Being offered cash at the gate to take a later flight because of overbooking may become a rarity if technology being examined by major airlines such as British Airways, JetBlue and Qantas catches on. Many airlines still routinely overbook flights because a small number of passengers do not show up. A platform developed by travel technology company Volantio will identify passengers most likely to be flexible about their flights and enable airlines to contact them in the days before they are due to depart. The carrier can then offer an alternative seat plus incentives such as an upgrade or travel vouchers. The technology also means airlines can also potentially shift passengers from high demand flights and free up tickets for last-minute travelers prepared to pay a premium. <br/>
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A video from a drone that flew within feet of an airliner over Las Vegas and prompted outrage on the internet has spurred calls for tighter regulations on hobby drones. Legislation exempting certain hobbyist drone pilots from oversight by the FAA has hampered the agency’s ability to oversee safety of drones, according to a letter from airline groups to lawmakers. "The likelihood that a drone will collide with an airline aircraft is increasing. By providing the FAA with the full authority to regulate all UAS operations, the safety of flights will be protected.” The FAA is investigating the Las Vegas incident, in which a drone with a camera apparently films an airliner flying directly beneath it at close range. The video was posted Feb 1 by the sUASNews website, but the date it was taken isn’t clear. <br/>
President Trump proposed again Monday in his budget blueprint to raise TSA fees on airline tickets, which has been a non-starter in Congress. But TSA technology has been supported by lawmakers, and Trump proposed to invest US$71m in new equipment to make airport screening more effective and faster. Trump proposed to raise the TSA fees for each one-way ticket to $6.60 from $5.60, for the year starting Oct 1. The fee would also rise from $6.60 to $8.25 per one-way trip in 2020. But airlines and travel advocates have opposed higher fees, and Congress refused to raise the fee when Trump proposed it last year. A trade group representing carriers opposed the fee hike estimated to cost passengers $2b a year. A previous budget agreement has diverted about $1.3 billion per year in TSA fees to deficit reduction. <br/>
London City Airport, which gives convenient access to London’s Square Mile, was closed Feb 10 after an unexploded 1,000-pound World War II-era bomb was discovered in the early hours of Sunday morning. It is believed the bomb was found in the River Thames during airport improvement work, the airport runway being between two old shipping docks. Airliners and business aircraft had to make alternative plans in what is a very rare, but not unknown, occurrence in London. After the discovery Sunday, in the George V Dock that runs alongside the airport, officials shut down operations Monday while the bomb was made safe. More than 200 departing and arriving flights were cancelled and around 16,000 passengers were affected. <br/>
German long-distance bus firm FlixBus aims to team up with airlines to provide transportation for air passengers to and from airports in the country, competing with state-owned rail operator Deutsche Bahn. “We are currently in talks with various airlines, including the Lufthansa group,” the company’s co-founder said. FlixBus became a major player on European long-distance routes after Germany liberalised the market for inter-city bus services in 2013. It survived a fierce price war among new market entrants to boost its market share in Germany to more than 90%. <br/>
A consortium of seven of the Philippines’ largest conglomerates has proposed a PP350b (US$6.7b) plan to modernise and more than triple the capacity of the country’s over-stretched international airport. The group has tapped Singapore’s Changi Airports International to provide technical support for the project. The project, which involves the building of an additional runway and passenger terminals, would turn the Ninoy Aquino International into a “fully-integrated premier gateway.” Airlines and passengers suffer chronic delays because of congestion at the airport, which served more than 40m passengers last year, compared with its designed capacity of 30m. <br/>