general

Delays at security check-in and other problems at Canada’s airports were among the concerns raised Thursday as the air travel industry came together ahead of the busy winter travel season, but the sector warns more remains to be done. Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra convened the summit for the industry to discuss such issues as transparency, accountability and passenger rights. “The air industry was devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Alghabra in a press release “Last summer, the industry faced a new crisis of congestion and delays.” Alghabra noted that passenger volumes rose 280% between February and June. The high passenger volumes and inadequate staffing levels contributed to a summer of lost baggage and flight disruptions, during which Toronto’s Pearson International Airport had the world’s worst record on delayed flights. With the peak winter travel season around the corner, passengers and industry alike are concerned that similar problems may emerge. Key issues discussed at the summit include the persistent labour shortage, inflation and loss of revenue, Alghabra said in a phone interview. He said despite the remaining pilot shortage, air sector staffing is mostly back to 2019 levels, but problems around training delays such as security screeners remain. “It takes some time to train an employee in the sector,” said Alghabra. The head of the Canadian Airport Council says that capital expenses are a concern, as Canadian airports took on $3.2b in debt to continue operations during the pandemic.<br/>

Berlin Brandenburg Airport said on Thursday flights were resuming with some delays after it was earlier forced to close its runways as climate protesters broke into the site and some of them glued themselves to the tarmac. The activists from the Last Generation environmental group called on the public to stop travelling by air and on the government to stop subsidising it. “In an airport area that is not open to the public, we encountered several people who had previously gained unauthorised access and some glued themselves (to the tarmac),” Berlin police said on Twitter. The protest, the latest by climate activists in Germany, also urged the government to expand cheap train travel offers. “One affluent percent of the population is responsible for around half of flight-related greenhouse gas emissions,” Last Generation said in a statement, adding that a 70 year-old man was among the activists in the airport. A spokesperson for the airport said the activists had entered the airport from two points in the north and south, and police had detained them. The spokesperson could not say how many flights were affected.<br/>

Travel at this World Cup was supposed to be easy in the tiny host nation of Qatar, after fans had to take long flights between cities at the last three tournaments. The eight stadiums in Qatar are in or near the capital, so fans don't have to go too far to get to matches – in theory. The country billed its World Cup as environmentally sustainable in part because of how compact it is, but the reality is quite different. Tens of thousands of foreign fans are turning to shuttle flights between Doha and neighbouring Dubai for a number of reasons – high hotel prices, a scarcity of accommodation and alcohol limits. It might sound extreme, expensive and environmentally questionable, but the daily flights have become a popular choice as fans opt to sleep somewhere other than Qatar. Dubai, the freewheeling commercial capital of the United Arab Emirates, is the region's top destination outside Doha. State airlines like FlyDubai, the emirate's budget carrier, are marshalling resources, operating 10 times the number of usual flights to Doha. Neighbouring Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia also have organised air shuttles to cash in on the World Cup tourism boom. Every few minutes, a Boeing or Airbus rumbles overhead Doha's old airport. The concept of air shuttles isn't new to the Gulf, where many who live and work in ultraconservative Saudi Arabia or dry Kuwait hop over to Dubai for the weekend to drink freely and have fun in the glittering metropolis. Unlike fans who had to take long-distance flights at the World Cups in South Africa (2010), Brazil (2014) and Russia (2018), the Dubai-Doha route is shorter in most cases. But short flights, often defined as trips shorter than 500km, are more polluting than long ones per person for every kilometre travelled because of how much fuel is used for take off and landing.<br/>

International flights are now jam-packed with 90% of seats full in what is likely to be one of the highest occupancy rates in history. However, the high figures are largely a result of airlines being slow to return in numbers to Australia, with capacity – or seats for sale – down 45% on pre-pandemic numbers. New BITRE figures released by the department of transport continue to show international aviation’s sluggish bounce back from the pandemic. In September, 2,095,503 passengers travelled through the country – 40% lower than the 3,496,774 passengers registered in the same month in 2019. The numbers are though 5% better relatively than August. There were 2,398,759 seats for sale last month, but that was well down on the 4,307,590 available in 2019. The new report read, “In terms of passenger carriage, Qantas had the largest share of the market in September 2022 with 17.6% of the total followed by Singapore Airlines with 12.3%, Jetstar with 11.9%, Air New Zealand with 9.7% and Emirates with 8.0%. The Qantas group – Qantas Airways and Jetstar – accounted for 29.5% of total passenger carriage in September 2022. The group’s share was 0% in September 2021 and 26.4% in September 2019. Australian designated airlines – Qantas Airways, Jetstar and Virgin Australia (2.3%) accounted for 31.8% of total passenger carriage in September 2022. Their share was 0.0% in September 2021 and 32.9% in September 2019.”<br/>

Australians are facing a chaotic and expensive end-of-year travel season, with record-high domestic fares and the threat of fresh industrial action by Qantas flight attendants coming to a crescendo over Christmas. Following months of higher-than-average domestic air fares, travellers hoping to book the cheapest available return domestic air fares are facing prices not recorded since March 2004, according to air fare price indexes maintained by the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE). The cheapest Melbourne-to-Sydney return fares in December are $268, while the cheapest Perth-to-Sydney return fares are $751 and Alice Springs-to-Sydney fares $959 for the same month, according to recent data from the government agency. The BITRE data focused on cheapest available fares. A cursory search for flights shows airlines charging hundreds more for average fares at many points in December. In the second week of December, Sydney-to-Melbourne return fares on budget carriers at the traditionally unfavourable early and late ends of Sydney airport’s curfew average $500. International air fares to and from Australia are also soaring ahead of the new year. Economy fares to London from Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney over the December travel period are averaging $3,000, $2,641 and $2,250 respectively, according to data from flight booking website Kayak.com. Prices from Brisbane to London are 73% higher than for the same period in 2019.<br/>