Trade body Airports Council International (ACI) warns that high airfares in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East affect the recovery prospets of both airlins and airports, noting that most airports are still in the red. In its industry outlook issued 29 March, ACI Asia-Pacific also points out that airfares were on the up - 35% higher in real terms compared to pre-pandemic 2019 - airport charges remained stable. It notes that the airfare increases were mainly a result of operating costs going up, reduced seat capacity, reduced competition on certain routes, as well as efforts to recoup pandemic losses, adding that the increase was “significantly above” the global average. “This is in sharp contrast to the financial health of airports, which are still losing money, with regional EBITDA and net profit margins being negative for the tenth consecutive quarter since 2020,” the association notes. ACI Asia-Pacific director-general Stefano Baronci calls out the “fundamental imbalance” in the sector’s financial recovery, noting that despite an improvement in traffic recovery, airports were still in distressed financial health. “Despite substantial efforts by airports to freeze or lower airport charges in 2022, the average 53% increase in airfares throughout 2022, compared to 2019, reveals a fundamental imbalance in the financial stability of the industry as well as pose a threat to the sector’s full recovery in 2023,” he adds. ACI’s data shows that while the EBITDA margins of airports in the region improved “significantly” in the third quarter of 2022, they remained negative. Revenue was up 65% when compared to the previous quarter. It notes that China’s reopening should result in a “gradual improvement of revenues”. “From the air transport ecosystem perspective, elevated airfares represent a downside factor for full recovery as these may suppress demand and therefore reduce the number of passengers. Airports, on the other hand, need to get back to pre-pandemic traffic volumes in order to restore their economic equilibrium after a prolonged period of operating in the red,” ACI adds.<br/>
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US Senate and House members proposed a new no-fly list for unruly passengers on Wednesday, an idea that was pushed by airline unions but failed to gain traction last year. The legislation would let the TSA ban people convicted or fined for assaulting or interfering with airline crew members. It would be separate from the current FBI-run no-fly list, which is intended to prevent people suspected of terrorism ties from boarding planes. The number of incidents involving unruly passengers dropped sharply last year after a judge struck down a federal requirement to wear masks on planes. However, incidents serious enough to be investigated by federal officials remained more than five times higher than before the pandemic. “The violent incidents have not stopped,” said Cher Taylor, a Frontier Airlines flight attendant who said she witnessed a passenger attack another in 2021 in Miami and walk away before police arrived. At a news conference outside the Capitol Taylor said “Strong penalties are needed to curb violent and unacceptable behavior. Bad behavior should not fly.”<br/>
The federal government has air travel on its radar after laying out plans in its budget to speed up airport security screening and reduce flight delays, but industry and advocates remain skeptical. Tabled Tuesday by the Liberals following a year of travel turmoil, the budget promises $1.8b over five years for the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) to improve passenger screening and shore up security at airports. It also proposes a new rule requiring airlines and airports to share and report data as a way to cut delays and bolster co-ordination within the industry. The budget further allows the transport minister to impose a charge on carriers to help cover the costs of resolving passenger complaints. In theory, the measure would incentivize carriers to brush up their service and thus reduce grievances against them. Both steps would require additional legislation. The aviation industry had a mixed response to the budget. Jeff Morrison, who heads the National Airlines Council of Canada, said it marks a "missed opportunity" to give the sector a boost and includes "no significant measures to improve the journey" for travellers. "As one of the hardest hit industries during the COVID pandemic, NACC hoped for more concrete measures to strengthen the overall air travel system through investment to support infrastructure modernization," he said in a statement from the organization that represents four of the country's biggest carriers, including Air Canada and WestJet. The $400-m-plus in rent that Ottawa collects each year from airports should be reinvested in them, he added. Monette Pasher, head of the Canadian Airports Council, struck a lighter tone, saying the group is encouraged by what she called "incremental" steps to help the sector and improve the passenger experience. "Airports across the country welcome these new measures," she said. "However, there is still more work ahead to get airports fully down the runway to recovery."<br/>
European airlines have warned that air traffic controller strikes in France will cause further travel disruption for passengers this year. French air traffic controllers have joined a series of strikes called by unions this month against President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular pension reforms. The disruption has rippled across Europe because air traffic controllers are responsible for planes flying over their airspace, as well as those landing and taking off from French airports. EasyJet CE Johan Lundgren said on Wednesday that the airline was “very badly hit” because UK flights often had to cross French airspace to reach other parts of Europe. “It is something we have to plan for, and we are doing our best to try to mitigate it but, of course, it is very difficult . . . sometimes you only get 24 hours’ notice,” he said. Michael O’Leary, the Ryanair CE, said this summer would be “materially better” than in 2022 when staff shortages led to an unprecedented set of delays and cancellations. But he said airlines still faced a “very difficult” challenge, mainly because of the “scandal” of delays and cancellations caused by the French strike. Europe’s skies are already congested because of the closure of Russian and Ukrainian airspace and Eurocontrol, the EU’s air traffic manager, warned in January of “major” pressure as airlines returned to close to their pre-pandemic flight schedules. O’Leary added that he expected strikes to continue into April, which would affect the Easter getaway. He said Ryanair had to cancel 60 flights scheduled on both Wednesday and Thursday at short notice. Europe’s largest low-cost airline also cancelled 230 flights last weekend. DGAC, the French civil aviation authority, said domestic and regional flight schedules were more likely to be affected than long haul because of the increased disruption involved in rescheduling the latter.<br/>
The European Union's top transport official said on Wednesday she supported the inclusion of aviation in the EU's green taxonomy investment rules and expected sceptical policymakers could be convinced to include it. The EU taxonomy is a complex system to classify which parts of the economy may be marketed as sustainable investments. It includes economic activities and detailed environmental criteria that each of them must meet to earn a green label. Initially, there was some debate about including the aviation sector, which is considered one of the most difficult to decarbonise. "The arguments (for including aviation) are strong. And I would say that there is the right support in recognition of this idea. I think the idea was finally explained and supported," EU Transport Commissioner Adina-Ioana Valean told Reuters in an interview in Brussels. Aviation leasing, manufacturing, passenger and freight flights were included in a leaked draft updating the classification, earlier in March. Valean said the Commission was exploring opportunities for making the sector greener despite there being no net zero aircraft available on the market yet. "We are looking at requirements for new aircraft, which will be supported through the taxonomy if they are capable of taking 100% sustainable aviation fuels," she said.<br/>
Energy giant Repsol has bought into Europe's drive for green jet fuel, but believes the E200m plant it is building in southeast Spain faces a bumpier ride than if it was on the other side of the Atlantic. Repsol says the plant, which transforms used cooking oil into so-called sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), has attracted plenty of customers. But it is concerned Europe's investment environment will complicate the industry's efforts to take off. "(In Europe) there is a legal instability and a regulatory machinery that is very complex and very discouraging towards seeking new solutions," said Oliver Fernandez, Repsol's director for air fuel in Madrid. "We see the U.S. is very in favour of helping companies with financing and focusing on helping them to develop new things." Repsol's worries echo those of Europe's aviation sector, much of which is tasked with boosting SAF use to 10% of all jet fuel by 2030, despite it currently costing up to five times as much. As one of the only ways to decarbonise aviation, investors and regulators are pushing airlines to up SAF usage. Doing so could also determine whether airlines can ever be considered sustainable under the European Union's green finance rules, impacting their cost of raising money. As it stands, SAF makes up less than 1% of jet fuel in use. Airlines, which operate on razor thin margins and are heavily indebted as they recover from the pandemic, say more needs to be done to boost production and lower the cost. While U.S. firms are benefiting from tax incentives to boost production, Europe has focused on mandating change rather than incentivising it, said Laurent Donceel, acting managing director of lobbying group Airlines for Europe.<br/>
The chief executives of Europe’s largest airlines have renewed calls for Europe’s airspace to be reformed, including through a new approach to financing air traffic management services. Speaking during the Airlines for Europe (A4E) Aviation Summit in Brussels on 29 March, the airline leaders said “the time for excuses is over”, amid a need for a “seamless and digitalised airspace” as traffic edges back towards its pre-Covid peak. Reform of Europe’s airspace “has failed to match” innovation elsewhere in the industry, A4E says, notably through the failure to implement the Single European Sky (SES) legislation. “By reforming air traffic management, European aviation could run more efficiently for passengers and with lower carbon emissions,” says incoming A4E chair and IAG chief executive Luis Gallego. “That’s why at A4E, we are calling for the European Commission, European Parliament and member states to take part in discussions and make progress on the Single European Sky implementation and the EU Commission’s proposed legislation (SES2+).” Announcing a “cross-industry collaboration” to push for reform, A4E suggests that airspace upgrades would bring a number of benefits, including through emissions savings “of up to 10%”, a reduction in delays and improved capacity. “We would like all parties to put their differences aside and focus on delivering change which would be a win for passengers, the environment and Europe as a whole,” Gallego states. rance-KLM, Lufthansa Group, EasyJet and Ryanair among its members.<br/>
European airline leaders called on Wednesday for measures to prevent chronic French air traffic control strikes penalising thousands of passengers using the country’s airspace for transit, as Paris warned of new protests on Thursday. Ryanair CE Michael O’Leary said it was a “scandal” that French strikes had blocked many flights over France’s airspace, disrupting services between different countries including the busy tourist market between Britain and Spain. Airlines have to compensate passengers for long delays or cancellations under European passenger laws but are unable to recover penalties from air traffic authorities when airspace is blocked, he told the A4E Aviation Summit in Brussels. Tension between airlines and French controllers has been a recurring issue but escalated this year as the controllers joined strikes over planned changes to the retirement age. France’s DGAC aviation authority said it was applying minimum service rules for some flights but the airline industry wants this to apply to overflights, as well as domestic trips. O’Leary said airports were better prepared for delays this summer after widespread chaos last year but that he expected further air traffic control problems in coming months.<br/>
Russian airlines’ carried 0.7% more passengers in February than in the same month last year, the Rosstat state statistics service said on Wednesday. A total of 6.5m passengers flew on Russian airlines during the month, Rosstat said. Traffic for the first two months of the year was down 5.6% compared with the same period of 2022, at 13.8m passengers. Western countries, including the entire European Union, banned Russian airlines from operating in their airspace last year as part of the first package of sanctions to be levelled against Moscow in response to its military campaign in Ukraine.<br/>
Kazakhstan's flagship airline, Air Astana, is speeding up its expansion plans to take advantage of a drop in air traffic via Russia and the reopening of China, chief executive Peter Foster told Reuters. Many global airlines stopped flights to Russia after it invaded Ukraine last year. As a result, Moscow has lost its status as a hub for flights between Europe and Asia, allowing its southern neighbour Kazakhstan to boost its market share. "Prior to the start of the war in Ukraine, a lot of traffic in general, going in the western direction, whether that was to Europe or to the U.S., was traveling from this region via the Russian Federation," Foster said in an interview. "Obviously, that is no longer the case. And so what has happened is there has been a shift of gravity and we are extremely well placed to take advantage of that shift."Air Astana, part-owned by Britain's BAE Systems, posted a record profit of $78.4m last year as its traffic grew 11% to 7.4m passengers, even though the company has also ceased flights to Russia. The company plans to grow its fleet to 50 aircraft by the end of this year from the current 44 aircraft, Foster said, and is accelerating expansion plans for the coming years. "We are making more orders for 2024-27. I think it's common knowledge now that the 787 Dreamliner will arrive in 2025. So we will continue to expand the fleet both with those aircraft and with more Airbus 320 family aircraft," he said.<br/>
The Indian government has advised telecom service providers to take precautions that minimize the interference of fifth generation (5G) networks — which allows for faster wireless speeds — in aircraft operations, including establishing safety and buffer zones and placing 5G towers near airports, according to a Press Trust of India report. Indian aviation watchdog DGCA has not conducted any research on the potential impact of 5G signals on safe civil aircraft operations, according to VK Singh, minister of state for civil aviation. “However, DGCA has reviewed the studies/action undertaken by various countries during the launch of 5G on the potential interference of 5G C-band signals on radio altimeters installed on the aircraft and risk involved in air travel,” Singh was quoted as saying. He said there is a possibility of interference with radio altimeters, which could jeopardize safe airline operations. Concerns over the 5G network interfering with flights had been raised internationally. U.S. aviation regulator Federal Aviation Administration had warned last year that potential interference could affect sensitive airplane instruments such as altimeters and impact on low-visibility operations. Last month, the IATA had also expressed concern that many airlines would not be able to retrofit their planes to handle new 5G wireless technology in time for the peak summer travel season. <br/>
A commercial plane typically flies multiple times a day, thousands of times a year, for several years before its interior is updated. The aircraft-interiors market was a $6.5b business in 2022, according to AeroDynamic Advisory and Tronos Aviation Consulting. The total seat market was $2.9b, with new seats at $933m, retrofitted seats at $1.39b and repairs and other interior items making up the rest of the market. It projects the total interiors market to reach $8b by 2027. Seats are a crucial part of an airline’s business. A typical narrow-body jet like a Boeing 737 or Airbus A320 has as many as 180 seats. And replacing them with brand-new seats can be expensive, ranging from about $5,000 in the economy section to $100,000 for first-class suites. Many airlines chose to refurbish or refresh the seats by stripping down the ones they already have in service or those they’ve acquired from another airline or leasing company. An airline may choose to refurbish seats versus replacing seats based on a few factors which include age of aircraft, age of the actual seats and cost. CNBC visited Latitude Aero, a refurbishment company in Greensboro, North Carolina, to see what goes into giving airplane seats a second life. The company specializes in commercial aircraft seating. A small company compared to seat manufacturers like Collins Aerospace and Zodiac Aerospace, Latitude has nonetheless enjoyed some healthy growth recently. Story features video.<br/>
Honeywell International Inc. sees the first electric aircraft that take off like helicopters and fly like airplanes beginning commercial flights in 2025, but no air taxi boom until closer to the end of the decade. Early cases for electric vertical takeoff and landing, or eVTOL, craft will be mostly limited to military and cargo applications, Mike Madsen, the head of Honeywell’s aerospace business, said at a Jefferies conference. Passenger service is still years away and will likely require a pilot for the foreseeable future, but Madsen said air taxis will ultimately be the catalyst for double-digit growth in the nascent industry. “There will be some initial vehicles introduced that’ll be used for some limited use cases maybe under some pretty strict requirements, and then it will take off,” said Madsen, who expects Honeywell’s eVTOL equipment-related sales to grow to about $2b by 2030. “It’s going to be really slow at the beginning” The promise of more nimble aircraft that use multiple electric motors, which are quieter, safer and less expensive to maintain than a helicopter’s internal combustion engine, has attracted a number of startups as well as traditional aerospace manufacturers. The passenger market alone could grow to as much as $1t by 2040, and some $3t including military and cargo, according to JPMorgan Chase analyst Marcelo Motta. Even eVTOL producers that have made the most progress have many regulatory hurdles remaining and some experts say certification for pilot-less flights is likely many years away. “The regulation is going to be the challenge, not the technology,” Madsen said.<br/>