Two years after passing legislation that would have required substantial cockpit changes in new versions of the 737 Max jet, Congress has agreed to give Boeing a last-minute reprieve, substituting other safety measures to address concerns that arose after two deadly crashes. Boeing said the previous requirement would have been costly to carry out and confusing for pilots trained on other versions of the plane. After 346 people died in two Max crashes, Congress passed a new air safety law in 2020. Among other things, that law set higher standards for pilot alert systems in any plane certified after Dec. 27 of this year. Few lawmakers or executives expected the legislation would apply to the Max, but delays in the Federal Aviation Administration’s certification of two new variants of the plane left Boeing scrambling in recent months to get the deadline extended or waived. The government spending bill unveiled on Tuesday, which is expected to pass this week, keeps the requirement only for planes that first apply for certification after Dec. 27. But the deal, which was proposed by Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington, requires that Boeing make two changes to all Max models that some experts recommended after the crashes: installing both an additional system to measure the angle at which the plane meets oncoming air flow — also known as the angle of attack — and a way for pilots to shut off certain distracting stall warnings. “Safety must always drive the day,” Ms. Cantwell, whose state is a major base of Boeing operations, said in a statement. “We should not rush the FAA’s safety approval process. The safety-first alternative is much stronger than the no-strings-attached approach that was first offered. Passengers need to know that the entire Max fleet will be uniform and safer.”<br/>
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Heavy snowfall and low visibility from a strong winter storm blanketing Pacific Canada forced the country's second busiest airport in Vancouver to halt all flights on Tuesday morning, with disruptions expected to continue ahead of the Christmas weekend. The Vancouver International Airport said the storm has had "an unprecedented impact on flights" and caused mass cancellations overnight. "Travel continues to be significantly impacted this morning and we anticipate cancellations and delays to continue through the day and the week ahead," the airport said. A low pressure system from the Pacific Ocean combined with very cold Arctic air over British Columbia dragged temperatures down and brought up to 25 cm of snow to parts of the western province overnight, a meteorologist with Environment Canada said. Crews were clearing the airfield and aircraft of snow and ice to get planes and people moving again, the Vancouver airport said.<br/>
France's Vinci Tuesday clarified that it was not currently investing $820m in renovating a key Mexican airport, saying that the figure cited by a local government was in fact the price of a major stake purchase, after debt. A spokesperson for the French construction and concessions firm told Reuters that after agreeing to buy Fintech Advisory's 29.99% stake in Mexican airport operator OMA for $1.17b, Fintech had used $350m to pay back debts. "The nature of this flow is indeed the acquisition of a part of the shares of OMA, and not investments planned in the airports OMA manages," Vinci said in an email. The governor of Mexico's northern state of Nuevo Leon, Samuel Garcia, said on Monday following a meeting with Vinci's CE that $820m would go towards renovating the key Monterrey airport. OMA confirmed that the sum was related to the finalization of the stake acquisition, adding that it was in the process of expanding and renovating the major international airport.<br/>
The Ecuadorean Geophysical Institute on Tuesday detected a column of gases and ashes rising from the crater of the Cotopaxi volcano, as part of its ongoing eruptive activity, affecting several areas of capital city Quito with volcanic ash. The Cotopaxi volcano, a 5,897-meter-high, snow-capped mountain located in the city of Latacunga, south of Quito, resumed its eruptive activity in late October at a low-intensity level, with volcanic gas emissions and ash clouds. The volcano's last eruptive activity took place between August and December 2015. The ash cloud reached up to 1,100 meters above the volcano's crater level and, due to wind, it moved to several points south of Quito, according to the Geophysical Institute. Ecuador's Risk Management service said on its Twitter account that ash fall was light in affected areas, including Quito. The capital's airport operated normally on Tuesday, and said on its Twitter account that the ash fall had so far not affected its operations.<br/>
A full recovery in airline passenger volumes in Europe has been pushed back to 2025 from 2024, the body representing European airports said on Tuesday, revising the industry's optimistic tone about its post-COVID recovery. The announcement from ACI Europe heralds a cautious outlook with "more negatives than positives" as Europe fears a looming recession and continues to grapple with double-digit inflation as well as the fallout from the war in Ukraine. Euro zone inflation may have peaked but will subside so slowly that it could be years before it gets back to the European Central Bank's 2% target, reports this month indicated. Analysts had previously said they expected consumers to continue their holiday travels, even as they grapple with higher costs of living. But ACI Europe and others say there were still uncertainties, including a slow recovery of business travel and further unexpected economic upheaval, that could impact the sector. For airports in particular, new government fees could prove troubling. "We now expect the passenger traffic recovery to level off moving forwards, with the timeline pushed to 2025 before Europe's airports finally get back to where they stood before COVID-19 hit," said Olivier Jankovec, director general of ACI Europe. "We expect several airport markets - especially those relying predominantly on tourism - to exceed their pre-pandemic passenger volumes as soon as next year. But many others will not fare so well and take much longer to recover."<br/>
A technology company in Abu Dhabi is working to make passengers' airport experience fully contactless. Next50 said the first phase of its Smart Path project was under way and would eventually result in passengers using biometric data, such as face scans, in place of boarding passes, passports and any other documents required to fly. The project is being carried out in collaboration with a French identity-related security services company named Idemia, and Swiss aviation IT company Sita. Next50 uses artificial intelligence and next-generation biometric technology that will initially be employed at various 'touchpoints' across the airport. These include self-service baggage counters, electronic immigration gates and boarding gates. The technology will eventually be used at all touchpoints, eliminating the need to exchange boarding passes and passports with staff. Currently, biometric data is used at e-gates at Abu Dhabi airport but passengers must still present their passport. “We are excited to be leading the biometrics project at the UAE capital’s state-of-the-art international airport as part of the emirate’s digital transformation vision,” said Next50 CE Ibrahim Al Mannaee.<br/>
A new plateau airport will be inaugurated in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Friday, according to the Xinjiang branch company of China Southern Airlines. Located in the Tajik Autonomous County of Taxkorgan, the new airport will be the westernmost airport in China and the first plateau airport of the region. The airport's passenger throughput and cargo volume will reach 160,000 and 400 tonnes annually, respectively.<br/>
The New Zealand government is considering bringing forward plans to increase domestic fuel storage, following a jet fuel shortage earlier this month, a spokesperson for the energy minister said on Tuesday. With the country depending entirely on imports since April, the failure of a recent shipment to pass quality tests resulted in shortages at Auckland Airport, the country's busiest. Airlines there were told in early December that jet fuel supplies would be reduced to just 75% of the originally planned allocation. In response, Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods had asked officials to look at requiring importers wholesalers to increase stocks beginning in 2023 instead of 2024, said the spokesperson, adding that Woods was now considering the advice. The proposed regulation, announced in November, covers stocks of petrol, jet fuel and diesel. The government also plans to increase its own reserves of diesel. Concerns over security of fuel supply have risen since New Zealand's only oil refinery closed in April, just as global energy prices were rising as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In 2020 a panel independently reviewed the implications for fuel security if the refinery closed. Without crude oil and products kept in the country in relation to the refinery's operation, stocks would fall 30%, it found.<br/>
FedEx Corp. reported fiscal second-quarter earnings that beat analysts’ estimates, lifted by price increases and cost cuts that helped make up for a decline in package volume. Shares of the delivery giant rose after the company announced an additional $1b of projected savings in fiscal 2023, bringing the total to about $3.7b. The stock gained 3.6% to $170.25 in extended trading. It has dropped 36% this year. Earnings totaled $3.18 a share excluding some items, the Memphis, Tennessee-based courier said Tuesday in a statement. Analysts had predicted $2.80 a share on average. Sales for the quarter ended Nov. 30 were $22.8b, below estimates of $23.7b. FedEx is making “rapid progress on our ongoing transformation while navigating a weaker demand environment,” CEO Raj Subramaniam said. “Our earnings exceeded our expectations in the second quarter driven by the execution and acceleration of our aggressive cost reduction plans.” Investors had pared their expectations in September after FedEx pulled its annual forecast, posted earnings well below estimates and pledged to cut costs in the face of sagging volume. The decline in shipments was much quicker than FedEx anticipated, and the company also struggled with service issues in Europe, Subramaniam said on a Sept. 22 conference call.<br/>