Unable to fly through Russian airspace because of the war in Ukraine, U.S. airlines are stepping up a lobbying campaign on Capitol Hill and at the White House to address what they say is a growing problem: They are losing business to foreign competitors who can take passengers between the United States and Asia faster and more cheaply. Effectively banned from the polar routes that save time and fuel between the United States and an array of destinations on the other side of the world, US carriers say they are being forced into an aeronautical version of Twister to get passengers where they want to go without taking undue risks. They have altered trans-Pacific flight plans to ensure they would have somewhere to land in an emergency, reduced passenger and cargo loads to hold down costs as they fly longer distances, and put on hold more than a dozen planned new routes to Mumbai, Tokyo, Seoul and other cities. On its route from New Delhi to New York City, American Airlines has been forced to stop flights in Bangor, Maine — an hour and a half short of the mark — on 19 occasions, a person familiar with the recent history said. Those stops, which were typically caused by unfavorable winds or weather that depleted the jet fuel supply and ran out the flight crew’s duty hours, delayed passengers and forced a swap-out of 14 pilots and flight attendants. Those flights were already operating with dozens of the seats deliberately left unfilled, the person added, because less weight on board was required to make the fuel last as long as possible. Yet many foreign airlines are not banned from flying over Russia, US airlines and their lobbyists say — and are winning more passengers on routes to and from the United States as a result. Continued access to the shorter and more fuel-efficient routes that Russian airspace provides is giving carriers like Air India, Emirates and China Eastern Airlines an unfair advantage, the industry lobbying group Airlines for America said in a recent presentation on Capitol Hill. Airlines for America estimated the lost annual market share of US carriers at a collective $2b per year. “Foreign airlines using Russian airspace on flights to and from the US are gaining a significant competitive advantage over US carriers in major markets, including China and India,” the presentation, dated February, said. “This situation is directly to the benefit of foreign airlines and at the expense of the United States as a whole, with fewer connections to key markets, fewer high paying airline jobs” and a dent in the overall economy.<br/>
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When the seat belt light blinks on, every passenger buckles up except for one group of fliers: lap-babies. Unrestrained children sharing a seat with their parents are exempt from the safety mandate, presenting a growing concern amid recent incidents of severe turbulence. “We’ve seen airplanes go through turbulence recently and drop 4,000 feet in a split second,” said Sara Nelson, the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. “The G-forces are not something even the most loving mother or father can guard against and hold their child. It’s just physically impossible.” The union is pressing for a rule change that would require all passengers, regardless of age, to occupy an airplane seat with a restraint. Currently, children under 2 can fly free on their parents’ laps. The AFA-CWA raised the issue Wednesday at the Federal Aviation Administration safety summit in Northern Virginia and has submitted its list of priorities, including “a seat for every soul,” to Congress. Legislators are in the process of crafting an FAA reauthorization bill, which expires in September. The union submitted the same recommendation during the last round of reauthorization in 2018. The tragedy that haunts Nelson occurred in 1989, when United Flight 232 crash-landed in Sioux City, Iowa. Following protocol, the flight attendants instructed the parents to wrap their unbuckled babies in blankets and place them on the floor. Three of the infants suffered injuries, and one died. “Sadly this has been more than a 30-year priority for our union,” Nelson said. “We must have children safe on the plane and in their own seats with a proper restraint device to make sure it never happens again.”<br/>
Mexico's jet fuel market is rife with barriers to competition and should be reformed to include clear rules that set limits to state-owned Pemex's dominant position in the sector, competition watchdog Cofece said on Friday. National oil company Pemex has long dominated the country's oil and gas market, including derivatives like jet fuel production and sales, even after its main monopoly powers were ended in favor of a more competitive marketplace with a constitutional reform a decade ago. In a statement, Cofece recommended that the country's energy regulator CRE set a rule that would establish a cap for Pemex's share of the market in the storage of jet fuel, which it said was hindering competition. "Most of the (fuel storage) capacity in the country is contracted with Pemex ... with no maximum limits to its reserve capacity, which limits the entry of competitors," the Cofece statement added. The watchdog also set out recommendations regarding supply, secondary and internal storage plus retail marketing. It said current rules governing jet fuel import permits discourage new entrants to the market, recommending that the energy and economy ministries make changes to encourage more players. The watchdog added that if its recommendations are implemented, greater competition would be "reflected in better prices for the final consumer."<br/>
At least 14 people were killed in a strong earthquake that shook a coastal region of Ecuador and northern Peru on Saturday, causing structural damage to multiple homes, schools and medical centers. The quake, which the U.S. Geological Surveymeasured at magnitude 6.8, struck at a depth of 66.4 km about 10 km from the city of Balao in the province of Guayas. The earthquake did not appear likely to generate a tsunami, authorities said. The presidency's communication agency said the quake left 14 people dead, and more than 380 people were injured, largely in the El Oro province. The agency said at least 44 homes were destroyed, while 90 more were damaged. Around 50 educational buildings and more than 30 health centers were also affected, while multiple roadways were blocked by landslides caused by the earthquake. The Santa Rosa airport suffered minor damage, but remained in operation.<br/>
Strikes at four German airports led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights on Friday in the latest bout of industrial action to disrupt travel plans in recent months. German union Verdi called on security and ground handling staff at airports in Duesseldorf, Cologne/Bonn, Stuttgart and Baden-Baden to strike over pay and working conditions. Cologne/Bonn Airport said that 144 flights were cancelled as a result, while Duesseldorf Airport said earlier in the week it was working on a "significantly reduced flight schedule". It had originally scheduled 368 take-offs and landings for Friday. "No take-offs and landings are possible all day due to the Verdi strike," Stuttgart Airport said in a statement, calling on passengers not to travel to the airport. Earlier this week, Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg airports cancelled all commercial flights due to strike action, the latest in a string of walkouts as the post-pandemic travel rebound fuels staffing problems and workers call for more pay due to high inflation.<br/>
The Dutch government on Friday said it would cap the amount of CO2 emissions allowed from international flights leaving Dutch airports, in a bid to help meet its climate goals. The cap would mainly affect Amsterdam airport, one of Europe’s busiest flight hubs, and is expected to take effect in 2025. <br/>
The UK’s eight biggest airports have plans to fly almost 150mn more passengers a year, the equivalent of 300,000 extra jumbo jets, in a bet that climate targets will not hold back the industry. A Financial Times analysis of their expansion projects found that combined they would be able to handle 387m passengers annually, a more than 60% increase on the 240m travellers who used the airports in 2019. The figures highlight how airports are planning for a period of breakneck growth despite significant financial losses during the pandemic. They also demonstrate how the industry believes that transformational growth is still possible in the lead-up to the deadline in 2050 for the UK to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions. More than a third of the growth would come from London Heathrow’s proposed megaproject to build a third runway. This would increase passenger capacity at the UK’s biggest airport to 142mn a year compared with the 81mn it handled in 2019 before the coronavirus pandemic hit. The airport paused planning in 2020 as Covid-19 shut down the global aviation sector but last month signalled it would resume soon. Its CE John Holland Kaye told the FT in February that it was working “with the aim of restarting the planning process . . . We will share what our plans are later this year.” Any decision to proceed with the application is subject to an internal review, which has yet to be completed.<br/>
Airlines and airports opposed measures to combat global warming caused by jet vapour trails that evidence suggests account for more than half of the aviation industry’s climate impact, new documents reveal. The industry argued in government submissions that the science was not “robust” enough to justify reduction targets for these non-CO2 emissions. Scientists say the climate impact of vapour trails, or contrails, has been known for more than two decades, with one accusing the industry of a “typical climate denialist strategy”. While carbon emissions from jet engines contribute to global heating, research suggests the contrails formed when water vapour and soot particles form into ice crystals have an even greater impact. These human-made clouds trap heat in the atmosphere that would otherwise escape into space. Lobbying on vapour trails in documents obtained by openDemocracy highlights the lack of a consensus among airline executives, scientists and carbon offsetting websites over the exact climate impact of flying. It means people who wish to offset the environmental impact of their flights get significantly different prices. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated in a special report in 1999 that the historic impact of aviation on the climate was two to four times greater than from its CO2 emissions alone. A 2020 study by the EU also reported that non-CO2 aircraft emissions, comprised mainly of contrails, warm the planet about twice as much as the carbon dioxide released by planes, but acknowledged there were “significant uncertainties”.<br/>
Security staff at London's Heathrow Airport voted on Friday to strike for 10 days, trade union Unite said. The walkout, involving over 1,400 staff, will start on March 31 and end on April 9, Easter Sunday, the union said. "It is the airport's workers who are fundamental to its success and they deserve a fair pay increase," Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham said. The union said the airport's offer of a 10% pay increase could not make up for years of pay freezes and cuts. In a statement, Heathrow said it had contingency plans in place to keep the airport running. "Threatening to ruin people's hard-earned holidays with strike action will not improve the deal," a spokesperson for Heathrow said, adding that Unite should return to the negotiating table instead of striking.<br/>
The British government said it would end the requirement for people flying from mainland China to England to provide proof of a negative pre-departure COVID-19 test from April 5. From Friday, the UK Health Security Agency’s voluntary, on-arrival testing programme of travellers arriving from China to London’s Heathrow airport will also end, the government said. "The removal of these measures comes as China has increased information sharing regarding testing, vaccination and genomic sequencing results, providing greater transparency on their domestic disease levels," the health department said. The temporary measures were introduced in January, with the Heathrow testing aimed at helping strengthen Britain's ability to rapidly detect potential new variants circulating in China. The government said a total of 3,374 had been tested as part of this programme to date, an average of 99 people per flight. In all, 14 positive cases were identified, none of which were variants of concern. The latest international data indicates the COVID-19 variants observed in China continue to be the same as those already circulating in the UK, it added.<br/>
As the number of international flight passengers is rapidly rising to pre-pandemic levels, domestic airlines are scrambling to expand international routes and add more airplanes to their fleets. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport, Sunday, international flights have recovered to close to 70% of their pre-COVID numbers. The number of passengers on international flights stood at over 4.5m in both January and February, continuing its explosive growth since the second half of last year. The number exceeded 1m for the first time since the outbreak of COVID-19 in June, last year, increasing to 3.08m in October and then exceeding 4m in December. The number of international air passengers is expected to continue surging in the future as the recovery of Chinese routes will pull up the figure. The ministry agreed with the Chinese government to expand flights between Korea and China to the pre-COVID level on March 3. As a result, the number of flights to China, which was 62 per week as of the end of February, will increase to more than 200 from the end of this month. "China and Japan routes are the most profitable routes as the load factor exceeds 95%," an industry official familiar with the matter said. "Usually, a load factor above 70% is considered profitable for the airline."<br/>
India will spend about 980b rupees ($12b) over the next two years on airports, with airline orders for hundreds of new planes to meet resurgent travel demand putting pressure on existing infrastructure. The world’s fastest-growing aviation market aims to boost the number of airports to 220 by 2025 from the current 148, for which private builders will invest about $9b and state-run Airports Authority of India will bring the rest. It involves greenfield projects, new terminals and the renovation of existing facilities, including former military airfields left over from colonial times. Though the entire country of 1.42b people has a fleet of only some 700 aircraft — United Airlines flies more — existing airports in major cities such as Delhi and Mumbai are running out of parking and landing slots. The move comes as India asserts itself more broadly on the global stage, buoyed by a rising consumer base and growth in the $3.2t economy on track to exceed China’s. The country has already been making its mark in aviation, with Air India Ltd. last month announcing the biggest deal in commercial aviation history. Boeing and Airbus have been sourcing parts from India for years. India wants to be a powerhouse in air transport, according to Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who kicks off the three-day CAPA India Aviation Summit Monday. Boeing forecasts India’s passenger traffic will grow at a rate of nearly 7% annually, compared with 4.9% in China from 2022 through 2041. “The growth in aviation infrastructure will bring a huge amount of economic upside and new airports will improve the quality of life for most people partly because of bad road infrastructure and slow trains in India,” said Jayant Mukhopadhaya, researcher at the International Council of Clean Transportation. <br/>
Boeing and Airbus are increasingly looking to India for highly-skilled, low-cost engineers to meet a boom in demand for aircraft and expand their manufacturing presence in the world’s fifth-largest economy. Airbus plans to hire 1,000 people in India this year out of 13,000 globally. Boeing and its suppliers, which already employ about 18,000 workers in the nation, have been growing by some 1,500 staff every year, the US jet manufacturer’s India head Salil Gupte told Bloomberg News in an interview. With about 1.5m engineering students graduating annually, India is a rich source of talent for plane makers facing record orders from airlines as travel surges again after the Covid pandemic. Boeing can hire an engineer in Bengaluru, India’s southern tech hub, for 7% of the cost of a similar role in Seattle, according to salary data compiler Glassdoor. The country has Boeing’s second-biggest workforce worldwide, Gupte said. “Companies come to India for the incredible talent in innovation, not just in technology and software, but also in hard engineering and increasingly in manufacturing,” he said at the Aero India show in Bengaluru last month. Alongside the hiring push, Boeing and Airbus are also establishing some production in India, which is pitching itself as a less politically fraught alternative to China.<br/>