Higher pilot pay rates at regional airlines could become a problem as carriers seek to balance a pilot shortage with maintaining flights to smaller US communities. Speaking at the annual Regional Airline Association (RAA) leaders conference in Washington, DC on 20 September, airline chiefs say a shortage of cockpit crew has driven up pilot pay, with no telling when or if such pressure will ease. “We are a bit nervous about the rates,” says SkyWest Airlines CEe Chip Childs, adding that recent salary increases are “deeply concerning” for airlines. “We are in a bidding war.. It’s not good for any of us,” says CommutAir CEO John Sullivan. GoJet Airlines CEO Rick Leach adds, “We never thought we would see rates at this level. It’s significantly more than any of us ever anticipated.” The sustainability of new pay schemes is “yet to be written”. Numerous US regional airlines recently hiked pilot pay rates amid an industry-wide effort to maintain flight-crew levels to keep pace with surging travel demand. Thousands of pilots at Mesa Airlines, CommutAir, Piedmont Airlines, PSA Airlines, Horizon Air and Envoy Air – all represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA) – have secured new contracts with higher wages. Pay hikes vary by airline. Mesa boosted pay 118% for first-year captains and 172% for new first officers, with wages starting at $150 hourly and $100 hourly, respectively. First officers at CommutAir now start at $72 hourly, with captains at $100.<br/>
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Orlando International Airport opened its first new terminal in more than 30 years this week. Aer Lingus inaugurated the $2.8b Terminal C, which will also soon house JetBlue Airways, with a departure to the UK on Tuesday. The 15-gate facility comes as the airport is on the cusp of recovering to its 2019 passenger numbers with US domestic ahead and only international lagging pre-pandemic levels, Greater Orlando Aviation Authority CEO Kevin Thibault said. He expects annual traffic numbers to surpass the 51m passengers that Orlando handled three years ago early next year as international travel recovers further. But that recovery comes with what few may realize: The current terminal complex was designed for about half the number of travelers that passed through its gates in 2019. Opened on September 20, 1981, the current terminal was built out in 1989 and its airsides completed in 2000. The airport has outgrown those facilities as the Orlando region has continued to grow as both a destination — Disney World, enough said — and origin market. “If we were at that same [recovery] pace internationally [as domestically], we would be over 53m passengers going through a terminal that was designed for 24 [million],” Thibault said. The airport has accommodated the traffic growth with tweaks and changes to its existing facilities but without the major capital expansion that Terminal C represents.<br/>
Canada's federal government will likely drop its COVID-19 vaccine requirement for people entering Canada at the end of the month, a government source said on Tuesday. The source, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was "likely" to drop the vaccination requirement on Sept 30. The Globe and Mail newspaper reported the news earlier on Tuesday. Canada will also drop random coronavirus testing on the same day, and make it optional to use its ArriveCAN app, where travelers have been required to upload their proof of vaccination, the source said. Canadian airports faced chaos over the summer, with numerous cancellations and delays that some blamed on the country's strict COVID-19 restrictions. Canada's Health Ministry had no immediate comment.<br/>
Boeing and China’s aviation authority held a meeting on Sept. 14 to evaluate the 737 Max aircraft, which hasn’t been fully approved to return to commercial service in the country despite flying again in most other markets. The talks were held in Zhoushan in eastern China, according to CAAC News, the media arm of the Civil Aviation Administration of China. Boeing has a completion and delivery center in Zhoushan, to the south of Shanghai. The regulator is expected to release an updated report on the Max after issues raised at the meeting are resolved. That will signal the completion of the process required for the Boeing jet to be reintroduced in China, the CAAC said. No timeline was provided. China was the first nation to ground the Max following a 2019 crash in Ethiopia, about five months after another disaster involving the model in Indonesia. Both crashes were linked to software that overwhelmed pilots and pushed the planes into nosedives. The lifting of the ban on its best-selling jet in its biggest overseas market would be a boost to Boeing, though tensions between Beijing and Washington are still potentially problematic.<br/>
In Tuas, Singapore’s industrial-heavy district, Finnish company Neste Oyj is building what will one day be the world’s largest facility for sustainable aviation fuel. Once up and running in 2023, the plant should produce 1m metric tons a year — a decent amount, but still less than 0.3% of annual global jet fuel demand. What little there is will be expensive: SAF costs as much as five times as traditional jet fuel, itself coming off a 14-year peak. This is a problem for the airline industry, which is counting on sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, as a critical component in its efforts to decarbonize. As of now, airlines contribute more than 2% of the world’s carbon emissions and lag almost all other sectors in pledges for a cleaner future. The IATA, the lobby group of 290 airlines, has said the industry will become carbon neutral by 2050. Getting 65% of the way there means switching to SAF in a meaningful way, it says. It’s hard to see how it gets there. SAF currently accounts for less than 0.1% of global jet fuel use. It’s expected to rise to about 4% in 2030, nearing only 6% by 2050, according to BloombergNEF. Even as production ramps up, a goal to replace 100% of jet fuel with SAF by 2050 is “overly ambitious,” Bloomberg Intelligence said in a note earlier this month.<br/>
Aircraft lessor SMBC Aviation Capital said on Tuesday it will start offering its airline customers carbon credits aligned to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal in leasing contracts. CE Peter Barrett said that in a "hard to abate sector", carbon offsetting was an interim measure to lower its impact on greenhouse gas emissions. The world's second largest aircraft leasing firm owns, manages or has commitments to buy a total of 730 aircraft. Owned by a consortium including Japan's Sumitomo Corp and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Irish-headquartered SMBC will initially invest $53.3m in carbon credits based on energy efficient cookstove projects. SMBC said that the scheme, which is certified by Gold Standard and Verra, will reach 3.2m households in Africa, Asia and the Americas. The airline sector, and the leasing firms who now control more than half the world's fleet of the aircraft they use, have limited options in the short term to reduce their carbon footprint, with most efforts focused on offsets, more fuel efficient aircraft and sustainable aviation fuel.<br/>
Boeing said on Tuesday it plans to cut about 150 finance jobs in the United States this year to simplify its corporate structure and focus more resources into manufacturing and product development. The company will reduce staffing in its information technology and finance departments, Boeing said in an emailed statement to Reuters. Boeing, which has dealt with engineering and production issues in the past, said it increased its workforce by about 10,000 employees earlier this year and ramped up hiring in its engineering and manufacturing departments to respond to the market demand. In the aftermath of two 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019, the FAA pledged to scrutinize Boeing more closely and delegate fewer responsibilities to the company for aircraft certification.<br/>
Holiday group TUI on Tuesday stuck to its forecast of returning to profitability this year and said winter bookings stood at 78% of pre-pandemic levels. The group, one of the world’s largest tour operators, said bookings for the months of November and December were at 81% of 2018-19 levels and that it expected the trend of late or last-minute bookings to continue for the winter holidays. “The Canaries, Mexico, Egypt and Cape Verde are likely to form a key part of our holiday offer this upcoming winter,” TUI said. The German company, which runs tour operators, travel agencies, airlines, hotels and cruise liners in holiday destinations across the world, had seen a summer revival as holidaymakers flocked to European and Caribbean beaches to enjoy their breaks following a pandemic hiatus. However, there is a risk that the pent-up demand seen during the summer will not repeat this winter, as households tighten their purse strings on non-essential expenditures amid biting inflation that has increased the prices of everything from food to fuel. TUI said it would return to profitability this year despite losses in the third quarter, adding that flight disruption costs remained at elevated levels but improved through Q4.<br/>