Delta and United Airlines are offering to trim flights by as much as 10% at some of the country’s busiest airports this summer to ease congestion and delays — but only in return for a promise from federal regulators that they can get them back. The FAA has reached out to airlines with multiple slots at airports in greater New York City and Washington, D.C. and asked them to drop flights in exchange for flying larger aircraft, the agency said Wednesday. The arrangement extends from May 15 through September 15, it said. Delta and United said they may reduce flight service from John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty International airports in the New York City vicinity as well as Washington’s Reagan National Airport, according to letters dated this week and released by the FAA. “Absent increased flexibility, there exists a high probability congestion and delay” will plague the New York region, the FAA said in its order. American Airlines Group Inc. wrote to the FAA that it is still evaluating the FAA plan, but agreed it would “improve airspace conditions and the customer experience in the broader New York region.” Delta is reviewing its network and can’t comment on how its flight schedule will be affected ahead of an April 30 deadline to identify which slots and operating times it may waive, a spokesman said. United declined to comment beyond a letter to the FAA acknowledging it would take part in the plan. American didn’t immediately comment. The unusual move is an attempt to get ahead of the kind of post-pandemic problems that plagued the airline industry in the past year, particularly at airports hit by surging flight numbers and air traffic controller shortages. Delays in New York have an out-sized impact on the entire air system because so many flights emanate and terminate in the region. <br/>
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Colombia's civil aviation authority has approved a merger between Avianca, the Andean country's flag carrier, and Viva Air under conditions that include the smaller carrier reimbursing passengers affected by canceled flights and keeping its low-cost model. The merger is a lifeline for embattled Viva, which has struggled financially in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and seen its situation worsen due to higher fuel prices in 2022 and the depreciation of Colombia's peso. "The decision to authorize the integration is conditioned on compliance with diverse structural and behavioral remedies," the authority said in a statement late on Tuesday. Viva must also allow passengers with pending bookings to fly, the authority said, and reinstate frequent flights between Bogota and Buenos Aires. Avianca will analyze the financial and technical implications of going through with the deal, it said in a statement, adding that Viva Air no longer has the same route capacity or planes and workers that it had before it temporarily suspended operations in February. "Avianca will study the resolution and the implications of the measures set forth by the regulator as soon as possible, to determine the feasibility of complying with them," the company said. Viva Air did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The two airlines signed a deal last April to merge their operations into one group while keeping their brands and strategies separate, in a bid to strengthen both companies. However, the proposal was blocked by the civil aviation authority in November, which said the deal represented a risk to competition and consumer welfare.<br/>
Lufthansa will resume Airbus A380 operations on 1 June with daily flights from Munich to Boston, marking the return of an aircraft type that once looked unlikely to fly for the carrier again. Flights from Munich to New York JFK will follow from 4 July, the German carrier states, with a total of four A380s due to be deployed from Munich by the end of 2023. Lufthansa notes that the A380 has around 80% more capacity than the Airbus A340-600 currently flying on the Munich-New York JFK route.– the latter being another older aircraft type that made an unlikely comeback at Lufthansa after being grounded at the start of the pandemic. Lufthansa Group CE Carsten Spohr also named Los Angeles as a potential A380 destination, noting that the airline was considering the reactivation of up to six of the superjumbos. Lufthansa reiterates that the return of the A380 reflects strong demand for travel and the delayed delivery of new aircraft. On the latter issue, Lufthansa Group has outstanding orders for several aircraft types that are seeing production delays of varying severity, including Boeing 787 and 777X widebodies. Earlier in the pandemic, Lufthansa had said that none of its 14 A380s would return to service unless the post-pandemic demand recovery was stronger than expected. The German carrier has since sold six of its examples, leaving eight A380s in its fleet. All of Lufthansa’s A380s are powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines. <br/>