Annual growth in global passenger demand rebounded to 6.3% in October from an eight-month low of 5.5% in September, although the upward trend in demand has slowed over the past six months, according to IATA. While industry-wide load factor remained flat at 81.1%—a record high for the month of October—capacity is now trending upward slightly faster than demand. “October’s healthy performance is reassuring after the slower demand growth in September—some of which was attributable to weather-related disruptions,” IATA DG and CEO Alexandre de Juniac said. “However, the bigger picture is that traffic growth has moderated compared to earlier in the year, reflecting a more mixed economic backdrop and reduced demand stimulation from lower fares.” October international passenger demand climbed 6.3% year-over-year (YOY), up from 5.1% in September, with all regions notching gains. Domestic demand rose 6.4% from the year-earlier period, unchanged from September, led by double-digit gains in India (15%), China (12.2%) and Russia (11.7%).<br/>
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PM Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israeli airliners would be able to overfly Sudan en route to South America, part of Israel’s drive to improve ties with Muslim countries and isolate arch-foe Iran. Encouraged by the Trump administration, Israel has sought better relations with formerly hostile Arab and Muslim countries that share its worries about Iran or see potential economic benefits. Last month, Netanyahu and Chadian President Idriss Deby renewed relations severed by N’Djamena in 1972. Netanyahu told a briefing of diplomats his talks with Deby had helped open up a new air corridor to South America. “At this time, we can overfly Egypt. We can overfly Chad, that has already been set. And to all appearances, we can also overfly this corner of Sudan,” he said, pointing to a map. Netanyahu spokesmen did not elaborate and it was unclear when Israeli flights might be able to start overflying Sudan en route to South America, which the prime minister described as Israel’s fourth-most important air-travel destination.<br/>
The investigation into the fatal crash of a Boeing jet from Asia’s second-largest budget airline has turned the spotlight on the ballooning growth of low-cost carriers in the region and the training, staff and facilities needed to support them. Rising wealth is adding a million new Asian fliers a year, spurring entrepreneurs, full-service airlines and regional governments to try their hand in an industry notorious for price wars and outside forces that have doomed dozens of ventures. Vietnam’s Bamboo Airways is the latest to join the market with its first flight due this month, feeding holidaymakers to the resorts of owner and property billionaire Trinh Van Quyet. AirAsia Group will follow with a joint venture in the same country in August. Japan Airlines Ltd. aims to get a medium- and long-haul budget unit up and running by 2020, while in South Korea, at least four new aspirants have applied for permits. New, longer-range and fuel-efficient planes are encouraging more routes. But the loss of Lion Air Flight 610 last month in Indonesia, and a preliminary accident report that criticized the carrier’s safety and maintenance regimes without identifying the cause of the crash, has highlighted some of the factors that make the commercial operation of no-frills airlines so precarious. Potential growth in Asia is huge. LCCs accounted for close to 55% of all seats within Southeast Asia so far this year and more than 60% in South Asia. Yet some of the biggest markets in the region are just getting going. China got its first no-frills airline -- Spring Airlines -- in 2005, and Japan and South Korea are also now embracing the trend. Story describes five key factors Asia’s low-cost carriers must navigate to succeed in luring Asia’s growing army of fliers.<br/>
Australian airlines have announced a renewed push to enforce hand luggage weight limits at the busiest time of the year. Both Virgin Australia and Qantas have told domestic passengers that their hand luggage will be weighed at various points in the journey to ensure that it complies with seven-kilogram (15-pound) limit. Budget airlines such as Tigerair Australia and Jetstar already weigh hand luggage for all passengers. "As an industry, we're seeing many passengers trying to bring everything but the kitchen sink on domestic flights which is causing flight delays as well as safety issues for cabin crew, ground crew and passengers," said Paul Woosnam, GM Ground Operations at Virgin Australia. A Qantas spokeswoman said that regular fliers have told the airline that passengers need to be reminded about the cabin baggage limit. Qantas rolled out a system of stricter checks from late November, while Virgin Australia announced that it would step up enforcement from December 10. "We're seeing injuries to our cabin crew caused by closing overhead lockers full of heavy baggage, shifting bags in overhead lockers to assist guests finding space and assisting passengers with lifting their bags into the overhead compartments," said Woosnam. "We also want to get our passengers away to their destination on time, and more and more we're seeing flights being delayed due to cabin baggage issues."<br/>
FAA has extended a prohibition on US flights over Syria until Dec. 30, 2020, citing the “threat to civil aviation from the multifaceted conflict and extremist threat, and militant activity.” The ban, originally issued in December 2014, applies to all US carriers and commercial operators, as well as anyone flying with an FAA-issued airman certificate or operating a US-registered civil aircraft, except when the aircraft is operated by a foreign carrier. While the ban does not extend to foreign carriers, US Department of Transportation codeshare authorizations forbid foreign carriers using a US codeshare partner’s code from operating in prohibited airspace. In a Dec. 10 Federal Register notice, FAA said operations in the Damascus (OSTT) Flight Information Region (FIR), which encompasses the entirety of Syrian airspace, continue to be threatened by “a number of armed extremist groups equipped with a variety of anti-aircraft weapons that have the ability to threaten civil aircraft.” FAA said the groups “have successfully shot down Syrian military aircraft and have previously warned civil air carriers against providing service to Syria.”<br/>
As recently as the early 1960s, air travel was still glamorous and exciting; you dressed up to get on a plane, and looked forward to the food aloft. That was when Trans World Airlines opened a futuristic new terminal, designed by the Finnish architect Eero Saarinen at what was then best known as Idlewild and is now Kennedy International Airport. The 200,000-square-foot-building, with its sinuous curves and swoops sheathed in white penny tiles, is a city, state and federal landmark, connected to Jet Blue’s Terminal 5. But it has not been used for 18 years. Now it is being brought back to life as the lobby of the TWA Hotel, to open this spring with a restaurant and a lounge run by the renowned chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, working with Tastes on the Fly, a company that specializes in airport food. “It’s an exciting project; food in airports has been improving a lot,” said Vongerichten. The restaurant, with 200 seats, will have the same name as its predecessor in the original terminal: Paris Café. Next to it will be the Lisbon Lounge (another name from the original terminal), serving cocktails and food. “We thought Jean-Georges was a perfect match for Paris Café because of his French background,” said Tyler Morse, the chief executive and managing partner of MCR and Morse Development, which is renovating the terminal and building the hotel. Morse said they were researching TWA in-flight menus from the 1950s and ’60s, and planned to bring back versions of some dishes, like chicken Champagne with truffles. <br/>