The US TSA screened 2.24m airline passengers on Friday, the highest number of passengers since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, it announced on Saturday. TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein announced the milestone on Twitter, saying it was the "highest checkpoint volume" since March 2020, when the pandemic took hold in the United States, bringing travel and business to a halt. Earlier in the week, the TSA said it had expected to screen about 20m air passengers during the busy Thanksgiving travel period - from Nov. 19 to Nov. 28 - and predicted volumes may be close to pre-pandemic levels. Major US airlines had predicted an uptick in air travel over the last few days. Delta said it expects to fly up to 5.6m passengers from Friday through Nov. 30, nearly 300% over 2020's 2.2m Delta passengers for the period but still below the 6.3m passengers during the same period in 2019. United said it anticipates more than 4.5m passengers during the Thanksgiving travel period - about 88% of 2019 volume. Last week, the Biden administration lifted travel restrictions for fully vaccinated air travelers from 33 countries, including China, South Africa, Brazil and much of Europe.<br/>
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Travelers are about to find out whether airlines are prepared for a surge in Thanksgiving passengers. The TSA expects to screen about 20m people between Friday and Nov. 28, almost back to 2019 levels. Many of those travelers skipped Thanksgiving trips last year as Covid cases were rising and the CDC advised against travel during the holiday. Both Delta and United said the Sunday after Thanksgiving could be their busiest day since before the pandemic. The airlines forecast this week that between Nov. 19 and Nov. 30, they will fly at least 5.6m and 4.5m travelers, respectively. The increase in travelers is good news for one of the pandemic’s most battered industries. But some airlines have at times struggled to fulfill their ambitious schedules, resulting in high numbers of flight cancellations, most recently at American Airlines and Southwest. Getting the balance right is crucial as airlines try to return to profitability, facing challenges from higher fuel prices and new lockdowns in parts of Europe. Those carriers canceled more than 2,000 flights apiece in less than one-week periods this fall. Delays and cancellations have vexed travelers who have complained about hours-long waits to speak to customer service with hold times sometimes exceeding the duration of their flights. Staffing shortfalls have been a major challenge for airlines, which encouraged thousands of workers to take leaves of absence or early retirement to cut the carriers’ payroll during the pandemic. Now they are racing to hire pilots, reservations agents, flight attendants and other workers. Sick calls have also contributed to disruptions.<br/>
Leaders of the US House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said Friday they asked for a government review of the FAA’s oversight of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Committee Chair Representative Peter DeFazio and top Republican Representative Sam Graves asked the Transportation Department’s Office of Inspector General to conduct a review of the FAA’s oversight of the manufacture and production of the Boeing 787. The lawmakers noted numerous production issues have halted deliveries for lengthy periods over the last 13 months. The lawmakers, aviation subcommittee Chair Rick Larsen and top Republican Garret Graves, asked the inspector general to determine “whether the FAA’s existing inspection program is sufficient to identify production issues, including whether FAA has enough inspectors, whether FAA performs enough inspections, and whether FAA has appropriate processes in place to identify production issues.” Boeing shares were down more than 5% after a Wall Street Journal report that it had further slowed production of 787s. Boeing said on Friday that it is “completing comprehensive inspections across 787 production and within the supply chain, while holding detailed, transparent discussions with the FAA, suppliers and our customers.” It said “production is ongoing, and rates will continue to be dynamic,” adding that “these methodical inspection and rework efforts continue to impact 787 deliveries.” Last month, Boeing said some titanium 787 parts were improperly manufactured over the past three years, the latest in a series of problems to plague the wide-body aircraft.<br/>
Gunfire at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Saturday resulted from an “accidental discharge” of a firearm, officials said, but it caused holiday travelers to flee and seek cover as some believed there was a gunman inside one of the terminals. The airport said on Twitter that there was no gunman or danger to passengers or employees. At about 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, there was an “accidental discharge” at the airport’s security screening area, the airport said. Officials gave an “all-clear” and was resuming normal operations by around 3:30 p.m., the airport said. In the havoc, three people were hurt but their injuries were not life-threatening, the TSA said. The panic occurred during one of the busiest times of the year for air travel, when millions of people are expected to fly for Thanksgiving. The TSA said on Wednesday that airline travel for the Thanksgiving season this year was expected to approach prepandemic levels. The firearm was discharged by a passenger, the administration said. At a news conference on Saturday night, the authorities identified the passenger as Kenny Wells, 42. The police said he was a felon and there were warrants out for his arrest.<br/>
Two key US House Democrats on Friday urged the FCC to take action to prevent potential air safety risks from the planned use of C-Band spectrum for 5G wireless. At issue are concerns of potential interference caused by the 5G deployment with sensitive aircraft electronics like radio altimeters. "We’re now on the precipice of a dangerous situation in which the safety of flight hangs on the telecom industry’s decision regarding when to switch on its 5G networks," said House of Representatives Transportation Committee Chair Peter DeFazio and Representative Rick Larsen, who chairs an aviation subcommittee, in a letter to FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel. A spokeswoman for Rosenworcel did not immediately comment. On Thursday she told reporters she was confident concerns about air safety can be addressed. The White House National Economic Council was holding a meeting on the issue Friday afternoon, sources told Reuters.<br/>
Israeli cabinet members approved an additional bailout plan for airlines further harmed by the spread of the Delta strain of the coronavirus, the finance and transportation ministries said in a joint statement on Sunday. Total state aid would not exceed $44 million for all of Israel's carriers and would come in the form of three-year bonds which do not accrue interest. A publicly traded airline will have the option to convert a bond into shares allotted to the state at maturity. In that case, the state would not hold more 24% of an airline's equity and would not have voting rights. Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli said the plan balances the government's responsibilities with those of airlines' controlling shareholders. It "benefits the Israeli public first and ensures the stability of the companies and their employees," she said. Israel's airlines -- flag carrier El Al Israel Airlines, Arkia and Israir -- have been hit hard during the COVID-19 pandemic with the country's borders largely closed to foreign tourists since March 2020. Since the start of November, tourists who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 can enter the country within six months of their last dose.<br/>
A group of 39 Palestinian passengers on a flight from Egypt to Colombia used a layover at Barcelona airport to demand political asylum in Spain, a government spokeswoman said on Friday. After landing in Barcelona from Cairo on Monday, the passengers were scheduled to board another plane to Colombia and Ecuador but instead sought out authorities in the airport to make the asylum request, the spokeswoman for the central government's regional office said. Local migration officials are evaluating the cases of the passengers from Cairo, the spokeswoman said. "They are in a special room and all their necessities are being taken care of," she said. "They are there voluntarily," she said, declining to give further details. It is the second attempt by a group of airline passengers to gain entry to Spain in less than two weeks.<br/>
Indian domestic carriers continue to see domestic travel demand rise, reporting a fifth consecutive month of increase in passenger traffic, and moving closer to pre-pandemic levels. Data released by India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation shows Indian carriers carried close to 9 million domestic passengers in October, about 70% higher year on year, and around 27% more than September. Compared to pre-pandemic 2019, however, the figure was about 27% lower. Flag carrier Air India saw the largest surge in passenger numbers, more than doubling the number of passengers year on year to 1.2m. It was also the first time this year that the carrier, currently in the process of being divested by the Indian government, carried more than a million passengers in a month. Against 2019, Air India’s domestic passenger numbers saw a 24% drop. Privately-owned carriers, which include airlines such as IndiGo, Vistara and SpiceJet, carried 7.8m domestic passengers in October. This was 64% higher year on year, but a 27% decline compared to pre-pandemic levels. Among the private carriers, IndiGo took the lion’s share of domestic passengers, at around 4.8m. Go First, the low-cost carrier formerly known as GoAir, overtook — for the first time this year — SpiceJet to take the second-highest share of domestic passengers. <br/>
Frustration is mounting for customers waiting to take new Boeing 787 Dreamliners -- planes caught in a regulatory and production quagmire that has halted all but a few deliveries since October 2020. The popular wide-body jets will be needed to carry travelers across oceans as borders sealed shut by the Covid-19 pandemic start to reopen. But airlines and lessors trying to plan for the expected rush of travelers don’t know when their Dreamliners will arrive -- only that it won’t be this year, as Boeing executives once said. “The story line from Seattle has been manana, manana, manana,” Steven Udvar-Hazy, chairman and co-founder of Los Angeles-based Air Lease Corp., said of Boeing’s commercial division, which is based in Washington. “In July they said, ‘Oh, by August we’ll be fine.’ Then in August it was September. We have 11 aircraft that are ready and we can’t get them delivered.” More than 100 Dreamliners are stuck at Boeing, tying up inventory worth about $20b by Air Lease’s calculation and hampering the planemaker’s financial turnaround and efforts to pay down its $62b debt. Boeing is working to find and repair tiny structural imperfections about the width of a piece of paper in the carbon-fiber aircraft while addressing quality lapses among suppliers and their subcontractors. Both issues came to light as the Chicago-based planemaker did a deep dive in its factories and production system in the wake of two fatal crashes of its 737 Max.<br/>