Understaffed airports and airlines from Australia to Europe are struggling to cope with a fresh rush of travelers, with long queues and flight disruptions expected to persist as the busy Easter weekend approaches. Passengers checking in at Sydney Airport this week have waited for hours in queues snaking outside terminals. Staff absences are running as high as 50% at Qantas, while the airport’s workforce is little more than half its normal size. The UK has also been hit by disruptions and flight cancellations. The aviation industry axed hundreds of thousands of workers to get through the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic. That left airports and airlines short of staff to handle an upswing in travel as much of the world drops entry restrictions, while the virus continues to ripple through flight crews and ground workers. Sydney Airport, Australia’s international gateway, has called the combination of factors a “perfect storm.” “We just can’t get staff,” Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert said on Australian television Tuesday. “It’s going to be like this for a little while.” Domestic parking is currently full and is forecast to be right through the Easter long weekend. Culbert said on some days the airport can find itself running at 60% staff capacity while having to process more than 80% of pre-Covid passenger volumes. “The maths leads you to where we are,” he said. Ahead of the Easter holiday, there’s already nowhere to park at Sydney Airport for those taking a domestic flight. The rebound in some major markets including the US has caught airlines and airports on the hop. Smaller markets such as Thailand and Singapore that are yet to reopen to the same degree aren’t seeing the same delays. US airports are “chock-a-block” with travelers, AirAsia Group founder Tony Fernandes said Tuesday. He said a similar recovery in air travel in Asia, where restrictions in places such as China remain, was still a few months away. <br/>
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Airfare is surging as higher fuel prices and strong travel demand drive up the cost of flights. Consumers spent $8.8b on domestic US airline tickets last month, up 28% compared with March 2019, before the Covid pandemic, while fares surged 20%, according to data from the Adobe Digital Economy Index that was published Tuesday. Bookings only rose 12%. Higher fares are one of the latest examples of inflation, which is hitting consumers at gas stations, supermarkets and in the housing market. Airline executives have been confident that they could pass along the bulk in the surge in jet fuel to travelers, who so far appear willing to shell out more for travel after two years of Covid lockdowns. Benchmark US Gulf Coast jet fuel settled at $3.2827 a gallon on Monday, up nearly 50% from the start of 2022 and more than double a year ago, according to Platts. Delta will kick off airline reporting season before the market opens on Wednesday and company executives will provide an outlook on travel demand, cost and fares. For travel from June through August, online spending is up 8% compared with 2019, and bookings are up 3%, according to the Adobe data, which track bookings at the biggest six US airlines’ platforms.<br/>
Airline executives and politicians are piling on pressure for the US to let Covid-19 mask rules expire on schedule next week, even as a majority of the public wants to keep them. Forced mask-wearing has caused friction in aircraft cabins. Last year, 72 per cent of a record 5,981 reports of unruly passengers were mask-related, according to the FAA, which proposed a total of $5m in fines for such behaviour. A diverse group of advocates wants to see the mask requirement disappear as it has within other indoor spaces. Next Monday the federal government’s order for travellers on public transport is set to lapse unless officials issue another extension. Domestic airlines have led the call to end the mandate, with chief executives of seven carriers including American Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Air Lines telling President Joe Biden in a letter last month that it was “no longer aligned with the realities of the current epidemiological environment.” “It makes no sense that people are still required to wear masks on aeroplanes, yet are allowed to congregate in crowded restaurants, schools and at sporting events without masks,” especially when considering the quality of on-board air-filtration systems, the executives wrote. The executives stressed that airline employees were enduring the “burden” of enforcing the mask mandate and international pre-departure testing — another requirement they want eliminated — as conflicts with unruly passengers persist. At Southwest, the union representing flight attendants also supports lifting the mask rule, noting that getting people to obey is “one of the most difficult jobs we have ever faced”. However, the US’s largest cabin crew union, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, has opted not to take a position. Recent public opinion surveys indicated that many Americans want to keep aviation mask mandates in place, however. The Harris Poll found that 60% of people surveyed at the beginning of April supported keeping the mandate.<br/>
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday made a renewed push for new tax credits for sustainable aviation fuel, a key part of reducing carbon emissions from air travel. Biden last year called for tax incentives for low carbon jet fuel, made from waste and vegetable oils as part of a broader climate and social spending package that is stalled in Congress. The White House is targeting 20% lower aviation emissions by 2030 and those incentives are crucial to making the fuel competitive. “We brought together the government agencies, aircraft manufacturers, airlines, fuel producers, airports,” Biden said at an event in Iowa, arguing the push would result in “advanced, cleaner and more sustainable fuels for American aviation.” National Air Carrier Association President and CEO George Novak praised Biden “for recognizing the critical role that sustainable aviation fuel will play in further reducing the airline industry’s carbon footprint.” Airlines face pressure from environmental groups to lower their carbon footprint and have pledged to use more sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Biden on Tuesday cited American Airlines and United Airlines’ support for sustainable aviation fuel and said biofuels were key to decarbonize aviation. “That’s how we’re going to get there,” Biden said. The push to accelerate carbon cutting in aviation is part of Biden’s target of making the United States net carbon neutral by 2050.<br/>
A major blizzard slammed North Dakota on Tuesday with snow, high winds and whiteout conditions, and meteorologists said the spring snowstorm could rage into Thursday, becoming one of the biggest in a quarter century. Bismarck Airport canceled all flights for the day. State offices closed at 12:30 p.m. local time and residents were urged to stay off roads due to treacherous conditions. "Its definitely looking like its going to pack a punch," Rick Krolak of the National Weather Service office in Bismarck said of the storm, which began blowing snow across the city early on Tuesday morning. "We started seeing snow in Bismarck at 4 a.m., winds kicking up causing whiteout conditions," Krolak said. Two feet of snow were predicted across much of the state. Northern cities such as Minot could see up to 30 inches by Thursday, when the weather system was expected to move northeast and out of the region. Krolak said the storm brought to mind the blizzard of 1997 that hit on April 4 of that year, dumping up to two feet of snow in some areas, knocking out power to thousands of residents and leaving motorists stranded on major highways.<br/>
Air Lease Corp said Tuesday it has 21 jets remaining in sanctions-hit Russia, two weeks after a Western deadline for global leasing firms to sever ties with the country's airlines. All of the company's aircraft leases to Russian airline customers were terminated last month, it said. In March, Air Lease said a new Russian law allowing Moscow to "confiscate" planes might help it claim insurance. The new law allows Russian airlines to place airplanes leased from foreign companies on the country's aircraft register. The company had also said it was making "good headway" in cutting exposure to Russia following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. It did not immediately respond when asked about steps taken to recover the remaining aircraft stuck in Russia, which represent about 3.4% of the company's fleet by net book value, as of March 31. Global leasing companies have been scrambling to repossess more than 400 jets worth almost $10b from Russian airlines, which have mostly been unresponsive to demands for surrendering the jets. Last week, Singapore-based BOC Aviation said it was in the process of recovering 17 owned aircraft from Russia. The world's top aircraft lessor, AerCap Holdings, submitted an insurance claim last month for more than 100 jets stuck in Russia following the invasion. <br/>
Recently introduced airspace restrictions are adding up to seven hours to round-trip flight times between Europe and Asia, according to analysis of Flightradar24 data by Eurocontrol. The changes reflect new flight patterns introduced after the closure of Russian and Belarusian airspace to many airlines in Europe, alongside decisions by some countries to avoid those airspaces voluntarily in response to security concerns amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It remains to be seen how long the restrictions will last, but SAS CE Anko van der Werff recently suggested that “overflying Russia is not going to be [resolved in] a matter of months – I really feel it’s going to be longer”. Finnair’s home city of Helsinki is most affected among the four airports considered by Eurocontrol, reflecting an impact that tends to lessen the further south and away from Russia a European airline is based. Services to and from northeast Asia are, however, significantly affected across the board. Indeed, the most extreme example considered in the Eurocontrol analysis is the Helsinki-Seoul route, which now takes around 12 hours, versus 8.5 hours before, in a journey distance that has risen from around 7,500km to 11,500km. Finnair’s strategy for maintaining its Asian network since the restrictions were introduced includes resorting to polar routes to reach destinations previously accessible via Russian airspace, such as Seoul and Tokyo Narita. Already-lengthy flights from Helsinki to Singapore are some 1.25 hours longer, reflecting an extra 1,400km on the sector length.<br/>
European regulators have expressed doubts over Russian authorities’ ability to exercise sufficient safety oversight of the large number of leased foreign-owned aircraft seized by the government after sanctions were imposed on the air transport sector. The EC has detailed its reasons for blacklisting 21 airlines over their continued operation of hundreds of aircraft grounded by Bermudan and Irish civil aviation authorities respectively on 12 and 15 March. In documentation accompanying the blacklist, the Commission states that Russian air transport regulator Rosaviatsia has assumed oversight functions “without any co-ordination” with Bermudan and Irish counterparts. “There is no verifiable evidence to conclude that [Rosaviatsia] has developed the necessary safety oversight capacity to adequately perform such an extended oversight responsibility on such short notice, and over such an extensive number of aircraft,” it adds. Rosaviatsia had previously stated that it had granted extended certification to a number of maintenance organisations to broaden their capabilities to include additional Airbus and Boeing models. The Russian government has sought to assume oversight responsibility by placing the aircraft on the domestic register, without the consent of the aircraft owners or safety-related collaboration with the Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority or Irish Aviation Authority. Such action is “in breach” of the Chicago Convention article which states that aircraft cannot be validly registered in more than one country, says the Commission documentation. “As a result of the applicable restrictive measures, engineering and technical support to [Russian airlines] has become limited,” it adds.<br/>
Worker shortages mean airports and ports are facing a "very difficult summer", a border staff union has said. Lucy Moreton, from the Immigration Services Union, warned that Border Force was "catastrophically under-staffed" and that it took nearly a year to fully train new officers. Meanwhile, one aviation recruitment expert said it would take at least 12 months for shortages to settle down. Some travellers have seen long queues and cancellations over Easter. The travel industry cut thousands of jobs during the pandemic, but as demand for flights has returned, it has struggled to recruit, carry out security checks and train new staff quickly enough. "For the first time in living memory, Border Force is no longer attracting enough candidates to fill the vacancies that they've got," Moreton said. "Combined with the fact it takes nearly a year to fully train a Border Force officer, we're going into not just this summer but this weekend catastrophically under-staffed, with people beginning to travel again."<br/>
In the final hours of 2021 Airbus officially delivered two A350s to Russia's Aeroflot, helping the jetmaker meet annual delivery targets. Months later, the jets remain in French storage limbo after sanctions forced Airbus to abandon physical handover. The setback sheds new light on workarounds used by the European planemaker under prevailing accounting rules to support deliveries during the pandemic, as well as the scramble to hit targets at the close of each year, industry sources said. Airbus reached delivery targets during the crisis, in part due to auditor-approved deals that allowed carriers to delay accounting for some new planes on certain conditions. The use of such acceptance and delivery agreements (ADA) to smooth deliveries was revealed by Reuters in July. Industry sources say the system was used for as many as 10-15% of deliveries at the height of the pandemic as the world's largest planemaker fought to contain a drop in deliveries at a time of severe shock for the industry. But the arrangement has fallen under the spotlight after sanctions against Russia interrupted the choreographed handover sequence. Airbus declined to comment on contractual details or on whether other ADA deals may be disrupted. Even in ordinary times, a delivery spans 4-5 days of tests and paperwork, according to a recent Airbus filing. Last on the list before jets fly away is "Transfer of Title" or ownership. Under the ADA agreements, the process can stretch out for months after deliveries are announced, the sources said. Airlines must pay everything owed except for a token four-figure sum on a $50-150m jet - enough to ring up a sale and record a delivery for Airbus auditors, but just short of the final tally needed to hand formal ownership to the airline. The advantage for Airbus is that it is able to book the revenue due on delivery, while the airline can delay taking the jet for 3-6 months and pause costly charges like depreciation.<br/>
Boeing sold 145 planes in the first three months of the year, after accounting for canceled orders, the company said on Tuesday, as airlines around the world start to lay the groundwork for a broader postpandemic rebound. Almost all of the orders were for the 737 Max, which regained its spot as the star of Boeing’s commercial fleet after emerging from a prolonged crisis more than a year ago. Two crashes of the plane killed 346 people, leading to a global ban on the Max for nearly two years until late 2020. Most of the 95 planes that Boeing delivered in Q1 of the year were also the Max. Boeing has now had 14 straight months of net new sales as the travel rebound accelerates. “The recovery in air travel is gathering steam as governments in many parts of the world lift travel restrictions,” said Willie Walsh, the director general of IATA, a trade group, at a news conference last week. But threats to the rebound remain. The spread of BA.2, a subvariant of the highly infectious Omicron variant of the coronavirus, could interrupt the travel recovery. Lengthy discussions with regulators who have quality concerns about the 787 Dreamliner, a twin-aisle aircraft, have forced Boeing to cut back production and suspend deliveries of that plane.<br/>
Boeing is likely to lose about 90 jet orders due to "geopolitical issues" related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the company said Tuesday. The aircraft maker said it is not canceling the orders — yet. But it has placed them in an accounting limbo which it uses when there are questions about whether jet orders on its books are likely to be completed.<br/>The company disclosed Tuesday that it added 141 jets to that accounting classification in March. About two-thirds of those orders — or just more than 90 — are for 737 Max jets that have been affected by the war in Ukraine and related economic sanctions. The company has seen an increase of orders added to this accounting limbo in the last two years, as the pandemic caused a sharp drop in demand for new planes. Including the additions in March, there are now nearly 950 commercial jet orders deemed to have that uncertain status, leaving Boeing with a backlog of about 4,300 jets yet to build. Sanctions are preventing any current aircraft sales to Russia. Boeing and other western aircraft makers such as Airbus have also cut off the supply of needed spare parts and maintenance support for planes in Russia in order to comply with sanctions. So doubts about future orders to Russia are no surprise. Boeing's data show only 30 737 Max jets orders from a Russian carrier, Utair Airlines. But most Russian airlines order jets from Boeing and rival Airbus through leasing companies. So there were likely more Boeing jets destined for Russia before the war.<br/>
Airbus and Kawasaki Heavy Industries will explore the development of a hydrogen fuel ecosystem in Japan. The two companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Tokyo to explore aspects of the hydrogen supply chain such as production, delivery to airports, and then transfer to hydrogen-powered aircraft. The pact was signed by Stéphane Ginoux, head of North Asia region for Airbus and president of Airbus Japan, and Motohiko Nishimura, executive officer and deputy general manager of the Japanese company’s Hydrogen Strategy Division. The pair aim to develop “a roadmap to address challenges and define an advocacy plan on hydrogen aviaton needs.” A key focus will be on what they refer to as “Airport Hydrogen Hubs.” “We are very pleased to work with Japan’s leading hydrogen supplier Kawasaki,” says Ginoux. “This partnership will obviously accelerate and promote efforts by the Japanese government to achieve a carbon-neutral, decarbonised society from overall aircraft operations in 2050. We strongly believe that the use of hydrogen – both in synthetic fuels and as a primary power source for commercial aircraft - has the potential to significantly reduce aviation’s climate impact.”<br/>