Air travel is growing in popularity across the world, and the global aviation system is undergoing projects big and small to keep up. “We’re forecasting that traffic will double in the next 17 years,” said Angela Gittens, DG for Airports Council International. “Millions more people will be traveling.” And those people, she said, won’t just be in places where flying is already popular. “An emerging economy now will be an advanced economy later,” Gittens said. New and expanded airports are needed to meet that demand. Istanbul, for example, has already begun opening its new airport in phases that will eventually be able to accommodate hundreds of millions of travellers a year. Beijing is set to get its own new airport up and running next year. <br/>
general
Boeing CE Dennis Muilenburg chastised media outlets in an internal memo to employees last week over what he characterized as false reporting on Boeing’s alleged lack of communication about the function of the 737 Max’s maneuvering characteristics augmentation system. In the memo, Muilenburg called “simply untrue” reports that Boeing withheld information about the potential for the automated stall protection system to force the airplane’s nose downward in the event it detects the danger of a stall and emphasised that the model’s flight crew operations manual describes the relevant function. Adding that media speculation has introduced false assumptions, Boeing’s CE also stressed the company’s regular engagement with customers about how to operate the company’s airplanes safely. <br/>
The US is pushing for a new global aviation standard by late 2019 that would expand the collection of passenger records from airlines, a high-ranking state department official said Friday, in a move that would help combat terrorism while raising privacy concerns. Nathan Sales, the US counter-terrorism coordinator, urged the ICAO "to act with all deliberate speed" to come up with a new standard that would vastly expand the number of countries that collect passenger information like frequent flyer numbers, email addresses and credit card booking information. The ICAO cannot impose rules on govts, but wields clout through its safety and security standards which are made mandatory through domestic legislation passed by its 192 member states. <br/>