A US advocacy group has asked a federal judge to order the FAA to release some 100 documents related to the agency’s pending re-certification of the Boeing 737 Max. FlyersRights.org, a consumer advocacy group focused on airline issues, filed the request in US District Court for the District of Columbia on 28 October. It says the FAA, following Boeing’s request, has failed to release information that can help “independent safety experts and the public… review the basis on which the FAA intends to unground the plane”. Regulators grounded the 737 Max in March 2019 following two crashes that killed 346 people. Boeing has said it expects regulators will certificate the jet before year-end. The documents sought by FlyersRights relate to 737 Max certification plans, testing methods, regulatory compliance, flight-test plans and safety analyses, according to court papers. FlyersRights previously requested the documents from the FAA, having filed a request under the US government’s Freedom of Information Act process. The FAA did indeed release some 100 documents, but those papers were heavily redacted, leaving them void of “essentially all of the substantive information”, FlyersRights says. Court papers show that Boeing objected to making details public, citing the need to protect proprietary and “highly detailed technical” information.<br/>
general
The pilots union, Balpa, has warned prospective pilots from starting any training courses, saying they would be left with huge debts and no prospect of employment. Trainee pilots could end up owing more than GBP100,000 and would not find a job to pay back loans, the union said. About 200 trainee pilots in UK flight schools who were set for jobs with easyJet have already had their conditional offers of employment withdrawn, after the airline looked to cut hundreds of pilot jobs in the summer as the effects of Covid-19 battered the industry. Balpa said it was an extraordinary step for them to issue the warning, but it would be irresponsible not to act. Wendy Pursey, its head of membership and careers, said there were about 10,000 unemployed commercial pilots across Europe, including 1,600 in the UK, while many others were working part-time or on reduced pay. The easyJet trainees now had “no clear route to even a licence, far less a job”, she said. Others attempting to enter the aviation industry have been hard hit, including 122 trainee air traffic controllers at Nats being laid off before gaining a licence. The difficulties were underlined by BA telling staff on Thursday that many more of them would be placed on furlough, as the airline scales back flights through November. Its few remaining long-haul services from Gatwick will be suspended. Under the lockdown rules that came into effect on Thursday, all holiday or leisure travel is banned with fines for breaches starting at GBP200. A BA spokeswoman said the airline had been “urgently reviewing” its schedule but would be operating flights to “bring home thousands of customers currently abroad, and ensuring people who are permitted to travel in and out of the UK can continue to do so.”<br/>
Mainland China has barred entry to non-Chinese visitors from Britain, Belgium and the Philippines and demanded travelers from the United States, France and Germany present results of additional health tests, as coronavirus cases rise around the world. In some of the most stringent border restrictions imposed by any country in response to the pandemic, China has temporarily suspended entry of non-Chinese nationals travelling from the UK even if they hold valid visas and residence permits, the Chinese embassy in Britain said. The Chinese embassies in Belgium and the Philippines released similar statements announcing restrictions on travelers from the two countries. The rejection of non-Chinese travelers from Britain came as England entered a month-long lockdown starting Thursday. Britain’s death toll is the highest in Europe and it is grappling with more than 20,000 new coronavirus cases a day. Belgium has Europe’s highest per capita number of new confirmed cases, while the Philippines has the second-highest number of infections and deaths in Southeast Asia after Indonesia. The suspension was a partial reversal of an easing on Sept. 28, when China allowed all foreigners with valid residence permits to enter. In March, China had banned entry of foreigners in response to the epidemic. Starting Nov. 6, all passengers from the United States, France, Germany and Thailand bound for mainland China must take both a nucleic acid test and a blood test for antibodies against the coronavirus. The tests must be done no more than 48 hours before boarding. If the passenger needs to make a transit stop en route to China, the same tests must be done in the transit country or region. Similar requirements were imposed on travelers from countries such as Australia, Singapore and Japan, from Nov. 8.<br/>