A powerful typhoon in Japan has left more than 100 flights canceled, thousands of travelers stranded at the airport, and nearly 1m households without power. Typhoon Faxai, which made landfall early Monday morning in the coastal city of Chiba, brought heavy rain and winds of 120 miles per hour, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). The storm then moved over Tokyo and paralyzed transport. Major subway stations in Tokyo were crammed full of commuters on Monday morning, all stuck waiting for bullet trains and subway services that had shut down. More than 100 flights to and from airports in the Tokyo area were canceled on Monday, including 49 Japan Airlines flights and 41 by ANA, according to the airport website. The entire Keikyu rail line, which connects Tokyo and Yokohama to Haneda Airport, is still suspended. As of Monday afternoon, 6,800 passengers were stranded at Narita International Airport, according to an airport spokesperson. Flights are still arriving, but with highways blocked and two railways to the city center shut down, arriving passengers had no way to leave the airport. <br/>
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If you've ever wanted to travel between Japan and South Korea, there's no better time than now -- air fares are as low as $8.38. As a trade spat between the two countries drags on, travel between them is dropping -- and so are flight prices. It costs as little as 10,000 South Korean won ($8.38) to fly one-way from Seoul to Fukuoka on budget airline Eastar Jet right now, and only 1,000 Japanese yen ($9.35) the other way. This is excluding tax and fuel surcharges -- but still, added up, the prices are far lower than normal. The Eastar flight from Fukuoka to Seoul costs 7,590 yen ($71) with all the additional fees. That's about 60% to 80% less than ticket prices a year ago, according to the Nikkei Asian Review. It's particularly unusual since September usually sees higher ticket prices -- many people travel to visit family for the national Chuseok holiday in mid-September, also known as Korean Thanksgiving. Travellers in past years have complained on online forums about prices being as high as several hundred US dollars. This is just the latest side-effect of the ongoing trade dispute, which started in July when Tokyo placed controls on South Korea exports of three chemical materials, which are used to make computer chips, among other things. Story has more details.<br/>
The FAA has postponed the release of a draft rulemaking for remote identification of drones by two months until December, delaying definition of a means of identifying small unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAVs) from the ground that is considered essential to expanding their use. According to the US DoT) monthly report on significant rulemakings, the FAA expects to publish the Remote ID notice of proposed rulemaking on Dec. 20, with a comment period running through January 2020. Earlier this year, the agency delayed the release of the draft rule to September from July, citing its complexity. Also delayed by seven months to Sept. 28, 2020 is the release of a draft rule that would establish drone-specific flight restrictions near critical infrastructure. FAA officials have described Remote ID as the agency’s top regulatory priority for UAVs, and a needed function to allow flights of drones over people and beyond an operator’s visual line of sight.<br/>