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The US DOT Thursday awarded $968.6m to 85 airport projects to address the country's aging and often mocked aviation infrastructure. Some projects will fund new terminals, boost gate capacity, add air traffic control towers, jet bridges, new bathrooms, baggage claim belts and reconfigure security checkpoints. The five-year, $5b airport terminal grant program was approved by Congress in November as part of the $1 trillion infrastructure law. "Airport terminals are not something the federal government has historically invested in. It's typically been local airport owners and airlines that have done that. But the need is evident," White House infrastructure coordinator Mitch Landrieu told reporters. US airports have often fared poorly in worldwide comparisons and occasionally received ridicule from foreign visitors. "America is a country that brought modern aviation to the world and yet around the world in most rankings of airport quality, not one of our airports rank among the Top 25," US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said, adding no one could look at US airports and say "the existing system and existing levels of funding have been adequate."<br/>

Amazon.com and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey scrapped plans for a new air cargo facility at Newark Liberty International Airport, a project that local activists had criticized. “Unfortunately, the Port Authority and Amazon have been unable to reach an agreement on final lease terms and mutually concluded that further negotiations will not resolve the outstanding issues,” Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Chief Operating Officer Huntley Lawrence said. In August 2021, Amazon’s cargo airline launched plans to spend $125m to transform two existing buildings at the airport. The agency was set to receive $157m in rent over a 20-year lease and an upfront payment of $150m. Newark and Elizabeth, New Jersey residents opposed to the proposal said it would impact the surrounding communities that are already being affected by air pollution and associated health-related issues like asthma from airport and port emissions. Opponents also decried the potential loss of high-paying union jobs. Last year, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy had said the project would create 1,000 jobs. “The growth of air cargo and the redevelopment of airport facilities in a manner that benefits the region as well as the local community remain a top priority of the Port Authority. Moving forward, the Agency will examine options and determine the best future utilization of these cargo facilities,” Lawrence said. “After months of good faith negotiations with the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, we’re disappointed to report that we’ve been unable to reach a final deal for the regional air hub at Newark Liberty International Airport,” Amazon spokesperson Maria Boschetti said. The company sees continued investments in the state, she added.<br/>

The European Parliament on Thursday backed landmark rules on aviation fuel that set binding targets for the replacement of kerosene with less polluting energy sources, but extended the definition of what a green fuel could be. The requirements, which if approved would be a world first, were originally proposed by the European executive commission last year to cut the climate impact of the aviation sector, which is deemed responsible for up to 3% of global emissions. Under the approved text, suppliers would be required to blend a minimum of 2% of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) into their kerosene from 2025, rising to 85% in 2050 - more ambitious than the target of 63% by 2050 originally proposed by the Commission. Under the terms of the Commission's original proposal, SAF would include bio-based fuels obtained from recycled waste and, on a smaller scale, hydrogen-based synthetic or e-fuels produced from renewable energy sources. But the version of the rules approved by the European Parliament extended the Commission's original definition of SAF, adding recycled carbon fuels produced from waste-processing gas, and biofuels produced from animal fats or distillates. Before the vote, EU energy commissioner Kadri Simson had urged lawmakers not to extend the definition of SAF, and to be careful with excessively ambitious targets.<br/>

Aeroports de Paris, which runs the French capital’s major airports, reached a key labor agreement in a series of disputes over pay, averting strikes by firefighters that were set to begin Friday. An accord was signed with the CGT union, prompting fire crews at Charles de Gaulle airport, France’s biggest international hub, to withdraw a threat of further walkouts, ADP said in a statement Thursday. The accord is vital to the smooth running of the hub since previous action by the emergency workers has shut runways and triggered significant flight cancellations. France’s DGAC civil aviation authority confirmed separately that Charles de Gaulle will function normally from Friday through Sunday said it hasn’t asked airlines to cancel flights. While more unions still need to sign deals, ADP said that “constructive” negotiations are ongoing. Bloomberg News reported earlier the hub operator was nearing a resolution to the labor strife. The dispute at the main base of Air France-KLM began last month after ADP employees and workers at sub-contractors walked off the job for a day in a campaign for improved pay. Three days of strikes last week then scuppered up to a fifth of flights and turned Paris into the latest choke-point in Europe’s snarled travel network. The latest action was set to last into the weekend.<br/>

Ryanair is to resume flights from Belfast International Airport. Last year the Irish low-cost airline announced it was pulling out of the airport, citing concerns over air passenger duty (APD). But it has now announced 12 new routes from the hub next summer, operating 115 flights per week. The routes include Alicante, Faro, Barcelona Girona, Milan Bergamo and Malaga as well as domestic services to East Midlands, Edinburgh, London Stansted and Manchester. Ryanair’s Belfast-based fleet will comprise of two aircraft and create 60 aviation jobs at Belfast International as well as a number of indirect roles. Ryanair’s director of commercial, Jason McGuinness, said: “At a time when other airlines are cutting their schedules and reducing their workforce, we are delighted to announce a new Ryanair base at Belfast International Airport with 12 exciting routes. “We are delighted to have reached a long-term agreement with Belfast International’s management, which will underpin future Ryanair growth at the airport over the coming years. Today’s announcement, particularly our decision to launch close to 80 weekly domestic flights to/from East Midlands, Edinburgh, London Stansted and Manchester, demonstrates that lower aviation taxes and competitive airport charges are the catalyst for long-term traffic growth and increased connectivity.”<br/>

The owner of Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands airports lost £320 million during the 12 months to the end of March as passenger numbers were a third of pre-pandemic levels. Manchester Airports Group said its combined losses for the last two years were GBP694m. Compared with 2018/19, revenues were down 80% in 2020/21 and 48% during the following year. The group served 20.5m passengers in the 12 months to the end of March. That was more than triple the figure for the previous year, which was affected by coronavirus lockdowns. However, it was just a third of the 2019/20 total as pandemic travel restrictions were in place in the UK for 11 months of the period. MAG said its recovery from the virus crisis is “outstripping” other UK airports, with passenger numbers at 82% of pre-pandemic levels in May. The group’s chief executive, Charlie Cornish, said: “With travel restrictions in place for nearly all of the last 12 months, it was another uncertain and unpredictable year for MAG and the wider aviation industry.” MAG airports are among those that have been affected by the widespread disruption across the aviation sector, as the spike in demand for travel has coincided with staffing shortages.<br/>

Ukraine International Airlines, which stopped operations in late February when Russia began its invasion, has agreed to fly charters from Polish cities to holiday destinations in Spain, Egypt, Tunisia, Albania and Turkey. UIA said on Thursday that it will service daily flights for Polish tour operator Itaka from Katowice, Warsaw, Krakow and Rzeszow to destinations around the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the Canary Islands. It will base an extended range Boeing Co. 737-900 narrow-body plane in Katowice, manned by four Ukrainian crews. UIA and Itaka will analyze possibilities to add more destinations and extend their cooperation until the end of the high tourist season, according to the statement. The Ukrainian carrier grounded all regular and charter flights when Russia invaded. In May, it leased one of its jets to Latvian carrier Air Baltic Corp AS.<br/>

Israel and Turkey on Thursday signed a new bilateral civil aviation agreement, their first since 1951, as part of a recent warming of diplomatic ties, allowing Israeli carriers to resume flights to Turkey after a 15-year absence. "The agreement is expected to result in the resumption of flights by Israeli companies to a variety of destinations in Turkey, alongside flights by Turkish companies to Israel," Israel's Transportation Ministry said. It said that the deal stemmed from "constructive negotiations in recent weeks and constitutes an important milestone in advancing bilateral relations." Earlier this week, Israel said it would reopen its economic and trade office in Turkey after both governments expelled ambassadors in 2018 while often trading barbs over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel and Turkey are now looking to restore representation to ambassador level. Israeli carriers have not flown commercially to Turkey since 2007, while Turkish carriers flew as many as 16 flights a day to Israel pre-COVID. El Al had long complained to government officials that this was discriminatory towards Israeli airlines. "This is very good news," said an El Al spokesman. "We have an intention to fly commercial flights to Istanbul."<br/>

The Taliban and the United Arab Emirates are poised to strike a deal for the Gulf nation to run Kabul airport and several others in Afghanistan that could be announced within weeks, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. The Taliban, whose government remains an international pariah without formal recognition, have courted regional powers, including Qatar and Turkey, to operate Kabul airport, landlocked Afghanistan's main air link with the world, and others. But after months of back-and-forth talks, and at one point raising the possibility of a joint UAE-Turkey-Qatar deal, the Taliban is set to hand the operations in their entirety to the UAE, who had previously run Afghan airports, the sources said. An agreement would help the Islamist militants ease their isolation from the outside world as they govern an impoverished country beset by drought, widespread hunger and economic crisis. It would also hand Abu Dhabi a win in its diplomatic tussle with Qatar for influence.<br/>

Song Zhiyong, who was appointed as the party boss at China’s aviation regulator last month, has replaced Feng Zhenglin to be the administrator of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), the agency’s website said. The CAAC has become one of the world’s most influential aviation regulators, alongside its US and European counterparts, after being the first to ground Boeing’s 737 MAX in 2019 after two fatal crashes. Song began his career as a pilot at Air China and has held a series of meetings at CAAC in recent weeks where he stressed the need to adhere to the Communist Party’s political leadership, to ensure aviation safety and to push for reforms in the civil aviation system, according to statements on CAAC’s website. Feng, who will reach retirement age this year, will serve a consultative role on economic affairs at the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), state media said in late June. In the second half of this year, the CAAC will accelerate efforts to streamline aircraft certification, help reform the country’s air traffic control system and push for transformation of its regulatory model, Song has said. Industry group IATA says China’s domestic market alone accounts for 10% of global air traffic.<br/>

It could be one of the world’s most expensive white elephants. Hong Kong opened its new, third runway at its airport on Friday morning, part of a HK$141.5b ($18b) project that will increase its footprint by 50%, adding 650 hectares (1,606 acres), equivalent to the size of Gibraltar. Also under construction is a HK$20 billion entertainment, retail and commercial complex being built by local conglomerate New World Development Co. that will be larger than New York’s Grand Central Terminal. It’s all designed to solidify the city’s role as a global aviation hub, but comes at a time when the government’s flight bans and quarantine rules have crushed demand for air travel to and from Hong Kong. The policies “seem to have been almost designed to try to kill off Cathay Pacific and the Hong Kong hub,” said Robert Boyle, founder of London-based aviation advisory Gridpoint Consulting. Only 545,000 passengers passed through the airport in the first five months of 2022 versus 31.4m in the same period of 2019. After more than two years of isolation, Hong Kong was “off the map” as a global hub, the head of the IATA said in April. “Every day that passes it becomes more difficult for Hong Kong,” IATA director general Willie Walsh said last month, speaking at an industry summit. “I think it’s going to be a really hard job for Hong Kong to regain its former glory.”<br/>

Hong Kong has suspended a rule that banned individual flights for bringing in passengers infected with the Covid-19 virus, as it caused “unnecessary trouble” and inconvenience to residents of the global financial hub, the government said on Thursday. The city has banned more than 100 flights this year. The bans were a major frustration for businesses and residents used to easy and efficient travel from the former British colony. Its removal paves the way for many residents to return home, with scores stranded overseas due to the flight bans. “The social cost caused by the ‘circuit breaker mechanism’ is quite large, and it also brings unnecessary trouble to these international students and their families,” the government said. Previously, airlines would be banned for five days if they brought in more than five people infected with the coronavirus. Earlier this year flights were banned for up to two weeks, making it difficult for airlines to operate. All arrivals are still required to quarantine for at least one week in a hotel.<br/>

Boeing CE Dave Calhoun told Aviation Week in an interview that the planemaker could be forced to cancel the 737 Max 10 over potential regulatory issues. Boeing has a December deadline to win approval for the 737 MAX 10 - the largest member of its best-selling single-aisle airplane family. Otherwise, it must meet new cockpit alerting requirements under a 2020 law, unless Congress waives it. Calhoun's comments could put more pressure on Congress. "If you go through the things we’ve been through, the debts that we’ve had to accumulate, our ability to respond, or willingness to see things through even a world without the -10 is not that threatening," Calhoun told Aviation Week, adding that he does not expect to cancel the 737 MAX 10 but said "it’s just a risk." A Boeing spokeswoman confirmed the accuracy of Calhoun's quotes and reiterated the planemaker is "working transparently with the (FAA) to provide the information they need, and are committed to meeting their expectations and those of our customers to certify and deliver the 737-10." The 2022 deadline was mandated by Congress as part of broader regulatory reforms at the FAA after fatal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 killed 346 people. Boeing has more than 640 orders for MAX 10 planes from 17 airlines, Aviation Week said. In June 2021, United Airlines (UAL.O) said it would order another 150 MAX 10s. In March, the FAA warned Boeing it may not win certification of the MAX 10 by the end of the year and asked the company to provide a "mature certification schedule." Boeing declined to comment on its current certification schedule.<br/>

Rolls-Royce executives say they are seeing early signs of a recovery in demand for new large aircraft from airlines, which are mostly used for long-haul international routes, as hopes rise for the revival in aviation. The FTSE 100 group, which derives a large part of its income from manufacturing and servicing engines for Boeing and Airbus’s large widebody aircraft, is the latest company to flag an uptick in demand from airlines. There is “a lot more interest around potential wide-body [sales] campaigns starting again now”, said Chris Cholerton, president of Rolls-Royce’s civil aerospace division during a tour of the company’s engine manufacturing facility in Derby. He added that some of the airlines are “looking for deliveries from 2025 onwards”. The signs of demand for widebody aircraft is a key indicator for the aviation recovery as they are largely used on long-haul routes, which have trailed the revival for smaller jets following the pandemic-induced slump in air travel. The return of the wide-body market is also critical for Rolls-Royce to get back to full financial health. The company’s business model of earning revenues on engines in the air and on after-market sales was badly hit by the grounding of a large portion of the world’s fleet during the pandemic. Cholerton’s comments echo those of Airbus, which recently signalled it could start to increase production of its best-selling wide-body A350 jets earlier than thought. The European manufacturer, which is aggressively raising output of its single-aisle A320 family of jets, has so far stuck to a forecast to increase production of its A350 jet from five a month to six in early 2023, but the rapid rebound in travel has sparked more interest from airlines.<br/>