general

It will likely take "years" to permanently address airplane interference issues caused by the deployment of 5G wireless in the C-band, a group representing major U.S. passenger and cargo carriers will tell US lawmakers on Thursday. Nick Calio, who heads Airlines for America, will tell a House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee in written testimony that the 5G issues facing the aviation industry should have been avoided. "The process that led to this operational nightmare should be held up as a cautionary tale of government communication and coordination gone awry," his testimony, reviewed by Reuters and not yet made public, says. "It will likely take years, not days or weeks, to fully and permanently mitigate the interference issues caused by deployment of 5G in the C-band," adds Calio, whose group represents American Airlines, United Airlines , FedEx and other major carriers. Verizon and AT&T in January agreed to delay deploying some 5G wireless towers near airports after the aviation industry and Federal Aviation Administration warned 5G interference can impact sensitive airplane electronics like radio altimeters. The FAA said last week it has cleared 20 altimeter models and approved 90% of the US commercial fleet for landing in low-visibility approaches in areas with C-Band 5G. But 5G has impacted some flights in poor weather, especially some regional jets. Aerospace Industries Association President Eric Fanning will tell lawmakers that progress is being made on the problem but it is not yet solved. "With many outstanding questions still on the table, there are disruptions in our future, even with further compromise and collaboration," his testimony says.<br/>

Verizon Communications plans to turn on around 2,000 additional towers in February in the next phase of its C-Band 5G deployment after talks with US regulators, sources said. The new phase comes after the US FAA said Friday it had agreed that Verizon and AT&T could safely turn on more 5G towers in a deployment that has been disrupted by aircraft safety concerns. Verizon turned on about 5,100 towers in January and will be able to turn on about another 2,000 in February, the sources said, adding that the total could rise as aviation buffer zones are refined. Concerns that the new towers could interfere with sensitive airplane electronics delayed the C-Band 5G deployment, initially planned for early December. Verizon agreed in January to not deploy about 500 towers near airports. The company said in January it would initially offer its 5G C-Band service to about 90 million people and promised to expand that to more than 100m by March 31. Verizon said Tuesday it had met the 100m goal as of Feb. 1 and intended "to exceed that goal." It declined to comment on the number of new towers being activated, but said it remains committed to "very productive discussions with the FAA and others".<br/>

Airlines canceled hundreds of flights Tuesday, governors urged residents to stay off roads and schools closed campuses as a huge swath of the US braced for a major winter storm that was set to put millions of Americans in the path of heavy snow and freezing rain. The approaching blast of frigid weather, which was expected to begin arriving Tuesday night, put a long stretch of states from New Mexico to Vermont under winter storm warnings and watches. More than a foot of snow was possible in Michigan, on the heels of a vicious nor’easter last weekend that brought blizzard conditions to many parts of the East Coast. "It will be a very messy system and will make travel very difficult,” said Marty Rausch, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland. The projected footprint of the storm extended as far south as Texas, where nearly a year after a catastrophic freeze buckled the state's power grid in one of the worst blackouts in US history, Gov. Greg Abbott defended the state's readiness. Airlines canceled more than 1,000 flights in the US scheduled for Wednesday, the flight tracking service FlightAware.com showed, including more than half taken off the board in St. Louis. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson declared a state of emergency as school districts and universities shifted classes to online or canceled them entirely. Chicago O’Hare International Airport also canceled more than 100 departing flights, and airports in Kansas City and Detroit were also canceling more flights than usual.<br/>

Americans’ enthusiasm for travel has rebounded to levels unseen since the broad rollout of Covid-19 vaccines last year, as their wanderlust eclipses hesitation fueled by the omicron and delta virus variants. Nearly 82% of people are in a “ready to travel” mindset in 2022 — a 5 percentage-point increase in just the last two weeks, according to a survey of 1,200 American travelers published Monday by Destination Analysts, a tourism market research firm. The findings suggest would-be travelers have largely brushed off the shock of the highly contagious omicron variant, which pushed caseloads to record levels and upended travel plans over the winter holiday season. “Travel sentiment recovered very quickly,” said Erin Francis-Cummings, president and CEO of Destination Analysts, which has conducted biweekly polls of U.S. travelers since March 2020. “The ready-to-go mindset is essentially the highest it’s been,” she added, calling the metric a leading indicator of optimism. More than 92% of respondents will take at least one trip in the next 12 months; they expect to take 3.3 leisure trips, on average, the highest share in 14 months, according to the survey, conducted Jan. 26-28. Over three-quarters have dreamed about and planned travel just in the last week — a rate unseen since last summer. Travel enthusiasm had previously begun gaining steam around midyear 2021, when a broad swath of Americans became eligible for a Covid vaccine. But the delta variant dampened that outlook, and again when omicron fears emerged around Thanksgiving. <br/>

Airlines and airports have been united in the face of adversity. The bosses of British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Heathrow posed for photoshoots on an empty runway, held joint press conferences and met ministers together as they pushed to loosen travel restrictions and encourage people back into the skies. But now, the solidarity is over, with pandemic disruption dragging into a third year and aviation losses forecast to soar into the hundreds of billions of dollars. “A bleeding airport is music to my ears,” said Willie Walsh, the former head of British Airways who now runs the International Air Transport Association, the trade group of airlines, and is leading a campaign against higher airport charges. Although Walsh qualified his remarks by admitting some concern for struggling smaller airports, he added: “But for most of these big quasi-monopoly or monopoly airports, I don’t have sympathy.” Airlines, which typically pass landing charges straight on to passengers through ticket prices, desperately want lower fees to encourage people back into the skies through discounted fares as the financial strain on their balance sheets mounts. Iata has forecast the world’s airlines will lose another $11b this year, taking overall net losses since 2020 to more than $200b. The airlines argue that airport owners, often deep-pocketed long-term infrastructure investors, should be forced to share the pain. But many airports are instead pushing to raise their fees to help cover pandemic losses and invest in infrastructure. Airport bosses argue their businesses are constrained by strict regulations that control their pricing structures, meaning they cannot flex their prices up and down like airlines.<br/>

FedEx on Tuesday suspended its domestic express freight services due to a staff shortage as cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus rose. The delivery firm said it is suspending the economy domestic FedEx express freight, including FedEx two-day freight and FedEx three-day freight services. International economy freight pick-up services, which had been paused earlier, resumed on Monday, FedEx added. Last month, the company had warned that rising cases of the omicron variant had caused a staff shortage and delay in shipments transported on aircraft. Severe winter storms around the country and staff shortages had forced several US airlines to cancel flights last month. US coronavirus deaths rose by at least 2,266 on Monday to a total of 890,049 compared to 887,783 previous day, according to a Reuters tally.<br/>

EU plans to require the aviation sector to use more sustainable fuels are not ambitious enough and the EU should let member states set their own tougher requirements, seven countries have said. The European Commission last summer proposed measures to tackle greenhouse gas emissions from aviation, as part of the EU’s goal to cut overall net emissions 55% by 2030, from 1990 levels. The EU plan would force suppliers to blend at least 2% of sustainable aviation fuel into their kerosene from 2025, rising to 5% in 2030 and 63% in 2050. In a letter sent to the Commission’s climate and transport policy chiefs on Monday, seven countries said that while the EU-level requirements were needed, the proposal should also allow countries to go further. “We believe there is room for increasing the ambition further regarding sustainability and boosting of SAF by allowing member states to go beyond minimum EU standards,” said the letter, reviewed by Reuters. Higher national targets would not distort competition in the EU market, the letter said. It was signed by ministers from Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden. Danish climate minister Dan Jorgensen said the climate change emergency “demands bolder action” than the EU proposal, which fell short of Denmark’s pledge to make domestic flights fossil fuel free by 2030 - a target also set by Sweden. “Unfortunately, the current proposal from the Commission will put a brake on our aspirations to spearhead the greening of aviation,” Jorgensen said. SAF, which can be produced from biomass or renewable energy, is seen as crucial to cut emissions from flights this decade, in the absence of technologies such as large electric planes. The countries said higher national targets would incentivise more SAF production and bring down costs sooner. Factors including high costs have hampered demand so far, and SAF currently account for less than 1% of Europe’s jet fuel consumption.<br/>

The EC has given the green light for state aid of E1.7b planned for Berlin’s airport to help ensure it does not go bankrupt, the Commission said on Tuesday. “The decision is very important and trend-setting for us,” Berlin Airport CE Aletta von Massenbach said. “Now we can get back on track and, in the medium term, reach the traffic level we had before the corona crisis.” However, the airport needs another E700m to partially free itself of debts, von Massenbach said. The Berlin-Brandenburg Willy Brandt airport, now known by its code BER, opened late in 2020 almost a decade later than planned and in the middle of a global slump in air travel due to COVID-19. Airport operator Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH applied for aid made available through the European Union’s Temporary Framework scheme to firms hit hard by the crisis. FBB owes banks and its owners - the German federal government and the states of Berlin and Brandenburg - around E4.5b. 2020 sales reached E177m after 416m in 2019. Last year, the airport carried around 10m passengers. This compares to 36m passengers in pre-crisis 2019 at Berlin airport Tegel, which was closed when the new airport opened, and Schoenefeld, which was integrated into the new BER airport. For 2022, the airport predicts 17m passengers. Built in former East Berlin, BER has been beset by problems from the outset. <br/>

Morocco is to reopen for international commercial flights on February 7, according to an announcement by the government. According to the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the decision follows recommendations from the country's scientific and technical committee based on the state of the COVID-19 situation in the country. A technical committee is currently studying procedures and measures to be taken at border posts and requirements by travellers, to be announced later. Royal Air Maroc on January 31 updated its travel advisory stating its international flights to and from Morocco would remain grounded until midnight on February 6, 2022. Special outbound repatriation flights will be scheduled between February 1 and February 6, 2022, pending approval from the relevant authorities. Morocco closed its borders on November 29 as part of the country's measures to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19. Other airlines with significant market share in the Moroccan market affected by the suspension include Saudia, Emirates, Turkish Airlines, Qatar Airways, TUI fly, Air Sénégal, and EgyptAir.<br/>

Qatar has reached an agreement with the Taliban to resume chartered evacuations out of Kabul airport, the Axios news website reported on Tuesday citing an interview with Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. The agreement was for two flights per week, chartered by Qatar Airways, and would allow the United States and other countries to evacuate thousands more of their citizens and at-risk Afghans, Axios said. The minister spoke to Axios on Monday in Washington, during an official visit with Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. A senior Qatar government source told Reuters on Jan. 27 that Qatar Airways has resumed operating passenger evacuation flights from Afghanistan, after a two-month halt. Qatar stopped operating evacuation flights in early December amid a dispute with the Taliban over which passengers were permitted to take the flights. Talks were under way to allow one flight per week operated by Ariana Afghan Airlines, Axios cited the Qatari minister as saying in the interview.<br/>