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The White House on Monday said it wants to boost the number of airport screening officers by 2,540 as it forecasts a faster return to pre-COVID US air travel levels. The Biden administration budget released on Monday seeks to boost the number of TSA screening officer positions by about 5% and add $242.6m. The TSA currently is budgeted for around 45,000 full-time transportation security officers. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, passenger volume grew at a rate of 4.5% annually for three consecutive years, TSA said. In 2020 in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, US passenger airline traffic sank 60.1% to the lowest level since 1984. “The return of passenger traffic was expected to take several years, but updated projections showed TSA returning to (fiscal year) 2019 levels in (fiscal year) 2022, a year earlier than initially planned,” TSA said. The fiscal year begins Oct. 1. The TSA added that it expects in the 2023 fiscal year for passenger volume growth to return to the historical growth rate of 4.5%, reaching 3m per day by the summer travel period. The TSA screened 585.3m travelers in 2021, which was still down about 31% over pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels in 2019. The department said the increase will help ensure that the “traveling public does not experience excessive wait times.” The TSA separately plans to eliminate staffing at exit lanes and turn over responsibility to airports, a move that will save $94.1m and eliminate the equivalent of 1,090 federal employee positions.<br/>

Mask mandates in the United States are speeding toward what could be their final frontier: transportation. In less than a month, the rule requiring masks on planes, in airports and on other means of public transportation is set to expire. And it could happen sooner, if US airlines have any say in it. Airlines including Delta, American, United and Southwest, plus cargo carriers and industry group Airlines for America, are all calling for an end to both the mask mandate on public transportation and the pre-travel testing requirement for international arrivals to the United States. "It is past time to eliminate Covid-era transportation policies," they said in a recent letter addressed to the White House. Mask disputes have come to blows on some flights, and flight attendants have faced unprecedented levels of aggression in trying to enforce the federal rule. The nation's largest flight attendants union, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, hasn't come down on one side or the other of lifting the mask mandate -- saying it has members on both sides of the issue. Southwest Airlines' flight attendants union has called for an end to the mandate. Many in the travel industry are understandably eager to make it as easy as possible to get more travelers moving after two crippling years of the pandemic. But how do doctors and disease transmission experts regard the rollback of Covid precautions? It's not all or nothing, for one thing. Travelers can still protect themselves, and the rules could be eased incrementally or reinstated if cases increase substantially. Cases in the United States have plateaued recently after nearly two months of declines, and health officials are keeping a close eye on the BA.2 Omicron variant.<br/>

JetBlue Airways said on Monday it would add 5,000 jobs in all sections of its operations in New York this year, as U.S. carriers ramp up their hiring plans amid a rebound in travel. In January, American Airlines Group said it planned to hire another 18,000 employees this year after adding 16,000 new team members last year. Delta also early this year said it planned to hire 3,000 to 5,000 people in 2022. JetBlue said it would hire for roles in airport operations, ground operations, technical operations, inflight, information technology and other support center roles. Earlier in the day, CBS News first reported JetBlue's hiring plan. In December, top executives of major US airlines including JetBlue said that they would tell a Senate committee about ramping up hiring amid rising concerns over the Omicron variant of COVID-19. <br/>

Canada is expected to call on Tuesday for improving global rules governing air accident investigations, telling a virtual safety forum that such changes are needed in cases like the 2020 downing of a Ukrainian jetliner, a government source told Reuters. Canadian Transport Minister Omar Alghabra is to tell the Safer Skies forum that the rules need reform in cases where the main country investigating a crash caused or participated in the downing of the aircraft, the source said. Hosted virtually by Transport Canada and the Safer Skies Consultative Committee, the forum brings international representatives and the civil aviation industry, including the International Air Transport Association, to mitigate airspace risks over conflict zones. Canada’s Transportation Safety Board (TSB), an independent agency, called for such changes in 2021, arguing that while the rules known throughout the industry by their legal name “Annex 13” work well, Iran’s downing of PS752 showed their limitations. Under those rules, Iran retained overall control of the investigation into the crash which killed 176, even as the country’s military was implicated in the event leading to an “unprecedented” situation, the TSB argued. Iran’s civil aviation body in 2021 blamed misalignment of a missile launcher’s radar and an error by an Iranian air defense operator for the January 2020 downing of the aircraft.<br/>

Mexico's National Guard on Monday said no shots were fired in the international airport of the Caribbean resort city of Cancun after local media reported gunfire breaking out there. There were no reports of casualties. Video footage broadcast on social media showed passengers running out of the airport before officials said there were no signs of injured people, cartridges or firearms there. The National Guard later said on Twitter that there was no evidence of gunshots in the airport. It added that "available information indicates that the sound could have been caused after a tourist accidentally knocked down three billboards." They are still investigating the incident. The scare came after a series of security lapses in Cancun's home state of Quintana Roo during the past few months that have claimed the lives of suspected gang members and a couple of tourists. The airport said in a statement that operations in the hub's Terminal 3 were temporarily suspended to ensure passenger safety, and resumed minutes later. Earlier, the US embassy to Mexico said it was aware of reports of a "security incident" at the airport and urged people to heed local authorities and monitor news for updates. "U.S. citizens should contact loved ones directly or check-in on social media," it said on Twitter.<br/>

Companies affected by sanctions imposed on Russia and soaring energy costs are unlikely to get trillions of euros in state aid that businesses hit by the COVID-19 pandemic received because the impact is smaller, EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager said on Monday. Vestager last week loosened state aid rules allowing firms to get up to 400,000 euros ($438,520) in state support and compensation up to 30% of energy costs after thousands of companies from airlines to automakers reported disruptions to their supply chains. She told Reuters in an interview there was a big difference between the current situation caused by sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and the pandemic when more businesses were hit by national lockdowns, and that would limit the amount of aid handed out this time. "It's really early days, but I wouldn't think so," Vestager said, when asked whether European Union governments would end up again pumping trillions of euros into sanctions-hit companies. "Because you don't have sort of this blanket state intervention in how the market works, you know, having the states coming in, the governments coming in and basically just telling everyone to hibernate," she said.<br/>

All Irish lessors terminated their Russian airline leases by Monday’s European Union sanctions deadline and have so far had limited success in recovering their aircraft, the representative body for the sector in Ireland said. Aircraft Leasing Ireland (ALI), members of which include SMBC Aviation Capital, Avolon, Aircastle and AerCap Holdings, which is the world’s biggest aircraft leasing company, said that all of its members have complied fully with the sanctions. Brussels gave lessors until Monday to wind up current rental contracts in Russia under tough sanctions imposed after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, leaving them facing heavy potential writedowns or a long insurance battle. Irish lessors own more than 60% of the world’s fleet of leased aircraft, according to its representative body. “The events in Russia are unprecedented and continue to evolve,” ALI’s statement said. It said that recent weeks have been challenging for aircraft leasing companies seeking to recover aircraft and that they had achieved “limited success to date”. AerCap, which has said that 5% of its fleet by net book value was leased in Russia at the end of 2021, had the largest exposure to Russia when the sanctions were introduced. When the sanctions were imposed, AerCap accounted for 142 of the 515 jets Russian carriers had leased from abroad, consultancy IBA said.<br/>

The parties involved in a wage dispute for security staff at several airports across Germany have reached a deal following strikes that led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights to and from the country in the past two weeks. read more Labour union Verdi and the BDLS association of aviation safety companies said on Monday that a comprehensive collective agreement had been reached. "With this collective bargaining agreement, wage conditions in the aviation security industry and work can be made more attractive, despite unfavourable working hours and numerous operational problems," said chief negotiator Wolfgang Pieper. The parties involved in a wage dispute for security staff at several airports across Germany have reached a deal following strikes that led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights to and from the country in the past two weeks. Labour union Verdi and the BDLS association of aviation safety companies said on Monday that a comprehensive collective agreement had been reached. "With this collective bargaining agreement, wage conditions in the aviation security industry and work can be made more attractive, despite unfavourable working hours and numerous operational problems," said chief negotiator Wolfgang Pieper.<br/>

The reputation of Manchester Airport is "nosediving" as "chaotic" scenes caused by delays continue, a councillor says. Passengers have faced long queues for check-in and security throughout March. Councillor Pat Karney, from Manchester City Council which jointly owns the airport, has called for an "urgent meeting" to ensure "everything possible is being done". Manchester Airport said staff shortages and sickness had put operations "under extreme pressure". Karney is calling for an urgent meeting between shareholders of the airport, which include the nine other Greater Manchester councils and an investment company. "We have to get this right as the reputation is nosediving," he said. "We are realistic that the airport was closed down for two years and there will be problems and challenges about getting it back on its feet. I think we have a public duty as a council to check this out. We want to know what their extra planning is about getting extra staff and incentivising staff. In the short term they may have to pay bigger bonuses to people to do extra work."<br/>

A fire on Monday in a terminal under construction at Kuwait International airport has been brought under control, the Gulf state's fire service said, and Kuwait's aviation authority said there had been no impact on air traffic operations. Terminal 2 of the airport is being built to expand the airport's capacity and is expected to be completed by the end of this year. A fire broke out at 0530 local time (0230 GMT) and affected the basement, ground floor and part of the first floor, the fire service statement said. The fire caused material damage but no casualties and an investigation into the cause has been opened, it said.<br/>

Boeing said Monday the head of its big defense division, Leanne Caret, will retire after nearly 35 years with the aviation company. Caret, who is 55 years old, will be succeeded by Ted Colbert effective April 1. Caret oversaw development of the successful MQ-25 drone program and the US Air Force's new training jet. She was also in charge of the KC-46 midair tanker, which has been plagued by numerous problems and cost overruns. Boeing's defense unit, which has the U.S. government as one of its biggest customers, generated revenue of $26.5 billion in 2021, overtaking its commercial airplane business. Colbert, who now heads Boeing Global Services, will become president and chief executive officer of Boeing's Defense, Space & Security business. The global services unit handles jet maintenance, repair and overhaul, data analytics and pilot training. Caret, who had taken over the defense and space role in 2016, will serve as executive vice president and senior adviser to Boeing CE David Calhoun, until her retirement later this year. The segment provides military aircraft and network and space systems to customers around the globe. The company named Stephanie Pope as president and CEO of Boeing Global Services, succeeding Colbert.<br/>