Back in August, FAA officials asked the public for their views on how safe they thought airline seats were when it came to their size. What did they expect? Fed up with being crammed in alongside other unhappy customers, passengers flooded the agency with nearly 25,000 comments by the deadline on Tuesday. While many stuck to the FAA’s request to address whether the seat width, length, pitch and other dimensions were a direct threat to travelers’ safety in the event of an emergency evacuation, many also took the opportunity to slam comfort levels in typical economy cabins. “As a larger woman (311 pounds, 5 foot 6 tall) I can attest that current seat sizes are not safe, let alone comfortable for myself or my seat mates,” said one commenter who gave her name as Meredith Schwartz, of Brooklyn, New York. “I cannot reach under my seat to retrieve a life jacket,” she continued. “There is nowhere for me to stand to pull up a seat cushion to be used as a flotation device. Getting into and out of the small seats is a slow and complicated procedure. While I have never had to do so in a rush, in low light or smoke conditions, or with scared fellow passengers trying to get out around me, I can vividly imagine how poorly it might go.” Congress ordered the agency in 2018 to issue rules for minimum dimensions of passenger seats with regard to safety. A 2021 agency study determined that current seat sizes would be safe during an evacuation for 99% of the population.<br/>
general
It’s a change nearly 20 years in the making: a post-Sept. 11 law requiring that US travelers carry more than a standard driver’s license to board a domestic flight. Now, after years of delays, it is finally kicking into gear. Beginning May 3, 2023, US travelers flying within the United States will need to show TSA agents either a security-enhanced driver’s license that’s Real ID-compliant or another TSA-approved form of identification like a passport. A state driver’s license that does not contain the Real ID seal will no longer be accepted. Real ID is a driver’s license or identification card that bears a special seal, which signifies that the bearer of the card has been screened and approved according to a standard set by the federal government, rather than just by the state issuing the license. In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. government realized that nearly all of the hijackers who boarded commercial planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a field in Shanksville, Penn., were carrying U.S. driver’s licenses and state IDs, and most of those documents had been obtained fraudulently. In the years that followed, the federal government began an effort to tighten national standards for state-issued documentation, and in 2005, Congress passed the Real ID Act. Story has more background.<br/>
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro for the first time on Wednesday asked protesters blocking roads nationwide to lift blockades as demonstrations are restricting people's right to come and go and bringing losses to the economy. Protests erupted on Sunday after Bolsonaro's narrow loss to leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in an Oct. 30 runoff presidential election. In a video posted on social media, Bolsonaro said he understood people's frustration at the result of the election. Although smaller than in previous days, the protests are still likely disrupting fuel distribution, industrial activity, food deliveries to supermarkets and shipments of grains to ports. Abear, a trade group which represents Brazilian airlines, warned that the jet fuel supplies may be compromised.<br/>
Passenger numbers on Russian airlines were down 20% in September from last year, as the impact of Western sanctions continues to weigh on the industry. Russian airlines carried 9.87m passengers in September, Russia's statistics agency Rosstat said on Wednesday, down 20% from September 2021. Western countries banned Russian airlines from using their airspace in response to Moscow sending its armed forces into Ukraine in February, cutting them off from lucrative routes to Europe and the United States. Aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing have also stopped selling planes, parts and equipment to Russian airlines, forcing some companies to cannibalise existing jets to get hold of spare parts. Traffic for the entire first nine months of the year was down 13.1% to 72.6m passengers, Rosstat said.<br/>
Boeing is planning to ramp up production and deliveries of new aircraft, propping up its forecast for higher cash in 2023, it said Wednesday. Supply chain problems and labor shortages have stymied output and deliveries of new planes, Boeing and Airbus said last week. Airlines have complained that airplane shortages are hurting their ability to add more flights. Boeing forecast free cash flow of between $3 and $5b next year, below the $6.53b analysts polled by FactSet expected, but above the $1.5 to $2b in free cash it expects to generate this year. Deliveries are important to aircraft manufacturers because it’s when airlines or other customers pay the bulk of the sale. The Arlington, Virginia-based company said it expects to deliver between 400 and 450 of its 737s next year, up from about 375 planes this year. Boeing shares added 2.8% Wednesday after it released its forecast for the coming years at an event for analysts and investors at its Seattle-area facilities — the first of its kind since 2016, a spokeswoman said.<br/>
Staffing shortages and weather disruptions are being blamed for travel chaos at Auckland Airport. Air New Zealand confirmed a flight from Auckland to Christchurch was cancelled on Thursday afternoon due to “staffing shortages as a result of weather disrupts throughout the day”. Other flights with the airline have also been affected, including to Tauranga, Napier, Wellington and Queenstown. “We’re doing our very best to put impacted customers onto alternative services however, due to the high loads at the moment, some customers will need to be moved to Saturday’s service. We are incredibly sorry about this inconvenience,” a spokesperson said.<br/>