Worldwide passenger traffic in November reached 75% of its November 2019 level, according to new data from IATA, the airline industry’s international trade association. That’s traffic measured by revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs), which account for both passenger volumes and distance flown. Domestic traffic has recovered slightly faster than international, though the figures vary greatly by region. China still loomed large over the figures this past fall. The country’s borders are just now fully reopening to international flights, and domestic RPKs in November were just 30% of their total four years earlier. IATA is now actively urging governments to refrain from Covid testing requirements for inbound Chinese travelers, citing guidance from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, among other experts. According to IATA, the prevailing view among epidemiologists is that “the reintroduction of testing for travelers from China can do little to contain a virus that is already present around the world.” Director General Willie Walsh added that governments were playing “science politics.” Walsh, who formerly was chief of International Airlines Group (IAG), was equally critical of China’s government for its own pre-departure testing requirements for inbound travelers. Airlines based in the broader Asia-Pacific region, including China, produced barely half the RPKs they did in November 2019. The declines across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa were less severe, down in the range of 15 to 17%. Latin American airline traffic was down just 8% from four years ago. North America was down a mere 3%.<br/>
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US aviation safety regulators intend to require passenger and cargo aircraft to meet requirements by early next year for navigation gear to deal with potentially unsafe interference from 5G mobile-phone signals. The equipment is needed because the newer wireless signals are on frequencies near those used by planes’ radio altimeters, which determine altitude over ground and can cause them to malfunction, the Federal Aviation Administration has found. Wireless companies are eager for a solution because they paid the government more than $80b for the new airwaves. The changes would need to be made by Feb. 1, 2024, the agency said in a notice Monday. The FAA said it couldn’t rule out interference from 5G signals for about 100 incidents of aircraft navigation equipment issuing erroneous data. Such situations will increase as telecommunications providers expand 5G coverage throughout the US, the FAA said. “Although they may seem minor in isolation such that some may consider them a mere nuisance, these warnings have safety implications over time,” the FAA said in its notice. “As the flightcrew becomes more desensitized to erroneous warnings, they are less likely to react to an accurate warning, negating the safety benefits of the warning altogether and likely leading to a catastrophic incident.” Airlines “are working diligently to ensure fleets are equipped with compliant radio altimeters, but global supply chains continue to lag behind current demand,” said Airlines for America, the lobbying group representing the largest US carriers. “Any government deadline must consider this reality.” Spokespeople for American Airlines Group, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. <br/>
EU antitrust regulators will decide by Feb. 13 whether to clear US company Viasat's $7.3b takeover of satellite rival Inmarsat, a EC filing showed on Monday. The deal is already the target of an in-depth investigation by the UK competition watchdog, concerned that it could block competition in the aviation connectivity market and potentially result in airlines facing higher prices for on-board Wi-Fi. The EU antitrust enforcer can either clear the deal with or without remedies or it can open a full-scale investigation if it has serious concerns about the tie-up. The companies compete with market leaders Panasonic and Intelsat in the market for in-flight Wi-Fi on long-haul flights. Viasat offers connectivity services to residential, aviation and defence customers in North America while Inmarsat's clients include the shipping and aviation sectors as well as government departments.<br/>
The House of Commons committee that handles transportation issues has agreed to launch a special study into the treatment of air and rail passengers this holiday season and will be calling on officials from the major airlines and Via Rail, as well as Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, to testify. At an emergency meeting on Monday—called for by opposition MPs—committee members unanimously agreed to start this study before the House is scheduled to resume on Jan. 30. The first hearing will take place on Thursday and is expected to see the minister field a series of questions about what transpired and what accountability there will be. Numerous incidents led to passengers struggling to get to their destinations this holiday season amid widespread delays and cancellations, including a Via Rail train derailment resulting in cascading chaos and hundreds of Sunwing passengers being stranded in Mexico after the airline called off flights. MPs will also be calling on representatives from Sunwing, Air Canada and WestJet; authorities from the Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver airports; Via Rail and CN Rail; the Canadian Transportation Agency and Transport Canada; as well as air passenger advocates and affected travellers to testify. While this special set of hearings will focus on the period between December 2022 and January 2023, the committee will be incorporating its findings into a broader ongoing review underway on air passenger rights, as the debacle has given renewed attention on Canada's process for handling travel complaints. The agreement to embark on this study came after MPs took turns sharing their dismay over what transpired for travellers this holiday season.<br/>
Thailand has rescinded an entry policy announced at the weekend requiring visitors to show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination, its health minister said on Monday, citing sufficient immunisation levels in China and globally. Anutin Charnvirakul said checking evidence of vaccinations was inconvenient and a panel of heath experts had agreed to withdraw the new rule, which was announced on Saturday by aviation authorities ahead of an expected deluge of visitors from China, where COVID-19 cases have surged. "Showing proof of vaccination would be cumbersome and inconvenient, and so the group's decision is that it is unnecessary," Anutin told reporters. One of Asia's most popular travel destinations, Thailand is enjoying an influx of visitors during its first peak season since the removal last year of tight entry restrictions that had caused its tourism sector to collapse. In November, it recorded 1.75m visitors, quadruple the number for the whole of last year when flights and foreign arrivals were limited. China has been crucial for Thailand, accounting for about a quarter of its annual visitors before the pandemic. Anutin said the government was now expecting 7-10m Chinese visitors, compared to an earlier 5m estimate. The first flight from China arrived in Thailand on Monday with the first group among an expected 3,465 passengers on the first day.<br/>
Singapore will continue to maintain a “careful and calibrated” approach towards reopening its borders and restoring air connectivity with China, even as airlines from both sides have applied to operate more flights between the two countries. Transport Minister S. Iswaran told Parliament on Monday that the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) is evaluating these applications, and will progressively approve them. But as with other countries previously, this will be done while considering the prevailing public health assessment, Changi Airport’s capacity and its ability to ensure efficient operations. This approach is being taken despite there being significant scope to restore air connectivity between China and Singapore, with the number of flights and volume of passengers between the two countries currently at less than 10 per cent of pre-Covid-19 levels, Iswaran noted. “All indications are that there will be strong demand… But in the near term, if you ask me, will there be a surge? I think unlikely. But neither will we be at a standstill,” he said. “Our desire is really to do this in a systematic, calibrated manner,” he added, declining to provide a timeline of when passenger volumes between both countries are likely to return to pre-pandemic levels when asked by Ms Ng Ling Ling (Ang Mo Kio GRC). Iswaran said there were 25 weekly flights between China and Singapore as at end-October 2022. There are now 38 weekly flights between China and Singapore, including two recently approved flights to Beijing, which works out to an average of five to six flights per day at Changi Airport.<br/>
Global demand for air cargo “softened” in November 2022, the most recent month of data, as carriers continued facing economic headwinds and the pandemic-related cargo boom lost steam. As measured in cargo tonne-kilometres (CTKs), global air freight demand fell 13.7% last November compared with November 2021, according to a 9 January report from the IATA. “Air cargo performance softened in November, the traditional peak season,” says Willie Walsh, IATA’s director general. “Resilience in the face of economic uncertainties is demonstrated with demand being relatively stable on a month-to-month basis. But market signals are mixed.” Latin America was the only region to show a positive change in demand for air cargo during the month, with its CTKs up 2.2% in one year.North America’s CTKs fell 6.6% year-on-year, while the Asia-Pacific region posted the largest loss, down 18.6% from one year prior, IATA says. “Airlines in the [Asia-Pacific] region continue to be impacted by lower levels of trade and manufacturing activity and disruptions in supply chains due to China’s rising Covid cases,” IATA says. Europe, feeling the affects of Russia’s war with Ukraine, also saw demand for air cargo decrease signficiantly, with CTKs down 16.5% year-on-year in November. Though oil prices stabilised and the pace of inflation slowed in November – indicators “with upside potential”, Walsh says – shrinking export orders and China’s surge in Covid-19 cases “are cause for careful monitoring”, he adds. New export orders – a top indicator of cargo demand – stayed stable in October thanks to growing export demand in Germany, the USA and South Korea, while such orders decreased in the rest of the world, IATA says. Demand for air cargo capacity soared during the Covid-19 pandemic and stayed strong for many months thanks to the rise of e-commerce, driving a boom in converting ageing passenger aircraft into freighters. “We got hit with Covid, of course, and then suddenly you have a whole bunch of aircraft that got parked,” Raphael Haddad, president of specialist commercial aircraft trading firm Jetcraft Commercial, said during a 17 November interview.<br/>
The airplane seat recline button -- so controversial that it inspired an entire micro-industry of devices to stop the passenger in front leaning into your space. At one point in time all economy class airline seats had built-in recline. Today, there are entire seat models that simply don't have the option. So what happened to make reclining seats disappear in some places? And is that a good thing, or a bad thing? Just because a passenger can recline their seat, should they? As with so much in the airline business, it depends on who you ask. Let's talk about how recline works. At its most basic, there's a mechanism hidden in the structure underneath your seat cushion that contains a pivot, the wires connecting it to the button on your armrest, and a pneumatic canister that returns the seat to an upright position. Seatmakers call this kinematics: the parts that move. For airlines, this represents a cost, firstly from maintenance: any kind of mechanism is prone to breaking, whether from normal wear and tear or because passengers don't treat airplanes gently. Secondly, it's a weight cost, because these mechanisms can quickly add up. Most modern and lightweight airplane seats are somewhere between seven and 10 kilograms (15-22 pounds) per passenger today. Any weight that can be saved means reducing the fuel needed to carry it. And thirdly -- and in some ways most importantly -- it's a disruption cost, because if passengers are fighting with each other over seat reclining etiquette, then flight attendants have to play schoolyard monitor. In some cases, passengers got so disruptive that flights have even diverted for safety.<br/>