general

The airline industry passed a milestone this week: low-cost European carriers Ryanair and Wizz Air both announced their first profitable quarter since before the pandemic. Yet both still expected to have to cut prices to spur demand in the winter months; Ryanair cut its earnings forecast and Wizz warned it would plunge back into losses. Most large US airlines, meanwhile, still lost money before federal pandemic aid in the third quarter and reined back expectations into the first half of next year. That so much of the industry managed to survive the pandemic, when much of the global fleet was grounded, is an achievement in itself. But returning to anything like pre-pandemic levels will be a long haul. Accommodative capital markets and government largesse kept the industry on life support through the dark days of Covid. Although the Delta variant held back recovery this summer, especially in flights to and from the UK, the EU’s digital Covid pass helped to support European demand. The US domestic market, meanwhile, was surprisingly strong. Restrictions are still being eased. The US will reopen for travellers from 33 countries, including the UK and EU, next Monday — marking the return of lucrative transatlantic routes. Yet though this may release some pent-up demand for flights for holidays and to see loved ones, restrictions are being eased just as airlines go into the northern hemisphere winter — when they struggle, at the best of times, to make money. And the supply chain disruptions and staffing squeeze that are already weighing on broader economic growth are causing particular problems for the airline industry. Story has more.<br/>

The FAA says it has referred 37 cases involving unruly airline passengers to the FBI for possible criminal prosecution since the number of disruptions on flights began to spike in January. FAA and Justice Department officials said Thursday that in the last three months they developed a process for the FAA to regularly send cases to the FBI, which forwards those worthy of prosecution to field offices for investigation. They did not indicate how many of the 37 referrals have led to charges. The FAA said the cases referred to the FBI are among 227 this year in which it has begun enforcement action that could lead to civil penalties against passengers. Airlines and their unions have pressed the FAA to push more aggressively for criminal prosecution in severe cases of air rage. <br/>

The Biden administration on Thursday set Jan. 4 as the deadline for large companies to mandate coronavirus vaccinations or start weekly testing of their workers, the government’s biggest effort yet to enlist private businesses in combating the virus. The new rule, applying to companies with 100 or more employees, is expected to cover 84m workers, roughly 31m of whom are unvaccinated. It lays out details of a plan President Biden announced in September, invoking emergency powers over workplace safety. In a separate measure that will affect 17m more workers, nursing homes and other health care facilities that receive Medicare and Medicaid funds must ensure all employees are vaccinated by Jan. 4, with no option for testing. The president has previously imposed vaccine requirements on federal workers, a group that totals more than four million people, and companies that have federal contracts. (The latter group’s deadline was pushed to Jan. 4, from early December.) But the mandate on large private businesses is the most far-reaching and potentially controversial measure in the government’s efforts to fight the pandemic. Attorneys general in at least 24 states have threatened to sue. Story mentions some airlines.<br/>

AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications said they had agreed to delay by a month the commercial launch of C-band wireless service pending an assessment of any impact on aviation safety technologies. The FAA and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said in a joint statement they would “continue to coordinate closely to ensure that the United States keeps pace with the rest of the world in deploying next-generation communications technologies safely and without undue delay.” The carriers had been set to use the spectrum on Dec. 5 and have agreed to delay it until early January. Both carriers agreed they would delay deployment at the Transportation Department’s request. AT&T said it would “continue to work in good faith with the FCC and the FAA to understand the FAA’s asserted co-existence concerns. It is critical that these discussions be informed by the science and the data.” The FAA and FCC are holding intensive discussions about the issue and the White House National Economic Council has also been involved, officials said.<br/>

A modest diet in our flying habits would be enough to level off the global heating caused by the aviation industry. That’s the surprising conclusion from a study, which also warns that if the aviation industry continues to grow at current rates then it will be responsible for around nearly 0.1C of heating by 2050. Taking a flight adds to global heating in two ways. The first is from the direct effect of burning jet fuel and producing carbon dioxide, which remains in the atmosphere. The second is from indirect effects caused by tailpipe emissions in the upper atmosphere, resulting in cirrus clouds that trap additional heat and complex chemical reactions that alter the balance of greenhouse gases such as ozone and methane. Working out how much global heating aircraft cause is complicated because carbon dioxide hangs around for thousands of years (meaning a flight taken in 1950 is still contributing to global heating today), while the indirect effects (clouds, contrails and the like) are much shorter lived – usually less than a year. Milan Kloewer, from the University of Oxford, and colleagues from Manchester Metropoliton University took both the direct and indirect heating effects of aircraft into account to model the aviation industry’s contribution to global heating up to the year 2050. They found that to date aircraft are responsible for 0.04C of global heating: about 4% of the 1.2C temperature increase humans have caused since the Industrial Revolution. If aviation continues to grow at about 3% a year then it will have caused 0.09C of heating by 2050. Story has details.<br/>

An all-electric plane capable of carrying 100 people may be available within six years, significantly accelerating the timeline for the introduction of a non-kerosene powered commercial airliner. US startup Wright Electric plans to retrofit electric motors into a BAe 146 regional aircraft originally manufactured by BAE Systems, replacing its four jet engines and transforming it into a zero-emissions model. Wright plans to build a fleet of the converted planes, which will have a range of about one hour or 460 miles, while using the revamped model -- renamed the Spirit -- as a stepping stone toward a previously planned clean-paper aircraft a few years later, CEO Jeffrey Engler said. The strategy pivot, timed for the COP26 climate summit, could allow Wright to steal a march on established firms such as Airbus that are targeting electric or hydrogen-powered models by about 2035. The converted planes would be suited to linking close city pairs such as New York and Boston, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo and many European locations currently served by regional jets, the Airbus A320 family or Boeing 737s.<br/>

Boeing will showcase its market-leading portfolio of commercial, defence and services products at the 2021 Dubai Airshow this month, including the international debut of its newest fuel-efficient widebody jet, the 777X. “Boeing is excited to participate fully in the Dubai Airshow, the first major international airshow in almost two years, and to be able to engage directly with customers, partners, suppliers and other stakeholders from the region and beyond,” said Kuljit Ghata-Aura, president of Boeing Middle East, Turkey and Africa. “The show is a perfect opportunity to come together and remind the world of the importance of our industry and discuss technology and innovations that are critical to advance a more sustainable aerospace industry over the long-term.” During the event, a Boeing 777-9 flight test airplane will soar in the airshow’s flying program and appear in static display. Building on the best of the industry-leading 777 and 787 families, the 777-9 will be the world’s largest and most efficient twin-engine jet, delivering 10% better fuel use, emissions and operating costs than the competition.<br/>