of 7:45 p.m., according to flight-tracking service FlightAware. Delays also were not a problems at most major airports. The one exception came in California. Cloudy, rainy weather was leading to some disruptions at San Francisco. At the Los Angeles and San Diego airports, fog was the culprit, though conditions were expected to improve after 10 a.m. local time. Airlines had canceled about 90 flights in San Francisco, representing about 6% of the entire day’s schedule there. About half of San Francisco’s flights were running late, according to FlightAware. At Los Angeles and San Diego, roughly 10%-15% of the day's flights were behind schedule, though cancellations were not a major problem. Beyond California, flights ran mostly on time at the nation’s other busy airports. That capped one of the most uneventful Thanksgiving air travel weeks in recent memory. <br/>
Airbus is poised to hire the head of Rolls-Royce’s civil engines unit, Eric Schulz, to lead its commercial jetliner sales, after months of uncertainty over the successor to sales kingpin John Leahy, three people familiar with the matter said. Schulz, president of the civil engines division at the British engineering firm, has been recommended for the post to bring in outside blood as the company faces turmoil over the impact of UK and French corruption investigations. Christian Scherer, CE of turboprop maker ATR, jointly owned by Airbus and Italian aerospace firm Leonardo, had also been considered for one of aviation’s highest profile roles. Scherer, an Airbus veteran of 30 years before joining ATR, was seen by many as a leading candidate and enjoys close ties to CE Tom Enders. But although Scherer has not been linked to the compliance investigations, industry sources said the board is insisting on a break with the past. A final decision will be taken by the Airbus board based on a panel’s decision to put forward one name, that of Schulz.<br/>