US airlines on the back of strong financial results remain upbeat about travel demand, even as economists and analysts say the risk of an economic recession has gone up. United and Delta reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings on resilient consumer demand, while American Airlines lifted its profit outlook. Carriers are enjoying the strongest travel demand since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, boosted by reopening of closed borders, a strong U.S. dollar and rising corporate travel. While recession fears have sparked concerns about consumer spending, airline executives say travel demand is not likely to wane any time soon. They also point to staffing and aircraft shortages across the industry, which are expected to persist and limit capacity growth, underpinning pricing power carriers currently enjoy. "The supply-demand dynamics are different than they've ever been in my career," United CE Scott Kirby said on a call to discuss Q4 results released on Tuesday. "I realize there's a lot of investor skepticism on that, but every data point keeps demonstrating it over and over again." United forecast at least a quadrupling in profit for 2023, while Delta expects to nearly double its full-year earnings. Booming demand has helped airlines mitigate higher fuel and labor costs through ticket price increases. Any slowdown in consumer spending would make it harder for carriers to hit their forecast targets.<br/>
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Hundreds of flights were canceled Wednesday at Denver International Airport (DIA) as a winter storm sweeps across the Rocky Mountain region, according to data from FlightAware. According to the flight tracking site, almost 320 flights bound for or departing from DIA had been canceled as of 7:45 p.m. ET, with almost 700 flights delayed. Almost 200 of the cancellations were Southwest Airlines flights, FlightAware indicates. On Tuesday, more than 180 flights to or from the Denver airport were canceled. In a statement to CNN, a DIA spokesperson said despite the cancellations, airport operations are running smoothly. "Many airlines decide to preemptively cancel flights within a 24 hour period to maintain regular operations," the spokesperson said. Still, the airport advises passengers to check with specific airlines for the most up-to-date information on their flights. As for US air travel on Thursday, just 60 flights had been preemptively canceled across the country as of 7:45 p.m. ET Wednesday.<br/>
A source familiar with the near-collision of two airliners on a John F. Kennedy International Airport runway tells CNN that special flashing lights which warn pilots against taxiing across a runway were in fact working. The new development further raises the possibility that human error contributed to the Friday evening incident. The incident involved an American Airlines 777 that improperly crossed an active runway at the busy airport. “S**t!” an air traffic controller called out over the radio, urgently directing a Delta Air Lines 737 to stop its takeoff from the same runway where the American plane rolled across its direct path. The Delta plane stopped within 1,000 feet of the American jet. On Wednesday, the source said that following the incident, airport staff “went out immediately” to confirm Runway Status Lights were working properly. JFK is one of 20 airports in the United States equipped with the fully automated Federal Aviation Administration system that warns pilots “when it is unsafe to enter, cross, or takeoff from a runway.” On Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board told CNN that “interviews are ongoing” as part of its investigation into the incident. The FAA is also investigating.<br/>
The airline industry plans to invoke EU rights to freedom of movement to push back against environmental restrictions on short-haul flights, officials in the sector said, following a partial ban in France approved by Brussels in December. Industry groups fear the ban could set a precedent for wider limitations across Europe on short-haul flying - once a symbol of cross-border liberalisation and now increasingly under fire. French and European airports and regional airlines are laying out a new strategy to counter the ban on three French short-haul flight routes, which is in place for three years. While they say a formal legal challenge is unlikely, they plan to invoke freedom of movement - one of four basic freedoms enshrined in European law - in informal reviews of the law expected to take place twice a year, and to lobby the government. "We have the principle established by the EU of an open, liberalized market with the freedom to provide air services for any European airlines between any point within Europe," one senior industry official said. "And that's basically to support the freedom of movement, people and citizens across Europe." The freedom of movement argument wades into one of the most sensitive topics in European politics, but faces considerable hurdles given its complexity, European sources said.<br/>
Amsterdam's Schiphol airport on Wednesday said it expects to end current limitations to the daily number of travellers it can handle by March 26, the start of the summer season. Schiphol, one of Europe's busiest airports, in September last year cut capacity by almost 20% as passengers had faced long lines for security checks for months due to a shortage of workers.<br/>
British holidaymakers seeking a winter getaway have been hit by the fastest increase in air fares since records began as airlines warn passengers of an end to budget travel. Official data showed that airfares jumped 44.1% compared with a year earlier as carriers report strong demand for flights despite the cost-of-living crunch squeezing UK households. It marked a sharp acceleration from a rate of 24.3% in November after an easing in price growth since the summer. December was the largest year-on-year increase in air fares since at least 1989, according to the Office for National Statistics. Low-cost carriers in Europe have warned that the days of ultra-cheap airfares are coming to an end. However, demand is still buoyant in the wake of Covid-19 even amid a gloomy economic backdrop for households.<br/>
Regional airlines are struggling to ramp up flights to Hong Kong because of staff shortages at the airport, slowing the city’s plan to recapture its travel hub status, industry insiders have told AFP. Hong Kong once had one of the globe’s busiest – and best-connected – airports. That evaporated during the Covid-19 pandemic as the authorities imposed more than two years of travel curbs and quarantine rules. The business hub has begun reopening, with leader John Lee proclaiming in November that “Hong Kong is back”. But around 20 regional Asian airlines have been unable to restart or increase services to the city despite months of negotiations with ground handling services, five airline executives told AFP, asking not to be named. The executives complained that ground handling companies were upping fees by 30 to 100% and prioritising parent companies or mostly Chinese airlines that they have close, or direct, business ties to. Some warned it was becoming difficult to convince their headquarters to keep a presence in Hong Kong. “What an irony to say ‘Hong Kong is back’,” one of those interviewed told AFP.<br/>
A battle for compensation is brewing over delays in the delivery of commercial jets, with a Dublin aviation summit descending into a blame game over the worst industrial disruption in years. Airbus and Boeing are on average delivering new jetliners three-to-six months late, blaming post-pandemic havoc in supply chains, delegates at two major aviation finance conferences said. Powerful leasing companies heaped pressure on planemakers over the delays, with Air Lease Executive Chairman Steven Udvar-Hazy telling this week’s Airline Economics conference that manufacturers had “grossly misjudged” their output. Airbus and Boeing defended their record, saying the situation is the result of a mix of factors, from the pandemic to weak supply chains, and a sudden snapback in travel demand. The public exchanges reflect the battle lines in negotiations behind the scenes over whether manufacturers should bear contractual responsibility by paying penalties, even when suppliers are at fault, people involved in the discussions said. With January already marked by fresh delay notices being sent to airlines and leasing companies, experts said millions of dollars of exposure are riding on one word: “excusable”. Aircraft contracts contain dense descriptions of adverse factors which excuse manufacturers for multiple types of delay, meaning they can avoid paying penalties or “liquidated damages”. Excusable delays include “acts of God”, natural disasters, fire, flood, earthquakes and epidemics, among other examples, according to extracts of past contracts filed with regulators. They may give the manufacturer a get-out in the event of a failure to obtain parts. Wars and strikes are also excusable.<br/>
Airbus and Boeing will find it challenging to meet intermediate delivery targets this year on their way to ramping up production sharply in the coming years, an executive at US lessor Aviation Capital Group said on Wednesday. "I think the rate targets of Boeing and Airbus, particularly Airbus' 75 rate target (narrow-body jets a month by mid-decade) is going to be very challenging to achieve in the next few years," Aviation Capital Group Chief Procurement Officer Steven C. Udvar-Hazy told the Airline Economics conference in Dublin. "You've got to hit intermediate rate targets in 2023 to get there and those are going to be challenging given where we see the supply chain."<br/>
NASA said on Wednesday it awarded $425m to Boeing for the agency’s “Sustainable Flight Demonstrator” project as the Biden administration works to cut aviation sector emissions. Boeing will work with NASA to “build, test, and fly a full-scale demonstrator aircraft and validate technologies aimed at lowering emissions,” the agency said. Over seven years, NASA will invest $425m, while Boeing and its partners will contribute the remainder of the agreement funding, estimated at about $725m. The “Transonic Truss-Braced Wing” demonstrator single-aisle airplane aims to reduce fuel consumption and emissions by up to 30%. The concept involves an aircraft with extra-long, ultrathin wings stabilized by diagonal struts and higher-aspect ratios that could eventually accommodate advanced propulsion systems. Boeing chief engineer Greg Hyslop said the program “represents an opportunity to design, build and fly a full-scale experimental plane, while solving novel technical problems.” Single-aisle aircraft account for nearly half of worldwide aviation emissions. NASA plans to complete testing by the late 2020s, so technologies demonstrated could impact industry decisions about next generation aircraft in the 2030s. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the goal of the project is to “produce and test a full-scale demonstrator will help lead to future commercial airliners that are more fuel efficient, with benefits to the environment, the commercial aviation industry, and to passengers worldwide.”<br/>