The United Nations' aviation agency on Wednesday forecast global air passenger demand in 2023 will rapidly recover to pre-pandemic levels on most routes by the first quarter and that 3% growth from 2019 levels will be achieved by the end of the year. "The air passenger forecasts ICAO is announcing today build on the strong momentum toward recovery in 2022, as previously assessed by ICAO statistical analysis," the UN's International Civil Aviation Organization Secretary General Juan Carlos Salazar said. ICAO's prediction is the first major global forecast since China abandoned COVID-19 travel restrictions last month. In December airlines association IATA predicted a full global recovery to 2019 levels by 2024.<br/>
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The acting head of the FAA will testify on Feb. 15 before the US Senate Commerce Committee on a Jan. 11 computer system outage that disrupted more than 11,000 US flights, sources told Reuters. Acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen told lawmakers last month that the agency has made a change in the system to prevent a corrupt file from damaging a backup database, after the agency found that the outage occurred when contract personnel "unintentionally deleted files." The outage prompted the FAA to halt departing flights for about two hours, the first nationwide ground stop since the Sept. 11, 2001, al Qaeda attacks on the United States. The FAA did not immediately comment late Wednesday. Nolen has been acting FAA administrator since April 1. Last month, the FAA told lawmakers it had revoked access to a pilot messaging database by contractor personnel who unintentionally deleted files in the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) database. The NOTAM system provides pilots, flight crews and other users of US airspace with critical safety notices. Nolen told lawmakers that attempts to restore those files contributed to the outage and since then the FAA had adopted a one-hour delay in synchronizing databases that should prevent data errors from immediately reaching the backup database. The FAA also said it "now requires at least two individuals to be present during the maintenance of the NOTAM system, including one federal manager."<br/>
Recent plane near-collisions on runways have raised red flags among lawmakers crafting a major US aviation policy bill. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating two near-misses in recent weeks on runways at airports in New York and Texas. Lawmakers weighed how to respond at the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s first hearing of the year to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday. “Our aviation system is clearly in need of some urgent attention,” House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.) said about the incidents. In January, an American Airlines Group Inc. jet went across a runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York as a Delta Air Lines Inc. plane accelerated for takeoff, causing a near-miss incident. Then, a FedEx Corp. cargo jet came within 100 feet of colliding with a Southwest plane early on Feb. 4 in Austin, Texas. Lawmakers are expected to consider technology upgrades and funding levels for the FAA and its air traffic controllers as part of the reauthorization bill. “No one takes it for granted that these are serious events,” David Boulter, acting associate administrator for aviation safety at FAA, said at the hearing. “We need to double down on what is it that’s causing these, what have we missed in our voluntary systems, what have we missed in our data that would cause these.” Rep. Brandon Williams said it was fortunate in New York that multiple layers of safety systems allowed a controller to alert an emergency call. He said “the fact that we are talking about a close call and not a disaster demonstrates the success” of the systems, and asked whether the FAA has the funding to maintain the same level of safety. Boulter said President Joe Biden’s budget supports aviation safety, and the agency could provide more information on funding for safety systems.<br/>
The European Commission's 2020 green light for Romania's aid to the Timisoara International Airport in favour of Hungarian budget airline Wizz Air, that was provided between 2007 and 2009, has been annulled by the General Court, Europe's second-top court. "The General Court annuls the decision of the European Commission approving Romanian aid to Timisoara International Airport in favour of Wizz Air," the Court said in a statement issued on Wednesday. "The Commission committed several errors of law when examining whether those measures were selective and whether they conferred an advantage," it added, reminding that Romanian regional airline Carpatair had submitted in 2010 a complaint to the European Commission on that aide.<br/>
New Zealand’s Aviation Security Service (AvSec) has contracted Smiths Detection to deliver checkpoint security technology for its five international airports. AvSec will deploy the technology across Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Queenstown and Wellington airports. Under the contract, Smiths Detection has agreed to deliver 35 of its HI-SCAN 6040 CTiX computed tomography (CT) X-ray machines. The company claims that its systems meet the international regulatory standards in the US and EU, offering the highest level of security. It added that the solution will expedite the screening process by allowing travellers to leave laptops and liquids in their cabin baggage. Smiths Detection North and South Asia Market head Aurelien Guilbert said: “We’re delighted to be continuing our long-standing relationship with New Zealand AvSec. Through the roll-out of this technology, passengers flying out of New Zealand’s international airports will have a smoother and more efficient checkpoint experience.”<br/>