Airlines canceled more than 700 US flights Wednesday and 560 for Thursday as the Northeast and mid-Atlantic prepare for what is being forecast as the biggest winter storm in years, which threatens to dump up to 2 feet of snow on some areas. The National Weather Service said: "A widespread swath of heavy, wet snow is likely from the central Appalachians and interior Mid-Atlantic into portions of the Northeast and southern New England. Freezing rain and ice are also likely in western North Carolina and southwest Virginia. Travel is not recommended." The weather service posted winter storm warnings, watches and advisories all the way from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, down to northeastern Georgia, a distance of more than 850 miles. Cities like New York, Boston and Philadelphia are expected to see up to a foot, so it's not surprising to see those cities' airports with many of the US flight cancellations at flight-tracking website FlightAware.com. Newark Liberty International had 130 cancellations as of 5:30 p.m. EST on Wednesday, according to FlightAware. Another 108 are canceled for Thursday. Although the Washington area is only supposed to see a few inches of snow, Dulles International Airport already had 130 cancellations Wednesday and another two dozen for Thursday.<br/>
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US prosecutors said on Wednesday they had charged a Kenya-born militant with terrorism-related offenses, including conspiring to hijack aircraft for a 9/11-style attack on an American target on behalf of the Somali-based al-Shabaab militant group. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the US Justice Department said that Cholo Abdi Abdullah, aged 30, was arrested in the Philippines in July 2019 and transferred to the United States on Tuesday to face six federal charges related to alleged terrorism. At a hearing held via electronic link on Wednesday morning, Abdullah told a US magistrate judge he was pleading not guilty to all of the charges. His defense lawyer agreed with the judge that Abdullah should remain in custody pending a hearing in January. The Justice Department said Abdullah, acting at the direction of an unnamed senior al-Shabaab commander, traveled in 2016 to the Philippines to enroll in a flight school to train for a possible 9/11-style attack. The al-Shabaab commander in question was previously responsible for planning a January 2019 attack on a hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, in which more than 20 people were killed, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said that between 2017 and 2019, Abdullah attended the flight school on "various occasions" and ultimately completed tests to obtain a pilot's license.<br/>
Transport Canada is set to announce approval of design changes to Boeing’s 737 MAX as early as Thursday, in a first step toward bringing the aircraft back to the country’s skies after a near two-year flight ban, two sources familiar with the matter said. The Canadian regulator, however, is not expected to issue an immediate airworthiness directive, which is needed to help clear the way for the lifting of the ban on commercial flights. Both of the sources spoke on condition of anonymity because Transport Canada’s decision has not yet been made public. Canada was one of the last major nations before the US to ground the MAX in March 2019, following two crashes that killed a total of 346 people. A spokeswoman for Transport Canada declined comment on Wednesday night. Canada’s two largest carriers Air Canada and WestJet both fly the aircraft.<br/>
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has announced stricter measures on international flights coming into the country, as it moves to curb the number of imported coronavirus cases. Effective immediately, if five or more passengers on a flight arriving in China test positive for Covid-19, the airline will have to suspend operations on the specified route for two weeks, instead of one week as previously announced in June. If 10 or more positive cases are found, the flight will be suspended for four weeks, the CAAC states. The suspension mechanism will only be applied to routes where cases have been found, and will not affect a carrier’s other flights into the country. CAAC director Feng Zhenglin was quoted in local media as saying that the task of preventing the spread of the coronavirus will be “quite tough” as the country approaches the winter season, and urged carriers to supervise the implementation of the latest prevention measures. Since June, the CAAC has issued more than 130 suspension orders to 54 Chinese carriers and 85 foreign airlines.<br/>
An EU plan to begin restoring airport slot competition next year drew criticism on Wednesday from major airlines, who warned that it could lead to a return of empty "ghost flights". The suspension of rules governing takeoff and landing rights at once-busy airports, introduced early in the COVID-19 pandemic, has become more divisive. Low-cost airlines are impatient to see a return to normal rules requiring incumbents to use 80% of their slots or cede some to rivals. The EC proposal would restore the "use-it-or-lose-it" rule for the northern summer season starting in March 2021, but with a lower 40% threshold. Transport Commissioner Adina Valean said the plan announced on Wednesday would "strike a balance" between fair competition and relief for airlines hit by the travel slump. "The effect of the current waiver is to freeze competition at 2019 levels without there being any requirement that capacity is actually used efficiently," according to the proposal. "It is time to establish a pathway to return to a normal application of the 'use-it-or-lose-it' rule." But aviation industry groups led by airlines body IATA said the EU plan "does not sufficiently address the extent of the continuing crisis in air transport", and appealed to European governments and parliamentarians to intervene. Unless amended, it "could lead to airlines being forced to operate 'ghost flights'," they said in a statement.<br/>
The UK’s competition watchdog is investigating whether airlines breached customers’ rights by not offering refunds for flights they were unable to board during the pandemic. The Competition and Markets Authority said it would examine situations where airlines continued operating flights despite passengers being unable to travel lawfully for non-essential purposes. The investigation is a fresh problem for airlines, which have faced criticism for their response to the huge backlog of refunds built up following a surge of flight cancellations during the first wave of coronavirus in the spring. The regulator specifically highlighted the second lockdown in November, which banned non-essential travel such as going on holiday. Some airlines continued to operate flights during this period without offering full refunds, arguing that many people still needed to travel for work. The regulator “is aware that, in some cases where flights were not cancelled, customers were not offered refunds even though they could not lawfully travel”, it said. Many passengers were given the option of rebooking or taking a voucher instead. The CMA will write to “a number of airlines” to learn more about their approaches to refunds but did not name any specific carriers on Wednesday.<br/>
Heathrow’s controversial third runway can proceed, the UK’s Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday, reigniting a debate about airport capacity as the government seeks to meet increasingly ambitious climate change targets. The UK’s top court ruled that the government had acted lawfully in its decision to favour a third runway at Heathrow and had taken proper account of the UK's commitments as represented in the 2016 Paris agreement on climate change, when deciding whether to build a new runway. The Supreme Court had been asked to consider whether the government had acted lawfully in drawing up its Airports National Policy Statement, which covers future airport capacity in the south-east and favours a third runway at Heathrow. The top court had been asked to consider whether the government had taken proper account of the Paris agreement, which sets targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, in its decision-making. Handing down the court’s decision, Lord Philip Sales, a Supreme Court justice, said the government had properly taken the Paris agreement into account. “The national policy statement is not affected by any unlawfulness and is valid,” he said. The ruling means that Heathrow is now entitled to apply for planning permission for its third runway. However, the government will still have to make the final decision on whether to allow the project, after any planning process — including a full planning inquiry — is complete. Heathrow welcomed the decision as “the right result for the country” but did not give any indication as to when it would proceed to the next stage of the planning process. Story has more. <br/>
Boeing is hiring up to 160 pilots to be embedded at airlines in its latest bid to ensure its 737 MAX has a smooth comeback after a 20-month safety ban, according to a recruitment document seen by Reuters and people familiar with the move. The new "Global Engagement Pilots" will act as instructors or cockpit observers on 35-day assignments at an equivalent annual salary that could reach US$200,000, for a total potential cost of US$32m, one of the people said. The unusual hiring spree is part of a Boeing campaign to protect the re-launch of its redesigned 737 MAX from operational glitches and rebuild trust following crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed a total of 346 people. The strategy also includes 24/7 surveillance of 737 MAX flights globally and talking points for flight attendants to reassure passengers who express concern. "Duties include: consulting activities and assist in customer support, including flying opportunities," according to a summary of job terms from a contracting firm carrying out the recruitment on behalf of Boeing. Pilots must have 1,000 hours of instructor experience and "no incidents, accidents, losses or violations," and be licensed on the 737 and other Boeing jetliners, it said. Story has more.<br/>
The US and Europe should agree to cooperate in opposing any future "hurtful" subsidies used by China to build up its commercial aircraft industry, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said. Lighthizer said he was working to settle a 16-year-old dispute between Washington and Brussels over past government aid to aircraft manufacturers, but expressed frustration that current World Trade Organization rules would not prevent future subsidies by the EU or China. "If this plays out, they can start a new subsidy tomorrow, and drag out that litigation for five or six years, and there’s nothing under the WTO that you can do about it at all," Lighthizer said Tuesday. He said he had made several proposals to settle the matter before the Trump administration leaves office on Jan 20. "In every proposal I’ve made, I’ve said we have to have a clause that says, that whatever we agree to, if China starts to do massive subsidies in this area and it’s hurtful, we have to be able to work together to solve that problem," he said. The comments address what many trade experts have long regarded as the end game of the 16-year trade dispute - a transatlantic deal that the two sides could use to curb future subsidies by China in its fast-growing aerospace industry.<br/>
The hydrogen-powered aviation startup ZeroAvia has raised $37.7m from the UK government and a group of investors that includes funds founded by Bill Gates and Amazon.com Inc. ZeroAvia said it aims to use the money to advance development of technology that could cut carbon emissions from the aviation sector by replacing fossil fuel-burning propulsion with a hydrogen fuel-cell system. The company raised $21.4m in a series A round led by Ecosystem Integrity Fund and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a fund backed by Bill Gates. Other investors in the round included Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Horizons Ventures Ltd., Shell Ventures and Summa Equity. The UK government also provided GBP12.3m ($16.6m) to help the London and California-based company make a 19-seat hydrogen-electric powered plane by 2023. Hydrogen could be the key to slashing emissions from the sector in the coming decades. Airbus has its own plans to develop hydrogen-powered planes. A plane with ZeroAvia’s hydrogen hydrogen fuel cell technology made its first flight from the company research and development facility in Cranfield, England in September. CEO Val Miftakhov said that 10 airlines are preparing to use the company’s technology once it’s ready for sale in 2023.<br/>