As the skies get more crowded, the FAA is making changes to air-traffic control in hopes of avoiding the kind of widespread delays that travellers experienced routinely 20 years ago. The total number of minutes that flights were delayed by air-traffic control slowdowns—most of it attributable to weather—soared 69% to 21.7m in 2017 from 12.8m in 2012. 2017 was a particularly bad year for ATC delays because of storm-related slowdowns, triggering the efforts to find new ways to minimise weather impact. It started working in 2018. Delay minutes actually dropped 4% compared with 2017 because of a new effort to speed flights out of New York airports. April 1, the FAA will change how it handles flights into and out of Chicago and Denver, replicating the changes in New York airspace that reduced delays even as traffic increased. <br/>
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The EU has called on ICAO to agree at its assembly in September to a “long-term goal” to address the aviation industry’s increasing carbon-dioxide emissions. The plea follows a Feb 15 announcement by ICAO that it has reached agreement on how airlines can use alternative fuels to reduce their offsetting requirements under its shorter-term plan to cap aviation emissions: The Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA). In a Feb 18 document setting out its climate-diplomacy conclusions, the Council of the EU urged ICAO to “swiftly implement an effective CORSIA, while ensuring its environmental integrity,” but also to “agree on a long-term goal at its next assembly.” The EU Council described climate change in the document as “a direct and existential threat, which will spare no country”. <br/>
Rome's Ciampino airport, which is used by Ryanair and Wizz Air, will reopen later Wednesday, more than 36 hours after a small fire forced operations to halt, the airport authority said. The fire broke out early Monday in the terminal basement, scorching a handful of cardboard. Hundreds of passengers were forced to evacuate and some spent up to 8 hours in a nearby car park waiting in vain for a return to normal. Most flights were eventually switched to Rome's main airport, Fiumicino. Aeroporti di Roma (ADR), which manages Ciampino, said Wednesday that the fire had taken "around one minute" to put out and had caused no damage to the building. An ADR source said the company was deeply frustrated by how long Italy's air authority ENAC and the local health authority had taken to decide the airport was safe. <br/>
Airbus deliveries of its A320neo aircraft are back on track in India with fewer problems being seen with the narrowbody jet's Pratt & Whitney engines, a senior company executive said Wednesday. "Pratt has informed Airbus that engine issues have come down by a factor of 4 in the last 12 months," said Airbus' India head Anand Stanley. Last month, India's aviation safety watchdog forced airlines to make extra checks on their Airbus A320neo aircraft fitted with Pratt & Whitney engines, as part of new safety protocols after temporary grounding orders affected the planes last year. The aircraft, which entered service in early 2016, boasts significant fuel efficiency benefits, but it has been plagued by teething issues with its engines. This caused a backlog in deliveries of the planes by Airbus. <br/>
The skies over Asia Pacific are more crowded than ever thanks to the rise of low-cost airlines. Profit margins, however, are razor thin as flyers are tempted with fares for just a few cents, while costs continue to rise. Intense price wars among budget airlines are helping tens of millions of Asian consumers to fly for the first time. One of India's top carriers, meanwhile, has been known to offer promotional base fares equivalent to as low as 2 cents. Cheaper, in some cases, than taking a rickshaw, flying is no longer the preserve of Asia's burgeoning middle and upper classes; it's now in the reach of low-income groups. A potent drug to hook Asian consumers, these ultra-low prices are, however, hurting the bottom line of the region's burgeoning budget airline sector, as it struggles with rising costs in an era of overcapacity. <br/>