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The US Justice Department said Tuesday it is seeking possession of a Venezuelan cargo jet that has been grounded in Argentina since early June because it was previously owned by an Iranian airline that allegedly has ties to terror groups. The request to Argentina was revealed a day after an Argentine judge allowed 12 of the 19 crewmembers of the plane to leave the country as authorities continue to investigate possible terror ties of those traveling in the Boeing 747. Federal Judge Federico Villena said late Monday that the remaining four Iranians and three Venezuelans must stay. The US request sent to Argentina on Tuesday followed the unsealing of a warrant in federal court in the District of Columbia that was issued last month and that argues the US-made plane should be forfeited because of violations of US export control laws. The plane, according to the Justice Department, was transferred from Iranian airline Mahan Air — which officials have alleged provides support for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force — to Emtrasur, a subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned Consorcio Venezolano de Industrias Aeronáuticas y Servicios Aéreos, or CONVIASA. CONVIASA is under US sanctions. By transferring the airplane to the Venezuelan firm in October without prior US government authorization, Mahan Air violated a 2008 order issued by the Department of Commerce that has since been periodically renewed, the US says. The Justice Department says Emtrasur subsequently re-exported the plane between Caracas, Tehran and Moscow -- also without US government approval. “The Department of Justice will not tolerate transactions that violate our sanctions and export laws,” Matthew Olsen, the head of the Justice Department’s national security division, said in a statement. “Working with our partners across the globe, we will give no quarter to governments and state-sponsored entities looking to evade our sanctions and export control regimes in service of their malign activities.”<br/>

The US Commerce Department on Tuesday will add 25 Airbus airplanes operated by Russian airlines believed to violate US export controls as part of the Biden administration's sanctions over the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the agency told Reuters. The department has previously identified more than 150 Boeing airplanes and one Gulfstream plane that had flown into Russia from other countries since March 2 or into Belarus since April 8. The rules cover US made airplanes as well as foreign made airplanes that have least 25% US origin content. These are the first foreign airplanes added to the export control list. The 25 Airbus A320, A321 and A330 airplanes are operated by Ural Airlines, S7 Airlines, Red Wings, Yamal Airlines, Nordwind, and I-Fly. The orders aim to deny the airlines access to refueling, spare parts and maintenance services. “The United States and our partners applied sweeping, powerful export controls to industry sectors – such as aerospace – that Russia leverages to sustain its military aggression,” said Commerce Department Export Enforcement chief Matthew Axelrod in a statement provided to Reuters. "Today's identification of 25 foreign-produced aircraft further degrades Russian airlines’ ability to operate their fleets of both US and EU airplanes." The department has warned companies and other entities around the world that any refueling, maintenance, repair, or spare parts or services violate US export controls and subject companies to US enforcement actions.<br/>

The FAA Tuesday issued an airworthiness directive for all Boeing (BA.N) 777 airplanes over safety concerns. The directive was prompted by high electrical resistance within the gust suppression sensor because of corrosion. The FAA said the gust suppression function is a non-essential feature that provides a minor improvement to ride quality during lateral wind gusts at low airspeeds. Airlines must disable the gust suppression function within three months or before 75,000 total flight hours. The directive requires disconnecting connectors and capping and stowing wires attached to affected modules. The directive, which is effective immediately, covers 279 US registered 777 airplanes of US registry. The FAA said Boeing is "currently developing a modification that will address the unsafe condition", and once the change is approved the FAA could issue another rule. Boeing did not immediately comment. Last week, the FAA proposed another airworthiness directive to address potential electric discharge in the fuel tanks of Boeing 777 series planes if a lightning strike or an electrical short-circuit occurs. That directive would requires operators to install mitigation materials, and perform detailed inspections and corrective actions. Airlines would have five years to be in compliance, the FAA said.<br/>

Would-be travelers looking to fly this fall may want to book their plane trips now, with travel app Hopper reporting that airfares are dropping this month from peak summertime prices. “September and early October will be the cheapest times to travel, while August and early September will be the cheapest times to book travel for those months,” said Hayley Berg, Hopper’s lead economist. The app’s Late Summer (Q3) Travel Index claims that the average domestic airfare could drop as low as $286 roundtrip for bookings made in August. That’s down 25% from May, when average fares topped $400, and is 3% lower than in August of last year. Airfares typically dip 10% to 15% in any given autumn as travel demand slows. “Offering lower airfare in August and September as travelers look to fall season travel is a seasonal occurrence, in line with the airlines’ expectations for pricing throughout the year,” said Berg. But this year’s drop is steeper than normal in the wake of abnormally high spring and summer fares that resulted from factors such as high jet fuel prices and greater-than-usual demand from a pandemic-weary public, she noted. The average airfare for the rest of the year will remain at or below $300 if booked by the end of September before starting to rise again in October and November. “We look at a weighted average price, so departures in the next two to three months will be weighted most heavily, [and] most travelers getting low prices in August will be traveling in September and October,” said Berg, explaining how Hopper determines the best times to buy and fly.<br/>

Changi Airport is leading the post-pandemic recovery within the Asia-Pacific region, with weekly passenger traffic hitting 55 per cent of pre-Covid-19 levels in the first week of last month (July). There are also passenger flights connecting to 108 cities as at last month - close to two-thirds of the connections that the airport had before the pandemic hit. This puts Changi ahead of major air hubs in the region, such as Incheon (Seoul), Hong Kong and Bangkok, Transport Minister S. Iswaran told Parliament on Tuesday. But he also acknowledged that the pattern of recovery across the world has been uneven, and that airports in Europe, North America and the Middle East, where borders were reopened earlier, have bounced back more quickly. For instance, passenger traffic at air hubs in Dubai, Doha and Istanbul exceeded 90% of their pre-pandemic levels even before June, and connectivity at these airports is back to 90% of 2019 levels, or more, Iswaran added. While the initial target of restoring air travel in Singapore to 50% of pre-Covid-19 levels by the end of the year has been "well and truly met", the minister said the focus now is on ramping up capacity at Changi to meet future demand, especially during the year-end peak travel season. He was responding to Workers' Party MP Louis Chua (Sengkang GRC), who had asked whether the authorities would be revising their 2022 and 2023 passenger traffic targets in the light of the recent recovery. Iswaran said: "It is difficult to set a target at this stage of our recovery for the total volume of passengers that can come in. And the reason is simply that source markets are at different stages of managing the recovery from Covid-19." He added: "Key markets like China, Japan and North-east Asia in general are still working their way through, and we are not sure when exactly and how exactly they will make changes."<br/>

Skyports Ltd., which builds takeoff and landing sites for flying taxis, drew investment from Singapore Technologies Engineering amid plans for a terminal in the city for airborne electric cabs. Aerospace company ST Engineering is the final investor in a Series B capital raise and takes the latest round of fundraising to US$26.1m, Skyports said Tuesday. The first Series B round in March raised US$23m. Interest in electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles, or eVTOLs, has grown in recent years, with airlines around the world ordering hundreds of them. Skyports said in April it expects to start operating its first eVTOL terminal in Singapore in 2024. Skyports, which also provides drone services, said the “heavily oversubscribed” fundraising showed investors were confident in the UK company’s future.<br/>

Indonesia is aiming to get its foot and mouth disease (FMD)outbreak under control by the end of this year, a government official said on Tuesday, as it forges ahead with a programme to vaccinate millions of livestock. More than 455,000 livestock in 23 of the archipelago's 37 provinces have been infected with the disease as of Tuesday, according to government data, with 4,720 animals killed by the disease and 7,561 more slaughtered. Cattle producing countries including Australia and New Zealand have raised their guard against FMD after infections were found in Indonesia's holiday island of Bali. "We hope by the end of this year, we can control the situation by having the number of cases reported reduced from time to time," Wiku Adisasmito, spokesperson for the government task force handling the outbreak, told a briefing. "We would also reassure the international community that Indonesia is capable of controlling the outbreak." FMD is highly transmissible and causes lesions and lameness in cattle, sheep, goats and other cloven-hoofed animals, but does not affect humans. Indonesia has vaccinated nearly 900,000 livestock since launching its inoculation programme in June and has secured 3 million doses so far. Authorities have announced plans to buy millions more doses by year-end. The country has also stepped up biosecurity measures such as sanitation foot mats and disinfectant sprayers at several airports, to ensure international and domestic travellers can prevent the virus from spreading, Wiku said.<br/>