Global air-passenger traffic remained 58% lower last year than in the pre-coronavirus environment of 2019, according to figures published by the IATA. With travel advancing only marginally from 2020, airlines have now lost the bulk of two years of flying. IATA is working to update its outlook after saying in October that airlines’ total Covid-related losses would surpass $200b. Carriers are currently forecast to post a collective deficit of $11.6b this year. While domestic, regional and leisure travel are rebounding, there’s been a slower recovery in the globe-spanning business routes so crucial to many. Still, IATA DG Willie Walsh said in an update Tuesday that he’s optimistic demand will see a strong resurgence in 2022. The omicron variant of the virus has been less disruptive than feared, and its impact should be largely over by February, IATA Chief Economist Marie Owens Thomsen said. <br/>
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More than one-third of airline pilots are still not flying as the pandemic continues to take its toll on aviation globally, according to a new survey, though the situation has improved from a year earlier when the majority were grounded. A poll of more than 1700 pilots by UK-based GOOSE Recruitment and industry publication FlightGlobal, released on Wednesday, found 62% globally were employed and currently flying, up from 43% a year earlier. The proportion of unemployed pilots fell from 30% to 20%, while 6% were on furlough, compared with 17% previously as air traffic began to bounce back from 2020 lows. But in the Asia-Pacific region, the worst-hit globally by a drop in international travel due to tough border restrictions, the proportion of those unemployed rose from 23% to 25%. The region also had the lowest number that were employed flying at 53%. "We have ... seen some expatriates return home from the region due to concerns over quarantine or being stuck for long periods away from friends and family," the report on the survey said. Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways , a large expatriate employer in Asia, has lost hundreds of pilots through the closure of its Cathay Dragon regional arm as well as almost all of its overseas bases during the pandemic. Pilot attrition at Cathay has also been rising amid strict layover rules that leave crew members locked in hotels when they are not flying. Of the pilots still flying globally, 61% told the survey they were concerned about their job security. "It appears only Northern America is back to post-COVID passenger numbers," said an unnamed captain flying in the Middle East and Africa. "The rest of the world, especially developing nations, are still struggling to get vaccines, and are still not travelling."<br/>
The head of the FAA is set to testify before a Feb. 3 US House of Representatives hearing on new C-Band 5G deployment and its impact on aviation safety, sources said Wednesday. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is expected to hear from FAA Administrator Steve Dickson along with aviation and wireless industry officials. These include the head of Airlines for America, a trade group representing passenger and cargo airlines, and Aerospace Industries Association, which represents airplane manufacturers. "I hope Administrator Dickson and all of our witnesses come prepared for a robust discussion about how the goal of a successful 5G deployment can co-exist with the safety of our skies," Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio said. AT&T and Verizon Communications agreed on Jan. 18 to delay switching on new telecom towers near key airports even as they turned on the new 5G C-Band service. Radio altimeters are used to give data on height above ground for bad-weather landings and the 5G technology could cause interference, the FAA has warned. Last week, major US passenger and cargo carriers warned of a potential "catastrophic" aviation crisis and said that without a delay of 5G deployment near some airports "the vast majority of the traveling and shipping public will essentially be grounded." The FAA, which did not comment on Dickson's planned testimony, said Tuesday it issued approvals for additional altimeters that allow about 90% of the U.S. commercial aviation fleet to perform low-visibility landings at airports where 5G wireless is deployed. The FAA cleared seven additional altimeters, bringing the total approved to 20. Verizon agreed to temporarily not turn on about 500 towers near airports, sources told Reuters, or less than 10% of their planned deployment, while the carriers and the administration work on a permanent solution. The issue is disrupting some landings in poor weather at smaller airports especially among regional jets, and there are still serious concerns about what happens when wireless carriers turn on those towers near airports.<br/>
The US TSA said it screened just 1.06m passengers at US airport checkpoints on Tuesday, the lowest daily total since April 2021. Airlines reported a significant decline in bookings in December amid a rise in COVID-19 cases sparked by the Omicron variant. Last week, American Airlines said while ticket sales are still not back to pre-Omicron levels, they are recovering "quickly" after dropping off "considerably" in early December. TSA screened 468,933 people on the same day in 2021 but 1.64m on the day in January 2020.<br/>
China has ramped up flight cancellations under its zero-COVID strategy, wreaking further havoc on an airline industry already smarting from the pandemic. Circuit breakers that suspend international routes for up to eight weeks are triggered if five or more COVID-19 cases are found among passengers after arrival. Maintenance, disinfection and staff supervision have also been upgraded. 2021 saw a total of 603 flights grounded under these measures. In the new year alone, 198 flights were suspended through Jan. 13, reaching almost a third of last year's numbers in just two weeks. "We're determined to prevent an influx from overseas as well as a domestic rebound" in the number of cases, said Han Guangzu, DG of the flight standards department at the Civil Aviation Administration of China, to reporters Jan. 15 when presenting the latest figures. This uptick in circuit breakers comes in response to the spread of the omicron variant. There had been 408 international arrivals and departures per week scheduled between late October 2021 and late March 2022. January's circuit breakers led to a quarter of these being canceled during the first two weeks of the year. This year, China Southern was forced to suspend flights to Toronto, Canada, while China Eastern Airlines put flights to Paris on hold. Flights by American Airlines and Lufthansa have been subject to similar restrictions. But Chinese airlines operating internationally have taken the brunt of the crackdown. Chinese carriers account for 56% of the international flights planned for about half a year through late March, giving them more exposure to the circuit breakers. At China's three biggest carriers, international flights, including those to Hong Kong and Macao, made up less than 1% of their passenger volume -- a big drop from the pre-coronavirus 17%. China's coronavirus response depressed revenue from lucrative international routes and damaged earnings at the top three. Each reported a net loss of roughly $1b for the three quarters ended September. Full-year results are expected to similarly disappoint.<br/>
US Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday met with family members of some of the victims of two fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes over the prior administration's decision to strike a deferred prosecution agreement with Boeing. In December, some victims' relatives said the Justice Department violated their rights when it struck the January 2021 agreement with Boeing over the two crashes in a five-month period that killed 346 people. They argued the US government "lied and violated their rights through a secret process," and asked a judge to rescind Boeing's immunity from criminal prosecution, which was part of the $2.5b agreement, and order the planemaker publicly arraigned on the felony charges. Paul Cassell, a lawyer for the families, said that in the Garland meeting they "expressed our view that the department under the previous administration ignored its obligations under the Crime Victims' Rights Act, and our hope that he would intervene to right this wrong." The Justice Department did not immediately comment.<br/>
Hong Kong International Airport saw its full-year passenger traffic hit a new low — as the city continues to tighten travel restrictions — with passenger numbers plunging to 2% pre-pandemic levels. Data from operator Airport Authority Hong Kong shows that the airport handled just 1.4m passengers in 2021, nearly 98% lower compared to pre-pandemic 2019. On a year-on-year basis, passengers handled nosedived nearly 85%. While it did not elaborate, AAHK attributes the “significantly low” passenger numbers to “Covid-19 and entry restrictions”. Hong Kong has among the world’s strictest entry restrictions, as it doggedly pursues a ‘Zero-Covid’ strategy in line with Mainland China. The city recently tightened restrictions further, following a spike in infections caused by the more contagious Omicron variant. The airport fared better in its cargo operations, with full-year cargo throughput rising 12.5% year on year to 5m tonnes. This was also slightly higher than pre-pandemic 2019, when the airport handled 4.8m tonnes of cargo. AAHK notes that cargo flights hit a new high for the year, increasing 19.8% year on year to nearly 83,000 flights. In December, the airport handled 154,000 passengers, a 70% increase year on year helped by a rise in outbound Mainland Chinese passengers transiting. The airport also handled 477,000 tonnes of cargo, a year-on-year growth of 8.6%. <br/>
Boeing reported a $3.5b charge in the final three months of last year from prolonged delays in making and delivering its 787 Dreamliner jet, driving the company to a bruising $4.2b loss for the quarter. The Dreamliner costs were caused in part by a realization that the fixes Boeing needed to make to win FAA approval for the twin-aisle plane would take longer than expected, the company said Wednesday. Boeing did not provide an update on when it would restart deliveries of the plane and said it now expected that the delay of more than a year would generate a total of $2b in “abnormal costs” over the next two years, bringing the total price of the delays to $5.5b. “On the 787 program, we’re progressing through a comprehensive effort to ensure every airplane in our production system conforms to our exacting specifications,” David Calhoun, Boeing’s CE, said announcing the financial results, including a $4.3b loss for the year, the third annual loss in a row. “While this continues to impact our near-term results, it is the right approach to building stability and predictability as demand returns for the long term,” he said. “Across the enterprise, we remain focused on safety and quality as we deliver for our customers and invest in our people and in our sustainable future.” The company reported $14.8b in revenue for Q4, falling short of analysts’ estimates. But there were bright spots: Boeing continued to celebrate the return of the 737 Max and reported operating cash flow of $716m, its first positive showing since Q1 2019. Boeing tallied 356 new Max orders in 2021, helping to deliver the company’s best year for commercial airplane sales since 2018, beating its rival Airbus. Boeing said Wednesday that it was producing about 27 Max planes per month, up from 19 in October, and was on track to reach a target monthly output of 31 early this year. But the success of the Max’s return was offset by the Dreamliner delays, which date back more than a year. In September 2020, Boeing said it expected deliveries of the jet, typically used for long-distance international trips, to be delayed as it worked with the FAA to address a handful of quality concerns.<br/>
Airbus said it will make a flying-taxi model available for sale only when the technology is mature, despite rival designs racking up hundreds of conditional orders at a similar stage of development. The CityAirbus NextGen, unveiled last September following a revamp to an earlier blueprint, will fly by the end of next year once remaining technical challenges are resolved, Airbus Helicopters CEO Bruno Even said Wednesday. A spate of airline deals for other electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, such as the VX4 from Vertical Aerospace Ltd., justifies Airbus’s commitment to the new sector, according to Even. The European planemaker can still prize orders away from startups that have logged only tentative deals for flying taxis that aren’t yet certified, he said. “I don’t think these are firm commitments and this is seen very positively by us,” Even said. “We are looking at this more at platform and ecosystem level. There will come the time when we are ready.” EVTOLs, as they are known, are seen as a threat to conventional helicopters because they promise cheaper, zero-emission flights. The new aircraft are set to complement helicopters rather than displace them, Even said, opening up new markets such as trips from city centers to airports, a service currently dominated by road transport. <br/>
A Colorado-based aviation company announced on Wednesday that it has chosen a North Carolina airport as the location for a plant that will manufacture next-generation supersonic passenger jets. If successful, its investment could create more than 2,000 jobs in the region over the next decade while cutting flight times significantly for a post-Concorde generation of consumers. Boom Supersonic announced that Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro will be the home for its first full-scale manufacturing facility, including the final assembly line, testing and delivery center for its proposed Overture supersonic airliner. Boom estimates it will create 1,750 jobs by 2030, with a goal of reaching 2,400 jobs by 2032. State and local governments have offered $230 million in financial incentives to make the project a reality, including money for airport improvements, which the legislature approved in November, and other sweeteners approved on Wednesday. As is the case with most such projects, some of the incentives going to Boom Technology, the company’s parent, will be canceled if it doesn’t meet job-creation goals and invest at least $450m in the plant.<br/>