The Commerce Department said on Friday that it had identified 100 commercial and private aircraft that violated US export controls by flying into Russia and that their owners, operators and servicers were at risk of substantial jail time, fines, loss of export privileges or other restrictions. The announcement said it was putting the world “on notice” not to repair or refuel the planes, highlighting the scope of the new limitations. Since March 2, the department identified a number of commercial and private flights to Russia that most likely violated the restrictions, including on aircraft owned or operated by Aeroflot, AirBridgeCargo, Aviastar-TU, Azur Air, Nordwind, Utair and Roman Abramovich, a Russian billionaire with ties to President Vladimir V. Putin, according to the announcement. Most of the planes were made by Boeing. On Feb. 24, the department imposed broad restrictions on technology that could be exported to Russia, part of an effort to cripple the country’s military and strategic industries. In addition to semiconductors, telecommunications equipment and sensors, the restrictions bar aircraft and some aircraft parts that are made in the United States from being sent to Russia. As a result of the rules, any aircraft manufactured in the United States, or manufactured in a foreign country that used certain American parts or technology, must receive a license to travel to Russia. And any entity providing services to those aircraft, including maintenance, repair and refueling, would also be in violation of the rules, the Commerce Department said. Because the aircraft are prevented from receiving any service, flights to and from Russia on these aircraft are effectively grounded, the department said.<br/>
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Russia's biggest cargo airline Volga-Dnepr Group has suspended all flights using Boeing aircraft due to Western sanctions, it said on Friday. Sanctions have cut off the supply of most aircraft and parts to Russia. The United States and Europe have closed their airspace to Russian airlines, and Moscow has responded by imposing the same measure on them. Volga-Dnepr said it had stopped operations of two of its subsidaries - AirBridgeCargo and Atran - that use 18 Boeing 747 and 6 Boeing 737 airplanes due to sanctions and a decision by Bermuda's Civil Aviation Authority (BCAA) to terminate their safety certificates. "The management of Volga Dnepr has made a conscious decision to find a possible solution together with partners and state regulators," it said. Volga-Dnepr, which describes itself as the world leader in the oversize and heavy cargo market, continues to fly Russian-made aircraft including An-124 and Il-76 cargo jets. Russia has passed a law allowing the country's airlines to place aircraft leased from foreign companies on Russia's aircraft register - a manoeuvre likely to stoke Western fears of a mass default involving hundreds of jetliners. <br/>
Russian government suspension of the bilateral agreement with Bermuda’s civil aviation authority would render Russian pilot licences invalid on the hundreds of aircraft operated on the Bermuda registry, the regulator states. Over 700 aircraft – mainly foreign-built types – in service with some 30 Russian carriers are listed on the Bermuda registry. Russia’s government has instructed that the bilateral agreement with Bermuda, under which the Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority oversees the airworthiness of the fleet, be suspended. This agreement falls under ICAO’s Article 83bis which clarifies the roles of parties where the state of aircraft registration is different from the state of aircraft operator – as is often the case for leased airframes. It enables certain functions and duties to be transferred from the country of registry to the operating country. Under the Russia-Bermuda agreement, the Bermudan authorities transferred to Russia the responsibility for personnel licensing but retained the duty of aircraft airworthiness oversight. The Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority has provisionally suspended the certificates of airworthiness of the Russian fleet, pointing out that the current geopolitical situation means the authority is unable to carry out its responsibilities. While the Russian government had countered that it would suspend the Article 83bis bilateral agreement, the Bermudan authority says this has “no meaningful impact” because the aircraft are legally grounded. But it points out that Russia’s suspension of the bilateral means all oversight duties – notably including personnel licensing – revert to Bermuda as the state of registry.<br/>
The closure of Russian airspace to some international carriers, including many in Europe, has forced airlines to seek alternate routes. For some flights, such as those linking Europe and Southeast Asia, that's especially problematic since Russia, the world's largest country, stands directly in between. The problem is best illustrated by Finnair's flight from Helsinki to Tokyo. Before the invasion of Ukraine, planes from Finland's national carrier would take off and quickly veer into the airspace of neighboring Russia, crossing it for over 3,000 miles. They would then enter China near its northern border with Mongolia, fly in its airspace for about 1,000 miles, before entering Russia again just north of Vladivostok. Finally, they'd cross the Sea of Japan and turn south towards Narita Airport. The journey would take just under nine hours on average and cover nearly 5,000 miles. The last such flight departed on February 26. The next day, Russia barred Finland from using its airspace, forcing the temporary cancellation of most of Finnair's Asian destinations, including South Korea, Singapore and Thailand. By that point, however, the airline's route planners had long been at work to find a solution. "We made the first very rough calculation about two weeks before the actual closure of the airspace," says Riku Kohvakka, manager of flight planning at Finnair. The solution was to fly over the North Pole. Instead of heading southeast into Russia, planes would now depart Helsinki and go straight north, heading for the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, before crossing over the pole and Alaska. Then they would veer towards Japan flying over the Pacific, carefully skirting Russian airspace. That's not as straightforward as before: The journey now takes over 13 hours, covers approximately 8,000 miles, and uses 40% more fuel.<br/>
The high cost of fuel is making summer vacations more expensive -- and staycations more appealing. But the travel industry says the extra premium is not deterring Americans from booking trips, especially after the coronavirus pandemic complicated travel for the past two summers. US airlines report that high demand is allowing them to raise airfares and offset the extra fuel costs. But trend watchers say average airfare is still down from pre-pandemic levels. Some Boeing 737s carry nearly 6,900 gallons of fuel, which at recent prices reported by the US Energy Department would cost about $13,300 more than a year ago. Delta Air Lines said it expects to burn 750 million gallons of fuel in the first three months of this year alone. Fuel is one of the largest expenses for airlines, and with the price per gallon for jet fuel at levels not seen since 2008, several US carriers are signaling they will pass the increase along to travelers. Delta executives said at a conference this week organized by JP Morgan that passengers can expect fare increases "between 15 and 20 dollars each way," which is about 10% of a $200 ticket. United Airlines and JetBlue Airways also indicated higher fuel costs will be baked into ticket prices.Henry Harteveldt of Atmosphere Research said he expects fare increases to be "moderate" and "incremental," noting airlines have other, less noticeable ways to increase prices. "They can increase the prices they charge us for optional products," he said. "I don't know that they will increase the fees for checked bags because that's so polarizing, and they know it's a bad PR move, but they may increase the amount they charge to reserve a seat on the plane, to get on the plane early, or go through priority security screening, for an airport lounge." Even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine drove the price of oil to new heights, airfares were climbing over last year's levels.<br/>
US booking sites including Vrbo, Hopper and KAYAK are seeing higher demand for spring and summer leisure travel as COVID-19 restrictions ease and travelers appear to be shrugging off added costs to plane tickets and road trips from rising fuel prices. "We are seeing strong booking activity for spring break and the beginnings of a very strong summer," said Jamie Lane, VP of research at AirDNA, which tracks the daily performance of over 10 million properties on vacation rental firms Airbnb and Vrbo. Oil has soared over $100 a barrel as Russia's invasion of Ukraine jolted global markets. But US carriers including Delta, United and American Airlines this week reported a strong rebound in travel demand after the blip caused by the Omicron coronavirus variant. AirDNA data said the booking pace for travel in the northern hemisphere spring is 49% higher than this time last year, and 26% higher than pre-pandemic 2019. "The rush to book summer vacation homes has further accelerated in 2022," said Vrbo earlier this month. The vacation rental booking platform reports demand for properties is already outpacing last summer by 15%. "When reviewing the booking data, it's clear that Omicron was a bigger concern for travelers than rising fuel costs," said Dakota Smith, Chief Strategy Officer at Hopper, a travel booking app. The app, which is popular among younger travelers, has seen a 50% increase in travel booking since Q4 2021.<br/>
The Terminal 2/3 Delta Sky Way in Los Angeles to the South Terminal Complex in Orlando are just a few of the multi-billion dollar expansion projects poised to open at airports across the US in the coming months. Pieces of more than $13b in airport investments in cities coast-to-coast will open as airports wrap up work that they began before and carried on during the pandemic. One of the largest imminent openings is the $2.8b South Terminal Complex at Orlando International Airport that will open for its first travelers this summer. Other coming openings include an expansion of Terminal 5 at Chicago O’Hare, the new Terminal A at Newark Liberty, and major pieces of Delta Air Lines-led projects at Los Angeles, or LAX, and New York LaGuardia. The openings come after an uncertain time for airports during the pandemic. Passenger numbers collapsed in 2020 with Orlando, one of the country’s busiest airports, handling just 1,517 departing passengers on April 15 that year. But the recovery, at least for domestic travel, has been faster and more robust than most expected with many airports — especially in leisure-oriented markets — back to near bursting. Airports that continued works through the crisis, rather than postponing or cancelling them, are sitting pretty as US domestic number approach 2019 levels. And even airlines’ capacity discipline amid elevated fuel prices, and cuts to regional flying owing to the US pilot shortage are expected to do little to slow the travel recovery. “We see low risk to our base case that passenger traffic will increase throughout 2022 and reach 95 percent of 2019 levels by year-end,” wrote Earl Heffintrayer, a senior credit officer at Moody’s Investors Service, in a report on March 14. The risks he referred to are the fuel price spike and pilot shortage.<br/>
Mexico City’s new airport will boast a palaeontology museum, a housing complex for the military and a terminal with lucha libre-themed bathrooms. What is not yet clear is how many passengers will choose to use it. Felipe Ángeles International Airport, which is about 40 kilometres from the city centre, will offer just seven passenger routes when it opens on Monday. Airline industry experts said crucial access infrastructure and more commercial incentives were still missing. The only international flight from Felipe Ángeles will be with Venezuela’s state carrier Conviasa to Caracas. Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Friday that he spoke to executives at US airline Delta, which owns a stake in national flag carrier Aeromexico, and that it was considering whether to add flights. Delta declined to comment. The Mexican capital — with a metro area home to more than 20mn people — has experienced a decades-long aviation headache as policymakers failed to increase capacity. One of López Obrador’s first acts as president was to scrap a partly-built $13b Norman Foster-designed airport he said was mired in corruption, a move that rattled investors and signalled that his radical promises were not just campaign trail rhetoric. López Obrador instead proceeded with the more modest Felipe Ángeles project, named after a revolutionary general. Like his other infrastructure plans, it was built by the military. After two and a half years of construction local media estimates the building will cost about 115b pesos ($5.6b). “This project will benefit a lot of people, not just those that live in Las Lomas,” López Obrador said on Friday, referring to a high-income neighbourhood in the capital. “Little by little [the airlines] will come around and they will take all the spaces in the new airport.” <br/>
Greece is gearing up for a tourist season almost back to pre-Covid levels as airlines pile on flights and people starved for travel shrug off inflation and other deterrents. Demand is resilient in Britain and Germany, the biggest source markets for visits to Greece, while the Nordic nations will produce significant traffic, Tourism Minister Vasilis Kikilias said in an interview in Athens. British Airways, Ryanair Holdings Plc, EasyJet Plc and Jet2 Plc are seeking more flights than in 2019, when tourist numbers reached a record 31 million, and Air France and its Transavia arm will have a strong presence, Kikilias said. There’s also an influx of long-haul travelers, with the big three U.S. airlines carrying around 3,000 people a week from Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, many bound for Greek cruise ships. Direct flights from Canada begin April 2 and visits from Australia are seen reaching a record, while Qatar Airways is seeking flights to islands such as Mykonos and Santorini. “A real contest is taking place for airlines to find slots at Greek airports, as much as for the islands as for Athens,” Kikilias said. Tourism accounted for a fifth of the Greek economy before Covid-19 upended travel. Revenue from visiting holidaymakers last year reached 60% of 2019’s E18b. The government estimated the rebound could hit 80% this year in a forecast issued just before Russia’s attack on Ukraine. While new sales stalled immediately after the invasion, there were next to no cancellations, other than from Russians representing a small number of visitors, and from April onwards bookings are gaining ground, Kikilias said.<br/>
A former Boeing pilot accused of misleading US aviation regulators during the certification process for the 737 MAX jetliner was due to go on trial Friday. In the wake of two fatal crashes of the MAX that killed 346 people, US authorities indicted Mark Forkner in November, and so far he is the only individual facing prosecution in the case. Judge Reed O'Connor was due to open proceedings in a Fort Worth, Texas court at 1800 GMT, starting with jury selection and opening statements, according to court documents. The first witnesses are expected to testify Monday. A spokeswoman for the local prosecutor's office confirmed the trial was to begin on Friday. Boeing has acknowledged responsibility for misleading the authorities about the MAX, and agreed in January 2021 to pay more than $2.5 billion to settle lawsuits related to the crash of a Lion Air flight in October 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines in March 2019. The aviation giant said two of its employees misled the FAA. According to prosecution documents, Forkner in 2016 discovered a major change made to the MAX flight control software known as MCAS, which was implicated in both crashes. In a message to a colleague revealed in 2019, he indicated that the software made the plane difficult to fly in a simulator, the documents show. But prosecutors say he failed to share all the information with the FAA, which did not require additional pilot training on the MAX. Forkner's defense team said he is being made a scapegoat in the investigation.<br/>
Ezhou Huahu airport — touted as China’s first “professional cargo hub” — has completed flight testing, paving the way for an eventual launch later in the year. On 19 March, an SF Airlines Boeing 757-200 freighter landed at the airport, located in China’s Hubei province, after a short flight from Wuhan. A WeChat post from the airport operator says the aircraft then flew on a four-hour flight from the airport before returning in the evening. It adds that the occasion marks the first time a freighter has been used in airport flight testing. Ezhou Huahu airport is part of plans to build up a “dual passenger and cargo hub” in Hubei province, with the airport set to complement neighbouring Wuhan’s Tianhe international airport, itself is a major passenger hub. At the heart of the airport will be a 700,000 sq m (7.5 million sq ft) freight handling centre, along with 124 parking stands. While the airport’s focus will be on cargo operations, it will also have a smaller, 15,000 sq m passenger terminal. By 2025, the airport is intended to serve up to 1m passengers annually, with cargo throughput expected at around 2.5m tonnes. Construction for the airport began in 2017, and its completion this year comes amid a surge in e-commerce and cargo demand globally. It is unclear when the airport will officially commence operations, or which airlines are likely to fly from it. <br/>
Gulfstream remains on track with developing and certificating its G400 large-cabin business jet, though the company anticipates the G400 will require a more-comprehensive flight-test and certification campaign than its G800. The Savannah airframer jointly launched the G400 and G800 development programmes in October 2021. It aims to deliver the first G800 in 2023, followed in 2025 with the first G400 delivery. “The rigour with which we’ve had to do some of our testing, especially in the labs, significantly increased,” Gulfstream senior VP of innovation, engineering and flight Vicki Britt said earlier this month. She was speaking of the G400’s certification. Gulfstream has not yet rolled out the prototype G400. “For the 400 – we’ll have more of a flight-test programme,” Britt added. The test programme will involve five G400s, including one designated for testing cabin systems, she said. By comparison, the G800’s test programme will involve only three jets, including one used for cabin testing. Though launched in tandem, the G400 and G800 are based on different aircraft platforms. The G800 is a shorter derivative of Gulfstream’s largest business jet, the G700, which it launched in October 2019. The jets are ultra-long-range sister ships that share the same Rolls-Royce Pearl 700 turbofans. <br/>