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The CE of Lufthansa has said the airline industry needs to give up the “fantasy of growth going on forever” after a summer of strikes, delays and cancellations. Problems with airspace, airports and manufacturers delivering aircraft showed that “this industry has reached its maximum growth rate”, said Carsten Spohr. “What we need is healthy growth in line with infrastructure and manufacturers’ capacity and airline capacity. We can’t excuse ourselves, we are part of it.” Aviation capacity in Europe, measured by the number of seats, has increased about 6% a year since 2016. This exceeds the industry’s broad guide for sustainable growth of twice gross domestic product, which has recently been 2% in Europe. And there are signs that this growth is leading to delays and disruption. <br/>

United Airlines is seeking authority to launch a second flight between Newark and Shanghai in 2020, challenging duelling proposals from both American Airlines and Delta Air Lines. The carrier plans to offer the second daily flight, which would allow it to offer morning and afternoon departures from both cities, with an up to 292-seat Boeing 777-200 from June 2020. The move pits United against Delta for the final 7 unallocated weekly China frequencies available to US carriers for a new flight to Shanghai from Minneapolis/St Paul, and American's request to keep 14 frequencies dormant for a year after suspending flights to both Beijing and Shanghai from Chicago O'Hare in October. The frequencies in question are for service to zone 1 cities Beijing, Guangzhou or Shanghai. <br/>