Canadian airports continue to improve service levels as the summer travel season begins to wind down, with cancellations and delays declining at the country's busiest airports. Transport Canada says that between Aug. 15 and Aug. 21, 168,812 passengers departed all Canadian airports, representing 83% of pre-pandemic capacity levels. At Canada's busiest airports – Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Calgary – 86% of all flights left on time or within an hour of their scheduled departure in that week, an improvement from 75% in the first week of July. During the same week in 2019, before the pandemic struck, 92% of flights were on time or left within the hour, although capacity levels were higher. Two per cent of scheduled flights at the country's busiest airports were cancelled in the third week of August, an improvement from 5% of all flights in July. While that cancellation level is the same as in 2019, capacity levels in 2022 are still below pre-pandemic activity at Canadian airports. Both Air Canada and WestJet cut flights from their schedules in July and August and flew fewer passengers than in 2019. While flight cancellations and delays improved from earlier this summer, the number of flights where passengers were held on board because of a lack of capacity in the airports crept up slightly. For the third week of August, two per cent – or 47 international flights – were held, all of those at Toronto's Pearson International Airport. Although that is down significantly from the peak when 373 flights were held in the first week of May, it is above the four-week rolling average at Pearson Airport of 37 flights held per week.<br/>
general
Around 60 flights were cancelled at Lisbon airport on Sunday, the last day of a strike by handling workers that has brought more disruption to summer travel at Portugal's main airports since Friday, data from national airports operator ANA showed. Employees of handling company Portway are demanding better holiday pay and more career progression. ANA's website showed 31 arrivals and 28 departures had been cancelled on Sunday at Lisbon, Portugal's busiest airport. Pedro Figueiredo, spokesman for the National Union for Civil Aviation Workers (SINTAC), told Reuters that around 90% of Portway's ramp operations workers at Lisbon and Porto airports were taking part in the three-day strike. SINTAC expects between 70 and 80 Lisbon flights to be cancelled on Sunday and 30 to 40 at Porto airport, he said. ANA did not show any flight cancellations at Porto, Faro - which serves the tourism-dependent region of the Algarve - or Funchal on the island of Madeira. "In the coming days, our union will evaluate the results of this strike and we may adopt news forms of fight," Figueiredo said, without elaborating on what they might be. Handling workers assist airlines with baggage and also push planes onto the tarmac. Scores of airport ground staff have protested across Europe this summer to demand higher pay to cushion the pain of rampant inflation, emboldened by booming demand for air travel and staff shortages after most COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. Airlines are meanwhile grappling with soaring fuel prices and airspace closures related to the war in Ukraine.<br/>
Staff at London's Stansted will begin voting on Friday whether to take strike action in a dispute over pay, the Unite Union said, threatening disruption at one of Britain's busiest airports. Unite said more than 1,000 workers, including security officers, cleaners, firefighters and maintenance staff at Stansted would be balloted, with voting closing Sept. 19. The ballot comes after workers rejected a pay offer of 7.5% plus a one-off GBP250 ($296) payment, the union said. Inflation topped 10% in July."Our members consider Stansted’s pay offer to fall short of their needs to pay simple household bills," Unite regional coordinating officer Mark Robinson said. A spokesperson for Stansted Airport said it was "surprised and disappointed" by news of the ballot but was committed to reach an agreement that recognised staff contributions and maintained financial stability after a challenging period during the pandemic. "This is the very same pay offer we agreed with Unite, and which it strongly recommended its members voted in favour of as recently as 20 July," the spokesperson added. A strike at Stansted could cause further disruption for an aviation industry struggling with staff shortages at a time of surging demand, which has resulted in flight cancellations and longer wait times at airports. Unite said strike action would cause "significant disruption" or could even close Stansted airport.<br/>
Government digital infrastructure in Montenegro has been hit by an "unprecedented" cyber attack and timely measures have been taken to mitigate its impact, authorities said on Friday. "Certain services were switched off temporarily for security reasons but the security of accounts belonging to citizens and companies and their data have not been jeopardised," Public Administration Minister Maras Dukaj said on Twitter. Dukaj said that the attack, which began on Thursday night, resembled several others in the past few years in the small Adriatic republic, and that Montenegro - a member of NATO - had informed its allies about it. "A persistent and ongoing cyber-attack is in process in Montenegro," the US Embassy in the capital Podgorica warned on its website. "The attack may include disruptions to the public utility, transportation (including border crossings and airport), and telecommunication sectors."<br/>
Nigeria’s Central Bank released $265 million to airlines to settle outstanding ticket sales, it said Friday. Airlines have said they have millions trapped in Africa’s most populous nation due to an inability to access the foreign exchange repatriate funds. Dubai’s Emirates has said it will suspend its service to Nigeria from next month, and other carriers have reportedly cut back their capacity to the country due the difficulties in repatriating funds. Nigeria, which gets 90% of its foreign exchange from oil, has struggled with a lack of foreign currency due in part to rampant pipeline theft that has cut oil exports by nearly half a million barrels per day to around 1.4m barrels per day. The IATA said that by July Nigeria had blocked airlines from repatriating some $464m in revenue. <br/>
Worldwide air cargo flown tonnages have continued to decline in August with a further 5% drop last week alone and a -10% decline in the first three weeks of the month, the latest figures from WorldACD Market Data reveal. This decline is steeper than last year when we saw a 6% decline in the same three weeks. Looking first at week 33 (August 15-21), worldwide chargeable weight decreased 5% compared with the previous week, and the average worldwide rate decreased slightly, based on the more than 350,000 weekly transactions covered by WorldACD’s data and analysis of the main international air cargo lanes. And comparing the last two weeks with the preceding two weeks (2Wo2W), average worldwide rates decreased -1%, while chargeable weight decreased by -6%, despite a capacity increase of +1%. While capacity remained broadly stable across that two-week period, flown tonnages fell significantly from most of the main air freight origin regions. Volumes ex-Europe and from Middle East & South Asia each fell 8%, while there were falls of 6% from Asia Pacific and drops of 5% from both North America and Africa, on a 2Wo2W basis. Those negative trends were also reflected on a lane-by-lane basis, with 2Wo2W drops between all of the main regions, except between North America and Central & South America. Notable declines included a 7% drop from Asia Pacific to Europe and from North America to Europe, plus a -5% drop from Asia Pacific to North America.<br/>