A super typhoon made landfall in China’s Guangdong on Sunday, the country’s most populous province, after wreaking havoc in Hong Kong and Macau and killing potentially more than 50 people in the Philippines. Packing winds of more than 200 kph (125 mph) at its peak, tropical cyclone Mangkhut is considered the strongest to hit the region this year. The eye of Mangkhut, the Thai name for Southeast Asia’s mangosteen fruit, skirted 100 kms (62 miles) south of Hong Kong but the former British colony was still caught in the typhoon’s swirling bands of rain and gale-force winds. Hong Kong raised its highest No. 10 typhoon signal mid-morning as ferocious winds uprooted trees and smashed windows in office and residential buildings, some of which swayed in the gusts, residents said. Flight cancellations at Hong Kong’s international airport, a major regional hub, disrupted the plans of tens of thousands of travellers. Airlines such as flagship carrier Cathay Pacific cancelled many flights last week. China's Shenzhen airport, shut since midnight, will be closed until 8:00 a.m. (2400 GMT) on Monday. Flights have also been cancelled in Guangzhou and the island of Hainan, China’s southernmost province. High winds and swells also hit Fujian province north of Guangdong, shutting ports, suspending ferry services and cancelling more than 100 flights. <br/>
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Airlines have waived change fees for travellers scheduled to fly to airports in the expected path of Hurricane Florence. Story lists latest airline change-fee waivers that were in place as of 5:10 p.m. ET on Friday, Sept. 14. Some airlines also had waived fees for Hurricane Isaac in the Caribbean and Tropical Storm Olivia in the Pacific near Hawaii. Links are included to those policies for the carriers that have issued them.<br/>
The US government on Friday imposed sanctions on a Thailand-based company it says provides services to an Iranian airline that Washington accuses of supporting terrorist activities directed by Iran's government. The US Treasury Department said that My Aviation, headquartered in Bangkok, "provides cargo services to Mahan Air, to include freight booking," as well as passenger booking services. Mahan Air's website lists six weekly flights to the Thai capital, Bangkok. It said the privately owned Iranian airline "has routinely flown fighters and materiel to Syria to prop up the Assad regime, which has contributed to mass atrocities in the country and the displacement of millions of innocent civilians." The sanctions order blocks the Thai company's assets in the United States and generally prohibits US citizens from doing business with it. The order was announced after working hours in Thailand, and no comment was immediately available from My Aviation. <br/>
Portions of Terminal 4 at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport were reopened Sunday morning after a multi-hour closure, prompted by a suspicious abandoned rental car, snarled air traffic and led to the cancellation of numerous flights. The airport was completely open at about 11:15 a.m. local time after Phoenix police determined the car was not a threat. Phoenix police officers working at the airport spotted the unattended rental car on the curb line of the upper deck of Terminal 4 at about 7 a.m. The bomb squad was then called out to determine whether the car was actually a threat. Police had yet to identify the owner of the car. The east side of the terminal, before the security checkpoints, had been evacuated for at least three hours Sunday morning. Three of the four security checkpoints were closed, and the PHX Sky Train was not dropping off passengers at Terminal 4. Flight-tracking web site FlightAware showed hundreds of flights had been delayed Sunday, either in leaving or in arriving at Sky Harbor. The site showed nearly 30 cancelled flights, mostly on Southwest Airlines.<br/>
For years, airlines have experimented with biofuels, aiming to reduce both carbon emissions and their reliance on fossil fuels. It’s been a turbulent journey, buffeted by inconsistent investment and the periodic lure of cheap oil. But several major carriers are planning larger-scale usage of biofuel in 2019 and 2020, including United Continental, JetBlue Airways and Cathay Pacific. Airlines account for about 2% of annual global carbon emissions, but the industry’s rapid growth and future expansion across emerging markets has made aviation’s environmental impact a top issue for executives and regulators. “I would describe the biofuels in aviation as an evolution over time,” said Aaron Robinson senior manager environmental strategy and sustainability for Chicago-based United, which first made biofuel part of its routine operations in 2016 at its Los Angeles hub. The company in 2015 invested $30m for a stake in Fulcrum BioEnergy, which takes household solid waste and converts it to a liquid that is blended with regular jet fuel. Beyond the supply at LAX, airports in Oslo, Stockholm and Bergen, Norway, offer biofuels to blend into existing fuel supplies. As of June, more than 130,000 commercial flights have been powered by biofuel, according to the IATA. Such flights are currently limited by industry standard to a maximum 50% blend with regular jet fuel. Story has more background.<br/>
Budapest Airport has opened its new Pier B project, part of the BUD 2020 development program for the Hungarian capital’s Ferenc Liszt International Airport. The pier, adjoining Terminal 2B, is 225m long and will add more than 10,000 sq m of space to the current terminal. It has 10 airbridges and its infrastructure will allow three widebody aircraft to be served simultaneously. Inaugurated Sept. 13, the facility opens as the airport expects to process 15 million passengers by year-end, around 15% more passengers than in 2017. “This is one of the main reasons for building this new pier,” Budapest Airport CEO Jost Lammers said. “We are supporting widebody operations to North America with [Dallas/Fort Worth-based] American Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines and Air Canada rouge, while also having regular services from Emirates, Qatar Airways and Air China to the Middle East and Asia. We have never had so many long-haul destinations for passengers before.” Overall, Pier B will have a total of 27 direct, bussed and pedestrian boarding options, improving flexibility for the 44 airlines flying from the airport.<br/>