general

The FAA needs more air traffic controllers to address rising passenger demand, the chair of a U. Senate panel overseeing aviation issues said on Thursday, amid investigations into a series of recent runway incidents. "We don't have enough pilots. We don't have enough maintenance people, and we don't have enough air traffic controllers," Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth, who chairs the Senate Commerce aviation subcommittee, told Reuters. A series of aviation close calls has sparked alarm and raised questions about the safety of the US air system. The FAA has been deciding how many air traffic controllers to employ by its budget "versus the actual need in terms of the traffic demands," Duckworth said. The Transportation Department said last week it was seeking $117m to hire 1,800 air traffic controllers next year, in addition to 1,500 being hired this year. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), the union representing controllers, has pressed the FAA to boost staffing. Airlines and others have also called for more funding for air traffic controllers and have pointed to times when a lack of staff impacted flights. "We have a staffing issue," NATCA President Rich Santa said at a FAA safety forum on Wednesday, noting there are 1,200 fewer certified air traffic controllers than a decade ago. "It's time for us to accurately and adequately staff the facilities," he added. Santa said a permanent fix was needed, along with a new staffing model, while Duckworth said the FAA and NATCA should do a "thorough study" and agree on the staffing levels required.<br/>

The skies have been turbulent over the United States in 2023 – and not just because of rogue balloons. Since the start of the year, there have been a concerning number of high-profile “near misses” as planes involved in airport landing or taking off procedures came perilously close to potential disaster. And then there’s the turbulence. As all flyers know, bumpy air is a regular feature of plane travel, but not usually, as has been experienced recently, to the violent extent that passengers are hurt. Plus, details emerged of an incident late last year, in which a United Airlines Boeing 777 plunged toward the Pacific Ocean for 21 seconds just after takeoff, apparently pulling up just 800 feet over the Pacific Ocean as passengers screamed in fear. The litany of incidents that have clocked up less than three months into 2023 have prompted such concern that this week the US Federal Aviation Administration convened a “Safety Summit.” Of course, flying remains an incredibly safe way to travel. Commercial plane crashes are nowadays very rare, with approximately 45,000 flights typically completed each day in the US, all without fatality. That’s a number that continues to rise, post Covid. So, given that the FAA has assembled aviation experts – and US Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg – to take a closer look at what’s going on in the US, should passengers be worried? While officials, still investigating these incidents, and airlines say flyers can continue to board planes with the confidence that the industry’s rigorous safety procedures will keep them out of harm’s way, some say recent events are a warning sign of potential trouble to come. “These recent incidents must serve as a wake-up call for every single one of us, before something more catastrophic occurs. Before lives are lost,” National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said to government and industry leaders gathered for the summit on Wednesday.<br/>

The FAA has moved to extend the required timeframe for cockpit voice recordings to be preserved in light of numerous recent serious runway incursion incidents in the USA. The move comes a day after the FAA held a “Safety Summit” in Washington, DC, which was conceived to “examine additional actions the aviation community needs to take to maintain its safety record”. FAA acting Administrator Billy Nolen had called for the summit following several incidents during which aircraft came dangerously close while taking off and landing. At the event on 15 March, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman (NTSB) Jennifer Homendy noted that current FAA requirements – that 2h of recordings be preserved – are insufficient. Homendy said six critical safety incidents this year involving large commercial aircraft “have one thing in common: the cockpit voice recorders were all overwritten”. NTSB has recommended that 2h limit be extended to 25h. “The FAA is committed to addressing the NTSB recommendations,” the FAA said on 16 March. “We are initiating rulemaking that will require cockpit voice recorders to capture 25h of information. We will also establish an Aviation Rulemaking Committee to explore how to make greater use of data gathered by the airplane and its systems, including expanded flight-data monitoring. We welcome any tools or resources Congress wants to provide to help us do this expeditiously.” Homendy responded to the announcement on social media on 16 March, calling it “welcome news from FAA” and “a win for safety”. Extending the limit ”helps operators improve safety,” Homendy said at the summit. In Europe, the 25h rule has been mandated for the past year, she adds, and here in north America, “we are still waiting for action”. “What keeps me up at night is the next family that I have to talk to when we go on-scene to investigate an accident,” Homendy said. “It’s that next family, and the investigators I talk with on scene who say, ‘We’ve seen this before, we have issued recommendations on this that haven’t been acted upon’. ”It’s heartbreaking, especially for the investigators, when they see that,” Homendy said. <br/>

The number of seats airlines offer to passengers travelling to Spain over the summer season is set to be 4.4% higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic brought global travel to a halt in 2019, Spanish airport operator Aena said on Thursday. Aena said the airlines in its network have scheduled 221.8m seats and nearly 1.3m commercial operations for summer, with the capital’s Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas Airport offering the most seats at more than 44.5m. “Programming in the summer season with the UK and Germany has almost recovered to the 2019 level, with a 96% recovery,” Aena added in a statement. The IATA this month said that air travel was “off to a very healthy start” in 2023 after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions in China. Aena’s passenger traffic in February was 2.2% higher than in 2019, with almost 17m travellers.<br/>

Gatwick Airport has returned to profitability following a bounce-back in air travel. In 2022, 32.8m passengers used the West Sussex airport - up from 6.3m during the previous 12 months, but still 70.4% of pre-pandemic levels. It reported a GBP196.5m profit after tax for 2022, against total losses of more than GBP830m during 2020 and 2021. Gatwick CE Stuart Wingate said the airport had "some way to go to reach a full recovery". The airport - which is majority owned by France-based company Vinci Airports - said it took "early and decisive action" as the UK's aviation sector struggled with staff shortages between April-June 2022. The financial results for Gatwick contrast those for Heathrow, which recently reported underlying pre-tax losses of GBP684m for 2022. Wingate said the "decisive actions" allowed them to offer "good levels of service to passengers" who travelled through the airport. "While we still have some way to go to reach a full recovery, we know long-term sustainable investment is critical to the future of our airport and provides a significant boost to the regional and national economy," he added. Previously, the airport stated it would "take five years to recover" and for passenger numbers to return to pre-pandemic levels.<br/>

Airlines have run up millions of pounds in County Court Judgments (CCJs) after failing to pay passenger expenses and refunds, an investigation by consumer body Which? has revealed. CCJs collectively worth more than GBP4.5m have piled up against airlines including EasyJet, Ryanair, Tui and Wizz Air, according to official records. Which? said that Wizz Air accounts for almost half the total amount, despite carrying fewer passengers than some of its rivals. Wizz Air has 1,601 “outstanding” CCJs worth almost £2.2m, according to Registry Trust, which maintains the official statutory register of judgments, orders, and fines for England & Wales on behalf of the Ministry of Justice. The register also shows that both EasyJet and Ryanair have high numbers of “outstanding” judgments. EasyJet had 884, amounting to £611,436 and Ryanair had 840 worth GBP549,892. Tui had fewer, at, 313, but they were worth almost GBP1.3m. Jet2 has four “outstanding” judgments amounting to GBP1,434. Meanwhile, BA has 82 totalling GBP96,042. In one case, a customer's flight to Portugal with their family was cancelled by Wizz Air without explanation three hours before they were due to take off. Wizz Air had a legal obligation to reroute him as soon as possible, but instead suggested that he book himself on to a new flight and promised to refund him. He paid for a last-minute BA flight for his family of five that cost GBP2,500 — and incurred other out of pocket expenses as a result of the change. Although Wizz Air refunded the original flight — after several weeks of chasing — it failed to reimburse his expenses. The airline didn’t respond to the case he brought through the small claims court. The customer was therefore awarded a judgment by default, but still did not get his money. In October 2022 he had to instruct court bailiffs. The bailiffs visited Wizz Air at Luton Airport and finally forced the airline to pay him more than £4,500, including costs, in December — seven months after his original flight.<br/>

Nigeria is withholding $743m in revenue earned by international carriers operating in the country, the highest amount owed by any nation, a spokesperson for the global airlines industry association said on Thursday. Nigeria faces severe shortages of foreign currency, leading to restrictions on imports and meaning investors cannot convert local currency to repatriate their profits. IATA spokesperson Katherine Kaczynska said governments around the world owed $2.2b to airlines. Nigeria had the highest amount of blocked funds, followed by Algeria and Lebanon, which owed $165m and $146m respectively. "Enabling the efficient repatriation of revenues is critical for any economy to remain globally connected to markets and supply chains," Kaczynska said in emailed response to questions from Reuters. Dubai's Emirates suspended flights to Nigeria last year after failing to repatriate ticket sales. Last month, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the central bank to increase the amount of foreign currency allocated to Emirates after speaking to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Emirates has yet to resume flights to Nigeria, which is Africa's most populous nation and is responsible for a large share of the continent's air travellers.<br/>

Check-in services at Hong Kong's international airport resumed for hundreds of travellers on Thursday with computer systems restored, after local television footage showed scores of people stuck in queues with their luggage. The Airport Authority said the check-in system had fully resumed normal operation after a regular test found an "abnormality" in the network's computer system. Registration for check-in at several rows in the city's normally efficient airport were shut during the outage. "Five departure flights were delayed for around less than 30 minutes during the period," the authority said in a statement. Cathay Pacific Airways (0293.HK), 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.<br/>

Australia’s Goodman Group will develop a 70 hectare site for air cargo logistics at Japan’s Narita International Airport in a project estimated to be worth about A$4b ($2.7b), it said on Thursday. The project is due to be finalised by 2029 at a similar time to the planned completion of the airport’s third runway. In a statement Thursday, Goodman said the project was designed to streamline cargo operations in and out of the airport. “We’re in the early stage of planning so the end value is yet to be determined, but it should be in a similar size and scale to Goodman Business Park Chiba, which is approaching $4b,” Goodman’s CE Greg Goodman said regarding the value of the Narita project. Goodman’s Chiba business park is an industrial property and data centre hub which covers 50 hectares of land and is nearing completion. Goodman said it now has an A$10b ($6.65b) development pipeline in Japan.<br/>

Auckland Airport says will begin construction of a new domestic jet terminal that will be integrated with the current international terminal. Chairperson Patrick Strange said it would be the biggest redevelopment since the airport opened in 1966 and cost about $3.9b over the next five to six years when the new terminal was expected to open. It was a major investment for airport, he said. “The domestic terminal is almost 60 years old and needs replacing. It’s nearing capacity and it’s no longer fit for purpose and hasn’t been for some time. If it wasn’t for the pandemic, we would already be well underway with its replacement,” he said. But Airlines said they are surprised and disappointed by airport’s announcement that it will go ahead with the project. Cath O’Brien, executive director of the Board of Airline Representatives said the development would “ultimately make it too expensive for some people to fly”. “This $3.9b spend gets pushed on to airlines in fees that end up in ticket prices,” O’Brien said. “Airlines are frustrated by the airport’s action.” Strange said the airport had been in discussions airline since May 2011 to build an integrated terminal. Over that time 21 concept designs have been developed. The new terminal meant the gateway airport was resilient and sustainable, supporting airline ambitions for a low-carbon future and strengthening infrastructure to cope with increasingly severe weather events due to climate change, he said. CE Carrie Hurihanganui said the airport would begin to recover the cost of building the infrastructure one it was commissioned and airlines and travellers were using the new facilities, she said.<br/>