A famous airline pilot and a former safety regulator are among witnesses scheduled for a congressional hearing on the grounded Boeing 737 Max. The House aviation subcommittee said Monday it will hear from Chesley Sullenberger, who safely landed a crippled Airbus jet on New York's Hudson River in 2009, former FAA chief Randy Babbitt, and union and industry officials. The June 19 hearing will be the panel's second on the Max, which was grounded after two accidents that killed a total of 346 people. The subcommittee says it's gathering information about steps needed to ensure the plane is safe before it's allowed to fly again. Last month, the panel heard from acting FAA Administrator Daniel Elwell and Robert Sumwalt, chairman of the NTSB.<br/>
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The remains of another person presumed dead from the September 11 attacks in New York have been identified, the New York City Medical Examiner said. The medical examiner's office has been working over the years to identify remains of the 2,753 people reported missing in the terror attacks at the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. The man -- whose name was not released -- was No. 1,643 and the first since July 2018, the department said. The ID was confirmed through DNA testing of remains recovered in 2013. Authorities still cannot account for some 1,110 victims, or 40% of those who died. Terrorists hijacked and crashed two planes -- American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 -- into the twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001.<br/>
Three more foreign airlines are in talks with the Brazilian government to start domestic flight operations in the country, Brazil’s infrastructure minister Tarcisio Gomes de Freitas said Monday. He declined to name the companies involved. “These companies are publicly traded, there are competition issues, we cannot announce them yet”, he said. Brazil’s Senate passed legislation on May 22 that would permanently open up Latin America’s largest air travel market after years of debate. The measure still needs to be signed by Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro. Brazil’s domestic air market is dominated by three main players who control over 90% of flights: Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes, LATAM Airlines and Azul. Spain’s Air Europa, which was the first foreign airline to be granted a preliminary authorization to set up a domestic subsidiary in the country, is expected to launch domestic flights in late 2019, according to Freitas.<br/>
A weaker yuan and volatile global oil prices are likely to dent Chinese airlines’ earnings, though the trade war is having a negligible impact, according to analysts. The carriers may suffer losses from the depreciating yuan because of their exposure to foreign-currency loans. The yuan has slipped about 3% since mid-April. The biggest mainland Chinese airlines, including China Southern, Air China and China Eastern, have been among the worst performers on the stock market since April with their share prices down by about 30%. Investment bank Jefferies estimated that a 1% change in the yuan’s exchange rate leads to a 2.4% change in earnings for Air China, 2.9% for China Eastern and 4.6% for China Southern. Crude oil prices have been falling recently, with West Texas Intermediate at a six-month low, settling at $51.68 a barrel on Wednesday. “But volatility in the global crude oil prices can be expected,” said Huang Lei, an independent futures analyst. “A rebound in prices will affect the Chinese airlines’ earnings as they pay extra dollars to buy jet fuel. Moreover, Chinese airlines have no hedging against fuel prices.” The impact of tit-for-tat trade tariffs on Chinese airlines has been minimal, according to Jefferies. Data from the company showed that US-China routes accounted for just 6.7% of total passenger revenue for Air China. On international routes, the US is only the seventh most popular destination for Chinese airlines.<br/>
Amendments to the Russian tax code that set a 0% value-added tax (VAT) on domestic flights, excluding those to and from Moscow, were signed by President Vladimir Putin June 6. The new rate will go into effect in July. The VAT on domestic flights was reduced from 18% to 10% in 2015. Later, authorities introduced a 0% rate for routes connecting the Russian far east, Kaliningrad and Simferopol (Crimea) with other cities, including Moscow and nearby airports. Authorities said the measure is necessary to support and develop direct routes connecting different regions of Russia. In 2018 Moscow airports—Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo and Vnukovo—handled nearly half of all passengers in Russia. Regional airports have reported some growth in non-Moscow traffic, but further increases are being sought.<br/>
Prices for jet fuel for later this year and into 2020 are expected to rise due to new marine fuel regulations - as the need for lower-sulfur fuels in ships cuts into the available supply for similar distillates like diesel or jet fuel. However, the global abundance of light crude could help offset that. Light crudes produce a byproduct known as naphtha, normally used to make plastics, but refiners can shift their processes to use it for jet fuel production instead. It may be necessary as air travel continues to rise, with travel between the US and other countries reaching an all-time high in 2018, according to Airlines for America (A4A). Prices for jet fuel are forecast to increase by 10c a gallon in 2020 from 2019, the US Energy Information Administration said in a May outlook, and airlines have been warning that International Maritime Organization (IMO) 2020 rules could hurt profits. In January 2020, New York Harbor jet fuel’s swap price is expected at $1.86 a gallon, compared with $1.84 this month, according to data from Argus Media. That price will ease to $1.84 a gallon in January 2021. The IMO’s 2020 rules require ships globally to use fuels with a sulfur content below 0.5% from 3.5% beginning Jan. 1, 2020. It aims to improve human health by reducing air pollution from sea-going vessels. Jet fuel is a relatively small part of a refinery’s overall output, often accounting for just 10% of US refiners’ fuel production. <br/>
Before there were ICOs, there were frequent flyer programmes. The associated points may have started off as a way for airlines to reward loyal customers — but today they have become a core profit driver helping to keep the aviation industry afloat. Airlines sell loyalty points to banks, retailers and credit card companies, whose customers accumulate them through spending and can then redeem them, often on flights that might otherwise struggle to fill capacity. In 2017, Delta made $3b, or 7% of its total revenue, from its frequent flyer programme, according to research organisation IdeaWorksCompany. American Airlines made $3.1b and United $2.3b. Christopher Barnard, co-founder and president of Points, which has created a digital “loyalty wallet” that travellers can keep their rewards in, said frequent flyer miles “are a key economic asset . . . and in some cases, some people argue they're the most important economic asset an airline has”. Atanas Christov, CE of Affinity Capital Exchange (ACE), says loyalty points have gone from “funny money” issued by airlines to placate customers at no cost to “a significant percentage of the revenue that airlines generate”. Which is why Christov’s company, Affinity Capital Exchange, is attempting to create an institutional market with “points-backed securities” by getting airlines to use portfolios of points as collateral to lower the cost of loans. Banks or credit card companies could then buy instruments based on these collateral pools and trade them on primary and secondary markets for profit. Story has more details.<br/>