Air travellers faced a mess Tuesday as a winter storm system moved across the Midwest and Northeast. A mix of snow, ice and heavy rain were forecast from Minnesota to Maine on Tuesday morning, and flights were already being affected. Nearly all big airlines were waiving change fees for airports in the storm's path. More than 2,525 flights had been cancelled nationwide and another 5,570 delayed as of 8:45 p.m. ET. More than 1,200 of those cancellations had been made by late Monday as airlines adjusted their schedules in anticipation of Tuesday’s poor weather. The overall count continued to climb throughout the day and another 290 flights had already been preemptively canceled for Wednesday. Tuesday's flight problems were widespread, affecting dozens of airports from coast to coast. New York’s delay-prone LaGuardia Airport was among the hardest hit early Tuesday. More than 540 combined arrivals and departures had been canceled there, affecting close to half of the entire day’s schedule. There were problems at the New York City area’s two other busy passenger airports. About 20% of Tuesday’s flights had been canceled at both JFK and Newark Liberty. Delays were a major problem across the region. <br/>
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A half-naked woman ran around a South Carolina airport Sunday, which caused flights to be cancelled and the airport to be temporarily shutdown, the Florence Morning News reported. The Florence County Sheriff’s Office reported an “indecent exposure incident” occurred after noon when “a partially clothed woman sprinted through the airport’s runway and into a nearby wooded area,” according to WMBF. Two American Airlines flights were cancelled. Florence Regional Airport Public Safety Officer Lee Marsh said the airport was closed for more than two hours while law enforcement searched for the woman who was wearing only underwear. As flights circled overhead, the woman was eventually found by K-9 units hiding in a storm ditch, the newspaper reported. Charges are not expected to be filed, according to Major Michael Nunn of the Florence County Sheriff’s Office. The woman was taken to an area hospital for a mental evaluation.<br/>
A planned 24-hour strike by Belgian air traffic controllers set to begin the evening of Feb. 12 has led to hundreds of flight cancellations. More than 400 flights to and from Belgium have been cancelled by Airlines for Europe (A4E) carriers in advance of the air traffic control (ATC) strike, which is set to begin at 10 p.m. local time, the industry group said. A4E’s 15 members account for 70% of Europe’s air travel. “ATC strikes have unfortunately become a common occurrence in Europe and 2019 is shaping up to be no different than in the previous years. These strikes are increasingly damaging not only local economies and tourism but the reputation of European aviation amongst its passengers,” A4E MD Thomas Reynaert said. There were a record 30 ATC strike days in Europe in 2018, disrupting travel plans for millions, A4E said. <br/>
Indonesia’s largest airport operator is looking to spend billions of dollars to build a new facility in Jakarta and upgrade the existing one to cater to an unprecedented travel boom and compete with neighboring countries for tourism revenue. Angkasa Pura II, the state-owned operator of 16 airports across Indonesia, will conclude a feasibility study for a greenfield airport in the archipelago’s capital this year that may require an investment of about 100t rupiah ($7b), according to President Director Muhammad Awaluddin. The company is already spending hundreds of million dollars in adding a new terminal and a runway in Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, he said. Jakarta is the latest to join cities in Southeast Asia including Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur to expand capacity as travel demand in the Asia-Pacific region is set to double in the next two decades on rising wealth. Passenger traffic in Soekarno-Hatta may surge 46% to top 100m within a decade, Angkasa Pura estimates. With President Joko Widodo identifying tourism as a key foreign-exchange earner in the face of declining exports of oil and gas, better airport connectivity will be important in luring travellers, Awaluddin said. Story has a lot more background.<br/>
Boeing delivered 46 aircraft in January, two more than a year earlier, as the world's biggest planemaker gears up for another year of record sales amid booming demand from the airline industry. The company's shares rose as much as 1.5% to $409.90. Investors and analysts keep a close watch on the number of planes Boeing turns over to airlines and leasing firms for cues on the company's revenue and cash flow. Airbus delivered 39 aircraft in January, up from 27 planes a year earlier. Boeing won 43 net orders last month, beating Airbus, which did not report any wins and had 13 cancellations dominated by the superjumbo A380 aircraft. Of those orders, 18 were for 787 Dreamliner jets, as Boeing ramps up production rate for its wide-body aircraft to 14 per month from 12 in 2018.<br/>
Airbus is nearing a decision to axe production of the world's largest airliner and may give an update with full-year earnings on Feb. 14, industry sources and analysts said. The fate of the A380 superjumbo has been in doubt since a vital order from Emirates foundered over inconclusive engine talks, forcing Airbus and the airline to weigh an alternative plan that would trigger a premature halt to A380 production. Under the proposed reshuffle, Airbus hopes to broker a deal that would see Emirates switch part of its order to smaller models like the A350 or A330, while eking out a few last-minute A380 orders from BA. The timing of any final announcement may be driven by the outcome of those talks, but Airbus will be under pressure to provide some clarity on its plans in time for Thursday's earnings following mounting speculation over the plane's future. "The A380 is the elephant in the hangar; it will be impossible to avoid saying something on the subject," said Agency Partners analyst Sash Tusa, who predicted last week that a decision to shut the loss-making program may be imminent. The A380 is already on life support due to weak sales. <br/>