Another Boeing plane has been grounded after a fatal crash, this time in China. That may be the least of the company's problems in a crucial market. The decision to ground the Boeing model 737-800 was made by China Eastern Airlines, which operated the jet that crashed March 21, killing all 132 on board. The cause of the crash has yet to be determined, and the grounding could be lifted soon if it turns out the cause was not mechanical. But Boeing has plenty of other troubles in China, the world's largest aviation market. It is on the verge of being virtually shut out of the region as trade tensions between the United States and China have basically halted Boeing sales in the country for the last four years. The company has not announced any sales to a Chinese passenger airline since November 2017. Only six months ago, Boeing projected the Chinese market would be worth $1.5 trillion in commercial aircraft purchases over the next 20 years. It takes a long time to build and deliver planes after they're ordered, and Boeing continued to deliver jets to China's airlines and leasing companies in 2018 and early 2019. But only 40 of them have been delivered since March 2019. That's when aviation authorities around the globe grounded Boeing's bestselling jet, the 737 Max, after two fatal crashes were found to have been caused by a design flaw. That grounding stretched on for 20 months.<br/>The US Federal Aviation Administration cleared the plane to carry passengers again in November 2020, with most other countries' aviation authorities following close behind. Airlines that owned the 737 Max were soon flying the plane again. But not in China, where the aviation regulator — one of the first to ground the Max after the second accident — waited another year to clear the plane to fly. Chinese airlines that own the planes still have not returned them to service. "We would now expect further delays to Chinese reinstatement of the 737 Max while this accident is investigated, at least until a likely cause is identified," said a note this week from Melius Research. Story has more. <br/>
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Leisure travel is back after the Omicron wave, with travel off only about 8% last weekend compared to the same period in 2019, according to the TSA’s checkpoint numbers. As travelers make their plans for upcoming spring and summer travel, they can expect to see airfares inching up — pushed by seasonal demand, inflation and oil price spikes — while new routes are expanding as both American and foreign airlines aim to encourage a return to international travel. The rush to travel has inspired innovation in the skies at the same time as the airline industry encounters new headwinds with the war in Ukraine. Story features how developments in the air may affect trips. One sign of travel’s recovery is higher airfares, as airlines are able to charge more to growing numbers of willing fliers. According to the Consumer Price Index, airfares were up more than 12% in February compared to the same period in 2021, when Covid-19 vaccines were just being introduced. At this point, those fares are more a reflection of competition for seats than the rising price of jet fuel since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On Feb. 24, jet fuel was $2.71 a gallon, according to the Argus U.S. Jet Fuel Index, peaking around $4.11 in early March. It is currently around $4. Fuel accounts for about 30% of an airline’s operating cost, said Adit Damodaran, the economist at the flight-booking app Hopper, adding that a 10% rise in jet fuel normally triggers about a 3% increase in expenses, which are generally passed on in higher airfares. According to Hopper searches, the average domestic airfare is $330, about 7% above 2019 prices. Story has more.<br/>
Federal officials are extending pandemic relief that helps big airlines keep coveted takeoff and landing rights for international flights this summer at busy airports in New York City and Washington, D.C. The move by the FAA will let leading airlines keep their dominant positions at major airports into late October, even if they drop some international flights. Normally, airlines that fail to use their assigned rights, or “slots,” at John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports in New York, and Reagan National Airport outside Washington, risk losing them. However, regulators waived that rule in March 2020 when airlines cut flights due to the pandemic. The FAA has extended the slot-use waiver four times, with the last grace period set to expire Sunday. Instead, the FAA will extend the waiver for international flights only through Oct. 29, it said in a decision scheduled to be published in the Federal Register next week. The agency cited “the evolving and highly unpredictable situation globally” around COVID-19. The FAA will also extend relaxed rules regarding flight schedules at Newark (New Jersey) Liberty Airport, Chicago O’Hare, Los Angeles International and San Francisco International.<br/>
FAA chief Steve Dickson said Friday that the agency’s “zero tolerance” policy toward unruly passengers will continue, even though reports of bad behavior have declined from last year’s record. The FAA established the policy in January 2021 in hopes of stemming a surge of disruptive passengers, threatening fines of up to $35,000 and possible jail time. Flight attendant unions had urged the agency to step in due to the rise in incidents on board. “We have seen over the last year a significant decline in these incidents but they continue to occur at too high of a rate,” Dickson said. “We will be keeping the zero tolerance policy in place.” The FAA logged a record 5,981 reports of unruly passenger behavior last year with more than 70% of those cases tied to passengers who refused to wear masks on board and began 1,121 investigations. So far this year, it has received 961 reports of disruptive passengers, 635 of them tied to the mask mandate. Dickson credited the agency’s public service announcements with helping drive down cases of such behavior. “I’ve even been on TMZ to make sure we’re reaching the public and making sure that they understand that this kind of behavior is not acceptable on airplanes and it’s got to stop,” he said. The Biden administration extended the mask mandate through April 18 and hasn’t said whether it would lift the rule then, despite repeated pleas by airlines to scrap the rule. “From the FAA’s standpoint, we don’t take a position on what the public health protocols are,” Dickson said. The mask mandate and predeparture Covid tests for international travelers “are no longer aligned with the realities of the current epidemiological environment,” airline CEOs wrote to President Joe Biden on Wednesday. <br/>
The Biden administration on Saturday named the FAA's safety chief as the acting leader of the agency effective Friday. Billy Nolen, who in December was named the FAA’s associate administrator for aviation safety, had previously been vice president for safety, security and quality for WestJet Airlines in Canada. Nolen, who started his career as an American Airlines pilot, will replace FAA administrator Steve Dickson, who is stepping down on March 31, until the White House nominates a permanent successor. “Billy Nolen has extensive expertise in aviation and a deep understanding of the vital role the FAA plays in ensuring the safety of the traveling public,” said US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Nolen leads a team of more than 7,600 FAA employees. The FAA’s safety efforts and oversight of Boeing have come under fire after two fatal 737 MAX crashes in a five-month period killed 346 people and led to the plane’s 20-month grounding. Congress in December 2020 passed legislation to reform how the FAA certifies new airplanes and delegates some duties to manufacturers like Boeing. Dickson, 64, is resigning about halfway through his five-year term. The Biden administration “is conducting a national search for a nominee to become the permanent FAA administrator,” the FAA said Saturday. Earlier this week, the FAA warned Boeing it may not gain certification of a lengthened version of the 737 Max ahead of a key safety deadline set by Congress and also sought updates on progress for both the 737 Max 10 and 777-9, Reuters reported Friday. The FAA is still scrutinizing a number of issues involving Boeing and last month said it would not allow Boeing to self-certify 787 Dreamliners.<br/>
It is almost impossible to find water to drink throughout the entire, spanking new airport. The unfinished access roads still need signs, compelling confused drivers to reverse down the freeway. The only transnational flight scheduled for the foreseeable future is from Venezuela. With much fanfare and few logistical considerations, the Felipe Ángeles International Airport, north of Mexico City, was unveiled on Monday, the first of many large-scale infrastructure projects that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador promised to deliver before his six-year term ends in 2024. The airport’s opening might seem premature, but it comes just weeks before a referendum on whether the president should step down well in advance of the end of his mandatory single term. López Obrador appeared eager to deliver on at least one of those promised projects before the vote. “It’s a work of the people,” López Obrador said at the inaugural ceremony, as supporters chanted “yes he could!” The airport’s long-term success could significantly influence the prospects of the party he started roughly a decade ago, Morena. But for now, the airport, like many of the president’s big-ticket projects, may not offer as many economic or political benefits as he hopes. The projects include a giant new oil refinery, which would be coming at a time when production is falling for the state-owned petroleum company, and the Tren Maya, a train that will take tourists from the beaches of Cancún deep into the Yucatán Peninsula. “These infrastructure projects are not viable and will be subsidized by the government for years to come,” said Denise Dresser, a prominent political scientist and columnist based in Mexico City.<br/>
Several Russian aircraft types have formally had type certificates suspended by the EASA as part of the package of sanctions on the country’s aviation industry. EASA has suspended the certificates of the Tupolev Tu-204-120CE – the Rolls-Royce RB211-powered version of the twinjet, which features Honeywell avionics – as well as the Irkut Superjet 100, which is fitted with PowerJet SaM146 engines. The Tu-204’s Russian certification was validated by EASA in 2008 while the Superjet secured EASA approval in 2012. EASA says it has also “decided to put on hold”, until further notice, all work associated with new certification applications from Russian organisations – which will include that for the Irkut MC-21 and the Aviadvigatel PD-14 engine. The authority has similarly suspended type certificates for the twin-engined Beriev Be-200 amphibious firefighting aircraft, which has previously been used to combat wildfires in parts of Europe. Other aircraft affected by the suspensions include the light Be-103 amphibian and the Russian Helicopters Kamov Ka-32, plus the Augur AL-30 balloon. EASA’s withdrawals also cover design and production approvals, plus approvals for some 40 maintenance organisations, as well as third-country authorisations for 43 Russian airlines and other operators.<br/>
Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers refused to allow dozens of women to board several flights, including some overseas, because they were traveling without a male guardian, two Afghan airline officials said Saturday. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions from the Taliban, said dozens of women who arrived at Kabul’s international airport Friday to board domestic and international flights were told they couldn’t do so without a male guardian. Some of the women were dual nationals returning to their homes overseas, including some from Canada, according to one of the officials. Women were denied boarding on flights to Islamabad, Dubai and Turkey on Kam Air and the state-owned Ariana Airline, said the officials. The order came from the Taliban leadership, said one official. By Saturday, some women traveling alone were given permission to board an Ariana Airlines flight to western Herat province, the official said. However, by the time the permission was granted they had missed their flight, he said.<br/>
India's civil aviation minister urged Indian airlines on Friday to add more long-haul aircraft to their fleets and to increase flights abroad, as air travel rebounds from a two-year slump due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Domestic passenger numbers are expected to exceed pre-pandemic levels within one year, Jyotiraditya Scindia said during an air show in the Indian city of Hyderabad. But foreign carriers dominate international routes to and from India, which industry experts say is partly because Indian carriers do not have enough widebody, long-haul planes. "Along with our thrust on narrow body aircraft, we must also increase our fleet of wide body aircraft. It is not enough to connect all points in India, we need to connect the world to India," the minister said. India's aviation market is dominated by narrowbody planes operated by low-cost carriers like IndiGo. In 2019, Indian airlines operated more than 550 narrowbody planes and less than 60 widebodies. Only two Indian airlines fly to long-haul destinations - Air India, the former state-run carrier acquired by Tata Group, and Vistara, a venture between Singapore Airlines and Tata. Middle Eastern, European and other carriers take the bulk of passengers from India leaving domestic airlines with a small share of the international market.<br/>
Hong Kong said on Sunday it is shortening the ban on airlines that are found to have carried three or more passengers who test positive for Covid-19 upon arrival, as the number of local cases continues to ease from its peak. Starting on Friday, the ban on individual airline routes will be reduced to seven days, from 14 previously, as part of its ongoing "flight suspension mechanism", the government said. If there is at least one positive test and at least one case of non-compliance with pre-departure testing on any single flight, the airline will also be suspended from flying the route for seven days. "On the premise of continuing the measures to guard against the importation of cases, the government requires that all airlines must stringently enforce the boarding requirements for inbound travelers, so as to reduce the risk of importation of cases as far as practicable," the government said. "And will continue to impose the flight suspension mechanism against specific non-compliant routes based on the streamlined triggering criteria." The change came after the government said last week a ban on flights from nine countries - Canada, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Britain, the United States, France, Australia and the Philippines - would be lifted on April 1. The quarantine period will also be halved from 14 to seven days starting from April 1. The city's flagship carrier Cathay Pacific Airways said it would only schedule one flight per route every 14 days for the nine countries whose flight bans were lifted, on concerns the mechanism could be triggered.<br/>
IATA has moved its annual general meeting to the Qatari capital Doha this June, after original plans to hold the event in Shanghai were hit by continuing Covid-19 travel restrictions in China. After Covid ruled out the airline association holding its 2020 AGM in Amsterdam in person, IATA was able to run last year’s AGM as an in-person event in Boston during October. This year IATA has restored its regular June timing for the AGM and had planned to hold the event in Shanghai, with China Eastern Airlines as host airline. However, China has retained its strict ’zero-Covid’ approach, restricting international travel into the country. IATA has now opted to move the event to Doha. The AGM wil be held on 19-21 June, marking the second time it has been held in Qatar, after the Gulf state hosted the event in 2014. IATA director general Willie Walsh says: “It is deeply disappointing that we are not able to meet in Shanghai as planned. In the meantime, we are pleased to be returning to the dynamic aviation hub of Doha and the warm hospitality for which Qatar Airways, our host airline, has become famous.This year’s AGM will be an important opportunity for aviation’s leaders to reflect on the shifting political, economic and technological realities facing air travel as the industry’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic gathers pace.” <br/>