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The United States is setting a goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from the US aviation sector by 2050, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on Tuesday. The White House said in September it was targeting 20% lower aviation emissions by 2030, as airlines facing pressure from environmental groups to lower their carbon footprint pledged to use more sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). President Joe Biden has previously set a target of making the United States net carbon neutral by 2050. "This plan shows we can combat climate change while growing the economy and creating good paying American jobs," Buttigieg said. At the climate talks in Glasgow, Buttigieg will represent the United States as a coalition of countries led by Britain are expected to announce the "International Aviation Climate Ambition Declaration," sources said. That declaration will acknowledge that the UN ICAO is the appropriate forum for addressing emissions from international aviation and include commitments to push ICAO to adopt an "ambitious long-term aspirational goal" and support SAF development. The US goal of net-zero GHG emissions by 2050 was supported by an analysis by the FAA. In addition to sustainable fuel, new aircraft technologies will be needed along with increasing operations efficiency as well as cutting airport emissions, the FAA said. "The decarbonization of the aviation sector is extremely challenging," the FAA said. The plan includes emissions offsets by airlines "to address any remaining in-sector emissions until the sector is only using fuels with zero net life cycle GHG emissions."<br/>

A union that represents some 700,000 government employees on Tuesday asked the White House to give workers until Jan. 4 to comply with a Biden administration vaccine mandate instead of a deadline just before Thanksgiving. Most federal workers have until Nov. 22 to get immunized against Covid under the Biden administration’s order. Federal contractors previously had until Dec. 8, but the White House last week delayed that deadline until Jan. 4. That gives those companies until after the holidays to comply with the deadline, which matches a new rule from the Labor Department requiring private companies with 100 or more employees to get vaccinated or face weekly testing. The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents TSA officers, food inspectors and tens of thousands of others, called it unfair to have separate deadlines for federal contractors and federal employees. “This double standard has caused confusion and distress among federal employees due to disparate treatment and incongruent deadlines for people who perform the government’s work in the same settings,” Everett Kelley, AFGE’s president wrote Tuesday to Shalanda Young, acting director of the Office of Budget and Management, Kiran Ahuja, acting director of the US Office of Personnel Management and Jeff Zients, the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator. “The effect upon morale of federal employees being subject to possible discipline at this time of year cannot be overstated,” Kelley wrote. A federal employee could face termination or suspension for refusing to get vaccinated but only after a period of education and counseling, according to the rules.<br/>

The European Union is monitoring flights to Belarus from two dozen countries in an attempt to prevent more migrants being encouraged to travel to the bloc’s border by the government in Minsk, a spokesperson said on Tuesday. “We are looking at the frequency of flights, we are looking at the pattern of flights - how many flights go out, how many flights go back, what’s the occupancy of the planes,” a spokesperson for the EU’s executive Commission told reporters in Brussels. The spokesperson listed airline travel from countries such as Morocco, Syria, Iran, Qatar, South Africa, Somalia, India, Sri Lanka, Venezuela, Russia, Azerbaijan, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya and Yemen. <br/>

After years of delays, an E8b project to turn Athens' former airport into a luxury resort should start construction in February, its developer said on Tuesday. Lamda Development won a tender in 2014 to transform the 1,500-acre (600-hectare) site of the former Hellenikon airport, where disused runways, terminals and former Olympic venues have sat abandoned for almost two decades. But Greece's biggest urban redevelopment plan was repeatedly held back by bureaucracy and opposition, and it was only this summer that the company acquired the rights to start work on the beachfront scheme about three times the size of Monaco. "Our aim is to have construction work started in four months, in February," said Chief Planning and Construction Officer Dimitris Zontanos. After knocking down old buildings, Lamda will begin the construction of a 200-metre high seaside apartment block and the expansion of an adjacent marina, he said. Construction of an entertainment complex and a cluster of beach villas is due to begin in 2023, with parks, lakes, gardens and open spaces for public activities covering more than 70% of the sprawling site, Lamda said. The company has said it has secured presale contracts worth nearly E700m for the residences and beach villas. The developer also plans to build two luxury hotels for E300m and has signed agreements for the construction of a retail park and offices in Hellenikon. The project is expected to create more than 80,000 jobs and attract more than 1 million tourists a year.<br/>

Frankfurt Airport operator Fraport sees passenger numbers at Germany’s biggest hub reaching the upper end of its 20-25m forecast for the full year after a strong recovery in leisure travel during Q3. Fraport says that boosted by a noticeable recovery in holiday travel during the summer season, Q3 revenues jumped by four-fifths, to E634m, over the same period in 2020. The gap in passenger numbers at Frankfurt versus pre-crisis levels was cut by 45% in Q3, a trend that continued in October, largely attributed to holiday travel. It reports a similar recovery among its other airport interests, notably tourism hotspots in Greece, and Turkey’s Antalya airport. ”During the summer holiday season, these gateways even reached nearly 80% of the respective passenger volume recorded in 2019 – while exceeding more than 90% of pre-crisis levels according to the preliminary October 2021 figures,” Fraport says. That strong traffic performance, together with some Covid-related compensation one-offs at its US, Greek and Slovenian subsidiaries, prompted Fraport to raise its outlook for the full year. It now expects to make a net profit for the 12-month period, having previously guided in a range between slightly negative to slightly positive.<br/>

UK airports are calling on the government to bring back rules, waived during the coronavirus crisis, that force airlines to use or lose their valuable take-off and landing slots. With the aviation industry starting to recover from the pandemic, the CEs of Gatwick, Belfast and Edinburgh airports are demanding a return to strict rules in time for next year’s spring and summer season. The airports, which have written to transport secretary Grant Shapps, have been joined in their push by Wizz Air, the ambitious low-cost Hungarian carrier. London-listed Wizz hopes to use the industry-wide disruption to expand in the UK, but has been blocked by capacity constraints at key airports, notably Gatwick. Airlines must normally hand back a slot if it is not used 80% of the time, but these rules have been dropped throughout the pandemic by both the UK and EU. The waiver has allowed airlines, including British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, to maintain their bases at airports without having to run flights to destinations hit by travel rules and the collapse in passenger numbers. “We firmly believe that this would be the right time for government to get fully behind our sector by restoring the slot rules and allowing competition to once again flourish for the benefit of the industry and the consumer,” the letter to Shapps said. Marion Geoffroy, managing director of Wizz Air UK, added: “It is simply wrong that some UK airlines should be allowed to hold on to these slots for another season if they have no intention of operating them.” The issue is particularly acute for Gatwick, where several airlines have shifted operations to Heathrow during the crisis. Story has more. <br/>

Boeing said Tuesday that it delivered 27 planes to customers last month, but deliveries of its 787 Dreamliners remain suspended, just as airlines are gearing up for a revival in international travel. The US on Monday lifted a pandemic travel ban on visitors from 33 countries and airline executives have said bookings for international trips have jumped. Deliveries of wide-body jets, which are often used for international flights, have been suspended for much of the past year after Boeing disclosed a series of manufacturing flaws and took extra time to inspect its jets. American Airlines and United Airlines are among the carriers with outstanding orders of the Dreamliner. Both carriers are aiming to expand international flying next year, eager to make up for lost ground from two years of weak demand for foreign travel due to the pandemic and a host of travel restrictions. American Airlines chief revenue officer Vasu Raja said the deliveries of the Dreamliner will set the pace of its international expansion. “It’s a pretty meaningful impact to how fast we can build back internationally,” Raja said. Among Boeing’s 27 deliveries last month were 18 737 Maxes, one 747 freighter, one 767 freighter and two 777 freighters. Cargo jets and air freight capacity have been in high demand during the pandemic amid supply chain issues and a loss of belly capacity from other passenger planes. The manufacturer posted net orders of seven planes, including eight Maxes and two 777 freighters. It also logged three cancellations, including two 787-10s for Air Lease.<br/>

The aviation industry told the White House on Tuesday it will take "significant time" to ensure it is safe for major US wireless companies to use C-Band spectrum for 5G communications. In a letter sent to the White House, Boeing, Airbus, US airlines, pilots and others said they need the Biden administration and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) "to help aviation and telecommunication industries reach acceptable mitigations." Last week, AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications agreed to delay by a month the commercial launch of C-band wireless service from Dec. 5 until early January. The FAA issued a bulletin last week alerting manufacturers, operators and pilots that action may be needed to address potential interference with sensitive aircraft electronics caused by the 5G deployment. The FAA said operators "should be prepared for the possibility that interference from 5G transmitters and other technology could cause certain safety equipment to malfunction, requiring them to take mitigating action that could affect flight operations." The White House did not immediately comment but has been heavily involved in the issue - and even reviewed the FAA safety bulletin before it was cleared for release, officials said. The letter said the aerospace industry would work to develop new standards, equipment, and aircraft/helicopter integration solutions but that they "require more detailed knowledge of the C-Band deployment and will take significant time to ensure they meet the FAA’s robust safety requirements." The letter urged the White House to work with the FCC and FAA "to convene a joint industry working group and continue to delay the deployment" until air safety is assured.<br/>

Boeing sees the Asia-Pacific region leading demand for new aircraft in the 2020s and 2030s, forecasting that air traffic growth in the region will outpace both world air traffic growth and world GDP growth. Using 2019 as a starting point, Boeing expects RPK growth within the region to run at 5% annually thru 2040, well ahead of average annual world traffic growth of 4%, and global GDP growth of 2.7%. According to Boeing’s Commercial Market Outlook for the region, this growth will drive demand for 17,645 new aircraft valued at $3.1t, as well as aftermarket services valued at $3.7t. The forecasts were made by Darren Hulst, Boeing’s VP of commercial marketing, in a briefing with Asia-Pacific reporters. On why Boeing discounted the year 2020, in which air traffic collapsed amid the coronavirus pandemic, Hulst says is not representative of longer-term industry trends. He expects domestic markets such as Brazil, India, Southeast Asia, and the USA to recover to 2019 levels by the end of 2022. “We have seen strong resilience in Asia Pacific traffic when restrictions are lifted and passengers feel confident about travel,” says Hulst. “Carriers with efficient and versatile fleets will be positioned to meet passenger needs and air freight demand with airplanes that reduce fuel use, emissions and operating costs.” Of the overall Asia-Pacific requirement through 2040, narrowbodies will account for “nearly 13,500” deliveries, or about 75% of the total. Widebody aircraft cargo will see demand for “nearly 3,800” aircraft. Hulst also disclosed that the Asia-Pacific will require 1,000 new and converted freighters by 2040, ahead of North American demand for just over 800 freighters.<br/>