US lawmakers late on Tuesday declined to add an extension to an annual defense bill of a looming deadline that would impose a new safety standard for modern cockpit alerts for two new versions of Boeing’s best-selling 737 MAX aircraft. The US planemaker has been lobbying for months to convince lawmakers to waive the deadline that affects its MAX 7 and MAX 10 airplanes and was imposed by Congress in 2020 after two fatal 737 MAX crashes killed 346 people in Indonesia and Ethiopia. There is a slim chance the defense bill could be changed before final passage and Boeing is still attempting to convince lawmakers to attach the proposal to a bill that could be considered to fund US government operations but sources briefed on the matter say the issue may slip into 2023. That would be a significant setback for Boeing, which did not immediately comment but has argued previously it is better to have a common alerting system for all versions of the 737 MAX. The requirements for modern cockpit alerts were adopted by Congress as part of certification reform passed after two fatal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 that led to the plane’s 20-month grounding. After Dec. 27, all planes must have modern cockpit alerting systems to be certified by the FAA, which could jeopardize the MAX 7 and 10 future or mean significant delays for the new aircraft’s deployment. Boeing has won about 1,000 orders for the MAX 7 and MAX 10 and previously warned that without an extension of the deadline it could be forced to cancel the two versions.<br/>
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Norwegian airports operator Avinor has cleared construction of a new airport for Bodo on the country’s north-western coast. The facility will be completed in 2029, the operator states, following an agreement with the Norwegian armed forces. It will be sited some 900m to the south of the current Bodo airport, which will remain open until its successor takes over. Costing some NKr7.2b ($717m), the project will be part-funded by Avinor which will contributed NKr2.6b. The Norwegian government and other funds will make up the balance. Avinor says the decision to proceed has been held up for various reasons, including the financial uncertainty created by the pandemic. “It goes without saying that this has been a difficult issue for Avinor,” admits chief executive Abraham Foss. “We are keen to develop a new airport and we have always been clear about this.” But Foss adds that it is a “very costly” project that will weigh on the company’s finances for “many years to come. It is only natural that the path to a final decision has been rather long and winding, even if all parties involved had a clear desire to get it over the finishing line.” Avinor expects the initial contracts, for the runway and taxiway construction, as well as aircraft stands, to be published in the first week of January 2023.<br/>
Border Force workers at several major British airports including the country's busiest, Heathrow, will go on strike for eight days this month in a dispute over pay, threatening disruption to Christmas travel. The PCS trade union said staff employed by Britain's interior ministry in passport booths would take action at London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports and a handful of regional ones, plus the Port of Newhaven. The union's General Secretary Mark Serwotka said around 2,000-3,000 staff would be involved in the walkouts on ever day but one between Dec 23-31. Asked why the union had picked the Christmas period, Serwotka said: "Those people will lose pay when they go on strike, they do it as a last resort and the job of the union is to ensure that the action that we call is noticed." Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said the decision was "unjustifiable" and would ruin the plans of thousands of families and businesses. "While we are working closely with all UK ports and airports and have robust plans in place to minimise any delays if strike action goes ahead, passengers should be prepared for their plans to be severely disrupted," he said. Aviation analytics firm Cirium estimated more than 10,000 flights, potentially carrying more than 2m people, were due to arrive at the affected airports between Dec. 23 and 31.<br/>
Key regional airlines said on Wednesday they expected to continue scheduled flights with New Zealand, which is beginning to ration jet fuel after a recent shipment failed government tests. Airlines are being told that jet fuel supplies at the country’s largest airport in Auckland will be throttled to 75% of planned allocations, said Cath O’Brien, an official of a national panel of airline representatives. But national carrier Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines ruled out immediate schedule changes, as did an official of another major regional airline, who sought anonymity in the absence of authorisation to speak with media. “We know how important it is to get our customers around our network in the lead-up to Christmas and our team are working hard to ensure we will continue,” said David Morgan, chief safety officer for the national carrier. No schedule changes were currently being considered, he added. A spokesperson for Singapore Airlines said it was working closely with authorities to understand if operations would be affected, adding, “There are currently no changes to our scheduled operations.”<br/>
A growing number of companies are making bulk purchases of sustainable aviation fuel to reduce their carbon footprints, encouraging mass production of the cleaner energy that airlines need to meet their emissions targets. Airlines, travel agents and fuel producers are now offering corporate customers the opportunity to buy SAF not linked to individual flights, as companies go beyond cheaper carbon offset options like planting trees to reduce the environmental burden of flying. The industry move toward a "book and claim" accounting system like that used in the renewable electricity sector allows for greater flexibility given the relative scarcity of SAF, which uses feedstocks like cooking oils to reduce emissions by up to 80% from conventional fuel but is available only at limited airports globally. In a recent deal announced by Qantas Airways, five companies will pay a premium to reduce their emissions by contributing to the cost of the airline using SAF supplied by BP at London's Heathrow Airport. The companies involved can claim an emissions reduction to be used for a variety of potential purposes that is not linked to their business travel from London to Australia. Participant Boston Consulting Group, which is also buying SAF through United Airlines and fuel suppliers SkyNRG and Neste, said it was looking to help scale the SAF market to meet internal targets. "Our largest source of emissions come from business travel, and there we have committed to cut our emissions intensity in half by 2025, compared to 2018," BCG Chief Sustainability Officer David Webb said.<br/>