general

Air passengers across the United States faced extensive flight cancellations and delays this weekend, caused by a boom in travel demand coupled with widespread staffing shortages. From Friday through Sunday, airlines that fly within, into, or out of the United States canceled more than 1,400 flights, according to FlightAware, a flight-tracking website, stranding and angering some passengers headed for long-awaited summer vacations. In addition, more than 14,000 flights were delayed this holiday weekend, according to the site’s data. Some airlines seemed to be struggling to handle passenger volume that approached or in some cases even exceeded prepandemic levels. On Friday, the TSA screened more passengers — 2.49m people — than on any other day this year. That surpassed the 2.18 travelers screened on July 1, 2019, before the pandemic. The experience was frustrating for some passengers on US carriers. On Saturday, 1,048 — or 29% — of Southwest flights were delayed, as were 28% of American Airlines flights, according to FlightAware. United and Delta had similar problems, with 21% and 19% of their flights also delayed. On Sunday, the middle of the holiday weekend, travelers seemed to be getting a respite from the worst of the problems. Adding to the pressure on air carriers this weekend was a glitch in the pilot-scheduling system at American Airlines that enabled pilots to drop thousands of flight assignments for July. The airline said on Saturday that it did not anticipate any “operational impact” because of the glitch. But the Allied Pilots Association, the union for American Airlines pilots, said that the airline had unilaterally reinstated the dropped trips without the agreement of the pilots. The union said it was pressing the airline to pay an “inconvenience premium” to pilots affected by the scheduling system problems.<br/>

Major US airlines have agreed to update computer systems by the end of 2024 to allow travelers to purchase tickets with an “X” gender marker, an airline trade group confirmed on Friday. US Senator Ron Wyden, in a letter to Airlines for America CE Nick Calio that was seen by Reuters, said member airlines committed to the change after he had engaged with the group. A spokeswoman for the airline group confirmed that Wyden’s letter was accurate. Airlines for America represents passenger carriers Delta, United, American Airlines, Southwest, Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and JetBlue Airways. In March, the Biden administration said Americans would be allowed to choose an “X” for gender on their passport applications and select their sex on Social Security cards. “Nobody should have to misgender themselves in order to book a flight,” Wyden wrote. “And, by forcing travelers to book their ticket with inaccurate gender information, airlines also end up providing inaccurate information to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).” Wyden’s letter said “member airlines will publish a page on their websites detailing the specific steps that nonbinary individuals can take to obtain tickets that reflect their gender, such as working with a customer service representative who can manually update the gender marker on their ticket.” Wyden’s letter noted that United and American Airlines “have already changed their booking process to allow travelers to book tickets with an X gender marker, but not all US airlines have followed their example.”<br/>

The Canada Day long weekend saw a continuation of summer travel chaos at Canada’s major airports, which have been hammered by a surge of travellers and a shortage of airline, security and customs workers. Some of the worst delays were in Montreal and Toronto, where check-in lineups stretched to the entrances of the terminals. South of the border, the Fourth of July long weekend led to US airports being jammed with their biggest crowds since the pandemic began in 2020. Because of the continuing airport disruptions, last week Air Canada cancelled roughly 10 to 15% of its flight schedule for July and August, a crucial period in which airlines make much of their profit. Air Canada has said some of the issues are beyond its control, as short-staffed airports struggle to handle an immense amount of baggage sitting in terminals. Canadian airlines and airport operators have also blamed the federal government for security staffing shortages that have created bottlenecks at screening points. WestJet spokesperson Madison Kruger said the airline has tried to alleviate stress on its system by consolidating some flights. “Despite our consistent and proactive efforts, there remains significant operational challenges across the Canadian aviation ecosystem that fall outside of our control, contributing to significant delays and at times cancellation,” she said. Neither airline, nor the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, which operates Pearson Airport, had statistics available about the number of flight cancellations and delays during the Canada Day weekend.<br/>

Travelers in Europe are paying ever more for a plane ticket and yet have less chance of actually making it to their destination. From London to Amsterdam to Berlin, chaotic scenes are playing out at airports as the fine-tuned interplay between check-in desks, security personnel and baggage handlers unravels. While Asia’s travel industry is still navigating Covid-19 and the US suffers from a shortage of pilots, ticket pricing and cancellation data show Europe is where the turmoil has converged to inflict maximum pain on consumers. Europe had more than double the cancellations of US carriers between April and June, according to data from flight tracking company RadarBox.com. Axed flights in June — the start of Europe’s peak summer season — totaled 7,870 for departures from Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Spain, almost triple the number in the same period in 2019, aviation consultancy Cirium says. Meanwhile, fares on summer routes such as London to Alicante in Spain this week are more than three times higher than the same week last year, according to data from Kayak.com. Prices from Paris to New York have tripled since March 2019. The breakdown highlights how a faster-than-expected recovery in air travel has clashed with a massive staffing shortage after deep cuts during the pandemic. Instead of a roaring comeback, the global aviation industry is stumbling, unable to rapidly fire up operations again from the worst travel slump on record and making what in the past might have been a routine trip more of an odyssey.<br/>

Europe’s air transport safety authority has laid out pioneering proposals for integrating operation of air taxis within cities, using innovative vertical take-off aircraft, with rules complementing those previously drawn up for unmanned aircraft systems. The proposals cover airworthiness and flight-crew licensing, as well as air operations, and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency has opened a public consultation which will run to the end of September. “With this, EASA becomes the first aviation regulator worldwide to release a comprehensive regulatory framework for operations of VTOL-capable aircraft, which will offer air taxi and similar services,” says executive director Patrick Ky. EASA has defined a concept of ‘innovative aerial services’ which encompasses the various operations enabled by new technologies, of which ‘innovative air mobility’ is a subset which, in turn, includes urban air mobility. It says analysis of existing regulations suggested a “lack” of adequate regulatory frameworks to maintain the necessary level of safety for certain operations, including those of manned designs capable of VTOL. New and amended regulations are necessary to enable urban air mobility implementation and “help build up [European citizens’] trust” regarding passenger VTOL aircraft operations, as well as those using unmanned vehicles, the EASA proposal states.<br/>

Airlines worked Saturday to deliver luggage to passengers around the world after a technical breakdown left at least 1,500 bags stuck at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport, the latest of several tangles hitting travelers this summer. The airport’s baggage sorting system had a technical malfunction Friday that caused 15 flights to depart without luggage, leaving about 1,500 bags on the ground, according to the airport operating company. The airport handled about 1,300 flights overall Friday, the operator said. Union activists said many more passengers flew without their bags, apparently because of knock-on effects from the original breakdown. It came as airport workers are on strike at French airports to demand more hiring and more pay to keep up with high global inflation. Because of the strike, aviation authorities canceled 17% of flights out of the Paris airports Friday morning, and another 14% were canceled Saturday. Passengers on canceled flights were alerted days ahead of their flights. The scene at Charles de Gaulle on Saturday was busy but typical for the first weekend in July, when France’s summer travel season kicks off. Unions plan to continue striking Sunday but no flights have been canceled so far. They have threatened to renew the strike next weekend if negotiations with company management don’t succeed in finding a compromise. Until now, French airports had been largely spared the chaos seen recently at airports in London, Amsterdam and some other European and US cities. <br/>

Striking Paris airport workers said on Saturday they would stage another walkout at the French capital's main international hub from July 8-10 to press their pay demands, signalling further disruption for early summer travellers. Ground staff at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport have staged a series of strikes to demand a wage hike to cushion the pain of inflation, emboldened by booming demand for air travel and staff shortages caused in part by the COVID-19 pandemic. The current walkout, which began on Thursday, is due to continue until Sunday, though France's civil aviation authority said less disruption was expected. Airport operator ADP had offered staff a 4% pay rise if they agreed to end the strike on Friday, but workers rejected the offer, a union representative told Reuters. "A majority of workers think the offer is not good enough," said Daniel Bertone, who represents the CGT union. "They don't trust management and they don't accept the 'it's this or nothing' blackmail." "We notified the management of a new strike plan from the 8th until the 10th of July," Bertone added. Staff of Paris airports' subcontractors plan other strikes from July 13-17. On Saturday, one in five flights were cancelled between 0500 GMT and 1200 GMT.<br/>

Four months ago, at the beginning of the war, countless Ukrainians were demoralized when they learned that the world’s largest cargo airplane, built in Ukraine, was destroyed in a fierce battle. The plane, called Mriya, which in Ukrainian language means The Dream, was Ukraine’s pride. Only one was ever built. It was a global airplane celebrity. Now it lay in mangled wreckage. But this week the efforts to resurrect Mriya got a huge lift. Richard Branson, the British billionaire and aerospace mogul, toured the airfield in Hostomel, a city near Kyiv where the plane had been based. During the visit, on Wednesday, Ukrainian aerospace experts broached the idea of rebuilding it. “We are excited,” said Nataliya Sad, a spokeswoman for Ukroboronprom, the state-run defense manufacturer that owns Mriya. “Mriya is our symbol of victory, of light over darkness, and it should be rebuilt.” Branson, who has consistently voiced support for Ukraine during the war, did not say whether he would contribute to the effort to get the gargantuan craft aloft again. But he did write in his blog, “I hope that Mriya’s legacy will endure.” A Virgin Group spokesperson said that Branson was assessing what would be needed to rebuild the plane, and that the effort would turn to finding ways the international community could support the project and help rebuild its airfield and Ukraine’s aviation industry. One Ukrainian lawmaker, David Arakhamia, said that Branson had “expressed his willingness to help in any way he can,” according to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.<br/>

Airbus is to sell close to 300 aircraft to Chinese companies in a multibillion-dollar package of deals that will strengthen the European group’s foothold over US rival Boeing in the world’s second-largest aviation market. The European manufacturer’s series of agreements with Chinese carriers, which involves the sale of 292 planes worth more than $37b, are the country’s first big purchases since the Covid-19 pandemic. The deals are a major coup for Airbus in its battle with Boeing as China is a vital growth market for the world’s two biggest aircraft manufacturers. It also highlights Boeing’s problems in China since the two fatal crashes of 737 Max jets in October 2018 and March 2019. China was the first country to ground the aircraft. While the Max is flying again in most major markets, none of the Chinese airlines have yet returned the planes to commercial service, despite the country’s aviation regulator last year deeming it to be airworthy again. Airbus struck a similar deal with Beijing, agreeing to sell about 300 aircraft worth an estimated E30b, shortly after the second Max crash in 2019. China Eastern Airlines said it would buy 100 of Airbus’s popular single-aisle A320neo family of jets, Air China will take 64 of the aircraft, while its Shenzhen Airlines subsidiary is purchasing another 32. In addition, China Southern Airlines, a carrier Boeing has historically counted as its biggest customer in the country, said it will buy 96 A320neos, as well as lease additional planes. China Southern’s Airbus deal follows its decision in May to remove more than 100 of the 737 Max jets from its fleet plans, citing uncertainty over deliveries. The orders are a “solid endorsement from our airline customers in China of the performance, quality, fuel efficiency and sustainability of the world’s leading family of single aisle aircraft”, said Christian Scherer, Airbus chief commercial officer.<br/>