The much-anticipated summer travel season kicks off this Memorial Day weekend, and airports across the country are already seeing a surge of travelers. According to the Transportation Security Administration, more than 7m people passed through TSA checkpoints from Saturday through Monday. The nation's busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta, is preparing for a substantial influx of passengers, with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens expecting over 2m flyers this weekend. United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby predicts that this Memorial Day will be the busiest in over a decade. He also expressed concerns about air traffic control challenges, which he considers the No. 1 issue as the industry enters the summer season. "This weekend will be a test of the system," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said at a recent press conference. "And I think all of us have airline stories from last summer and the disruptions that took place then. Cancellation and delay rates were at unacceptable proportions last year. And it's important that that not happen again." The Department of Transportation reports that the first three months of 2023 saw a cancellation rate below 2% for U.S. airlines, which is a significant improvement compared to the staffing and weather-related disruptions that led to over 45,000 cancellations last summer. Nationwide, the TSA is bracing for a potentially record-setting summer. TSA Administrator David Pekoske said the agency will have more staff this year than last year. Airlines have also reduced summer flying at the request of the FAA. With Thursday, Friday and Monday anticipated to be the busiest travel days, passengers are advised to plan accordingly. Full flights could not only mean longer wait times at airport checkpoints, but also potential delays in parking garages. Travel experts recommend considering advanced planning or alternative transportation options, such as rideshares, to mitigate potential issues. <br/>
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US airlines expect to fly a record number of travelers this summer despite a national air traffic controller shortage and other issues limiting the number of flights. The trade group forecasts US airlines will carry 257m travelers from June 1 through August 31, a nearly 1% increase over 2019 numbers. Flight numbers, however, will be down roughy 11% compared to four years earlier due to the numerous operational constraints on airlines, including delays to new aircraft and the controller shortage. The average number of seats per departure will be up 14% to 137. “If we are going to grow this business, and accommodate the volume of demand out there, we’re going to need more flights,” A4A Chief Economist John Heimlich said during a briefing in Washington, D.C., Wednesday in response to questions over how sustainable the flight reductions are long term. Travel demand, still driven by the strength of leisure fliers, is forecast to exceed pre-pandemic levels this summer. US airline executives have repeated ad nauseam the strength of demand and their strong bookings for the upcoming peak travel period. At the same time, they have said they cannot fly as much as they would like due to operational constraints that include their own capabilities as well as those outside their control. “We need 10% more pilots and 5% more aircraft to produce the same number of pre-pandemic ASMs,” United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said in January, referring to the common measure of airline capacity, available seat miles (ASMs). US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Tuesday that the FAA was working with airlines to avoid delays. This includes opening more than 100 new, more-direct air routes, and waiving usage requirements for up to 10% of all slots and runway timings at the three main New York City airports. However, he acknowledged that FAA was short roughly 3,000 air traffic controllers, and that filling those positions would take years of hiring and training. “This is going to be a journey, especially when you factor in attrition, to get to levels we want to see,” Buttigieg said. “I think it’ll be a while before we’re at levels we’d like to see.”<br/>
When the French government officially enacted a ban on short domestic flights this week, it hailed the measure as proof that France was at the vanguard of ambitious climate change policies. But critics say it’s much ado about almost nothing. “We are the first to do it,” President Emmanuel Macron wrote in a celebratory message on Twitter, which also included a picture that said “Promise Kept” stamped in green ink. At first glance, the promise would seem to have been kept: Any flight between two cities that can be replaced by a train ride of less than 2.5 hours is banned. In a country smaller than Texas and with an extensive high-speed rail network, that would appear to rule out a large number of domestic flights. But appearances can be deceiving. The decree formalizing the ban, which was published on Tuesday, is riddled with exceptions. It applies only to cities connected by direct train service running “several times a day” and enabling travelers to spend a minimum of eight hours at their destination. It does not apply to connecting flights, and it carves out an exception for the Paris Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport, one of Europe’s busiest passenger hubs, so that air routes between Charles de Gaulle and other French cities will stand. Finally, since a significant amount of the nation’s high-speed train traffic is routed through Paris, only a limited number of cities away from the capital have direct train service between each other that would satisfy the rules in the decree. When all is said and done, only three routes are actually cut — those between Paris-Orly Airport and the cities of Nantes, Bordeaux and Lyon. The exceptions are meant to ensure that train service between two cities is sufficiently robust before flights between those same destinations are outlawed. But for critics, the confusing jumble of conditions has made the measure largely toothless.<br/>
A top European Union court ruled Wednesday that the EC was wrong to approve millions of euros in aid to help Italian airlines cope with the impact of COVID-19 restrictions. The EU general court said the EC — the bloc’s executive arm — failed to provide “a statement of reasons for its finding that the measure at issue was not contrary to EU law provisions other than those governing state aid.” The 27 EU member countries must seek approval from the bloc’s executive branch when granting financial support to companies. Many countries across Europe did so in 2020 to help keep their airlines afloat during the pandemic. In October 2020, Italian authorities informed the EC of their plans to provide E130m to airlines holding an Italian license under certain conditions, and the commission did not raise objections. To benefit from the aid, airlines were required to pay their Italy-based employees — as well as employees of third-party companies involved in their activities — a remuneration at least equal to the minimum set by the national collective agreement applicable to the air transport sector. Air Dolomiti, Neos and Blue Panorama, now known as Luke Air, fulfilled the requirements. The case was brought by low-cost airline Ryanair, which also was struggling to survive at the time. It was the second judicial win in a month for the Irish carrier after the court annulled decisions by the commission approving massive bailouts designed to help Lufthansa and SAS. It was not immediately clear what impact the ruling, which can be appealed, might have, and if the airlines would have to pay the money back. The European Commission said it “will carefully study the judgment and reflect on possible next steps.”<br/>
Recent satellite imagery has shown an “unusual” level of aircraft maintenance at North Korea’s main airport, a monitoring group said, a possible sign Pyongyang is moving to resume international flights. North Korea has effectively sealed its borders since early 2020 as part of its drive to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, with all flights cancelled. It has resumed some cross-border trade with China by train, and recently allowed Beijing’s new ambassador to Pyongyang into the country, but has not yet resumed regular international travel. Several passenger jets operated by North Korea’s Air Koryo have “cycled through maintenance hangars” at Sunan International Airport since early May, the North Korea-monitoring 38North website said, citing satellite images. Such aircraft have only very infrequently undergone such maintenance over the past three years, so the recent level of activity is “notable,” it said. 38North said no cross-border air travel service is “believed to have taken place” throughout the entire pandemic period. “It is unusual that such a large number have been serviced in such a short period of time,” 38 North said, warning that the flurry of activity did not guarantee any immediate or near-term resumption of air travel. Speculation over Pyongyang’s possible reopening spiked after China’s new ambassador arrived in Pyongyang to begin his official duties last month, more than two years after he was appointed. One Chinese tourist agency has also been reportedly preparing to relaunch tours to North Korea in mid-June, according to the Seoul-based specialist site NK News. It added, however, that “false rumours of reopening have circulated near border for months.” Other diplomats from countries with presences in North Korea told NK News they had not had any news about being able to rotate staff in or out of Pyongyang.<br/>
Boeing is deploying experienced pilots to airlines that are training their employees to fly Boeing aircraft, as part of a wider push to reduce aviation safety risks after two 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019. In 2022, a total of 125 so-called "flight operations representatives" worked with more than 60 airlines, Boeing officials told reporters in during a media event in Washington. "When there is an operator that is getting a new fleet type, we send them out," said Lacey Pittman, Boeing's vice president of its global aerospace safety initiative. "What we’re currently doing is deploying where there is that need and a request.” Boeing Chief Safety Officer Mike Delaney said that while it's up to aviation regulators to ensure airlines are ready to operate new aircraft types, having Boeing pilots on the ground allows the company to address practices that may be concerning. "We've had to make hard recommendations to some airlines, no doubt about that," he said. "All of them have accepted either our recommendation ... and in some cases we have offered additional resources from our company to help them do it." While Boeing historically has sent engineering and maintenance experts to embed with airlines, sending pilots on a semi-permanent basis to answer questions about flight operations procedures is a new endeavor for the company. Boeing hopes to recruit additional flight operations representatives - who are mostly former retired airline pilots with more than 13,000 flight hours under their belt, Pittman said. However, airlines' demand for training is high, and the older age of Boeing's pool of existing representatives leads to natural challenges in recruiting and retaining a workforce. "One challenge is that pilots are a scare commodity," Delaney said. “This is going to be a continuous (effort) trying to keep the pipeline full."<br/>
Airbus may unveil a larger version of its A220 single-aisle jetliner as soon as next month, according to analysts at Bank of America, bolstering its lineup against Boeing Co. in the best-selling category of commercial aircraft. The world’s largest planemaker has long said that building an A220-500, a stretched version of its smallest commercial jet, is a matter of when, not if. The larger variant would bring the aircraft into direct competition with Boeing hottest seller, the 737 Max 8. An announcement could come at the Paris Air Show taking place in mid-June, according to analysts led by Benjamin Heelan. “The A220-100 and -300 are the priority and we’re not launching a new product in the current environment,” Toulouse, France-based Airbus said in an emailed statement. With newer technology, a larger A220 would have a weight advantage over the Max and Airbus’s A320 — both older designs — giving it better fuel economy which would save airline customers operating costs. Still, there are numerous hurdles to overcome, including costs, engine choice and whether to act now and sacrifice range, a big selling point for the current versions. Airbus would likely introduce a second engine choice, adding the Leap model from the CFM International venture of General Electric Co. and Safran SA, the analysts said. Currently, the A220’s two versions are powered by the Geared Turbofan unit supplied by Raytheon Co.’s Pratt & Whitney. <br/>
Embraer is increasingly optimistic about E-Jet sales in the competitive Asia-Pacific market, as it continues work on its possible turboprop offering. Following the difficult years of the Coronavirus pandemic, Asia-Pacific airlines are starting to look at renewing their fleets, creating an opportunity for Embraer, says Martyn Holmes, chief commercial officer of Embraer Commercial Aviation.<br/>He points to Singapore low-cost carrier Scoot’s decision in early 2023 to lease nine E190-E2s, which will make it Southeast Asia’s first operator of the re-engined regional jet. “I find myself more frequently here,” says Holmes, speaking to FlightGlobal at Malaysia’s Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA) exhibition. “The team are doing really great work and we see great potential for the E2 in the Asia-Pacific… It’s a great time to be showing the aircraft out here.” For the 2023 edition of LIMA, Embraer brought the E195-E2, which appeared in the static park, having shown the smaller E190-E2 in 2019. Holmes adds that the E195-E2 is still undergoing the certification process in China after the E190-E2 attained the milestone in late 2022.<br/>