A crucial safety system that’s relied on to avoid potentially fatal collisions at major US airports is aging and plagued by outages that have left travelers unprotected for months at a time. At some airports, it hasn’t ever been installed. The technology — which tracks vehicles on or near runways to alert controllers before impending crashes — often uses decades-old radar equipment for which spare parts are difficult to find, according to government data and the president of the union representing air-traffic controllers. Keeping track of ground traffic at airports is particularly important at a time when runway-safety incidents appear to be surging. This year, there have been at least eight incidents involving airliners that aviation regulators ranked as severe, or that prompted probes by US accident investigators. That’s almost double the average for each full year since 2018. While none of those near collisions have been directly linked to an outage of Airport Surface Detection Equipment-Model X, or ASDE-X, gaps in service can leave the aviation system vulnerable. With no clear alternative available, advocates are pushing to add the system — which is highly effective when it’s functioning well — to more landing strips after some of the most serious incidents happened at airports without the technology. “They are the last line of defense in preventing a massive collision between two airliners,” said Jeff Guzzetti, former head of accident investigations at the Federal Aviation Administration. “I’m shocked that it hasn’t been put in more airports.” Three people familiar with the runway safety systems said that they have suffered multiple failures in recent years. They asked not to be identified discussing malfunctions that aren’t public. At Dallas-Fort Worth International in Texas, the third-busiest US airport by number of flights, the ASDE-X system was out of service for at least six days last May and June, according to one of the people. At Chicago O’Hare, an outage last July lasted as long as a week. At Los Angeles International, 39 separate failures meant that the system was unavailable for a total of 160 days from 2016 through 2018, according to an FAA report reviewed by Bloomberg. Together, the three airports processed more than 80m travelers in 2021, according to FAA data.<br/>
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Faced with congested airports, rising costs, a pilot shortage and a resurgence in travel demand, airlines are increasingly turning to the same remedy: bigger planes that fit more passengers. Flights operated by the 11 largest US airlines had an average of more than 153 seats on domestic flights last year, up from an average of nearly 141 seats in 2017, according to aviation data firm Cirium. In April, US carriers have 0.6% more seats in their domestic schedules compared with the same month of 2019, despite operating 10.6% fewer flights. The trend toward larger planes, part of a strategy known in the industry as “upgauging,” means airlines can sell more seats on each flight and make do with fewer planes, which are in short supply. While more passengers per plane drive down an airline’s unit costs, it means fewer flight options for consumers. For example, United Airlines said its flights have 20 more seats per departure in its full network than in 2019. Rodney Cox, United’s vice president of airport operations at the carrier’s hub at Newark Liberty International Airport, told CNBC last month that it’s difficult to increase the number of flights operated into and out of the airport, one of the nation’s most congested. “The way we continue to grow our model and grow the business is to upgauge our flights,” he said. Last month, United said it would fly about 3,600 domestic routes using wide-body aircraft. The airline also devoted 777s, the largest plane in its fleet with 364 seats, to fly between major hubs and Orlando, Florida, during spring break, a spokeswoman said. Early in the Covid pandemic, US airlines reassigned their largest jets for domestic routes when international travel was hobbled by the crisis and travel restrictions. Now that international trips are picking back up, the competition for those planes has gotten tighter. And, Cox noted, there are limits to how many flights the airline can upgauge, especially with its largest planes. “Not every gate is equal,” he said. “You can’t put a wide-body [airplane] on every single gate.”<br/>
European aviation is gearing up for Easter travel disruptions marked by strikes and cancellations, in a major test of the industry's ability to prevent a repeat of last year's summer holiday season chaos. Strikes have rolled through France, Portugal, Britain and Germany in recent weeks and could cause air travel disruption in parts of Europe through the Easter holidays, officials at airlines, airports and air traffic authorities said. "There will be delays. There's no doubt about it," said Steven Moore, who is in charge of air traffic management operations at Eurocontrol. Details of the delays remain unclear but the warnings illustrate how vulnerable aviation remains to external pressures, despite efforts to avoid a repeat of last year's queues and cancellations. Airlines are frustrated at the escalation in industrial action after they have worked for months to tackle the pressing problem of labour shortages via better coordination and by staffing up for a potential return to pre-pandemic traffic levels."I think it's something that we have to plan for and we're doing our best to try to mitigate that. But it's, of course, very difficult because ... you sometimes get only 24-hours notice," easyJet CEO Johan Lundgren said. That is unlikely to quell a debate over the European Union's strict passenger compensation rules. Airlines say they have to pay compensation without themselves getting compensated for air traffic delays. Consumer groups say air traffic control strikes are not new and airlines should be quicker to react and pay compensation. European consumer lobby BEUC said consumer pre-payments for air tickets should be phased out, especially in times of disruption, as airlines often spend that money quickly leaving consumers struggling for months to get their money back. The spectre of new delays came as France was gripped by the latest in a series of national protests over pension reform on Thursday.<br/>
The EC has proposed labelling certain investments in aviation as green, after a months-long row over whether to add the sector to the EU's list of sustainable investments. The Commission said the rules should encourage the aviation sector to cut greenhouse emissions in the near term, but its proposal to label certain planes as green immediately drew criticism from environmental campaigners. The decision had also split opinion inside the Commission, with some officials pushing to add aviation investments if they meet strict environmental standards, and others opposed to giving a climate-friendly badge to a sector with a high carbon footprint. In a proposal published on Wednesday, the Commission said certain investments in aviation leasing, manufacturing, passenger and freight flights would be added to the taxonomy, and classed as helping to fight climate change. The rules set detailed environmental criteria that each economic activity must meet. For example, manufacturers can win a green label either for producing aircraft with zero tailpipe CO2 emissions, or aircraft with lower CO2 emissions than International Civil Aviation Organisation limits for new planes. From 2028, such aircraft must also be able to run on sustainable fuels. The Commission said the lack of zero-emissions planes or large volumes of sustainable aviation fuels available today meant the sector needed rules to incentivise the switch to more efficient planes, to cut emissions in the near term before breakthrough CO2-free technologies emerge. Climate campaigners criticised the rules for allowing planes running on fossil fuels to be labelled as climate friendly.<br/>
Walkouts among French air traffic controllers have led to thousands of flight cancellations since the start of the year, raising worries for Easter travel and further denting the image of a country that’s been wracked by protests. The French civil aviation authority DGAC has asked airlines to limit the number of flights on and off for weeks at Paris Orly and some other airports, at a time when the nation is being roiled by strikes over an unpopular pension reform. DGAC expects more disruptions amid Thursday’s nationwide walkouts and protests. Labor action by air traffic controllers not only affects flights to and from France but also leads to turmoil elsewhere in Europe, causing delays for planes that fly over the country to reach other destinations. Ryanair Holdings, Europe’s biggest low-cost airline, has gone so far as to ask passengers to sign an online petition urging European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to “keep EU skies open” amid the walkouts. Twenty-five days of strikes among French air traffic controllers in the first three months of the year forced it to cancel 3,080 flights, leaving more than half a million passengers stranded with short notice, the carrier said. “Everything is completely backed up over Europe,” Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said last week. “Why? because the French have a bunch of air traffic controllers walking off the job engaging in recreational striking.” The number of flights under the control of French authorities in the country’s airspace totaled about 220,600 last month, down from roughly 243,000 in March 2019, a spokesman for DGAC said in response to a Bloomberg query. The authority was unable to provide a specific number of canceled flights in France this year related to strikes, nor could it estimate the ripple effects on air travel elsewhere in Europe. The DGAC doesn’t demand cancellations for flights over France when controllers walk out, but “control capacity restrictions that allow a high level of security on the basis of available workforce may cause delays,” with consequences for air travel in other countries, the spokesman said. At this stage, DGAC is not expecting cancellations for Easter weekend. While protests in France have calmed over the past week, the unpredictable walkouts are still affecting airline passengers. On Monday, all flights to France from Berlin airport were indicated as delayed. And even though DGAC anticipated no strikes in France on Wednesday, the pilot of an Air France flight from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Berlin blamed air traffic controller walkouts for a delay in takeoff. <br/>
Portugal's government approved on Thursday the abolition of the scandal-hit immigration agency SEF, whose border force officers, uncertain about their future, have mooted industrial action during the usually busy Easter period. The officers agreed to start a five-day strike on Thursday but their union suspended the first day of action to hold talks with the government on compensation packages and other issues. It was not immediately clear whether the strike will go ahead from Friday. Previous SEF strikes forced passengers to queue for hours, and tourism sector representatives fear a walkout over the Easter holidays would have "a significant impact" on arrivals and departures. Three years ago, a Ukrainian Ihor Homeniuk was beaten to death while in the service's custody at Lisbon airport, ultimately leading to the demise of the SEF, which has also been accused of being inefficient, with migrants at times waiting for years to get an appointment. Three officers were sentenced to several years in jail in May 2021 over Homeniuk's murder. Parliament approved SEF's abolition in November of the same year, but the process has been slow. The government said on Thursday that SEF's functions, such as border checks and human trafficking investigations, will be divided between regular police forces until a new body, the Portuguese Agency for Minorities, Migration and Asylym, has been created. "There's a clear separation, with police on one side that will have their function and the agency that will represent the vision of the policy of refuge and integration (for immigrants)," Parliament Affairs Minister Ana Catarina Mendes told a news conference.<br/>
A UK government agency has financially supported the high-carbon aviation industry with billions of pounds since the Paris climate agreement was adopted, it can be revealed. The effective subsidy for new airports, aircraft and maintenance comes despite the agency believing the oil-dependent sector is unlikely to begin cutting emissions “materially” before the next decade. UK Export Finance (UKEF), which offers a range of loans, insurance and guarantees to help British companies secure business abroad, ended support for fossil fuel projects two years ago. This key pledge, made by the UK, which hosted the Cop26 climate talks, won praise from green groups. But more than half of the support it has provided since the landmark Paris climate accord was agreed at the end of 2015 has gone to aviation, with Rolls-Royce, Airbus, Boeing and British Airways taking the lion’s share, according to analysis by DeSmog and the Guardian. Just one of the 62 deals, listed in annual reports, appears to have come with any climate-related conditions attached. The scale of the agency’s exposure to the aviation sector underscores how headline-grabbing pledges to end support for new oil and gas projects are only a partial step towards aligning government policy with net zero targets. Wera Hobhouse, the Liberal Democrats’ climate spokesperson, said: “Getting to net zero needs to be at the heart of any policy decision. We are wasting time we do not have by ignoring this reality and it is having a real, damaging effect on the planet.""<br/>
An aviation industry body has issued a warning about Vietnam's compliance with international aircraft leasing norms after a dispute over the repossession of four jets, raising questions over the cost of financing future deliveries. Vietnam is one of the world's fastest-growing air travel markets, with hundreds of jets on order and air transport representing 5% of GDP, according to the IATA. The Aviation Working Group, a UK-based entity that monitors financing laws on behalf of planemakers and lessors, said it had placed Vietnam on a watchlist after a Hanoi court blocked an attempt to seize jets over an alleged rental payment default. It did not name the airline involved, but an updated version of the warning was posted on its website with a link to a file named "Update No. 1 re VietJet". VietJet, which is one Asia's largest low-cost carriers, did not respond to a request for comment. Other Vietnamese carriers also declined comment or did not respond. VietJet operates Airbus jets and has ordered a total of 186 jets from the European firm including 114 A320neo models that have yet to be delivered. It has also ordered 200 Boeing 737 MAX, none of which have been delivered. Under a treaty known as the Cape Town Convention (CTC), of which Vietnam is a member, airlines are able to secure better financing rates in return for their nations making it easier for lessors to repossess jets in the case of missed payments. The treaty allows for jets to be de-registered, or removed from the host country's airplane register, in the event of a lawful request from the lessor and placed on an international register, allowing the owner to fly the aircraft away.<br/>
Airbus agreed on Thursday to build a second assembly line at its factory in China and was given a green light by Beijing to move ahead with 160 previously announced plane orders. The announcement was a pointed reminder of how China remains a critical market for European companies, even as American manufacturers are pulling up stakes. The agreement was signed in Beijing by Airbus’s CE, Guillaume Faury, who was part of an economic delegation accompanying President Emmanuel Macron of France and President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Union on an ambitious state visit with China’s top leader, Xi Jinping. Airbus is working to expand production of its best-selling A320 single-aisle jet, and bolster sales in China, whose leaders have taken pains recently to try to show the world that the country is open for business after it doubled down on pandemic lockdowns last year. Under the deal, the world’s largest plane maker will double production capacity of the A320 at its factory in Tianjin, in an aviation market that is the fastest growing in the world. And after trumpeting a major agreement last year in which China promised to buy 292 new Airbus aircraft, worth nearly $40b before discounts, the company said the Chinese government on Thursday gave approval for Airbus to start making 160 of those planes. Europe has been under pressure from the Biden administration to isolate Beijing by imposing more trade curbs on sensitive technologies, such as semiconductors that could have military uses. Talk of economic decoupling is rife, and Apple has shifted some production to India and Vietnam, although most of its revenue still comes from Chinese-made products. Von der Leyen said in a speech ahead of the trip that E.U. countries needed to reduce risk and “rebalance” economic ties with China. But other European leaders, and Macron in particular, have sought to maintain strong economic links despite China’s increasing assertiveness and support for Russia. The deal “underpins the positive recovery momentum and prosperous outlook for the Chinese aviation market,” Faury said. He added that Airbus was “privileged to remain a partner of choice in shaping the future of civil aviation in China.”<br/>
Boeing plans to crank up output of its 737 family of jets to a 38-plane monthly rate by the middle of the year, months earlier than analysts had predicted, according to people familiar with the matter. The US planemaker has been briefing customers on its plans to step up production of its main cash cow aircraft over the next few months, while hiring and training workers to support the faster manufacturing pace, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing a confidential matter. Speeding up manufacturing and deliveries of its 737 Max could allow Boeing to reach its target of $10b in yearly free cash flow by 2025 or 2026, without giving up market share to rival Airbus SE. After an address to New York’s Wings Club on March 30, Boeing’s commercial chief Stan Deal told reporters rate increases were in the works and should happen “very soon.” Boeing has worked over the past year to create a stable flow of the jets from a factory in Renton, Washington, at a 31-jet monthly pace. Doing so hasn’t been easy. The manufacturer has grappled with shortages of engines, cabin equipment and worked to bring new hires up to speed after years of disruption caused by the Covid pandemic and a global grounding of the 737 Max.<br/>
FedEx will combine almost all of its ground, air and other operations by next year as part of a $4b cost cutting plan. The package delivery company said Wednesday that FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, FedEx Services and other FedEx operating companies will be rolled into a single entity by June 2024 in a companywide reorganization. FedEx Freight, the company’s freight transportation services division, will continue as a stand-alone company within Federal Express Corp. Raj Subramaniam will serve as president and CEO of the combined organization. John Smith will become president and CEO of U.S. and Canada ground operations at FedEx Express and assume leadership of surface operations across the FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, and FedEx Freight businesses. Richard Smith will serve as president and CEO, airline and international at FedEx Express, overseeing all other regions and FedEx Logistics. The company expects to realize permanent cost reductions of $4b from the reshuffle at some point during fiscal 2025. FedEx said in September that its operating expenses were rising and that it was maneuvering to address those costs, including the closure of over 90 FedEx Office locations and five corporate offices. It also said it would defer on new hires and operate fewer flights. The Memphis, Tennessee, company also announced Wednesday that it’s boosting its annual dividend by 10%, or 44 cents per share, to $5.04 per share for fiscal 2024.<br/>