US President Joe Biden invoked the memory of America’s united response to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks by al Qaeda and vowed to “never give up” in the face of terrorist threats in a solemn commemoration on Sunday at the Pentagon. Biden’s remarks about national unity on the 21st anniversary of the attacks stood in contrast to his warnings in recent days about dangerous divisions in American society, including that some Republicans who support former President Donald Trump’s agenda pose a threat to democracy. “I hope we’ll remember that in the midst of these dark days, we dug deep. We cared for each other. And we came together,” Biden said, as rain fell on troops standing behind him, flanking his defense secretary and top general. Nearly 3,000 people died in the attacks, when al Qaeda hijackers flew planes into New York’s World Trade Center towers and into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, while a fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania. Passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 overcame the hijackers and the plane crashed in a field, preventing another target from being hit. The anniversary comes a year after Biden ended the US-led war in Afghanistan, launched two decades ago to root out the al Qaeda militant group that carried out the 9/11 attacks after plotting them from Afghanistan. Biden’s chaotic withdrawal of US troops last year and the resulting rapid fall of the country to the Taliban drew criticism from members of both political parties. But Biden vowed that the fight against terrorism would continue. “We will not rest. We’ll never forget. We’ll never give up,” he said. The first lady, Jill Biden, attended a ceremony in Pennsylvania on Sunday morning, while Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff attended one in New York City. In New York, key moments on 9/11, such as the times at which each tower of the World Trade Center fell, were marked with a moment of silence after the tolling of a bell. Families of victims of the 9/11 attacks have waited for years to see several of the people accused of planning and assisting the hijackers brought to trial and convicted, including self-professed mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others imprisoned at the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. On Sunday, Biden told reporters that “yes, there is a plan for that” — to hold the accused plotters accountable — but declined to comment further.<br/>
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A scramble by US carriers to fill empty cockpits is fueling cost pressures just as mounting economic worries have cast a shadow on travel demand, sparking concerns about debt-laden airlines’ ability to repair their balance sheets. Even as ticket sales remain strong, investors worry about consumer spending should the economy slip into recession. They fear carriers might be forced to borrow even more money to fund operations and further delay returning cash through share buybacks or dividends. Some have stayed away from investing in the industry despite a rebound from the pandemic-induced slump, believing carriers do not have enough tools to offset cost pressures. “Airline investors would be better off if the Wright Brothers’ plane crashed and burned,” said Act Two Investors Chairman Jeffrey Scharf, who follows the sector but does not currently own stocks in it. “I can’t think of a worse business – high fixed costs, commodity product, worsening service, alienated customers sick of being nickeled and dimed for every amenity.” For the traveling public, it could mean fewer and packed planes as airlines drive up revenue through higher ticket prices. Reducing debt is a priority for an industry that went on a borrowing binge to survive the pandemic. The big three national carriers – American, United, and Delta Airlines – had $85b in net long-term debt at the end of Q2. Airlines need strong and sustained profits to reduce those debt loads, but rising fuel and labor costs are making that difficult, analysts say.<br/>
Flying has been maddeningly unpredictable. Airline and hotel prices remain high. And inflation has forced many people to cut back on appliances and new clothes. Delayed vacations, conventions and weddings have led to booked resorts and hotels, creating a sort of seasonal drift that has forced travelers to pay summer prices for fall trips. Still, more than 60% of Americans said they plan to travel this fall, compared with 54% of respondents last year, according to TripAdvisor, the travel site, which surveyed 2,700 would-be travelers across six countries about their plans this season. And 66% of those respondents said that they planned to spend more money traveling this fall than they did last year, said Brian Hoyt, a spokesman for TripAdvisor. “Travel is not going to be one of those things that they pull back on,” Mr. Hoyt said. “They’re still going to travel even knowing that they’re going to spend more than the year before.” Some are willing to splurge on flights to Italy and Turks and Caicos and excursions like ATV tours of the Mojave Desert in Nevada. Others are paying to clean up beaches in Barcelona or help restore coral reefs in the Caribbean, vacations crafted as “nature positive tourism.” How much will you spend if you travel this fall? It depends. Cruise deals are still plentiful, but hotel prices are stubbornly expensive. Airline tickets, while cheaper than this summer, are still higher than they were before the pandemic. And don’t expect the cancellations and delays that infuriated travelers in recent months to stop anytime soon. “While things have improved since early summer, airline cancellations are still going to be a factor for fall travel,” said Eric Jones, co-founder of The Vacationer, an online travel guide. What else can you expect this fall? Story has details.<br/>
Two House Democrats have asked a Treasury Department watchdog to investigate whether airlines used a portion of a federal coronavirus relief package to pay for staff buyouts during the pandemic. Airlines were prohibited from laying off staff as a condition of accepting $54 billion in taxpayer aid to weather the Covid-19 pandemic. Travel demand collapsed in the early days of the crisis. However, carriers were able to urge workers to take early retirement packages or extended leaves of absence. Thousands took them up on the offer, including hundreds of pilots. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, and James Clyburn, D-S.C., chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, on Thursday asked the Treasury Department’s watchdog to review how airlines used the Covid-19 aid and whether it was used for buyouts or staff reductions, according to a letter reviewed by CNBC. Airlines for America, a trade group which represents American, Delta, United, Southwest and other major U.S. carriers, said the funds from the Payroll Support Program for airlines “went only to the paychecks of employees, as stipulated by law, and carriers have paid back the government loans.” “Without the PSP, our aviation system would look like Europe, Canada or other areas that did not have any similar program,” the group said. “Or even worse, if not for the PSP, we may not be flying at all.” When travel demand rebounded sharply this year, airlines found themselves short-staffed, including in cockpits. As a result, some airlines, including American and United, cut flights or grounded dozens of planes, particularly to small cities. Shorter routes are flown generally by regional airlines, and airlines have hired hundreds of new pilots from those smaller carriers to fill their own ranks. Labor shortages this year have made it harder for airlines to recover from routine issues such as bad weather.<br/>
The US Defense Department said a study released Friday shows Ligado Networks' planned nationwide mobile broadband network will interfere with military GPS receivers. The Federal Communications Commission in April 2020 voted to permit Ligado to deploy a low-power network. In January 2021, the FCC rejected a bid by US government agencies to put its decision on hold. The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report released Friday warned some Iridium Communications (IRDM.O) mobile satellite services "used by the US Department of Defense and others will experience harmful interference under certain conditions and warned some high-precision devices sold before about 2012 "can be vulnerable to significant harmful interference." The Defense Department said the study is consistent with its view that "Ligado’s system will interfere with critical GPS receivers and that it is impractical to mitigate the impact of that interference" and noted the study found FCC's proposed mitigation and replacement measures "are impractical, cost prohibitive, and possibly ineffective."<br/>Ligado argued the report found "a small percentage of very old and poorly designed GPS devices may require upgrading." It noted that with the FCC it established a 2020 program "to upgrade or replace federal equipment, and we remain ready to help any agency that comes forward with outdated devices. So far, none have." The study also found Ligado's network "will not cause most commercially produced general navigation, timing, cellular, or certified aviation GPS receivers to experience harmful interference."<br/>
European safety regulators have been assessing a request to implement a system on a large aircraft which will maintain flight-guidance functions despite the unavailability of reliable airspeed data. Unreliable airspeed typically results in the disconnection of the autopilot, autothrust and flight-directors. The system under consideration will have three operating modes, one of which will feature a reserve autopilot and autothrust which will maintain a safe aircraft attitude and engine power should all the airspeed data sources, including back-ups, become unreliable. But this mode, says EASA, cannot demonstrate compliance with European certification requirements that the flight-guidance system must avoid excursions beyond the acceptable speed range of the normal flight envelope. This is because there is “no reliable airspeed data source available” and “no airspeed indication available” to the crew in such circumstances, states EASA. It has received a request for an equivalent safety finding from the applicant developing the system, without identifying the organisation or the aircraft type concerned. EASA has proposed compensating factors which would enable a mechanism to protect the aircraft from airspeed excursions “in lieu of direct compliance” with the certification requirement. It says that, if no reliable airspeed data source is available, “other protection mechanisms” must been provided to ensure the aircraft remains within its normal flight envelope. If dedicated crew action is necessary, says the safety finding, this must be clearly indicated and differences in training must be properly assessed and addressed, while the aircraft flight manual must include any relevant limitations and procedures.<br/>
Travel startup Hopper said on Friday it had noticed a surge in flight searches to London from the United States following the death of Queen Elizabeth. In the hour of the announcement of the queen's death flight searches to London from the US saw a 49% spike compared with the previous day, according to the company. This comes at a time when the British pound is weak against the dollar making Britain an appealing tourist destination for people traveling from the United States. Flight searches from around the world to London airports surged by 40% compared with the previous day, and jumped 41% compared with 3 hours before the announcement of the queen's death, Hopper said.<br/>
Moldova's civil aviation authority has blocked Air Moldova and other national carriers from restarting flights between Chisinau and Moscow, Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spînu said. Air Moldova had said on Friday that it hoped to restart flights from Chisinau to Moscow from Oct. 1. Moldova suspended air links with Russia over its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.<br/>
Syria’s international airport in Aleppo is to resume business on Friday after the facility was put out of commission by an Israeli missile attack, the country’s transport ministry said. The ministry said in a statement carried by state media that the damage has been fixed and called on airline companies to resume their flights to the city in northern Syria. Israel launched a missile attack on Tuesday night targeting Aleppo’s airport for the second time in a week and all flights were diverted to the capital Damascus. The Israeli strike tore large craters in three spots on the facility’s runway, satellite images analyzed Thursday by The Associated Press show. The satellite images from Planet Labs PBC taken Wednesday show the airport’s single east-west runway bore three new craters. Vehicles and workers surrounded the two of the craters while the one furthest east had no traffic near it. Israel also launched airstrikes at Aleppo airport last week, damaging its runway and, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, a warehouse that likely stored a shipment of Iranian rockets. Last week’s strike tore a hole in the runway and also damaged a structure close to the military side of the airfield, satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press showed.<br/>
Qatar will reopen the Doha International Airport next week ahead of the Fifa World Cup 2022, reports said. The Doha airport has been in semi-retirement since it was replaced in 2014 by the Hamad International Airport. Qatari authorities did not comment on the move from Hamad back to Doha airport, but Kuwait's Jazeera Airways, the UAE's flydubai, Oman's SalamAir and Turkey's Pegasus Airlines have begun selling tickets to Doha airport from September 15. It is currently mainly being used for flights by Qatar's royal family and VIPs along with its air force. Hamad International Airport was used by 3m passengers in June alone and 8.42m in Q2 2022, a figure which the civil aviation authority said was 18% higher than the first three months of the year. It is also undergoing an expansion that will see capacity increased to 58m passengers a year. With 150,000 people a day expected to arrive during the peak days of the World Cup, which starts on November 20 and will last four weeks, some aviation analysts have said Hamad airport might struggle to cope.<br/>
A small plane carrying three crew and some cargo failed to reach its destination of Kasese airport in Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday and searches are underway to find it, a provincial transport minister said on Sunday. The plane left Kavumu airport, which serves Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province, on Saturday morning, after which communication was lost with the craft, Mathieu Alimasi Malumbi told Reuters by phone.<br/>
Some aviation analysts now think international air travel may not fully recover until 2025 or 2026 due largely to China’s continuation of its travel-busting “zero-Covid” policy. AeroDynamic Advisory managing director Kevin Michaels thinks China will not, any time soon, ditch its strategy of locking down hundreds of millions of people in the name of countering Covid-19. “We don’t see China changing its policy at least until the middle of next year,” Michaels said on 7 September during the International Aerospace Innovation Forum in Montreal. “It’s real issue that will be holding back the full recovery of our industry.” For that reason, Michaels thinks “international air travel or intra-regional air travel” will not return to 2019 levels until 2026. On the bright side, his firm estimates domestic air travel will fully rebound by the middle of next year. Various forecasting groups have in recent months pushed back expected recovery timelines for the global aviation industry. In August, US group Global Business Travel Association changed from 2024 to 2026 its expectation of when the global business travel sector will fully return to pre-pandemic levels. The group cited factors including lockdowns in China, inflation, soaring energy costs, labour shortages and supply chain troubles. Chinese carriers had actually led the global air travel industry’s recover in 2021 but have since fallen far behind. In recent months, China has locked down dozens of cities and hundreds of millions of people, according to various sources, stifling China’s airline sector.<br/>
Japan is looking to scrap most of its Covid-related restrictions on foreign tourists, including ending visa requirements and allowing individual tourism ahead of the autumn travel season, broadcaster FNN said. The restrictions would be lifted for tourists who have had three vaccine doses or provide proof of a negative Covid test, FNN said, without specifying where it got the information. The government is also planning to abandon its daily limits on entry from overseas, currently set at 50,000, and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida may make the final decision as soon as this week, the report said. The report came after Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiji Kihara, a close aide to Kishida, told a TV program on Sunday that the weak yen would help the tourism industry and that the country must not fall behind the rest of the world. He said the restrictions would be lifted at “an appropriate time.” The Nikkei newspaper reported earlier that the cap on arrivals from overseas would end by October. While Japan had gradually raised the cap to 50,000, non-resident foreigners are currently required to obtain visas for short-term stays, and may enter for tourism only as part of approved package tours, severely restricting the number of visitors. <br/>
The high cost of global travel right now is fueling Australia’s worker shortage, the country’s trade minister said, with the jobs market the tightest it’s been in almost 50 years as the Covid crisis eases. Pre-pandemic, foreign students and young travelers filled a key role in the Australian labor force, working in restaurants and other service-sector jobs, Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell said in an interview with Bloomberg News in Los Angeles, on the sidelines of a meeting of Indo-Pacific trade ministers on Friday. Since the country dismantled its strict pandemic border regime earlier this year, demand for these sorts of visas has been high, but would-be workers are being deterred by “capacity and cost,” he said. Expensive airfares are “an impediment to getting things back to normal in terms of staffing,” said Farrell. A lack of flights, with airline capacity not yet back to pre-pandemic levels, is also deterring workers, he said. “We’ve got to somehow address that.” The minister ruled out the government subsidizing workers’ airfares, saying companies that relied on these sorts of employees had received financial support during the pandemic to stay in business and retain staff. Many of the working travelers -- known as “backpackers” -- who filled labor gaps before Covid came from the US and Europe, Farrell said, adding that the cost of airfare from the US to Australia had roughly tripled from pre-pandemic times. <br/>
What do JetBlue Airways and Canada’s Transat have in common? Both are at the mercy of Airbus where aircraft delivery delays, coupled with similar issues at competitor Boeing, are forcing airlines to limit schedules and slowing the global aviation recovery. Cowen & Co. analyst Helane Becker wrote earlier in September that US airline capacity in Q4 compared to 2019 could fall below the level reached in the third quarter. US carriers flew about 93% of what it flew three years ago in September quarter. Aircraft delivery delays are a big constraint, as well as the well documented staffing issues that the US industry faces. “Capacity growth is limited by aircraft and pilot availability,” Becker wrote in a September 8 report. “Although carriers would like to reach pre-pandemic levels of capacity, that is unlikely given current constraints.” Air travel demand, as opposed to airline capacity, is nearly back at pre-pandemic levels. Over the US Labor Day holiday weekend, the TSA screened 3% more people than it did over the same five-day period in 2019. And airlines have reported continued strong demand into the fall and winter. With new aircraft arriving late and travel demand back, airlines are getting creative to fly their schedules. The late arrival of new A321LR aircraft have forced New York-based JetBlue to operate a plane designed for its US domestic routes on select flights to London for nearly two weeks in September, Diio by Cirium schedules show. Story has more.<br/>