Disruption in flights originating and landing in France is expected as a three-day strike by air traffic controllers (ATCs) gets under way Dec. 5. The strike is part of much wider industrial action that is expected to affect all modes of transport, the emergency services and other public sector workers, in protest against plans to reform the country’s pension scheme. The national strike is expected to last for only 24 hours, but Air France said the country’s air traffic controllers plan to extend action until Dec. 7. As a result, the country’s civil aviation authority, the DGAC, has asked airlines to reduce flight programs to and from Paris Charles De Gaulle, Paris Orly, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse and Bordeaux airports. Air France said that on Dec. 5 the airline expects to operate all long-haul flights, 85% of medium-haul flights and “almost 70%” of domestic services. “Disruptions are also possible for 6 and 7 December, and our flight program will be adjusted the day before, following DGAC recommendations,” the airline warned Wednesday. It added that last-minute delays and cancellations could not be excluded.<br/>
general
Websites for the three largest US airlines were briefly down on Wednesday because of a technical issue with flight data software they use from Alphabet Inc’s Google. American Airlines, Delta and United all experienced downtime. “For roughly 90 minutes today, a glitch in our flight shopping software prevented our airline partners from displaying fare information. We have now resolved the issue,” Google spokesman Craig Ewer said. American said in a statement that the issue did not affect flight operations. Outage monitoring website DownDetector showed a spike in reports of problems, mainly related to website issues, beginning around 1:30 p.m. ET, before tapering off.<br/>
The Boeing engineer who has played a key role in the company's response to the grounding of the 737 Max is retiring. Boeing said Wednesday that John Hamilton planned to retire last year as chief engineer of commercial airplanes, but he stayed on to help get the Max back into service. Hamilton appeared before Congress in October alongside CEO Dennis Muilenburg to defend and explain the design and production of the Max, which has been grounded since March following two deadly crashes. He has spent 35 years at Boeing and served as chief project engineer for several planes including the 737 NG, the version that preceded the Max. He was responsible for engineering design and safety for all Boeing airliners when the company got final approval of the Max from the FAA. Hamilton was named to his current position in March to deal with the accident investigations and other technical risks, according to the company. He will be replaced by Lynne Hopper, vice president of engineering for Boeing's commercial airplanes business.<br/>
Even as US airlines add more flights, more comfortable seats and new amenities to their flights to Europe and Asia, a fresh survey of international travellers shows foreign carriers are rated as the best. J.D. Power’s International Destination Satisfaction Survey found Turkish Airlines was rated as the best airline to fly between North American and Europe, while JAL was tops among those flying between North America and Asia. What about Delta, United and American Airlines? The man who conducted the survey of more than 6,000 international travellers says US carriers are not that far behind their foreign competitors. “What we normally hear is all US-based airlines don’t do as well as the European or Asian or Middle Eastern airlines, but they held their own in this study,” said Michael Taylor, who oversees travel intelligence for J.D. Power. Among the big three US airlines, Delta is rated the highest for flights to both Europe and to Asia. The survey validates Delta’s move in recent years to add more seats and flights to Europe and Asia. For example, in 2017, Delta started reconfiguring some of its planes to add a new segment of seats and services between the main cabin and the Delta One business class. The new segment, Delta Premium Select, includes bigger seats that recline further than those in the main cabin, a footrest and upgraded meals. The selling point: A Premium Select seat costs slightly more than a seat in coach but far less than one in business class. By comparison, United is ranked the lowest among airlines flying between North America and Asia. That rating doesn’t surprise Taylor. “One of the big things that we see with the second-time flyer is past experience, and United’s past experience has not been that great, but it is improving,” he said. Story has more.<br/>
The peak holiday season started off with a thud for cargo airlines, as demand continued to fall short of supply, amid slowing global growth and a trade war that continues to weigh on the sector. Air cargo demand fell 3.5% in October, the start of the peak season when companies are stocking up inventory for the holiday shopping season, compared with a year ago, marking the 12th consecutive month of declines, the International Air Transport Association said Wednesday. The US-China trade war, generally slowing trade, and weakening economic growth are weighing on demand and setting up air freight volumes this year to be the weakest since the financial crisis, said the IATA, a trade group that represents most of the world’s airlines. “Air cargo’s peak season is off to a disappointing start,” said Alexandre de Juniac, DG of the IATA. “It has been a very tough year for the air cargo industry.” Air cargo capacity has outpaced demand for 18 months, the IATA said. The Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions posted the sharpest declines, 3.5% and 3.3%, respectively. Europe demand fell 2.3% from October 2018, while demand in North America dropped 2.2%. Latin American volumes fell 1.9%. <br/>
MIT scientists are putting wind beneath policy makers' wings, suggesting ways to modify airplane emissions, which worsen air quality and contribute to thousands of deaths annually. As this week's COP25 climate change conference gains momentum, their findings could provide lift to the effort to avoid the disastrous global impacts of heat-trapping gases forecast by the UN Emissions Gap Report. The UN says countries need to quickly and drastically reduce their emission outputs. The scientists' study, published recently in Environmental Research Letters, breaks down how the components of plane exhaust impact the global climate and human health, and weighed the pros and cons of policies aimed at reducing the harm caused by these emissions.<br/>Car exhaust isn't the only climate change contributor "(The results of this paper) allow us to capture emission tradeoffs," said Dr Florian Allroggen, one of the lead researchers on the study. For example, decreasing one component of plane emissions can lead to an increase in another in order to ensure the technology performs appropriately. The scientists found that three components of airplane emissions account for 97% of negative environmental and health impacts: nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide and contrails, which form when water vapor condenses on emission particles.<br/>Major airlines are already going carbon-neutral, but the researchers suggest another component may be even more important to control than carbon.<br/>
Bosnia and Herzegovina air navigation authority BHANSA is set to take full control of the Balkan country's airspace from midnight on 5 December. The measure means that all flights passing through the Sarajevo flight information region will be locally controlled. BHANSA currently provides air traffic control only up to 32,500ft following a partial transition undertaken towards the end of 2014. Upper airspace traffic has been overseen by control centres in neighbouring states Serbia and Croatia. BHANSA director Davorin Primorac says the Bosnian authority only controls some 200 flights but that, after the switch, it will be dealing with up to 1,600 overflights. "In a relatively short period of time we, as the youngest European agency for the provision of air navigation services, have created technical, personnel and all other pre-conditions to fully control the air traffic over the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina," he adds.<br/>