A new $8.5b plan to expand Chicago’s O‘Hare International Airport ran into turbulence on Wednesday due to a gate dispute involving the airport’s two biggest carriers. But Mayor Rahm Emanuel vowed to move ahead with the project despite opposition from American Airlines. That airline said it cannot sign a new lease needed for the project, citing a provision that gives United Airlines five out of eight gates that all parties had agreed to designate for common use as late as Feb. 8. “United’s last-minute secret deal with the city raises a number of questions and undermines competition and consumer choice,” American said. “We encourage city leaders to fix the lease and ensure competition remains vibrant at O’Hare.” United called American’s claim “disingenuous” and countered that a deal with the city for five additional gates was reached in 2016. “Our agreement with the city for five additional gates was made more than 18 months ago in response to American’s deal with city for five additional gates,” United said. “American has been aware of our agreement for over a year and has worked to block the implementation at every opportunity.” O‘Hare is the world’s second-busiest airport in terms of take-offs and landings after Atlanta’s Hartsfield–Jackson International Airport, according to an Airports Council International 2016 ranking. American Airlines carriers accounted for 35.5% of passengers at O‘Hare in 2016, versus 44.5% for United carriers, according to city data. The eight-year expansion plan calls for replacing one of O‘Hare’s existing terminals with a new global terminal, where United and American would be relocated. Other terminals would be renovated to expand gate capacity. Construction is scheduled to begin next year.<br/>
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A coastal storm that’s forecast to roar across the Northeast later this week is expected to be so strong that airlines are already waiving change fees days in advance. In anticipation of the "nor’easter," four of the nation’s biggest carriers have already enacted flexible rebooking policies at a number of airports across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The policies are in place for Friday and Saturday, when the storm is expected bring severe and damaging winds to many of the region’s big cities. Airports in the expected path of the storm include those serving New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Providence and Hartford, Conn. Strong winds also were forecast for Washington and Baltimore, though none of the airports near those cities were included in the change-fee waiver as of early Wednesday evening. Among airlines waiving change fees are American, Delta and Southwest. Their waivers covered numerous airports from Philadelphia north through New York state and New England.<br/>
The nation's biggest airlines, having consolidated control over most domestic flights, are buying big stakes in foreign carriers, a push they say gives fliers access to more international destinations but critics say only makes it harder for smaller foreign rivals to compete. "They see that as a way of solidifying their presence in these other markets," said Seth Kaplan, managing partner for the trade publication Airline Weekly. For the big US carriers, the strategy behind such deals has several benefits: The airlines can book passengers onto flights operated by their foreign partners and reap the profits when the partner carrier succeeds. In some cases, US carriers have purchased such a large stake in foreign carriers that they can influence the routes and the services that foreign carriers launch to benefit their own interests, industry experts say. Although US carriers have owned shares in foreign carriers for many years, the practice has grown dramatically in the last five years. US carriers have become such avid partners with foreign airlines that antitrust activists worry that smaller and lower-cost rivals are being squeezed out. "From a competition standpoint, it is a clear move to entrench the US legacy airlines' influence over foreign entry into the US," said Diana Moss, president of the American Antitrust Institute, a Washington, DC, nonprofit think tank.<br/>
Travellers flying out of Changi Airport will have to pay up to S$13.30 more from Jul 1 with an increase in passenger fees and a new levy to fund a major expansion for the airport, including the building of Terminal 5 (T5). The bulk of the charge comes from a new Airport Development Levy to fund the expansion project. For passengers who begin their trips from Changi Airport, they will pay a levy of S$10.80, the Transport Ministry and Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said Wednesday. The Passenger Service and Security Fee – a combination of the current service charge and a security charge – will increase by S$2.50 from Jul 1. From Apr 1, 2019, this fee will again increase by S$2.50 and will do so every year until 2024, which marks the mid-point of the construction phase of the Changi East project. The fee will then be reviewed. Transit passengers will also be charged an Airport Development Levy of S$3. The new levy will be reflected on passengers’ air tickets and will form part of the ticket price. Currently, travellers departing from Changi Airport have to pay a S$34 departure charge. The charge includes the Passenger Service and Security Fee, as well as a CAAS levy. With the new charges, passengers will have to pay a total of S$47.30 in airport fees from Jul 1 until further increases kick in on Apr 1, 2019.<br/>
The Embraer E190-E2, the first aircraft in the Brazilian manufacturer’s E-Jet E2 program, has received its type certificate from Brazilian regulator ANAC, the FAA and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), clearing the way for first delivery to Norwegian regional airline Widerøe. Embraer noted the E190-E2’s certification comes just 4 years and 8 months after the E2 program was launched at the 2013 Paris Air Show. Embraer had originally set a conservative mid-2018 target for certification. Embraer CEO Paulo Cesar Silva noted the E190-E2 was certified “on schedule and on budget” and that a number of development targets, including fuel burn, noise and maintenance costs, “came in better than originally specified.” The flight test fleet, which included four aircraft, completed 2,000 flight hours. “Flight test results also confirmed the E190-E2 to be better than its original specification in takeoff performance,” Embraer stated. “The aircraft’s range from airports with hot-and-high conditions, such as Denver and Mexico City, increases by 600 nm compared to current-generation aircraft. Its range from airports with short runways, such as London City, also increases by more than 1,000 nm allowing the aircraft to reach destinations like Moscow and cities in the north of Africa [from London City].”<br/>