Airlines said on Sunday they are ready to avoid a repeat of last year's travel chaos, but warned that some flights could still be disrupted by controller strikes and hit out at schemes that force them to pay compensation for unavoidable delays. "I am reasonably confident that we'll be able to get through this peak summer without too much disruption," Willie Walsh, director general of the IATA said in an interview on Sunday. Airline leaders attending IATA's annual meeting in Istanbul this week remain concerned about air traffic control disruption in Europe and the United States, however. "But as far as they are concerned, they have fulfilled their obligation to get their resources in place for this summer. Most of the airports I think, will be okay, as well; I think they've learned the lessons from last year," Walsh told Reuters. A faster-than-expected rebound in air travel coupled with labour shortages caused chaos at several airports in Europe and North America last summer and prompted a row between airlines and airports over passenger caps designed to ease the pressure. Rising numbers of disputes between travellers and airlines globally have led to calls for passenger compensation. Legislation is under review in Canada, while the U.S. government is writing new rules and the European Union is pushing for stronger enforcement of its existing "Regulation 261" which requires compensation for delays of more than three hours. "Ultimately it is the consumer who's paying because this is of course being borne by the industry, but the industry can't just absorb that," Walsh said. "The more expense that airlines have to incur because of problems outside of their control, the more that's going to be reflected in ticket prices, and it will drive ticket prices up. It is a very, very frustrating environment to be operating in".<br/>
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Airlines placed orders for close to 1,200 new aircraft in the first five months of the year, underlining the resurgent demand from the industry as passenger traffic continues to rebound in the wake of the pandemic. The figures were bolstered by three standout deals, including the announcement in February by Air India to purchase 470 single-aisle and long-distance widebody aircraft from Airbus and Boeing, according to research by aviation consultancy IBA. Total orders to the end of May — including options — were 1,198. The large order haul underlines how quickly airlines’ demand has bounced back to pre-pandemic levels. The International Air Transport Association, an industry body, said this week that domestic travel had regained pre-pandemic levels and overall passenger traffic grew 46 per cent year-on-year in April led by carriers in the Asia-Pacific region. Aircraft demand has been fuelled by persistent industry-wide capacity constraints which have pushed out available delivery slots for the most popular models towards the end of the decade. Airbus and Boeing, along with engine makers, have been struggling to meet ambitious delivery targets amid a shortage of components since the peak of the pandemic. “Airlines are rushing to get capacity back, bringing stored aircraft back and ordering new ones. They are all keen to get to the front of the queue for deliveries,” said William McClintock, manager of market analysis at IBA. Net orders, which take account of cancellations, in 2022 were 1,592 — almost double the 812 orders placed in 2019, the year before the Covid pandemic all but brought air travel to a standstill, according to IBA data. The bulk of the net orders, or 1,436, were for single-aisle aircraft, notably Airbus’ best-selling A320 family of jets. Net orders for widebody aircraft which are used on long-haul international routes were 156, a fraction over the 148 tally in 2019. The wide-body recovery now “looks sustainable,” said McClintock. “Before the pandemic, delivery rates were outstripping orders and did not look sustainable.” The industry’s supply-demand balance is expected to remain out of kilter, however, for some time with executives warning that delivery problems will persist until at least next year. <br/>
The head of a group representing global airlines renewed pressure on planemakers to speed up plane and parts production on Sunday, warning the delays would curtail airline capacity as demand for air travel nears a full recovery from the pandemic. Willie Walsh, DG of the IATA, told Reuters the topic had been raised by "every single one" of the airline CEOs he had met as the industry gathers for a three-day annual meeting in Istanbul. Airlines "are not concerned about the macroeconomic environment, they're concerned about the access to spare parts for their existing aircraft and the delivery of new aircraft. So it's definitely got to hold back capacity growth," he said. "It's frustrating because airlines can see strong demand, but they're not able to match supply with demand in many markets. And this is something we want to see resolved." Airbus and Boeing have blamed supply chains for delivery delays, while bottlenecks in a network of engine repair shops have also forced airlines to ground dozens of jets.<br/>
Soaring ticket prices are lining the pockets of the world’s biggest airlines, providing balm for the economic wounds suffered during the travel lockdowns of the Covid-19 pandemic. But as the industry takes off, airports say they have been forgotten at the gate. Flying will be far more expensive this summer, according to corporate travel manager American Express Global Business Travel, which analysed tens of thousands of client transactions on international flights to and from Asian destinations. A typical New York-to-Hong Kong flight in economy class cost more than twice as much in 2023 than in 2019, and almost a third more than in 202Major carriers heading to this week’s annual meeting of the IATA have enjoyed a quick recovery. Fares have been bolstered by tight capacity going into travel’s peak season and customers are eager to book, often upgrading to more expensive tickets. British Airways owner IAG posted a surprise quarterly profit in May and raised its outlook for the full year. Dubai’s Emirates and Singapore Airlines reported record earnings, with Australia’s Qantas on course to follow suit. “Airlines have benefited unusually from the supply shortfall that boosts the price” of tickets, said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Denise Wong. Airports, meanwhile, continue to struggle, lacking the same flexibility to raise prices on fees and tariffs that are fixed, regulated or commercially negotiated. London Heathrow, the home base of BA, has warned of ongoing losses and is withholding dividend payments to its owners. Dublin Airport is also wrestling with regulators and airlines on the increase in fees it can charge airlines. Irish low-cost powerhouse Ryanair Holdings, a major tenant, routinely threatens to leave over such costs. The discount carrier has also scaled back in Germany, saying high airport fees there make operations unsustainable at airports like Frankfurt.<br/>
When Antony Knights and his wife, Louise Firth, first noticed that their British Airways flight to Berlin from London’s Heathrow airport was listed as delayed, they were neither surprised nor very concerned. But shortly afterwards they and others waiting for the flight, on May 25, were shocked to be told to leave the airport terminal. Their service, like around 80 other British Airways departures that day, had been cancelled because of a computer fault leading to misery for thousands of travellers as knock-on disruption forced the cancelling of more departures the following day. The experience of the couple — who had planned the trip to Berlin since September — has become increasingly common for airline passengers as the companies have been hit with repeated IT failures. Carriers in Germany’s Lufthansa Group in February had to cancel around 200 flights after construction workers severed a fibre optic cable vital for the group’s booking systems. Southwest Airlines in the US last year had to cancel around 15,000 flights in a week in December thanks to a mixture of severe weather and IT and telephone systems that crumbled under the extreme demands. British Airways has suffered repeated similar incidents, in February and March last year. The incidents highlight how ageing electronics across the airline industry have combined with some carriers’ operational issues to make systems’ fragility an urgent concern. John Strickland, a London-based aviation consultant, said airlines depended on computer systems whose oldest elements were sometimes decades old. Many now need very sensitive handling. “Over the years, new updates in stages have been bolted on to make very complicated systems,” Strickland said. Yet the question, according to Becrom Basu, a partner at the management consultancy LEK, is whether airlines can introduce wholesale changes in an industry that never fully shuts. “I think if you ask someone in the industry, they would say it’s like open-heart surgery while you’re still trying to run,” Basu said of introducing new, more reliable systems. “It’s one of those things most people don’t want to tackle if they can avoid it.”<br/>
The airline industry has seen blocked funds rise by nearly 50% in the past 12 months, posing an increasing risk to connectivity, according to IATA. Outlining the latest data as its AGM began in Istanbul on 4 June, the airline association cited some $2.27b of blocked funds in April 2023, which represents a 47% rise from April 2022. More than a third of those blocked funds were held in Nigeria, at $812.2m, continuing a trend that has seen airlines including Emirates and British Airways cancel services or restrict ticket sales at times over the past 12 months. There is a big gap to second-worst offender, Bangladesh, at $214.1m, IATA data shows. Algeria, Pakistan and Lebanon make up the rest of the top five, who together account for 68% of global blocked funds. “Airlines cannot continue to offer services in markets where they are unable to repatriate the revenues arising from their commercial activities in those markets,” says IATA director general Willie Walsh. “Governments need to work with industry to resolve this situation so airlines can continue to provide the connectivity that is vital to driving economic activity and job creation.” Furthermore, IATA urges governments to “abide by international agreements and treaty obligations” under which fund repatriation occurs. The blocked funds arise from the sale of tickets, cargo space and other activities, IATA notes. While there are various reasons for countries blocking the release of funds, in Nigeria the issues have been linked to the country’s low foreign currency reserves amid weaker-than-expected crude oil sales.<br/>
Deputy US Transportation Secretary Polly Trottenberg is expected to be named FAA next interim leader, two sources told Reuters on Sunday. The source cautioned that appointment wasn’t final and could change, the sources said. The Wall Street Journal first reported the news. Acting FAA administrator Billy Nolen is expected to leave the agency on Friday, officials told Reuters last week. Trottenberg did not respond to a May 31 email from Reuters last Wednesday asking about a rumor that she could be tapped to take the interim job running the FAA. The United States has faced serious questions about aviation safety after a series of close-call runway incidents this year and a computer outage in January that led to the first nationwide grounding of departing passenger airliners since September 2001. The NTSB is investigating six runway incursion events since January including some that could have been catastrophic.<br/>
Airlines are embroiled in fierce competition to acquire more aircraft as the pandemic subsides and international passenger demand surges. The global increase in passengers has resulted in a shortage of aircraft available for lease, with manufacturers steeply raising lease rates. Therefore, concerns are rising for airlines over the significant cost burden associated with introducing new aircraft. According to sources in the aviation industry, domestic airlines in Korea are expected to introduce a total of 13 additional new passenger aircraft this year ― Asiana Airlines and Jeju Air with four aircraft each, followed by Korean Air and Jin Air with two aircraft. T'way Air plans to add one more aircraft to its fleet. The aviation industry is responding to the recent rapid increase in international passenger demand, which declined during the COVID-19 pandemic, by actively pursuing the acquisition of new aircraft. In April, the number of passengers on the Incheon-Narita (Tokyo) route increased by over 40,000 from April 2019 to 269,459. Similarly, the Incheon-Bangkok and Incheon-Sydney routes experienced passenger growth of 2.1% and 64.8%, respectively. Despite the surge in passenger demand, the aviation industry is facing challenges in acquiring new aircraft. As of early this year, major domestic airlines had a total of 319 passenger planes, 29 planes, or 8.3% fewer than the 348 in 2019. Even with the expected net increase of 13 planes by year-end, a shortage of 16 planes remains. The shortage of passenger aircraft directly impacts international flight frequencies. As of April, the number of international flights at Incheon Airport stood at only 77% of the April 2019 level, with 12,515 flights out of 16,247. Regional airports are also experiencing more shortages regarding international flights. During the same period, the number of international flights at Gimpo International Airport recovered to 94.6 percent of pre-pandemic levels, while Gimhae Airport and Daegu Airport reached only 49.1% and 26.1%, respectively.<br/>
Airbus said the widebody aircraft market is set to experience similarly lengthy wait times as the workhorse single-aisle segment because airlines are rapidly stocking up on long-haul jets, while supply disruptions on equipment like seats limits output. “We will most probably be in just as much of a supply crunch on the widebodies as we’re experiencing on single aisles,” Christian Scherer, Airbus’s chief commercial officer, said in an interview at IATA’s annual general meeting in Istanbul on Sunday. “The widebody market is very, very promising.” The European planemaker is already sold out of its bestselling A321neo aircraft until 2029, and Scherer said the company will focus on offering its more expensive widebody models to “proven partnerships” rather than “chasing every opportunity that presents itself.” Widebody aircraft are generally more complex to manufacture because they have more elaborate interiors, like fancier business-class seats and flexible layouts for elements like galleys. That means that any bottlenecks on parts can quickly become more pronounced. Airbus has already announced an increase in output for its A350 model to six a month to help ease constraints and wants to lift that rate to nine a month by the end of 2025. The older A330neo will reach four monthly units by 2024. That compares with a targeted monthly production plan of 75 A320 family single-aisle jets. Airlines seeking to capitalise on the surge in travel are snapping up planes out of fear of being relegated to the end of the line. Airbus has been slower than expected in handing over aircraft because of supply bottlenecks and was forced to downgrade its delivery target twice last year. In 2023, Airbus aims to delivery 720 jets, mainly from the A320 family.<br/>
Changi Airport Group (CAG) posted a net profit of S$33m for the financial year ended March 31, 2023 – reversing its $838 million loss in the previous financial year – on the back of a recovering aviation industry after borders reopened. Overall, revenue for the group doubled to $1.9b, compared with $900m in the previous financial year, it announced in a media statement on Thursday. The number of passengers that passed through Changi Airport rose steadily to reach 82 per cent of pre-Covid-19 levels in March 2023. For the whole of FY2023, passenger movements rose to 42.6m – an increase of eight times compared with the previous financial year – and are at 62% of pre-Covid-19 levels. Air traffic movements doubled from the previous year to 257,000, or 67% of pre-Covid-19 levels. This supported the partial recovery in revenues from airport services and airport concessions. At Jewel, footfall more than doubled, and the mall was close to approaching full occupancy.<br/>
Don Bateman, an engineer who invented a cockpit device that warns airplane pilots with colorful screen displays and dire audible alerts like “Caution Terrain!” and “Pull Up!” when they are in danger of crashing into mountains, buildings or water — an innovation that has likely saved thousands of lives — died on May 21 at his home in Bellevue, Wash. He was 91. His daughter Katherine McCaslin said the cause was complications of Parkinson’s disease. The ground proximity warning system that Bateman began working on in the late 1960s, and continued to improve until he retired from Honeywell International in 2016, warns pilots against accidentally slamming into land or water because of poor visibility and bad weather, once the most common cause of airline deaths. That category of plane crash has nearly been eliminated. According to data compiled by Boeing about commercial jets worldwide, there were just six such accidents from 2011 to 2020, killing 229 people onboard, compared with 17 accidents from 2001 to 2010, which left 1,007 people dead, and 27 accidents from 1991 to 2000, killing 2,237. “Don Bateman and his team have probably saved more lives through safety system technologies than anyone else in aviation history,” Charley Pereira, a former senior aerospace engineer with the National Transportation Safety Board, wrote in an email, estimating the number in the thousands. Bateman was inducted in the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2005 and received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Barack Obama in 2011 for developing and championing “flight-safety sensors, like ground proximity warning and wind-shear detection systems, now used by more than 55,000 aircrafts worldwide.”<br/>