Airlines need to begin looking closely at their fleet management and labour plans in anticipation of a “downward spiral” in the air transport market caused by global trade tensions, consulting firm ICF said. The warning follows similar concerns by industry officials. Airbus CCO Christian Scherer raised the possibility of “tsunami effect” caused by the trade conflicts between the US and other major economies, especially China. Speaking at the IATA AGM, he said retaliatory tariffs could raise fares and aircraft costs. To prepare for a potential crisis, fleet management, especially the balance between owning and leasing aircraft, or having the option to defer or accelerate deliveries to better react to overcapacity, needs to be studied by airlines, ICF VP Jared Harckham said. <br/>
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The US FAA has issued an emergency order prohibiting US carriers from flying in the overwater area of Iranian-controlled airspace until further notice. The order, issued in the early hours of June 21, states that the prohibition is in place “due to heightened military activities and increased political tensions in the region”. This, it adds, presents “an inadvertent risk to US civil aviation operations and potential for miscalculation or misidentification”. June 19, an Iranian surface-to-air missile shot down a Global Hawk UAV over Kuh Mubarak, a coastal area of Iran at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz. The FAA notes in its order that the UAV was operating “in the vicinity of civil air routes above the Gulf of Oman”. United Airlines cancelled its scheduled flight between Newark and Mumbai June 20, hours before the emergency order was issued. <br/>
The Seamless Air Alliance (SAA), which aims to simplify inflight connectivity with a standard system that allows myriad components to automatically and interchangeably connect with each other, expects to have specifications for the system by the end of 2020. CE Jack Mandala said airlines and passengers often find themselves hampered by multiple connectivity systems that cannot talk to each other and that often require passengers to log in multiple times or surmount paywalls as they change airlines. SAA was formed to accelerate the introduction of technologies on aircraft to enable passengers to use their connected devices in a seamless way. The goal is to allow passengers to board an aircraft and have all their devices seamlessly connect without the need for logins or credit cards, enabled through existing mobile operators’ platforms. <br/>
Gecas is having conversations with Boeing around the issue of compensation resulting from the global grounding of the Boeing 737 Max family of aircraft. Gecas said it, along with others, had “begun discussions with Boeing” when asked who would foot the bill for the grounded aircraft. Gecas CCO Declan Kelly noted that the lessor still had confidence in the Boeing 737 Max 8, for which it has an order book in excess of 170 aircraft. Asked whether consumers will have confidence in the plane, Kelly instanced the case of the 2013 grounding of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet, noting that while there was an initial consumer confidence issue, that passed “within months”. At the air show in Paris, Gecas announced a series of deals including one with Boeing exercising 10 purchase rights to firm orders. <br/>
Airfare and flight times are expected to go up following a decision by a number of airlines to reroute their flights to bypassing the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman. Airlines from both India and the UAE announced their decision to reroute their planes after a US drone was shot down by the Iranian security forces Thursday, sparking concerns about a threat to commercial airlines. “These changes will cause delays on some departures from Abu Dhabi, due to increased congestion in available airspace, and will increase journey times on some routes,” Etihad said. Reacting to the announcement of airlines to reroute their flights over Iranian space, Mark Martin, aviation expert and founder of Martin Consulting, said the ticket fares would go up by at least US$300 to $400 and flying time would increase by more than 1 hour. <br/>
Yemen's Houthi rebels have launched an attack on Abha civilian airport in southern Saudi Arabia that killed 1 person and wounded seven others, the Saudi-led coalition battling the group in Yemen has said. According to the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV, the movement targeted Abha and Jizan airports in southern Saudi Arabia with drone attacks Sunday. Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV said a suspected drone hit the car park in Abha airport. Earlier this month, a Houthi missile hit the same airport, which is located about 200 km north of the Yemen border and serves domestic and regional routes, in a strike that wounded 26 people. The Houthis have stepped up missile and drone attacks on Saudi cities in the past month amid rising tension between Iran and Gulf Arab states allied to the US. <br/>