Police and protesters clashed at Hong Kong’s international airport on Tuesday after flights were disrupted for a second day as the political crisis in the former British colony deepened. In Washington, US President Donald Trump said the Chinese government was moving troops to the border with Hong Kong and he urged calm. Demonstrators who have been protesting for the past nine weeks against Beijing’s growing influence in the special administrative region targeted the international airport for a second day on Tuesday. Thousands of black-clad protesters jammed the terminal chanting, singing and waving banners. Scuffles broke out in the evening after an injured man was held by a group of protesters. Some claimed he was an undercover mainland Chinese agent and initially refused to let him leave. Medics, however, bundled him onto a stretcher and forced their way through jeering throngs to an ambulance. Several police vehicles were blocked by protesters and riot police moved in amid chaotic scenes, using pepper spray to keep people back. A policeman pulled out a gun at one point. Protesters also barricaded some passageways in the airport with luggage trolleys, metal barriers and other objects. Others clambered onto check-in counters as the protesters appeared to control part of the airport for a short while. At least two protesters were taken away by police. The situation calmed down after a few hours without the violence worsening, and the crowds thinned out. Hong Kong media reported that an injunction had been issued by a court to clear the airport of protesters. The action followed an unprecedented shutdown of the airport on Monday. Hong Kong’s Airport Authority said operations had been “seriously disrupted” on Tuesday and departing passengers had been unable to reach immigration counters.<br/>
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US airline safety regulators banned select MacBook Pro laptops on flights after Apple recently said that some units had batteries that posed a fire risk. In a statement, the US FAA said it was “aware of the recalled batteries that are used in some Apple MacBook Pro laptops” and stated that it alerted major US airlines about the recall. The watchdog also reminded airlines to follow 2016 safety instructions for goods with recalled batteries, which means that the affected Apple laptops should not be taken on flights as cargo or in carry-on baggage by passengers. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency issued a warning about these MacBook Pro models earlier this month, telling airlines in the region to follow 2017 rules that require devices with recalled lithium-ion batteries to be switched off and not used during flights. The Apple laptops in question are some 15-inch MacBook Pros sold between September 2015 and February 2017. Apple issued the recall in June, saying it had “determined that, in a limited number of older generation 15-inch MacBook Pro units, the battery may overheat and pose a fire safety risk.” This week, four airlines with cargo operations managed by Total Cargo Expertise -- TUI Group Airlines, Thomas Cook Airlines, Air Italy, and Air Transat -- implemented a ban, barring the laptops from being brought onto the carriers’ planes as cargo, according to an internal notice. “Please note that the 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro laptop, sold between mid-2015 to February-2017 is prohibited on board any of our mandate carriers,” a TCE operations coordinator wrote to employees.<br/>
Japan was bracing Wednesday for a severe tropical storm expected to bring heavy rain and strong winds during the peak holiday period, with dozens of flights and bullet train services cancelled. The storm, named Krosa, is expected to churn slowly over western parts of the country, potentially affecting millions of people returning to major cities from their hometowns after the traditional "Obon" summer holidays. Japan Airlines scrapped 62 domestic flights to and from airports in southern Japan for Wednesday. "All the flights from and to Miyazaki and Tanegashima airports have been cancelled and partially for Amami airport," a spokesman said. All Nippon Airways meanwhile cancelled 34 flights for Miyazaki airport. Both airlines said they would decide later how many flights they will cancel for Thursday, when the storm is forecast to make landfall.<br/>
Ongoing trade tensions between the USA and China are affecting airline passenger demand in those regions, IATA's latest traffic report shows. While airlines' efficiency improvements helped boost global load factors in June to record levels, IATA found that growth was weaker year-over-year as the market grapples with the US-China trade tensions and other regions' economic uncertainty. "Ongoing trade disputes are contributing to declining global trade and slowing traffic growth," IATA director general Alexandre de Juniac states. "These developments are not helpful to the global economic outlook. Nobody wins a trade war." Global passenger airline demand rose 5% year-over-year in June, IATA reports. Capacity increased 3.3% for the month, and load factors rose 1.4 percentage points to a June record of 84.4%. However, international demand growth in the North America and Asia-Pacific regions has cooled, notes IATA. International revenue-passenger kilometres (RPKs) in the Asia-Pacific and North America regions, while growing, have slowed on an annual basis when compared with the May figures. For Asia-Pacific airlines, this international demand growth is 4%. It is 3.5% for North American carriers. "Trade tensions between the US and China have impacted passenger demand for both regions, as well as having adverse (indirect) implications for the broader 'Within Asia' market," IATA's report says.<br/>
Boeing delivered 38% fewer planes in the first seven months of 2019 than the same period a year earlier, as the grounding and doubts around the future of its best-selling 737 MAX jets hurt operations. Deliveries totaled 258 aircraft in the seven months through July, compared to 417 last year, and trailing far behind the 458 aircraft handed over in the same period by Airbus. The numbers put Boeing on course to lose the crown of world’s biggest planemaker, which it has held uninterrupted for seven years. The 737 MAX has been grounded worldwide following two fatal accidents that killed more than 300 people and both Boeing and airlines continue to extend the timelines for when it will return to service. Last month, the company posted its largest-ever quarterly loss due to the spiraling cost of resolving issues with the MAX, warning it may have to halt production of the grounded jet altogether if regulators around the world do not give clearance for it to fly again soon. A new problem identified with the MAX in June has delayed the aircraft’s entry into service until at least the end of September, disrupting schedules for airline operators, who have demanded compensation from Boeing for their loss. One major client, Southwest, has already removed the MAX from its schedules until early January. The US planemaker is still ahead of Airbus on combined deliveries of its widebody jets, the 777 and 787 Dreamliner, which stood at 24 and 90, respectively, through the first seven months of 2019, compared with 25 and 80, a year earlier. Airbus delivered 60 of its widebody A350 jets, up from 46 planes, a year earlier. Deliveries of Airbus’s widebody A330 aircraft were 24 planes through July this year.<br/>
Problems with Boeing's 737 Max killed 346 people. The plane's grounding has cost the company billions of dollars and caused problems for airlines around the globe. Now the 737 Max crisis could delay or even end Boeing's plans for a new mid-size airplane, widely expected to be called the Boeing 797. Before the crisis, the aviation industry expected Boeing would go ahead with plans for the plane. Now several experts say the chances are about 50-50, at best.<br/>"I gave a presentation in January where I said it was about a 65% chance," said Richard Aboulafia, aerospace analyst with the Teal Group. "Now it's still in our forecasts, but it's hanging by a thread." Boeing says it continues to work on plans for the potential plane, even in the face of the 737 Max crisis, which began in the wake of two crashes in the last 10 months — a Lion Air jet last October and Ethiopian Airlines in March. "The Max has been our priority and we prioritize resources and people that focus on the Max," said Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing's CEO, at an investor conference last week hosted by Jefferies. "But we do have a dedicated team that's continuing to work .. . the potential middle of the market airplane." The 797 would be a long-range jet that could seat about 250 passengers — more than a current single-aisle jet like the 737 Max, but less than a typical widebody jet like the 787 Dreamliner, which can seat up to 335. It would allow airlines to serve long routes where there might not be enough traffic to fill a larger plane, allowing passengers to have non-stop flights instead of transferring in a hub. But Muilenburg said in April 2018 that Boeing would weigh plans for the new plane "over the next year," raising expectations that a decision to move ahead with the plane would be announced by mid-2019. But that by the time Boeing was devoting most of its attention to the 737 Max crisis, not a new plane. Story has more analysis.<br/>