general

Travelers returning to the skies after a two-year hiatus are facing chaos at Canada’s busiest airport, Toronto Pearson International, with soaring wait times and flight cancellations due to labor shortages. The problem has been building for weeks and is getting worse. Last week, 199 flights at Pearson were were canceled, 6% of all scheduled departures, compared with about 1% during the first week of May, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium. Security lines are so long that Air Canada is warning customers heading to US destinations to arrive at Pearson at least three hours before departure. That’s about twice as long as the flight time from Toronto to New York. The situation has forced the federal agency that handles airport screening to quickly find hundreds of staff. “Anyone who understands the complexity of hiring 850 people or 860 people in such a short time, you know that this was a major achievement,” Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said Wednesday, saying progress is being made and the agency is still working its way through more applications. “If we need to add more, we will do so,” he said. Airports from the Europe to the US to Australia are seeing the worst gridlock in years because of a shortage of people to move planes and passengers. In the UK, hundreds of canceled flights have left the the aviation industry and government arguing over who is to blame.<br/>

Labour strife in Europe is driving expectations of more travel headaches during the busy summer season, with airports and airlines clamouring to find more workers, minimize cancelled flights and reduce delays for passengers. On Thursday, some 1,000 SAS pilots in Denmark, Norway and Sweden said they could go on strike from late June, even as workers at France's Charles de Gaulle airport walked off the job, with a quarter of flights cancelled. Airlines, battered by a slump in travel during the pandemic, have been counting on a strong summer, with fares rising to offset higher fuel costs and pilots and cabin crews making a case for higher pay due to inflation. While budget carrier Norwegian Air reached a wage deal with the Norwegian union representing pilots for 2022 and 2023, crews from three budget carriers including Ryanair, walked off the job on Wednesday. Airport managers in Europe and Canada are struggling to quickly recruit and process new hires, even as the rebound in air travel from the pandemic-induced slump leads to cancelled flights and hours-long lines. On Wednesday evening, Lufthansa and its subsidiary Eurowings said they were scrapping over 1,000 flights in July, or 5% of their planned weekend capacity, due to staff shortages amid the busy vacation period.<br/>

An aviation industry group representing most major airlines criticized the European Union’s Parliament on Thursday for seeking to expand its emissions trading system to all flights departing the bloc. EU lawmakers voted Wednesday that existing requirements for airlines to buy credits for the greenhouse gas emissions that their flights produce should be extended to include all that leave the 27-nation bloc, Norway and Iceland. Current rules only apply to flights within that area. The IATA warned Thursday that such a move could undermine a separate international agreement, known as CORSIA, that allows airlines to buy credits to offset their emissions. Critics, however, say that system isn’t effective enough. The IATA, which claims to represent about 290 airlines accounting for over 83% of global air traffic, said expanding the EU’s emissions trading system as planned would also cause a “serious distortion of competition and weaken the global competitive position of EU airlines and hubs.” “This decision by the European Parliament is disturbing because it endangers international cooperation to tackle aviation’s climate change impacts,” IATA’s director general, Willie Walsh, said in a statement. He urged EU nations to reject the plan and commit to negotiating a global agreement on aviation emissions. The EU Parliament decision, part of a package of climate-related measures voted on by lawmakers that also included plans to ban selling new cars with combustion engines from 2035, was welcomed by environmentalists. Jo Dardenne, aviation director of the Brussels-based group Transport and Environment, said EU vote was “a major step forward in tackling heavily polluting long-haul flights.” The group also welcomed EU plans to monitor the climate impact of water vapor released by planes — the white lines in the sky known as contrails — and phase out free emission allowances for airlines sooner.<br/>

The EU’s reputation of leading on climate issues is proving true once again with the adoption of sustainable aviation fuels. The bloc’s parliament is set to vote on new requirements later in June that would help cut carbon pollution by the end of the decade, while stirring debate in some industry circles. EU transport ministers have recommended that the bloc mandate that 6% of all aviation fuel at European airports be of the sustainable variety by 2030. The mandate, known as ReFuelEU, is part of a larger package of carbon emissions reduction initiatives that aim to cut the bloc’s emissions 55% from 1990 levels by 2030. The European parliament is set to vote on the larger package, dubbed Fit for 55, by the end of June. If approved, the policy would still need to be finalized across the branches of the EU government — a process comparable to the reconciliation of bills in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate — before a planned implementation deadline of January 1, 2023. <br/>The mandate would “stimulate production and use of sustainable fuels,” France’s minister for ecological transition Amélie de Montchalin said on June 1 after a meeting of transport ministers. “The aim is to reduce the carbon footprint with in particular the obligation to use more and more alternative fuels that are sustainable in aviation.” Sustainable aviation fuel is seen by many in the industry as the easiest and fastest way to reduce carbon emissions. Global airline group the IATA’s goal of carbon neutral aviation by 2050 relies on 65% of fuel needs coming from sustainable fuels. To put this in perspective, today a fraction of 1% of aviation fuel is the sustainable variety.<br/>

Lebanon is planning to build a new terminal at Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut with the aim of accommodating a projected increase in travellers. According to an AP report, an international tender will be launched for the construction of the second airport terminal soon. Quoting Lebanon’s Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamie, the news agency added that the tender for the $70m project is currently being prepared. The project will be executed by the private sector and is expected to generate hundreds of jobs during the construction period. Once complete, the new terminal is intended for use by chartered and low-cost flights as well as Muslim pilgrims. The Beirut Airport underwent a major revamp after the civil war ended in 1990. It has been operating at full capacity for several years. The airport sustained moderate damages following two very large explosions at the Beirut port in 2020. The incident killed more than 200 people and injured thousands. According to the website of the national carrier Middle East Airlines, the airport currently handles around 8m passengers annually. The figure may increase to 20m by 2030. Lebanon is expected to record a sharp rise in traveller numbers following a period of decreased numbers due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Lebanon’s Minister of Tourism Walid Nassar said the country may receive between 10,000 and 12,000 passengers a day, or around 1m passengers over the next three months.<br/>

Suvarnabhumi airport has made adjustments to cope with the sharp increase in passenger volumes, following the lifting of travel rules and Covid-19 restrictions as of June 1. Suvarnabhumi airport general manager Kittipong Kittikachorn said on Thursday that Suvarnabhumi is expected to handle a daily average of 70,000 passengers this month, with 240 international and 220 domestic flights a day. The projected tally comprises 42,000 international passengers and 28,000 domestic travellers. The airport had deployed more staff and had 318 check-in counters together with 196 common-use self-service kiosks and 42 common-use bag drops to facilitate an increase in passenger numbers, Kittipong said. Airline ticket counters are open three hours in advance to ease passenger congestion, particularly during rush hours, he added.<br/>

While Indonesia’s air travel market is recovering from the coronavirus pandemic, several challenges confront the country’s airlines. Following the country’s full opening in recent months, domestic passenger traffic is now at 80% of 2019 levels, while the international market is at one-third of its previous size, according to a whitepaper sponsored by IBS Software, and penned by independent aviation analyst Brendan Sobie. Sobie states that Indonesia was the world’s fifth largest domestic market in 2018, and that domestic air travel could hit 2019 levels by the end of the year. International traffic, meanwhile, will reach half of 2019’s levels by year end, with a full recovery by the end of 2023. “Consumers are eager to fly again and embrace new technologies that are transforming the travel experience,” writes Sobie. “However, there are still numerous challenges. Competition is intensifying on trunk routes as new airlines enter. Manpower and MRO constraints are making it difficult to ramp up operations. Some airlines are still restructuring. The regulatory and economic environments are uncertain.” On the competition front, new entrants in the form of Lion Group carrier Super Air Jet and Pelita Air’s move to launch scheduled services have made the market more crowded. The launch of TransNusa Air in July will push the number of airlines competing on domestic trunk routes to nine. “Intensifying competition could make it harder to pass on higher costs to consumers, pressuring yields and making it harder to achieve profitability,” write Sobie. Another challenge will be the reactivation of roughly 180 aircraft – of which about 100 are Airbus a320s and Boeing 737s – that were grounded for the pandemic. Given that some of these aircraft were cannibalised for parts, it will take time and money to restore them. The availability of MRO slots for reactivation work is also a challenge. <br/>

Tens of thousands of Australians are flocking to airports across the nation for a getaway over the Queen’s birthday long weekend, sparking queues and delays. Melbourne airport is bracing for its busiest day since the Covid-19 pandemic hit, with more than 95,000 passengers expected to travel on Friday. There were long lines to check-in for Virgin flights early on Friday morning, with several routes cancelled or delayed. Congestion at the airport has since eased but passengers have been urged to plan ahead and arrive early as terminals are likely to be busy all day. “We’re advising passengers to arrive between one and two hours before a domestic flight and two to three hours before international flights to allow plenty of time for check-in and to clear security,” a Melbourne airport spokesperson said. In Sydney, where more than 80,000 passengers are expected to pass through the airport on Friday, queues began to build about 5am.<br/>

A US government report suggests certification of electric air taxis could take longer than some manufacturers are promising, citing formidable hurdles yet to be overcome. The report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says industry goals of having electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft certificated within one to five years may be unrealistic. The FAA may “not have clear standards for how to certificate these aircraft, and the development of clear standards may extend well beyond this timeframe”, says the report, released 9 June. The GAO’s findings are based on interviews with various parties involved in the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) market, including manufacturers, local governments, unions, universities and air traffic managers. Electric air taxis are a central component of the AAM concept. Despite timeline uncertainty, the report says many industry participants do expect some small electric aircraft may be operating in the next five years – though in limited numbers and few locations. Broader expansion will depend on overcoming numerous regulatory, technical and social challenges. The report says air-taxi technology “may pose difficulties for certificating”, adding that “much work remains in order to certificate eVTOL aircraft for commercial service”. Most air taxi developers have been pursuing certification under the FAA’s Part 23 rules, which apply to small commuter aircraft. But those rules, written for fixed-wing aircraft, do not fully apply to characteristics unique to eVTOLs, such as their electric propulsion systems and ability to transition between vertical and horizontal flight, the GAO report notes.<br/>