general

Six people were dead after two vintage military planes collided midair on Saturday and crashed in flames before a crowd of thousands who came to see them fly at a World War Two commemorative air show in Dallas, officials said on Sunday. No one in the crowd of 4,000 onlookers was hurt, and no names of the victims were released. "Authorities will continue working today on the investigation & identification of the deceased," said Judge Clay Jenkins, the chief elected official in the Texas county. "Please pray for their families and all involved." The crash involved World War Two-era planes - a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra fighter - that were flying at the Wings Over Dallas Airshow at Dallas Executive Airport, the FAA said.<br/>

Even before the coronavirus pandemic grounded US airlines in March 2020, a shortage of qualified pilots was looming. Today, even though air travel has come back much stronger and earlier than expected — and major carriers are returning to profitability — the struggle to maintain enough cockpit crews has developed into an acute problem that many travelers are experiencing in the form of canceled flights. To help fix it, carriers are aggressively competing for the available pilots. Focusing more long-term, though, airlines are boosting training programs to unprecedented levels and trying to attract a younger and more diverse next generation of aviators. Last December, United Airlines opened its Aviate Academy in Goodyear, Arizona, the first major airline-owned flight school in the U.S. Other majors, including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest, Hawaiian, JetBlue and Frontier, have set up branded training programs affiliated with dozens of independent flight schools across the country. That formula has been adopted by regional airlines, too, such as Mesa Air Group, Republic, Envoy, Cape Air and SkyWest. The pilot pipeline continues to rely on the military, if lately to a lesser degree, and universities that offer aviation programs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 135,300 airline and commercial pilots employed in 2021, a number expected to grow by 6% over the next decade, translating to more than 18,000 new hires annually. As of early July, airlines had hired more than 5,500 pilots this year, already more than in any full year since at least 1990, according to Future & Active Pilot Advisors, a career consulting firm for pilots.<br/>

Summer 2022 is now infamous for being a tough one for travelers. People wanted to get out there again, and although airlines posted record profits, they also canceled a huge number of flights, and nearly a quarter of all trips were delayed by 15 minutes or more. "No one can say that the airlines had an operationally good summer," Henry Harteveldt, president of Atmosphere Research, a travel industry strategic research firm, told USA TODAY. "No airline executive on the recent earnings calls was giving his airline a gold ribbon or blue star for summer performance." For travelers, this summer was a low point in terms of getting around with minimal stress. The good news is: things seem to be getting better. The short answer: Not well. According to Department of Transportation data, more than 45,000 flights – almost 2.5% of all scheduled services – were canceled between June 1 and Aug. 31. And over 413,000 flights (22.5%) were delayed by 15 minutes or more in that same period. Some airlines performed even worse than the average. American Airlines canceled around 4.5% of its flights (more than 10,000 of them) in June, July and August. That number doesn't even include regional American Eagle or code-shared operations. "It means almost 1 in 20 American Airlines flights were canceled," Harteveldt said. "If an airline is canceling a noticeable number of flights, and in American’s case, 4.5% of flights were canceled during June, July and August, that undermines consumer trust in an airline."<br/>

A ground stop at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport caused by a fuel fire Friday morning has been lifted. Hundreds of flights to and from the airport have been delayed. The FAA said the ground stop was lifted as of 12:22 p.m. local time (1:22 p.m. ET). The nationwide ground stop was implemented while safety inspections of fuel lines took place, preventing arriving aircraft from getting fuel, an FAA spokesman said Friday. By early afternoon Friday, flight tracking site FlightAware showed more than 600 delays for flights originating from or bound for DFW. The airport is one of the busiest in the United States and one of largest hubs for American Airlines. American spokesman Curtis Blessing said midday Friday that fuel was flowing and the airline was "in recovery mode now." Blessing said flight delays were the main issue, along with "a handful" of flight diversions. DFW Airport tweeted Friday morning that the fire was extinguished and the affected pump was shut off. The ground stop was in effect while safety inspections were performed.<br/>

Mistakes in screening procedures by TSA employees allowed a passenger to bring two box cutters aboard a Frontier Airlines flight from Cincinnati to Tampa, Fla., the agency said on Sunday. The passenger, a man, approached a TSA checkpoint at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport with two backpacks around 5:30 p.m. local time on Friday. Video footage from a review of the incident showed the man putting the backpacks and loose items in a bin for screening. The TSA uses CT technology that creates a 3-D image that can be rotated and analyzed, Patricia Mancha, a spokeswoman for the agency, said. Mancha said that the “image review capabilities of the CT were not fully used” and that the passenger’s two box cutters were not identified during the screening. The passenger’s belongings were flagged for a further search, although it was unclear why, and one of the box cutters was then discovered. In violation of TSA policy, this box cutter was returned to the passenger after its blades were removed. “This is contrary to standard operating procedure, which requires these items to be placed in checked bags or voluntarily abandoned,” Mancha said. “The backpack containing the other box cutter, and the remainder of the traveler’s property, was screened for explosives, but the box cutter was not discovered.” The TSA, which has authority over security and passenger screening at US airports, prohibits box cutters in the cabin. The items are allowed in checked luggage. The TSA workers involved in the incident have been placed in a “training status for remediation on CT image review and physical search procedures,” Mancha said. <br/>

Cuba has agreed for the first time since the pandemic to accept U.S. deportation flights carrying Cubans caught at the US-Mexico border, three US officials told Reuters, giving US authorities a new but limited tool to deter record numbers of Cuban border crossers. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has about a dozen Cubans in custody who failed an initial screening for asylum at the border, the officials said, requesting anonymity to discuss the diplomatic situation. The US agency is waiting until it has enough Cuban deportees to fill a plane before sending one to Havana, they said. A third source familiar with the matter said there was not a new formal agreement for regular deportation flights but that Cuba had agreed to accept occasional groups of deportees. Regular deportations of Cubans were halted during the COVID-19 pandemic, though the United States continued to deport a small number of Cubans via commercial airlines, a separate US official told Reuters.<br/>

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday proposed handing over the opulent presidential plane, which he inherited from his predecessors and failed to sell as promised, to a planned military-run airline, where it could be rented to workers. Lopez Obrador, who has an austere approach to spending, has cast the luxury Boeing 787 Dreamliner as a symbol of the excesses of previous governments and since campaigning for office had vowed to sell it. But finding a buyer willing to pay its $130m price tag has proved challenging. "The plane will be handed over to Mexicana de Aviacion for special trips," he told a news conference in the southern Yucatan peninsula, saying it would be available to rent for workers of the new airline for trips around Mexico and even to other continents. "It would be rented in a special way for people who want to take their families, or workers, on trips as a reward for their performance," he said. Lopez Obrador is planning to create a new airline under the auspices of Olmeca-Maya-Mexica, a military-run business set to run a handful of airports and the multibillion-dollar "Mayan Train" project being built in Yucatan. Government critics have accused the administration of militarizing society by bringing much of Mexico's infrastructure, as well as its civilian-led national guard, under Army control. Lopez Obrador told journalists the new airline would be named Mexicana de Aviacion, after Mexico's former flagship airline that filed for bankruptcy in 2010. Mexicana, one of the world's oldest airlines, had operated for close to a century.<br/>

Passenger traffic at Spanish airports bounced back to near pre-pandemic levels in October, state-controlled airport operator Aena said on Friday. Almost 24m travellers passed through Aena’s facilities last month, the operator said - 97% of the number recorded in October 2019 before COVID travel restrictions hit. Overall traffic in 2022 will be higher than its last forecast of 85% of 2019 levels, Aena added. Traffic to Spain appears to be growing faster than in some other countries. Britain’s Heathrow airport said two weeks ago demand would take years to return to pre-pandemic levels. While travellers have put COVID restrictions behind them across Europe, they have met a host of other troubles including staff shortages and labour disputes.<br/>

Heathrow airport has said it is prepared for the biggest Christmas getaway in three years and promised that passengers will not have to face a return of the daily cap that was introduced as summer holiday travel descended into chaos. Europe’s busiest airport, which said last month that on the busiest travel days over the festive period travellers may have to fly outside peak times to manage the festive rush, said it was working on contingency plans for potential strike action over the period. “We have been working with airlines and their ground handlers to prepare for the Christmas peak, and have a good plan, which will not require any passenger cap,” Heathrow said. “We are aware of potential strike action at a number of organisations, including a national Border Force strike. We are supporting organisations on contingency plans to minimise any impact, and encourage all parties to put the interests of passengers first.” Heathrow also said that the airport will finally get back to pre-Covid staff levels before the peak summer holiday period next year, ending almost three years of worker shortages that have wreaked havoc on travellers since the pandemic hit. John Holland-Kaye, the CE of Heathrow, has previously said the airport needs to hire a further 25,000 staff to meet demand at peak periods of the year. Pre-pandemic, there were 75,000 staff employed at the 400 companies based at Heathrow – mostly ground handlers but also airline staff and about 7,500 directly employed by the airport. On Friday, Heathrow said 16,000 staff had been hired and trained in the last 12 months. The airport said passenger numbers hit 5.9m in October, 84% of 2019. So far this year, there have been 50m passengers at Heathrow, just under three-quarters of pre-pandemic levels. “The increase in passenger numbers this year is higher than at any other airport in Europe,” it said.<br/>

A group of Qatari activists campaigning against normalising ties with Israel have said they are shocked that their government has authorised direct flights between Tel Aviv and Doha during the soccer World Cup. The protest - by Qatar Youth Against Normalization, a vocal group of 24 members, mostly Qataris - was small but notable in a state where citizens very rarely speak out against authorities. "It has come as a shock to us that days leading to the World Cup, Qatar has entered new territories of normalization with the announcement that direct flights will now operate between apartheid Israel and Doha," the group said late on Thursday. There was no immediate response to requests for comment sent to Qatar's government communications office, World Cup organisers the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy or FIFA, soccer's world governing body. FIFA said on Thursday it brokered the deal between Qatar and Israel, which do not hold formal diplomatic ties, to facilitate the attendance of eligible Israeli and Palestinian fans at the World Cup, which runs from Nov. 20 to Dec. 18. A Qatari official told Reuters on Thursday the agreement on flights did not change his country's stance on Israel.<br/>

Chinese authorities have scrapped its ‘circuit breaker’ penalty mechanism for airlines found to be carrying passengers who test positive for the coronavirus. The move is part of a wider revision of pandemic management measures announced by China’s central pandemic prevention committee and widely seen as a significant step towards the country’s eventual reopening. Under the ‘circuit breaker’ mechanism, airlines faced temporary suspension if they were found to carry a number of passengers with Covid-19. Beijing had tweaked the scheme a number of times since introducing it in 2020, including reducing the length of suspension. The mechanism has been unpopular with airlines, adding uncertainty to network planning to China. Other travel-related measures that China is adjusting include quarantine time and testing requirements for international arrivals. Arriving passengers will only need to quarantine for five days at a designated facility and another three days self-isolating at home. Pre-departure testing will remain, though travellers will only need to do one PCR test 48 hours before departure, instead of two. Despite broad adjustments in restrictions, China has signalled its intentions to keep its zero-infection policy, even as infections climb in the country. The country reported more than 10,000 new cases on 10 November. Beijing has yet to significantly expand the number of international flights allowed into the country. In late-October, China doubled the number of flights allowed into the country - to 420 flights weekly - in the Northern Winter schedule. The figure is still a small fraction of pre-pandemic international flights. In comments following China’s announcement, IATA’s regional vice president for North Asia Xie Xingquan says the suspension of the ‘circuit breaker’ mechanism is welcomed, noting that “airlines were being penalised for something outside of their control”. <br/>

IATA has called on China to open its borders to boost air travel in the Asia-pacific following the coronavirus pandemic, and stressed that Asian government support is essential for the airline sector to reduce carbon emissions. Addressing the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines 66th Assembly of Presidents, IATA deputy director Conrad Clifford notes that Asian airlines were especially hard hit by travel restrictions stemming from Covid-19, accounting for a third of global industry losses from 2020 to 2022. Further, travel restrictions delayed the region’s emergence from the pandemic. “Asia has been a laggard,” says Clifford. “The rest of the world started lifting restrictions and reopening borders last year. However, it was only around April this year that positive momentum was seen in Asia.” He adds that Asia can learn from the experience in Europe and the USA, where the surge in traffic following the pandemic led to significant congestion. Therefore the region needs to get both infrastructure and manpower in place for the resumption in air traffic. He also called on China to open. Under the ‘zero-Covid’ policy of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the country remains all but cut off from international air travel. “China continues to be a step behind the rest of the world in the recovery, remaining largely closed to international travel, and that is holding back the entire region,” says Clifford. “We all must learn to live, travel and work with COVID-19. We hope the Chinese government will have the confidence to re-open its borders soon and reconnect with the world.” <br/>

China reduced the quarantine time for international travelers by two days, state media said Friday. Instead of making travelers stay at a centralized quarantine facility for seven days upon arrival in the country, the new rules stipulate a five day quarantine, according to state media. That’s followed by three days of home observation, unchanged from prior protocol. The new timeframe also applied to close contacts of Covid infections within China, the report said. In contact tracing, China said it will no longer track people beyond close contacts of Covid infections. Previously, people who were connected to those close contacts might face additional Covid restrictions. The new measures reduced the number of regional risk designations to two from three — just low and high, the report said. Overall, the new measures emphasized home quarantine instead of centralized quarantine. The measures also ended a policy that often resulted in the number of international flights, already operating at reduced levels, getting canceled. The measures called for setting up a bubble for business people or sports teams entering China. People entering the bubble from China need to be vaccinated, and might need to quarantine once the event ends, the report said. China has stuck to its stringent zero-Covid policy, while the rest of the world has shifted to a “living with Covid” approach. Beijing’s emphasis on what it calls “dynamic zero-Covid” has been implemented with significant variation at a local level, causing great uncertainty and dampening travel.<br/>

Air-taxi pioneer Volocopter GmbH said it expects to remain independent until after its first commercial flights in 2024 despite regular interest from potential suitors, with a stock market listing likely the following year. Commencing passenger services in time for the Paris Olympics could hand the German startup a lead over rivals and help give it a valuation of E10b or more, according to CEO Dirk Hoke. “Our shareholders invested with the target of an IPO,” Hoke said at the launch of a so-called vertiport near Paris, where trials will be conducted before the games. “We believe we can be a double-digit billion-euro company.” Volocopter has eschewed a listing even though many of its closest rivals have gone down that path, with Britain’s Vertical Aerospace Ltd. and fellow German startup Lilium NV among a clutch of flying taxi companies to trade on New York’s Nasdaq exchange following mergers with blank-check companies. Hoke said that Volocopter, which has so far raised cash solely through a series of funding rounds, is viewed as attractive by suitors seeking an easy way into a market that could become one of the most lucrative in aviation should it proliferate as forecast. “We always get approached,” the CEO said. “For the moment we prefer to be independent. We want to have the agility and we want to bring models into the market.” CCO Christian Bauer, a former Daimler executive, said Volocopter will also be able to tap the potential of eVTOLs to be as revolutionary as Tesla Inc. cars once their size increases. “Tesla started with a two-seater because the battery technology wasn’t there and now they are the most valuable car brand in the world,” he said. “That’s where we want to go.”<br/>

Boeing is determined to win back market share in the Asia-Pacific, and feels it has the optimal product mix to do so. Dave Schulte, managing director marketing at the US airframer, paints an upbeat picture of traffic demand in key Asia-Pacific regions. He says India’s traffic demand is growing 7% annually, and while Southeast Asia’s is not quite as high, it is still among the highest in the world. He adds that Southeast Asian aircraft demand will primarily be for single-aisles. According to the company’s Commercial Market Outlook (CMO) for Southeast Asia, the region will require over 4,255 new aircraft over the next twenty years, with demand for narrowbodies to greatly outweigh that for widebodies. For the next 20 years Boeing expects Southeast Asia to require 3,430 narrowbodies, 740 widebodies, 50 regional jets, and 35 freighters. It expects the region’s fleet to triple by 2042, with 70% of deliveries for growth, not replacement. Schulte disclosed Boeing’s forecast in an interview with FlightGlobal at the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines 66th Assembly of Presidents, which is taking place in Bangkok from 10-11 November. Boeing’s Southeast Asia forecast is a subset of its global CMO, which foresees the world’s airlines requiring 41,170 new aircraft over the next two decades. Despite Boeing’s optimism, in recent years it has lost Asia-Pacific market share to rival Airbus in the narrowbody segment. Cirium fleets data indicates that Asia-Pacific airlines have 181 737 Max jets in their fleets, compared with 1,213 A320neo family jets. The A320neo family is also ahead in Asia-Pacific orders, with 2,233 against the 737 Max’s 1,302. <br/>