Americans have begun hitting the roads and skies in large numbers in advance of Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday as weather so far looks favorable for travel plans. On Sunday, the TSA screened 2.21m US air passengers, the fourth consecutive day with checkpoint volume topping 2m. The TSA said Friday was the single busiest air travel day since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, with 2.24m travelers screened. AccuWeather said Monday that “a largely quiet weather pattern should prevent widespread travel worries from the weather ahead of Thanksgiving.” The weather forecaster added that “some Americans could still face minor weather-related delays during one of the busiest travel periods of the year - and weather for the trip home may be a different story.” As vaccination rates have risen, many Americans are traveling for the holidays after skipping family gatherings last November and December. Travel group AAA forecasts 53.4m people will travel for the Thanksgiving holiday, up 13% from 2020, with most travelers going by car. About 48.3m Thanksgiving travelers are expected to go by car, up from 47.1m last year, but still below 2019’s 49.9m. TSA expects to screen about 20m air passengers during the busy Thanksgiving travel period, compared with nearly 26m in the same period in 2019. “We are ready,” TSA Administrator David Pekoske told reporters on Friday at Washington Reagan National Airport. “We will be able to handle the passenger volumes that we anticipate seeing.” <br/>
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Even in normal times, the days around Thanksgiving are a delicate period for the airlines. But this week is the industry’s biggest test since the pandemic began, as millions more Americans — emboldened by vaccinations and reluctant to spend another holiday alone — are expected to take to the skies than during last year’s holidays. A lot is riding on the carriers’ ability to pull it off smoothly. “For many people, this will be the first time they’ve gotten together with family, maybe in a year, year and a half, maybe longer, so it’s very significant,” said Kathleen Bangs, a former commercial pilot who is a spokeswoman for FlightAware, an aviation data provider. “If it goes poorly, that’s when people might rethink travel plans for Christmas. And that’s what the airlines don’t want.” The TSA said it expected to screen about 20m passengers at airports in the 10 days that began Friday, a figure approaching prepandemic levels. Two million passed through checkpoints on Saturday alone, about twice as many as on the Saturday before last Thanksgiving. Delta and United both said they expected to fly only about 12% fewer passengers than they did in 2019. And United said it expected the Sunday after Thanksgiving to be its busiest day since the pandemic began 20 months ago. The pent-up travel demand has elevated the cost of tickets. Hopper, an app that predicts flight prices, said that the average domestic flight during Thanksgiving week was on track to be about $293 round-trip this year, $48 more than last year — although $42 cheaper than in 2019. While the industry is projecting optimism about easy traveling, the influx of passengers has injected an element of uncertainty into a fragile system still reeling from the pandemic’s devastation. Some airlines have experienced recent troubles that rippled for days — stymying travel plans for thousands of passengers — as the carriers struggled to get pilots and flight attendants in place for delayed and rescheduled flights, a task complicated by thin staffing.<br/>
US regulators proposed $161,823 in fines against eight airline passengers for alleged alcohol-related misbehavior, saying the rate of unruly behavior on flights “remains too high.” The highest penalty announced in a statement Monday was $40,823 against a traveler who flew Southwest on April 15 from San Jose to San Diego. The FAA alleges the person drank their own alcohol during the flight and then sexually assaulted the flight attendant. The traveler was arrested by police at the arrival gate. The FAA is enforcing stricter polices and is working with airports, airlines and unions to rein in a surge of misbehaving passengers this year. This week’s Thanksgiving Holiday is expected to bring the number of travelers close to pre-pandemic levels. The other fines ranged from $34,250 to $8,250, according to the FAA, which doesn’t have the authority to file criminal prosecutions but is working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department. The FAA this year has received about 300 reports of passenger disturbances due to alcohol and intoxication. Unruly behavior on flights has “dropped sharply,” the regulator said, adding the current rate of 5.6 incidents per 10,000 flights is still too high. <br/>
Britain will review its COVID travel rules in January and is looking at reforming its airport slots system as part of a wider new aviation strategy, minister Robert Courts said on Monday. Britain has lagged other European countries in lifting pandemic travel restrictions with airlines complaining that the need for day-2 coronavirus tests and complicated passenger locator forms have deterred people from travelling to and from the United Kingdom. "We will be reviewing the policy in January. We'll be looking to see what we can do at that stage," Courts told the Airlines UK conference. He said reforming the country's airport slots system remained a priority for the government and it will feature in its new aviation strategy. Under normal rules, airlines must use 80% of their take-off and landing rights at busy airports or cede slots to competitors but the so-called "use it or lose it" rule was waived early in the pandemic when the crisis grounded most flights. "Slots reform remains a priority for the government," Courts said. "We are carefully considering the role of the slot system as part of our future aviation strategy."<br/>
Reforming Britain’s airport slots system used by airlines remains a priority for the government and it will feature in its new aviation strategy, minister Robert Courts said on Monday. Under normal rules, airlines must use 80% of their take-off and landing rights at busy airports or cede slots to competitors but the so-called “use it or lose it” rule was waived early in the pandemic when the crisis grounded most flights. “Slots reform remains a priority for the government,” aviation minister Courts told an Airlines UK conference. “We are carefully considering the role of the slot system as part of our future aviation strategy.”<br/>
Authorities on the Spanish island of La Palma ordered residents of three coastal towns to stay indoors on Monday after a new stream of lava crashed into the ocean, sending thick clouds of potentially toxic gases high into the sky. A third tongue of lava from the Cumbre Vieja volcano, which has been erupting for two months, reached the water around midday a few kilometres north of where two previous flows hit the sea. The airport was also closed and is likely to remain so for up to 48 hours due to the unfavourable weather conditions, said Miguel Angel Morcuende, technical director of the Pevolca eruption response committee.<br/>
Safety regulators in Europe are aiming to tighten engine certification requirements to take into account forward and rearward release of uncontained debris in the event of a powerplant failure. Analysis of fan-blade failures indicates that certification of engines could be improved, says the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, particularly by “better integrating” analysis and identification of potential threats to the aircraft type to which the engine is to be fitted. It cites the case of a Southwest Boeing 737-700 which suffered uncontained failure of its left-hand CFM International CFM56 engine in April 2018. Parts of the engine cowl struck the fuselage and damaged a window, causing rapid depressurisation and fatally injuring a passenger. The accident was traced to a low-cycle fatigue crack in a fan blade, which separated and struck a critical part of the fan case structure. EASA says the potential release of uncontained debris in the forward and rearward directions is “not sufficiently addressed” by certification specifications, and limited only to provisions relating to blade-containment testing. Aircraft manufacturers must be given data from engine tests to ascertain the forces on aircraft structures from out-of-balance engines still running after blade failures. But EASA says that displacements and loads transmitted to the structure of the engine nacelle itself have not been adequately considered during certification of some aircraft and powerplants.<br/>
Construction work has officially commenced for the passenger terminal of Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport (WSIA) in Australia. This airport is being developed with an aim to offer the ‘most seamless and reliable experience possible’ for passengers. Western Sydney Airport CEO Simon Hickey said: “This will be Australia’s best airport terminal, with world-leading technology, innovative design and excellent customer service coming together to set a new benchmark for what Australians will expect when they fly. At Western Sydney International, we’ll get passengers on their way sooner, whether that’s getting to your meeting on time or arriving home to loved ones. We’re aiming to make the anxious wait around the baggage carousel a thing of the past.” The airport will feature a baggage system that will enable passengers to track their baggage by using a mobile application. The construction of the terminal is projected to generate more than 1400 direct job opportunities. It will include cafes, speciality retail, restaurants, along with an outdoor plaza that will have the capacity to host several events.<br/>