About 51m Americans are expected to fly on US airlines in the three weeks around Christmas and New Year's Day, a 3.5% increase over last year. That's the forecast Wednesday from Airlines for America, a trade group for most of the leading US airlines. The group credits an improving economy and airfares that have lagged below the rate of inflation. The forecast counts domestic and international flights between Dec. 15 and Jan. 4. That would mean about 80,000 more passengers per day. The trade group says airlines are adding about 91,000 seats per day to handle the crowds.<br/>
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Authorities say a Mexico-based airline's passenger jet mistakenly lined up to land on a New York City airport runway as another plane was about to take off. The FAA says Volaris Airlines Flight 880 from Mexico City was approaching Kennedy International Airport around 1:25 p.m. Tuesday when an air traffic controller told the crew not to land. The FAA says the Airbus A319 re-entered the flight traffic pattern and landed safely on the correct runway. The plane that was already rolling down the runway as the Volaris flight approached was Delta Flight 4231, operated by Delta Connection carrier Republic Airline. A Republic spokesman says the crew safely halted its takeoff and later completed its flight to Washington. It's not clear how close the planes were to each other.<br/>
A Colorado state lawmaker arrested for having a gun at Denver International Airport had a loaded handgun in her bag that was discovered by an airport security officer, police said Wednesday. State Rep. Lori Saine "knowingly brought the handgun to the checkpoint" at the airport on Tuesday, according to a police report written by Denver Police Officer Gregory Zimmerman. The report did not explain how he made that determination. According to police, a TSA agent saw the Kahr Arms 9mm semi-automatic handgun when a bag belonging to Saine went through an x-ray machine, according to the arrest report. It had four rounds in its magazine but none in the chamber. Saine, a Republican who has advocated for gun rights, was arrested on suspicion of introducing a firearm into a transportation facility and spent the night in jail. <br/>
North Korean airspace could be declared a no-fly zone in response to the country’s missile tests, the aviation industry’s global trade body says, after the latest launch came within sight of a passenger plane. Excluding aircraft from the area is one option open to aviation safety regulators as they ponder how to deal with the arbitrary firing of missiles that has encroached on busy commercial air routes between Asia and North America.<br/>Pilots on a plane operated by Cathay Pacific saw from a distance what were believed to be the remnants of a North Korean rocket fired last Wednesday. The airline disclosed the sighting on Monday in an internal note to staff. While no international flights currently use North Korean airspace, the area around it is full of activity. Any sanctions by the UN safety regulator, the IICAO, would likely bring into sharper focus the safety of aircraft operating nearby as well as commercial flights in and out of North Korea. “The ICAO could declare a no-fly zone,” Alexandre de Juniac, DG of IATA, said at its Geneva headquarters on Tuesday. “We are working with the ICAO on how we can protect these zones [for] flying. “The ICAO is trying to implement and ask North Korea to apply safety rules. If you look at the North Korean airspace, there are not too many aircraft overflying.”<br/>
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has certified the ATR 72-600 full-flight simulator, which was manufactured by TRU Simulation + Training and is based at ATR’s Paris Training Center. “With ATR operators expected to need around 1,000 new pilots per year, the new simulator will increase ATR’s capacity to offer its customers increased pilot training solutions for the market leading aircraft,” ATR said. ATR SVP-programs & customer services Tom Anderson said the entry into service of a new ATR 72-600 FFS “helps ensure that our customers will be able quickly access training solutions that are easily accessible from their respective bases of operations, which has a genuinely positive impact on their business.” ATR has five training centers based in Toulouse, Paris, Johannesburg, Singapore and Miami. The latter opened in February 2017 to respond to the increasing presence of ATRs in the region. ATR is delivering more than 100,000 training hours per year.<br/>
Airbus lagged Boeing in jet production and sales in the first 11 months of the year but left itself a shot at meeting full-year delivery targets after unblocking delayed engine supplies for its upgraded A320neo jet, company data showed on Wednesday. The planemaker handed over 74 jets in November to bring total deliveries in the first 11 months to 591 aircraft. That included twice as many A320neo-family aircraft as in the same month last year, as Airbus emerges from a two-year bottleneck in the availability of engines for the new model from U.S. supplier Pratt & Whitney . November's tally means Airbus needs to roughly repeat a monthly record of 111 deliveries seen in December last year to meet its core target of more than 700 deliveries in 2017. Airbus in October abandoned an informal goal of 720 jet deliveries that was higher than its official target of 700, but investors have welcomed indications that it is sticking to the underlying goal after resolving supply chain problems. Airbus chief operating officer and planemaking president Fabrice Bregier told French newspaper Les Echos this week that Airbus would deliver more than 700 aircraft in 2017, marking a new production record as engine delivery shortfalls ease. For new business, Airbus reported 388 orders for the first 11 months, or a net total of 333 after cancellations. It is seen unlikely to catch up rival Boeing in the 2017 order race but is on course to post more orders than deliveries for the eighth year if it can finalize a record order for 430 jets announced at the Dubai Airshow last month.<br/>