general

The US Congress should prevent a potential rail strike and extend a Boeing 737 MAX 7 and 10 certification deadline before lawmakers end work for the year, the US Chamber of Commerce urged on Tuesday. The largest US business group noted that three rail unions have rejected a rail contract since October, and warned in a letter that a strike would be catastrophic for the economy, costing $2b per day. The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB), which represents about 300 rail employees, rejected an agreement on Monday. Railroads and unions have agreed to extend a potential strike deadline until at least Dec. 4. The Chamber also backed Boeing efforts to waive a December deadline imposing a new safety standard for modern cockpit alerts for the MAX 7 and MAX 10. The Chamber said Congress should extend the certification deadline until September 2024 at the earliest. Boeing CE Dave Calhoun said last month he is confident the planemaker will get an extension from the US Congress. Boeing has gotten support from major carriers like United Airlines and Delta that have ordered MAX 10 airplanes and some pilots unions. <br/>

Air carriers will be unable to fully meet deadlines to retrofit planes to avoid interference from latest generation 5G C-Band wireless service, the aviation industry said Tuesday, urging the White House to help avert a standoff. Concerns that 5G services could interfere with airplanes' altimeters, which give data on a plane's height above the ground and are crucial for bad-weather landing, led to disruptions at some U.S. airports earlier this year. A letter signed by Airlines for America, Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, aviation unions and others backed the FAA request to mandate an extension of mitigation by wireless carriers as airlines retrofit radio altimeters. "It is critical to extend these mitigations through the end of 2023 to allow airlines time to complete the retrofit," the letter said. Because of global supply chain issues "air carriers will likely be unable to fully meet either the December 2022 deadlines for smaller regional aircraft and many large transports nor the July 2023 retrofit deadline," it added. "Our aviation coalition strongly believes that instead of once again waiting until the eleventh hour, now is the time for the leadership at federal agencies and the White House to implement a solution that allows 5G to move forward and avoid further flight delays and cancellations," the letter said. FAA acting Administrator Billy Nolen urged a delay in some 5G C-Band transmissions from smaller operators over aviation safety concerns.<br/>

It’s not often that travelers have something to look forward to at Newark Liberty International Airport. The new $2.7b Terminal A will open in December, the latest in a series of major airport projects opening around the US this year. The first 21 gates of the 33-gate facility will open on December 8, officials said Tuesday. The remaining gates open in 2023. Air Canada, American Airlines, JetBlue Airways, and United Airlines will operate from the terminal initially, and Delta Air Lines will join them next year. The old Terminal A, which opened in 1973, will be demolished. The last new terminal to open at Newark airport was Terminal C in 1988. United, which has a large hub at Newark, will use up to 15 gates in the new Terminal A. The airline plans to operate flights to around 23 destinations — including to Atlanta, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Nashville, Raleigh-Durham, San Diego, and Seattle-Tacoma — from the facility, Newark Chief Pilot Captain Fabian Garcia said in September. The new terminal at Newark is the latest in a series of big airport investments around the US this year. New or expanded facilities at Denver, Los Angeles, New York LaGuardia, Orlando, Phoenix Sky Harbor, Seattle-Tacoma, and Washington Dulles airports have all opened in recent months. Construction of Terminal A at Newark began in 2018.<br/>

Washingtonians have pined for the day they can take the train to Dulles International Airport for nearly six decades. That day, finally, arrived Tuesday. The local Metro system begins revenue passenger rail service to the airport around 2 p.m. local time. Travelers will be able to ride the roughly 27 miles between downtown Washington, D.C., and Dulles in about 53 minutes that — while not necessarily rapid — is faster than making the drive at rush hour in the region’s notorious traffic. The inauguration of rail service to the airport, which is part of an 11-mile extension of Metro’s Silver Line, fulfills a long-held dream to connect the exurban airport to DC. Opened in 1962 on what was then mostly farmland, planners early on dreamed of a rail link to the city. Talk and studies only became reality when work began on the first phase of the Silver Line in 2009; construction of the extension to Dulles began in 2014. And the final link is not without controversy: The extension to the airport opened four years late and, with a $3b price tag, $250m over budget. But making the rail link a reality means more than just offering travelers — and airport staff — another way to get to Dulles. It is also an important tool when it comes to attracting new airlines to the US.capital’s main international gateway. Budget carriers “have an expectation that they’re going to have transit to downtown,” Jack Potter, CEO of Dulles operator the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, told DCist recently. They “are excited about [the Silver Line] and you’re gonna see some new service coming our way in the coming months and years as a result of this train.”<br/>