An $8.5b expansion plan for Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport got a lift on Thursday after the airport’s two major carriers, American and United, settled a dispute that had clouded the project. United and American said in a joint statement they had reached an agreement on the number of gates to be assigned to each carrier, putting to bed a weeks-long feud over which gates would be designated for common use. “The number of gates assigned to each airline remains the same as the proposal introduced to City Council in February; however, the city committed to working with American to expedite the construction of three common use gates,” the statement said. American Airlines had opposed language in the airport lease that it argued would grant United five out of eight gates all parties had agreed to designate for common use as late as Feb. 8. As a solution, the city has agreed to speed up construction of three gates for common use. Those gates are now set to come into use at roughly the same time United will get its five additional gates. American Airlines carriers accounted for 35.5% of passengers at O’Hare in 2016, versus 44.5% for carriers of United, according to city data. “This agreement is a watershed moment for Chicago, and it means we will create tens of thousands of jobs for Chicagoans from every part of the city,” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in the joint release.<br/>
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Major US airlines are hiring pilots at a rate not seen since before 9/11, and that is encouraging more young people to consider a career in the cockpit. Hiring is likely to remain brisk for years. Smaller airlines in the US are struggling with a shortage that will continue as they lose pilots to the bigger carriers, which in turn will need to replace thousands of retiring pilots over the next few years. Aircraft maker Boeing predicts that the US will need 117,000 new pilots by 2036. Just a decade ago thousands of pilots were furloughed and some abandoned the profession. The shortage has been felt most keenly at regional carriers where many pilots start their airline careers. Last summer, Alaska Airlines subsidiary Horizon Air canceled more than 300 flights over two months for lack of pilots. Republic Airways filed for bankruptcy protection in 2016, citing a pilot shortage that forced it to ground flights. Many regional carriers fly smaller planes for American Eagle, Delta Connection and United Express. Signing bonuses and higher pay have helped them hire more than 17,000 pilots in the past four years, but that only replaced those who moved up to the major carriers, according to the Regional Airline Association. Demand at the major airlines is expected to grow as thousands of pilots at American, Delta, United and Southwest hit the US mandatory pilot-retirement age of 65 in the next several years. <br/>
Airports in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq will be reopened to international air traffic on Thursday, Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadia said. International flights to and from the region’s two main airports, in Erbil and Suleimaniya, were halted on Sept. 29 as part of sanctions imposed on the Kurds after they held an independence referendum four days earlier in defiance of Baghdad and voted overwhelmingly for separation. Kurdish authorities have agreed that the airports should come under federal control and report to Baghdad’s interior ministry, the prime minister’s statement said. Only domestic flights have been allowed through the region’s airports, with foreign airlines suspending their routes in accordance with an order from the central government. Lifting the embargo comes amid a continuing dispute over the country’s federal budget. Kurdish lawmakers boycotted a vote to pass it, in protest over their region’s diminished allocation.<br/>
Thick fog and poor visibility around Hong Kong International Airport led to a dozen flights from as far as Europe and North America being diverted to Macau and Shenzhen on Friday morning, as well as average flight delays of up to an hour. The diverted aircraft included at least seven operated by Cathay Pacific Airways and three by Hong Kong Airlines between 6am and 8am. Flights from Los Angeles, London, Johannesburg, Auckland and Bangkok were among those affected. Two cargo planes, including one operated by Singapore Airlines, were also diverted. According to a flight tracking website, the average delay at 10am was one hour for departing flights. No significant delays were shown for arrival flights. Visibility was reduced to as little as 330 metres at the airport, according to the Hong Kong Observatory. Cathay Pacific said in a statement: “Seven Cathay Pacific flights inbound to Hong Kong were diverted this morning to Macao and Shenzhen due to low visibility at Hong Kong International Airport. The flights will depart for Hong Kong as soon as the situation permits. Passengers with onward connections from Hong Kong will be assisted by our airport team.”<br/>
Dutch investigators probing a serious Boeing 737-800 take-off incident at Groningen have noted that pilots are seldom exposed to performance-related events during simulator training. The Dutch Safety Board found that the first officer had miscalculated the take-off weight, introducing a 10t error, which resulted in the Transavia aircraft's only becoming airborne 60m from the end of the runway. It describes the incident as "critical", pointing out that – even before the calculated V1 decision speed – the captain had realised that the take-off could not be safely aborted with the remaining runway length. Boeing subsequently calculated that the calculated V1 threshold was 15kt higher than the safe 122kt abort speed. But the inquiry into the September 2014 incident determined that, despite observing the slow acceleration, neither pilot took corrective action to increase the engine thrust. Analysis of similar performance-related take-off incidents reveals that no additional thrust was selected in the majority of cases, the inquiry states, and that early rotation is only occasionally initiated. Pilots regularly undergo simulator training to handle time-critical events such as engine failure during take-off. But the inquiry claims: "Performance-related incidents are not trained in the simulator and the accompanying cues are less obvious.<br/>
Tokyo Narita Airport has taken an important step in its efforts to add a third runway and extend operating hours, after gaining clearance for its plans from local authorities. The expansion was approved during a meeting this week between the Narita International Airport Corp., the central government, the Chiba prefecture, and local municipalities, according to Japanese media reports. NAA’s latest expansion plans have been under discussion with local groups since at least 2016. Runway construction and potential expansion at Narita have been hugely controversial topics in previous years, and gaining approval from local government and communities is a key milestone. Narita currently has two parallel runways, designated A and B. Runway A is 4,000m long (2.5 miles), and runway B is 2,500m. NAA’s plan calls for construction of another parallel runway, designated runway C, by about 2028. This would be 3,500m long. The airport also proposes extending Runway B to 3,500m to allow it to handle larger aircraft.<br/>
A dozen European airports joined forces to support surface movement safety improvement programs under the European Union’s project in air traffic management modernization, SESAR. The “Unifying Safety Nets & Surface Movement” alliance aims at “harmonizing and synchronizing” the deployment of safety systems at airports. Higher airport throughput, cost-effectiveness and environmental benefits are sought, too. The improvement programs started before the alliance was created and are at the implementation stage—most slated for completion in 2019 or 2020. France’s Groupe Aeroports de Paris leads the project. Partner airports can be found in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden and the UK. <br/>