US airline unions expressed hope on Thursday that Congress could strike a deal in the coming days that would provide $25b to prevent tens of thousands of furloughs on Oct. 1 after the US Treasury chief said he could not act unilaterally to save airline jobs. A new Democratic-proposed House bill is expected to provide $2.4t in coronavirus relief that would include funds for airlines and restaurants, a congressional aide said, down from $3.4t approved in May. That figure is still far above the $300b Senate Republicans backed earlier this month. While the White House has repeatedly said it would seek executive action to help airlines if Congress failed to pass a deal, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Congress on Thursday he cannot tap unused coronavirus lending authority to provide cash grants to airlines. “Is there anything that you have under existing authorities, either the CARES act authorities, or prior law, that could help the airlines avoid these coming layoffs?” Republican Senator Tom Cotton asked Mnuchin. “Unfortunately there is not,” Mnuchin said. He added the funding from Congress approved in March “literally saved the entire industry.” Many congressional aides and some airlines are pessimistic about the prospects of a new bailout.<br/>
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A second tranche of financial aid for US airlines is integral for the health of the industry, New York-based JetBlue Airways president and chief operations officer Joanna Geraghty says. Geraghty said Thursday that all airlines are showing “tremendous support” for additional aid, and concerned about economic ripple effects when the current tranche introduced at the beginning of the global pandemic expires a week from today. “We are cautiously optimistic that the government will do the right thing and recognise the importance of the aviation industry,” she said. “Without all the jobs in the airline industry, it’s hard to see the economy recover in a meaningful way.” Earlier this week, two US Senators introduced a bill that would provide airlines with another $28.8b in funds earmarked for employee expenses incurred through March 2021. But the current political climate in Washington could hinder the passage of further aid. “Unfortunately, the dynamic in Washington, DC has really created an environment where our hopes are still there…[but] it’s not looking as positive as it was its going to be,” Geraghty says, adding it that it will be “a tough, tough road.”<br/>
The UK’s opposition Labour party is seeking greater government support for key sectors like aviation that have been hard hit by the coronavirus crisis, including taking equity stakes. A permanent reduction in demand may make it difficult for the aviation industry to meet climate-change targets, Shadow Finance Minister Anneliese Dodds said. “We need government to be much more actively involved in that sector,” Dodds said. “There will be cases where an equity stake would be the appropriate way forward, one which delivers value for money.” The comments come as Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak prepares to set out plans on Thursday to protect jobs from the economic fallout of the virus. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has imposed new restrictions on the British public to bring the resurgent virus under control, leading to calls for more state support for business. The slump brought on by the pandemic has reversed decades of growth in the aviation industry, sending airlines and aerospace firms into crisis -- one that has deepened in recent weeks with the rising infection rates. Unlike their counterparts in the EU, UK airlines haven’t received sector-specific government support. To date, assistance has been restricted to state-backed loans that were available to all companies that were rated investment grade or higher.<br/>
The ICAO has advised Pakistan to undertake “immediate corrective actions” and suspend the issuance of any new pilot licenses in the wake of a scandal over falsified licenses, according to an official and a document seen by Reuters. The recommendations from ICAO, a specialized agency of the United Nations that works to ensure safety in international air transport, come days after Pakistan opened a criminal probe into 50 pilots and five civil aviation officials who allegedly helped them falsify credentials to secure pilot licences. “Pakistan should improve and strengthen its licensing system to ensure that it takes into account all necessary processes and procedures and prevents inconsistencies and malpractices before new licenses are issued and privileges of suspended licenses are re-established,” said ICAO, in a previously unreported letter to the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) last week. A Pakistani aviation ministry official told Reuters that the country has not issued any new licenses since July, in the wake of the scandal.<br/>
A magnificent beast made of four million parts from 30 different countries, the Airbus A380 is the world's largest passenger airliner, and its era is almost at an end.<br/>Initial assembly has recently been completed on the last ever superjumbo, after it was announced in 2019 that the European airplane manufacturers were discontinuing the plane.<br/>The craft was spotted by freelance photographer Aviation Toulouse (@FrenchPainter) at the Jean-Luc Lagardere plant, a purpose-built Airbus facility at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport in southern France. Since the superjumbo's first delivery to Singapore Airlines in 2007, more than 240 A380s have rolled off the line here. Initial assembly of the final double-decker jet, serial number 272, has been completed, with manufacturing station 40 now out of work. It's now off to station 30, where, Airbus media relations manager Anne Galabert tells CNN Travel, the engines will be installed and tests carried out on electrical and hydraulic systems, on-board computers, landing gear and moving parts. "The final tests are performed outside," she says -- with the checks including fuel gauge calibration, cabin pressurization, radios, radar, navigation systems and fuel tank sealing -- and "the aircraft is then prepared for flight." After engine tests are performed, the aircraft will make its first test flight to Hamburg, Germany, where the cabin will be installed, fitted out and the plane painted in the customer's livery: Emirates Airlines. The last convoy to the Final Assembly Line (FAL) took place in February this year, with hundreds turning out in the French village of Levignac to see the wings, fuselage sections and horizontal tailplane transported by truck. Story has more.<br/>
Airbus is set to reaffirm its aircraft production rates, despite warnings that the coronavirus crisis will be deeper and longer than expected, industry sources said on Thursday. After cutting output of its best-selling A320neo single-aisle jet at the start of the crisis, the European planemaker has subjected its targets to a fresh internal review as a second wave of COVID-19 prompts new government restrictions in Europe. But although it weighed further trimming its monthly output of 40 A320neos, down from 60 before the crisis, this week’s review determined Airbus will hold the line on output for now. “There are no signs of slowing; the contrary in fact,” a senior industry source said of the A320neo output. Airbus declined to comment. The decision is good news for hundreds of suppliers at risk from volatility in output rates. But it puts pressure on Airbus to keep up deliveries and find homes for some 170 jets already waiting for ailing airlines to collect them.<br/>
The FAA announced Thursday that it had cleared Harrison Ford to continue flying, after the actor completed remedial training prompted by an incident in April when he had crossed a runway by accident. Ford’s representatives said that on April 24, he had “crossed the airport’s only runway in his aircraft after he misheard a radio instruction” from the control tower. “He immediately acknowledged the mistake and apologized for the error,” the representatives said. The agency said it closed the case after Ford, 78, completed “a remedial runway incursion training course.” Under agency rules, Ford was allowed to keep piloting during the investigation; in August he flew his son Liam from California to Massachusetts for his return to Amherst College. <br/>