Plane journeys are taking longer than a decade ago, according to a report that claims the change is down to airlines “padding” their schedules to create the impression passengers were reaching their destinations on time. Carriers are adding extra time to flight schedules, in some cases up to 30 minutes, to ensure they maintain punctuality and are therefore less likely to be liable for compensation payouts, the investigation by Which? Travel claimed. The majority of flight routes are advertised as taking longer than 10 years ago, despite improvements in aircraft technology, the report found. Researchers examined average flight times for 125 routes operated by large airlines in 2009 and compared them with last year. They found that 76 routes, 61%, were now slated to take longer; with 87% of BA flights analysed found to be slower. That proportion was 82% for Ryanair, 75% for Virgin Atlantic and 62% for easyJet. BA flights from Heathrow to Bangkok, New York and Singapore were extended by 20 minutes, and a Virgin Atlantic flight from Heathrow to Newark Liberty airport, New Jersey, now takes an average of 35 minutes longer. Rory Boland, Which? travel editor, said: “Passengers are likely to feel that schedule padding is another case of airlines pulling the wool over their eyes."<br/>
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Planes will be grounded if Britain crashes out of the EU unless a specific aviation deal can be struck with Brussels, Theresa May is warned today. Falling back on World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules would not grant the UK air traffic control rights if it leaves the EU without an overall agreement, a report by a thinktank concludes. Leaving the EU’s Single Aviation Market (Sam) in March without a replacement arrangement would strip most UK-based airlines of their operating licences for the 27 countries, said the Institute for Economic Affairs. Sam currently covers the UK’s rights to the so-called “freedoms of the air”, which include overflights of countries without landing and operating internal flights in foreign countries. The UK would also lose air traffic rights involving countries including the United States, Canada and Switzerland because they had been made through the EU. “If there are no alternative arrangements in place, it would be as bad as the worst fears suggest: planes would not be allowed to fly,” said Julian Jessop, the IEA’s chief economist. However, the report said the government would have options. Story has more. <br/>
Hawaii was spared a direct hit by a major hurricane as Lane, once a monster tempest, rapidly weakened into a tropical storm, even as it unleashed severe flooding on the Big Island and threatened to drench Oahu and Maui. Lane, with maximum sustained winds diminishing to near 110 kph, was forecast to slowly make its nearest approach to land just west of the US Pacific island chain over the weekend, bringing tropical storm conditions to Maui and the state’s most populous island, Oahu, late on Friday. More than two feet (60 cm) of rain had fallen in a 36-hour period by Friday night on the windward side of the island of Hawaii, popularly known as the Big Island, where the Weather Service reported “catastrophic flooding.” More than 40 inches of rain was recorded in Piihonua and Waiakea on the island late on Friday, the weather service said. Flash flooding and mudslides on the Big Island forced road closures and evacuations as police and emergency crews conducted numerous rescues of people stranded in vehicles and homes by high water on Friday. Hawaii’s major airports remained open during the storm, though 22 flights were cancelled at Honolulu’s main airport, according to online tracking service FlightAware.com. Several airlines also cancelled services to Kahului Airport on Maui in anticipation of severe weather, the state transportation department said. The governor said travellers should expect congestion at the airports on Saturday and Sunday from the backlog of cancelled flights.<br/>
Wildfire smoke has forced airlines at an airport in southwest Oregon to cancel multiple flights and put delays on others. American Airlines and United said Friday they were cancelling all flight out of Medford, Oregon. Delta posted delays for flights to Seattle and Salt Lake City. Alaska/Horizon Air flight remain unaffected. An airport spokeswoman Debbie Smith says smoke from a fire that started earlier this week is impacting the landing approach for the runway. That blaze is just 15% contained. The smoke in particular affects the landings for larger aircraft. Despite the cancelled flights, the airport remains open.<br/>
Facial recognition technology was credited with the arrest this week of a man attempting to use a fake passport to enter the United States at Washington's Dulles airport, officials said. Officials said that on the third day of deployment of the new technology, border agents were able to determine that the man was using a fake French passport. US Customs and Border Protection, part of the Department of Homeland Security, said Dulles is one of 14 "early adopter airports" using facial recognition technology for the entry process, and began deploying it Monday. On Wednesday, a 26-year-old man travelling from Sao Paulo, Brazil sought to enter with a French passport but the facial comparison biometric system determined he was not a match to the passport he presented. A search revealed the man's authentic Republic of Congo identification card concealed in his shoe. The use of facial recognition has been growing for law enforcement, border control and other uses, even as concerns have risen on privacy. The airport border agents use the biometric system to determine if the person is using a real passport, claiming it speeds the entry and exit process. The agency is also assessing the use of biometric technology as part of a process from check-in to departure in which travellers use biometrics instead of their boarding pass.<br/>
A Maryland Transportation Authority police officer has been suspended after he allegedly took a gun onto an airplane without authorisation. MDTA spokesman Cpl. Edward Bartlinski said that Sgt. Christopher Lamb was charged with interfering with security procedures at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. The agency spokesman says Lamb is accused of boarding a Southwest flight on April 26 with his weapon. Lamb was at the airport on personal business. Bartlinski says an MDTA supervisor responded to the gate to investigate, removed Lamb from the flight and confiscated his gun. Lamb was suspended with pay pending a trial scheduled to start on Aug. 30 in an Anne Arundel County courtroom.<br/>
The cost to fund major projects at the US top 25 airports has rates and charges on track to rise significantly in the next three years, adding as much as $4 to airline cost-per-enplanement (CPE) figures, a Moody's analysis shows. "We expect aggregate costs incurred by all airlines for rents and landing fees, paid directly to all airports, to rise 30% from fiscal 2017 levels by 2022 due to the capital plans of the 25 largest airports," Moody's said. Assuming fixed operating and debt-service costs and steady demand—which means airlines at so-called "full-residual" airports that operate on a cost-recovery basis will not have to pay extra to compensate for passenger-revenue declines—the average CPE will rise about $4.50, or 41%, by 2022. For airlines, this translates into CPE increases of $1 to $4, depending on the carrier. United Airlines is expected to see the largest CPE increase as measured in dollars, at $4. American Airlines, with a CPE of $11, will see its figure rise by about $3—a 39% jump that is the highest projected percentage increase for large US airlines. <br/>
Global carriers have flocked to India, lured by a domestic travel boom and what’s expected to be the world’s third-biggest aviation market by 2025. Yet India has proven an intensely competitive market, where profits are scarce and the life expectancy of weaker airlines is anything but certain. Jet Airways India, one of the first carriers to launch after the market opened up in the early 1990s, said in a filing this month that it needs cash to meet liquidity requirements. Its stock price is in a free-fall and the company’s board, which deferred announcing earnings by more than two weeks, is due to meet Monday to discuss austerity measures and a turnaround plan. It’s the latest sign of financial distress in a market beset by a crushing fare war that’s made life difficult for foreign carriers, ranging from Malaysia’s low-cost AirAsia to Singapore Airlines, not to mention a teeming field of domestic players. The competition is set to intensify if Qatar Airways follows through with its proposal to start a short-haul airline in the country. The Indian commercial aviation industry has pretty much been in shakeout mode ever since the government ended a state monopoly enjoyed by Indian Airlines in 1994. Debt-burdened Kingfisher ended operations in 2012 -- and 10 other domestic carriers remain locked in a largely profitless struggle for passengers, despite operating in the world’s fastest-growing market. Indian carriers pay the world’s highest jet-fuel prices, thanks to local taxes of as much as 30%. But the real killer has been a protracted fare war that’s driven ticket prices so low that they can hardly cover costs. Story has more background.<br/>
The total number of passengers through Dubai International is set to hit one billion at some point this year, according to the Dubai Media Office. In the 60 years that Dubai’s main airport has operated, the hub has seen more and more passengers each year, and officials said on Sunday that they estimate 2018 will be the year that the airport achieves its historic milestone. “The total number of travellers through [Dubai’s] international airport since its inauguration six decades ago will reach about 1 billion passengers by the end of this year,” read the tweet.<br/>
Boeing is actively working on technology that would remove the need for two pilots in the cockpits of its passenger jets. Existing European aviation rules state that passenger planes with more than 20 seats must have a minimum of two pilots in the cockpit. But Steve Nordlund, a VP at Boeing, said autonomous technology that would allow for a reduction in on-board crew was being developed at a “good speed”. He said Boeing “believes in autonomous flight and self-piloted aircraft” and the firm's commercial aircraft division was “working on those technologies today”. “I don't think you'll see a pilotless aircraft of a 737 in the near future,” he said. “But what you may see is more automation and aiding in the cockpit, maybe a change in the crew number up in the cockpit.” He suggested cargo jets could be the first to trial the technology but that it made “business sense” to pursue a reduction in the number of on-board crew on passenger planes, too. “A combination of safety, economics and technology all have to converge, and I think we are starting to see that.” It would also address a chronic shortage of pilots which analysts have said could reach more than 200,000 over the next decade.<br/>