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US airline bookings slipped 2.3% in May from a month earlier, the second consecutive monthly drop this year, while fares soared over 2019 levels, according to an Adobe report published Tuesday. Consumers spent $8.3b on domestic tickets last month, up 6.2% from April. So far this year, consumers spent more than $37b for domestic flights, almost double what they spent in the first five months of last year, when Covid-19 vaccines were just becoming widely available. “While some consumers have been able to stomach the higher fares, especially for those who delayed travel plans during the pandemic, the dip in bookings shows that some are rethinking their appetite for getting on a plane,” Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, wrote in the report. Airfare has surged thanks to high fuel prices, labor shortages and red-hot travel demand after two years of the Covid pandemic, marking one of the most dramatic examples of rising inflation this year. Bookings have been mostly resilient, though it’s unclear whether demand will last beyond the peak spring and summer travel season, when airlines make the bulk of their annual revenue. “We have yet to see any cracks in airline bookings, and investors remain concerned about a potential slowdown post peak summer travel,” Andrew Didora, airline analyst at Bank of America, wrote in a note Monday. Airlines cheered the Biden administration’s decision last week to lift a Covid-19 testing requirement for inbound international travelers. Didora said the shift could further fuel international bookings.<br/>

The US airline industry told Congress the FAA must take steps to ensure the nation's airspace can handle rising air travel demand, according to a letter obtained by Reuters on Tuesday. Trade group Airlines for America (A4A) said in a previously unreported letter dated Friday that "airlines are aggressively pursuing several options to align schedules with workforce availability" but added "the FAA must also work to ensure that the air traffic control system is capable of meeting demand." Last month, Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal and Edward Markey asked A4A for answers after more than 2,700 Memorial Day weekend flights were canceled. The senators said "while some flight cancellations are unavoidable, the sheer number of delays and cancellations this past weekend raises questions about airline decision-making."Travelers are bracing for a difficult summer as airlines expect record demand and are still rebuilding staff after thousands of workers left the industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. The FAA declined to comment on the letter, referring to a May statement, when it said it would boost authorized air traffic control staff at its Jacksonville, Florida, center after bad weather and space launches have snarled flights.<br/>

During a morning meeting in early May, staff at the federal air traffic command center rattle off a few of the day’s obstacles: storms near the Florida coast and in Texas, a military aircraft exercise, and a report of a bird strike at Newark Liberty International Airport. The center, about an hour’s drive from Washington, DC, is responsible for coordinating the complex web of more than 40,000 flights a day over the U.S. Shortly after 7 a.m. ET, there were already 3,500 flights in the air. During peak travel periods, that figure can climb to more than 5,000 flights at once. As air travel rebounds to near pre-Covid pandemic levels even as airlines remain understaffed, the agency and carriers are trying to control the rising rate of delays and cancellations that can ruin vacations and cost airlines tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue. The problems are coming during the high-demand spring and summer travel season, which also coincides with some of the most disruptive weather for airlines — thunderstorms. LaKisha Price, the air traffic manager at the FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center, said staff are monitoring potential problems in the nation’s airspace “every day, every hour.” The center is staffed 24/7. From the start of the year through June 13, airlines canceled 3% of the roughly 4 million commercial U.S. flights for that period, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. Another 20% were delayed, with passengers waiting an average of 48 minutes. Over the same period in 2019 before the pandemic, 2% of flights were canceled and 17% delayed, with a similar average wait time, according to FlightAware.<br/>

The start of the summer travel season in Europe has been marred by chaos at airports and popular tourist destinations as airlines, government agencies and industry operators struggle to meet travel demand, which, in some spots, has already surpassed 2019 levels. The mayhem is likely to get worse, travel experts warn, as more people decide to travel following the recent decision by the Biden administration to drop its coronavirus testing requirement for international air travel. Hundreds of flights have been canceled and delayed daily at major European airport hubs over the past two weeks. At London’s Heathrow and Amsterdam’s Schiphol airports, passengers waited up to six hours in security lines, and those waiting to check-in spilled out of the terminals into parking lots. “It was just huge crowds of confused and frustrated people everywhere and no information,” said Eliza Glass, 28, who arrived at Heathrow earlier this month to find her flight to Toronto had been canceled. “After one hour of walking around in circles, I just sat on my suitcase and cried.” In the United States, airports and airlines face labor shortages, adverse weather conditions and a rise in worker coronavirus cases, but wait times, delays and cancellations have not reached the same level. Airlines canceled more than 2,800 flights over the Memorial Day weekend and 20,644 flights were delayed, according to FlightAware, an aviation data site, and several air carriers, including Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines, are reducing their summer schedules to help prevent further disruptions.<br/>

The federal government announced on Tuesday it will be dropping the requirement that domestic and outbound international travellers be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, effective June 20. In an earlier version of this story, senior government sources told CTV News that the new travel restrictions and lifting vaccine mandates would come into effect on Wednesday. Foreign nationals coming to Canada will still be required to be vaccinated. The mandates first came into effect in October 30, 2021, and have required all passengers on planes or trains to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to be allowed to board. The mandates have been the subject of heavy criticism from the Conservative Party of Canada in the House of Commons in recent months. <br/>

A five-person Canadian airline crew caught up in a drug-trafficking investigation is begging their government to repatriate them after two months trapped in the Dominican Republic. “It’s absolutely horrendous – terrible, terrible stuff we’re going through,” said captain Robert Di Venanzo, who said he and his crew could be held for up to a year while an investigation proceeds. The episode began on 5 April, when the small charter plane belonging to Pivot Airlines was preparing to return to Toronto Pearson airport from Punta Cana. While doing his final pre-flight checks, maintenance engineer Bal Krishna Dubey found some black duffel bags in the maintenance bay – a part of the aircraft that would normally never hold luggage. The crew reported the unopened bags to Canada’s RCMP as well as local authorities. A pair of Dominican police officers approached with sniffer dogs. When they unzipped the bags, smaller packages of a white substance wrapped in plastic fell out. In all, the eight bags contained 200kg of cocaine, later valued at around $25m. The crew looked on in confusion as the officers posed for photos for a press release, and Di Venanzo initially thought the officers would thank them for reporting the bags. Instead, they threw them in jail. Story has more.<br/>

European's top aviation safety regulator said on Tuesday that he is "very worried" about the safety of Western-made aircraft continuing to fly in Russia without access to spare parts and proper maintenance. The European Union and the United States have moved to restrict Russia's access to spare parts following its invasion of Ukraine. "This is very unsafe," Patrick Ky, executive director of the EASA, told reporters on the sidelines of a conference, adding that regulators do not have good data on many of the planes flying in Russia.<br/>

The UK government and aviation regulator have ordered airlines to ensure all their advertised flights go ahead this summer, as industry bosses apologised for the disruption that marred the half-term getaway. The Department for Transport and Civil Aviation Authority on Tuesday wrote a joint letter to the aviation industry which said “more needs to be done” to guarantee the summer holiday season would not be affected by further interruptions following “unacceptable scenes” over recent weeks.  Airlines were told to cancel flights early rather than scrap them at the last minute, and to “review afresh” their plans for the summer to “develop a schedule that is deliverable”. The intervention came after senior aviation industry officials conceded the recent wave of disruption was unacceptable, but warned that the industry was still suffering from staff shortages and there were no guarantees the problems would be solved by the summer holidays. Between 2 and 4% of UK flights were cancelled during the first week of May, compared with a normal rate of 1%, the CAA said. Sophie Dekkers, easyJet’s CCO, issued an apology to customers caught up in the problems. “We haven’t got it right and we need to get it right,” she said at a parliamentary select committee hearing on Tuesday. “We definitely want to be better, no one wants to let customers down,” Lisa Tremble, a senior executive at British Airways, told the hearing. Tremble and other airline executives said many factors had contributed to the problems, including staff shortages and the uncertainty that was gripping the travel industry until as recently as March when the UK government loosened its remaining coronavirus travel rules.<br/>

UK travellers are being forced to wait months and even years to get a refund for cancelled or delayed flight as the industry warns that the problems at airports will not be fixed in time for the summer. Sue Davies, head of consumer protection at Which?, told the business, energy and industrial strategy committee that some UK airlines are taking a very long time to pay compensation claims. “It can be a very lengthy and complicated process for people that can take months or even years. I think the worst example we have is the Ryanair one, which it will take about five years for people to get the compensation they’re entitled to,” she said. “People know very little about their rights. Airlines are required to tell them what their right are but they don’t always do that explicitly or obviously.” Travellers are entitled to compensation if their flight arrives three or more hours late. However, they are unlikely to receive any remuneration if the delay is not due to the airline. For example, bad weather or security issues. The amount of compensation customers receive changes depending on the length of delay and the journey distance.<br/>

US and European aviation safety regulators plan to hold a meeting next week with Boeing on its 777X airplane that is awaiting certification, Europe's top aviation safety regulator said on Tuesday. Boeing in April said it was halting production of the 777X through 2023 and confirmed a delay in handing over the first 777X jet to 2025 from the previous target of late 2023, but said it remained confident in the program. Patrick Ky, executive director of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Washington that the meeting is "very important" to share information. "We just need to agree on common principals of how to achieve the safety targets that we have and we need to understand each other. That's where we are," Ky said, adding that "we need to agree on planing, who does what." The FAA and Boeing did not immediately comment. Ky added the meeting is to talk about "what are the issues, what are the solutions, what are the mitigating factors." The FAA warned Boeing in a March 21 letter that existing certification schedules for the 737 MAX 10 and 777X were "outdated and no longer reflect the program activities." Certification is needed before Boeing can begin deliveries. The 777X, known as the 777-9 and a larger version of the 777 wide-body jet, has been in development since 2013 and at one point was expected to be released for airline use in June 2020.<br/>

The operator of Istanbul's second-largest airport Sabiha Gokcen is seeking relief from its current contract after the pandemic hit and is close to reaching a deal with the Turkish government, a top company official said. ISG, the operator, is fully owned by Malaysia Airports Holdings and has a 20-year contract with the government to run Sabiha Gokcen airport until 2034. The contract was worth E1.93b. "We are discussing with the government some forms of relief due to the pandemic," said Mohammad Nazli Abdul Aziz, executive director of the operator, ISG. "We have been getting a very good response and cooperation. And we're happy to note that the government takes care of our concern very well," he said. ISG's discussions with the government's Presidency of Defence Industries revolve around securing benefits that other airports received to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the country's other airports operate under a different authority, which has already secured relief packages.<br/>

Travellers will no longer need to wear masks in Australian airports from midnight on Friday, with the mandate remaining in place for flights. The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee is scrapping its recommendation to mandate masks at airport terminals, the Albanese government announced on Tuesday. The rule will be dropped as early as Saturday, but flyers will still be required to wear masks on planes to help limit the spread of Covid-19. In a statement, the government said the committee didn't consider the mandate for terminals "proportionate" following relaxed mask-wearing rules in all states and territories. "The government notes the AHPPC has strongly recommended Australians continue to wear masks as a key measure to help minimise the spread of CovidD-19 and influenza," the statement reads. "Masks help us protect the most vulnerable in our community who are unable to get vaccinated and people who have a higher risk of developing severe illness." The statement says the committee will continue to review mask wearing on flights, and will provide further advice on this in the future.<br/>

Boeing said Tuesday it had delivered 29 of its cash-earning 737 MAX single-aisle jets to customers in May, bringing in needed funds as the US planemaker worked through supply chain and regulatory hurdles. Boeing also handed over to customers the fourth-to-last of its hump-backed 747s, a freighter to Atlas Air, and three 777 freighters, reflecting strong demand for cargo capacity, it said. The closely watched monthly orders and deliveries snapshot comes as Boeing kicks off media briefings at its Seattle-area facilities this week in preparation for Britain's Farnborough Airshow next month. As Boeing prepares for the industry's annual showcase, the embattled US planemaker is scrambling to resolve supply chain bottlenecks that have curbed 737 production and to win approval to resume deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner, among other challenges gripping its jet portfolio. The 35 overall deliveries in May was more than double the 17 jets it handed over in the same month a year ago. That brings the delivery total for the first five months of the year to 165 aircraft, according to the data released on Tuesday. Deliveries are a closely watched metric for investors since airlines hand over the bulk of the money for an order when they pick up their planes at Boeing. Boeing booked 23 gross orders, 17 of which were for widebody aircraft. <br/>

Airbus is preparing to stage the maiden flight of its A321XLR jetliner, a major milestone in the race to improve the range of narrowbody jets, but it is struggling to pin down key certification and delivery dates, industry sources said. Airbus recently delayed the entry to service by at least three months to early 2024 to allow part of the lower fuselage to be modified amid regulators' concerns over the risk of fire in the event of a belly landing, due to its fuel tank design.<br/>