The Homeland Security Department is backing away from requiring that US citizens submit to facial-recognition technology when they leave or enter the country. The department said Thursday that it has no plans to expand facial recognition to US citizens. A spokesman said DHS will delete the idea from its regulatory agenda, where privacy advocates spotted it this week. The advocates and lawmakers accused DHS of reneging on repeated promises not to force American citizens to be photographed leaving or entering the United States, a process that is required for foreign visitors. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., called the administration's retreat “a victory for every single American traveler who flies on a plane.” He credited public pressure for the about-face. He said, however, that he still plans to introduce legislation to ban biometric surveillance of Americans. Edward Hasbrouck, a privacy advocate who pointed out the proposal, said the matter might not be settled. “Was this a trial balloon to find out whether the DHS had finally reached the limits of our willingness to be treated like criminals whenever we fly?” he said. “And if so, has the DHS partially backed off, at least for now? Maybe.”<br/>
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Boeing is reassuring airline industry leaders about the safety of the grounded 737 Max as it continues working to get the plane back in service. The aircraft maker invited about 30 union officials, safety experts and others to the Seattle area for two days of meetings with Boeing executives and factory tours. The event shows how motivated Boeing is to get the Max back in the air quickly, says Lori Bassani, president of the union that represents American Airlines flight attendants. Bassani said Thursday that Boeing gave no new details on how soon it expects regulatory approval of changes it is making to the Max after two crashes that killed 346 people. Reporters were not allowed at the event, which wrapped up Wednesday. Guests included former Federal Aviation Administration chief Randy Babbitt. The participants heard from CEO Dennis Muilenburg, other Boeing executives and test pilots. Boeing hopes to enlist pilots and flight attendants in its effort to convince the public that the plane will be safe after changes are made to flight-control software that was implicated in the crashes.<br/>
Airbus must hand a record number of aircraft to customers in December to meet delivery goals, company data showed on Thursday, and is all but certain of winning an annual order race against Boeing. The planemaker has been facing production snags in its best-selling A321neo jet, due in part to the introduction of a complex new flexible cabin, but has said it is confident of meeting a goal of 860 jets in 2019, revised down from 880-890. To reach that target it must deliver 135 jets in December, beating a previous record of 127 December deliveries by 6%. Airbus delivered 77 aircraft in November to reach 725 for the year so far, according to Thursday’s progress report. Airbus has a track record of achieving a late surge in deliveries, though it is also working to spread deliveries more evenly over the year in future to smooth earnings and avoid quality problems that can creep in when it is working flat out. Whether or not it meets targets, Airbus is set to regain the crown as the world’s largest commercial plane producer this year as Boeing approaches nine months without deliveries of its 737 MAX, grounded after two crashes.<br/>
IAG Cargo, the cargo handling division of BA parent IAG, says it has carried out a trial of autonomous drone technology at a warehouse in the Spanish capital of Madrid. In an announcement Wednesday, IAG Cargo said the technology had been “designed around the automation of freight checks” and that it would help to boost both the reliability and efficiency of operations. A cargo business which serves more than 350 destinations globally, IAG Cargo employs over 2,400 people. The trials were undertaken after IAG Cargo said it found that, on average, 6,500 hours per year were being spent recording the location data and barcodes of freight stored in its warehouses. They made use of technology from FlytBase, a start-up which specialises in drone software. So far, two trials have been completed. Among other things, the tech enabled the drones to detect and read air waybills accurately and identify empty slot locations in the warehouse. An air waybill is a crucial document which contains key pieces of information related to a shipment. When required, the drones used by IAG Cargo automatically fly back to charging stations to self-charge.<br/>
Australia’s competition watchdog has expressed concern about airline frequent flyer programmes, flagging the potential for unfair pricing and anti-competitive practices. “Loyalty schemes have the potential to raise competition concerns,” the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) says in an investigation report on a broad range of loyalty programmes. “This can occur depending on the extent to which loyalty schemes ‘lock up’ customers and introduce switching costs that increase barriers to entry and expansion for rival firms.” For airlines, the commission notes that this has already happened in other markets. In Sweden and Norway, local competition authorities determined that SAS’s EuroBonus frequent flyer loyalty scheme created obstacles to new entry. The ACCC acknowledges that Qantas’ Frequent Flyer scheme “might have a significant impact on barriers to entry and expansion for the domestic business traveller segment”, though there isn’t any evidence of this to date, while Virgin Australia has successfully grown its Velocity programme and market position. These have also made significant contributions to the parent airlines’ overall earnings. Story has more.<br/>