Airbus' most important aircraft just can’t shake its teething problems. The manufacturer has been forced to suspend some deliveries of its A320neo jet following another issue with the engines supplied by Pratt & Whitney. It’s impossible to overestimate the importance of the A320 for Airbus. It put the planemaker on the map 3 decades ago, allowing the company to go from a speck in Boeing’s rear-view mirror to powerful equal in what has become a de-facto duopoly in the global civil-aircraft market. Airbus churns out more than 50 of the aircraft each month, and the promise of the neo with its more fuel-efficient engines turned the model into the fastest seller in commercial aviation history, forcing Boeing to respond with a refreshed 737. <br/>
general
In 2014, Danny Perna found himself caught up in the global shortage of pilots that has vexed airlines from China to the US. For the first time in 15 years, the founder of Epic Flight Academy in Florida couldn't find enough trained US pilots to be flight instructors. Offering sign-on bonuses of up to US$10,000 did not help, he said. Eventually they decided to advertise a sponsorship program to partially fund pilot cadets' training. "Basically once we started to fund training then it satisfied the pilot shortage," he said. His realisation is hitting other airlines and flight schools too, as growing competition across the world for a shrinking pool of trained pilots pushes up salaries and prevents carriers from operating at full capacity. Pilots say the burden on cadets to pay for their flight training has been a key reason why enrolment has plummeted at flight schools. <br/>
President Donald Trump’s proposed 2019 budget being released Monday will include his plan to spin off US air-traffic control to non-profit management, a White House official said. Trump included a similar proposal in his 2018 budget request and formally released a plan in June to end the current system he’s called an antiquated, wasteful mess. While the president and members of his administration have made it clear they support splitting air-traffic off from govt as a way to spur innovation and improve efficiency, the proposal is largely symbolic given strong bipartisan opposition in Congress. The White House has proposed placing the FAA air-traffic division and its 15,000 controllers under the umbrella of a govt-chartered non-profit corporation. <br/>
After some high-profile airline insolvencies in Europe last year, an industry trade body said countries should review bankruptcy laws to reduce the number of stranded passengers, but rejected the idea of a rescue fund to repatriate customers. Monarch and Air Berlin both went bust last year, but the process was very different. Air Berlin was able to keep flying for just over 2 months thanks to a govt bridge loan while it sought buyers for its operations, but Monarch's right to fly was withdrawn immediately, leaving thousands of passengers stranded and staff abruptly out of work. IATA said there should be a "reasonable timeframe" within which airlines could continue operating after entering insolvency to allow more passengers to complete their journeys. <br/>