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Airline stocks slid Wednesday as the market fell broadly amid concerns over stability of some banks and new data that showed a slowdown in consumer spending. The NYSE Arca Airline index, which includes mostly US carriers, was down about 6% Wednesday afternoon, on track for its biggest one-day percentage decline since last June. It outpaced a drop in the S&P 500. Airline executives during a JPMorgan industry conference on Tuesday said they expect strong demand — and profits — in 2023, despite higher costs, with leisure travel continuing to lead the way. Consumer appetite for air travel has surged over the past year and higher fares have boosted airlines’ bottom lines. But carriers also pointed to near-term problems like higher expenses like fuel and labor. United Airlines on Monday forecast a Q1 loss from a potential new pilot contract and weaker-than-expected demand early this year, traditionally a slow period for travel. Some executives said lucrative business travel is shifting because of more hybrid work models that allow customers to mix work trips with leisure in place of more traditional schedules.<br/>

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on Wednesday the United States cannot wait for the next "catastrophic event" to address an uptick in aviation close calls that has sparked alarm. The FAA held a day-long a safety summit on Wednesday outside Washington with airlines, unions, airports and others after numerous recent near-miss incidents on runways have raised safety concerns. "We can't wait for the next catastrophic event," Buttigieg said. "We have seen an uptick in serious close calls that we must address together. Initial information suggests more mistakes than usual are happening across the system." The FAA said it had not identified any specific trend or reason to indicate why the rise in close calls was occurring, but added it planned to reexamine runway incursion data to identify underlying factors that led to the incidents and to identify remedies. In a summary of the meeting, the FAA said it had asked industry to help identify technologies that could enhance the existing equipment capabilities and deploy it to all airports with air traffic control services. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said the board had previously issued seven recommendations on runway collisions that had not been acted on. "There have been far too many close calls," Homendy said at the summit. "These recent incidents must serve as a wake-up call."<br/>

The US Senate Commerce Committee said on Wednesday it plans to vote next week on President Joe Biden's nominee to head the FAA. The committee has scheduled a March 22 vote on Denver International Airport CEO Phil Washington to serve as top US aviation regulator as the agency faces questions after a series of close call safety incidents. Washington has come under fire from Republicans who question if he has the required aviation experience needed for the job while the Transportation Department says Washington is fully qualified. In January, the US House of Representatives passed legislation to establish an FAA task force to improve a key pilot messaging database. The Senate Commerce Committee will vote on the measure next week. In January, the FAA halted all departing passenger airline flights for nearly two hours because of the pilot messaging database outage, the first nationwide ground stop of its kind since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The FAA, without a permanent leader for nearly a year, has come under fire after a series of recent near-miss incidents and still faces questions about its oversight of Boeing (BA.N) after two fatal 737 MAX crashes. Senator Ted Cruz, ranking Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, and other Republicans say Washington, who retired from the US Army in July 2000, must have a waiver from rules requiring civilian leadership to head the FAA and said Washington was unable to answer basic questions about the FAA.<br/>

Beijing has eased the final part of its coronavirus travel restrictions, re-allowing visas to be issued and expanding the list of countries for outbound tour groups. In an update to its travel policies, China’s foreign ministry says it will resume issuing tourist and other visitor visas from 15 March. Visas issued before 28 March 2020 will remain valid to allow entry into China, the ministry adds. The updated policy will also allow the resumption of visa-free travel for those arriving in cruise ships at Shanghai, as well as for certain tourist groups from Hong Kong, Macau and Southeast Asian countries. The news comes days after China’s culture and tourism ministry lifted group travel bans to 40 more countries, including to Brunei, Nepal, Spain, France and Brazil. This is on top an existing list of 20 countries – part of a pilot programme that began a few months ago – where outbound group tours are permitted. In comments made following the easing of group travel bans, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin says: “As the Covid-19 situation in China has remained steady for a while, the Chinese public has a stronger demand for outbound tours, and many countries welcome Chinese tourists with arms wide open, China has decided to revive outbound group tours to more countries from March 15 and create more favourable conditions for outbound travel.” Wang, who was speaking at a press briefing, says international flights into the country has seen “a steady rise” in international travellers since Beijing eased most of its ‘zero-Covid’ policies at the start of the year. “In light of the evolving Covid-19 situation, China will continue to better facilitate the safe and orderly cross-border travel of Chinese and foreign nationals based on scientific assessment. We hope other parties will do the same and make cross-border exchange much easier,” says Wang, in a veiled swipe at countries that had previously imposed restrictions on travellers on China after the sudden easing of measures. <br/>

Hundreds of travellers at Hong Kong's international airport faced delays on Thursday after computer services broke down, broadcaster TVB reported, with footage showing scores of people stuck in queues with their luggage. The Airport Authority said it was preparing a statement on the incident but could not immediately verify details. Registration for check-in at several rows in the city's normally efficient airport were shut due to the outage, TVB said. Cathay Pacific Airways, the city's flagship carrier, was one of the most affected, the South China Morning Post reported. Cathay did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Hong Kong's airport was one of the busiest international hubs before the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 71m passengers in 2019.<br/>

Changi Airport has been named the world’s best airport for the 12th time by London-based research firm Skytrax, regaining its crown after losing out in 2021 and 2022 amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The airport was also named best in Asia, best in the world for leisure amenities, and best in the world for airport dining at the 2023 World Airport Awards ceremony held at the Passenger Terminal Expo in Amsterdam on Wednesday. Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar, came in second overall, followed by Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan. Meanwhile, Crowne Plaza Changi Airport bagged the world’s best airport hotel title for the eighth year in a row at Wednesday’s event. The awards were given out based on a global survey conducted by Skytrax between August 2022 and February 2023. Travellers were asked to rate airports according to their experience at different points, including check-in, arrival, shopping, security and immigration, and departure at the gate.<br/>

The global airline industry body has warned that Pakistan has become “very challenging” to serve with flights as carriers struggle to repatriate dollars, adding to difficulties for foreign companies operating in the crisis-hit country. Pakistan is suffering from an escalating financial crisis, with perilously low levels of foreign reserves leading to shortages and rising prices of essential goods. Companies are contending with delays in importing or converting currency, and analysts have warned that the country is at risk of default. Air carriers, which sell tickets in local currency but need to repatriate dollars to pay for expenses such as fuel, have been hit particularly hard. The International Air Transport Association said $290mn of funds were stuck in the country as of January, the most recent data available, up nearly a third since December. Pakistan is holding the second-largest amount of foreign currency from airlines globally, after Nigeria. “Airlines are facing long delays before they are able to repatriate their funds,” said Philip Goh, the IATA’s Asia-Pacific head. “Some airlines still have funds stuck in Pakistan from sales in 2022.” Virgin Atlantic announced last month it was pulling out of Pakistan, just over two years since it launched services. The carrier had encountered problems repatriating funds, but the decision to suspend flights was based on the economics of the route, according to a person familiar with the decision. Goh said: “If conditions persist that make the economics of operation to a country unsustainable, one would expect airlines to put their valued aircraft assets to better use elsewhere.” Pakistan’s foreign reserves amount to about $4bn, enough to cover only one month’s worth of imports. While authorities had imposed strict import and currency controls, those measures were mostly lifted this year in an effort to revive a $7bn IMF bailout. Analysts and executives said there was a long backlog of dues to be cleared after the limits were eased, leading to hold-ups securing certificates to convert currency with local banks. Pakistani officials said banks had been paying airlines since currency restrictions were lifted, but there were also other pressing challenges such as financing food and medicine imports. <br/>

A major purchase by Saudi Arabia caps sales of almost 200 Dreamliners over the past four months, handing Boeing Co (BA.N) major industrial and political wins in lucrative widebody sales against European rival Airbus. Now the US aerospace giant will face the difficult task of producing and delivering those 787s in a time of unprecedented supply chain pressures, analysts said. On Tuesday, Boeing announced orders for 78 Dreamliners, split between state-owned Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) and new national airline Riyadh Air. The $37b sale, which Boeing called its fifth-largest commercial order by value, followed a deal with United Airlines in December for 100 Dreamliners and a purchase by Air India that included 20 787s. Those orders fill out Boeing’s backlog at a time when the company aims to boost production to 10 a month by 2026 – a target that would take “supersonic” growth given that Boeing is still working to increase production back to three a month, said Vertical Research analyst Robert Stallard. “We've seen the orders are there to back up those rate ramps but ... it's not an issue of demand, it's going to be an issue of supply,” Stallard said. “They've got to go out and actually make the aircraft.” The 787 faces multiple strains on its supply chain, several of which are shared broadly across the aviation industry, such as forgings and castings for engines. Planemakers are also grappling with the after-effects of the pandemic, which forced waves of layoffs and retirements of skilled workers.<br/>

Boeing predicted a surge in worldwide aircraft financing towards pre-pandemic levels this year, highlighting a rebound in demand for air travel just as aviation was swept up in a stock market rout over banking sector woes on Wednesday. The availability of finance for the 1,000 or more new jetliners rolling off production lines each year is a key barometer for the $100-billion-plus a year jet industry, dominated by Boeing and its European rival Airbus. But publication of Boeing's widely watched annual forecasts coincided with the loss of billions of dollars of value in planemakers, airlines and travel firms as concerns over Credit Suisse washed through global markets. Any new financial crisis could affect business and consumer confidence and cut demand for premium travel as bankers and other high-value customers rein in spending, putting pressure on airline profitability and jet demand, executives said.<br/>