The top Republican on a US Senate panel whose party rejected President Joe Biden’s nominee to head the FAA, on Tuesday urged Biden to pick a new nominee, saying the delay puts passengers at risk. The FAA has been without a permanent administrator since April 2022. Biden’s nominee, Denver International Airport CEO Phil Washington, withdrew in March in the face of opposition by Republicans and some undecided Democrats. Many Democrats had said Washington was a pick who would help the FAA address management challenges while Republicans said his aviation experience was extremely limited, noting he had not been a pilot. “The FAA needs a Senate-confirmed administrator with substantial aviation experience,” Senator Ted Cruz, top Republican on Commerce Committee, said in a letter to Biden seen by Reuters. “Every day that passes without a FAA administrator puts the flying public at risk.” The White House did not respond to a request comment. The FAA declined comment. Last week, U.S. Transportation Deputy Secretary Polly Trottenberg was named acting FAA head replacing Billy Nolen, who had been acting administrator since April 2022. Cruz said he hoped Trottenberg “will be an effective caretaker, but it is urgent for the administration to nominate a permanent head of the FAA quickly.” On Friday, Representative Rick Larsen, top Democrat on the House Transportation Committee, said he was confident Trottenberg could do the interim job but emphasized “we need a permanent administrator” and urged quick action on a new nominee. “It’s frustrating for me as well as for most of us that there is not a permanent administrator,” Larsen said.<br/>
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Cargo airlines have been given some breathing space to shift operations out of Benito Juárez International Airport, Mexico City’s congested main gateway. Freighter operators have been under the gun to move flights out of Benito Juárez before 7 July, following a decree by the Mexican government in January banishing all-cargo activities, citing perennial congestion as the reason for its decision to make the airport exclusive to passenger services. Airlines and the IATA voiced opposition, warning that the most suitable alternative, Felipe Angeles International Airport (AIFA), was not ready – but the government remained firm. However, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has announced that the deadline for the move will be extended by eight weeks.The announcement came after a meeting with US transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg who was visiting the Mexican capital last week. The president said he had learned, in the meeting, that some companies needed more time for the move.<br/>
New Zealand's Auckland International Airport said on Wednesday it has revised its dividend policy and will now pay its shareholders only 70% to 90% of underlying net profit after tax, sending its shares to their lowest in nearly five months. The revision is a downgrade from AIA's previous policy to pay 100% of underlying net profit after tax, and comes after the Auckland Council voted on Friday to sell 7% of its 18.09% stake in AIA as part of a plan to reduce debt. AIA shares fell as much as 3.6% and were the top losers on the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (.NZ50), which was down 0.2%. AIA shareholders have not received dividends since the company scrapped interim dividend in March 2020 to tide over the financial hit from the coronavirus pandemic. "We see today's decision to lower the dividend policy as a prudent one which would help to mitigate the risk of an equity raise scenario; whilst noting that in isolation it will not determine whether additional equity is required," analysts at RBC Capital Markets said in a note. Under special circumstances, directors may consider payment of ordinary dividends above or below the given range, AIA added.<br/>
Boeing delivered 50 jets in May, 13 fewer than European rival Airbus, but a 43% improvement on the same month last year. Deliveries of the cash-generating Boeing 737 MAX increased to 35 jets in May, Boeing said Tuesday. The company handed over only 17 MAXs to customers the prior month, when Boeing found a bracket installation defect that forced it to fix aircraft before delivery. Boeing also delivered eight widebody 787 Dreamliners, three 767 freighters, three 777 freighters and a 737 that will be modified into a P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft for South Korea. Boeing's monthly orders and deliveries snapshot comes a week before aerospace executives gather for the Paris Air Show, where both Boeing and Airbus are expected to cement new deals. At the same time, both airplane makers are struggling with supply chain challenges that threaten to curb deliveries - a closely watched metric for Wall Street analysts, as Boeing and Airbus receive the bulk of payment for aircraft after handing over jets to customers. Boeing has started to deliver reworked 737s, CFO Brian West said in late May, adding the company predicted MAX deliveries would increase from about 30 per month to about 40 per month in the second half of the year.<br/>
Airbus will expand its lead in narrow-body jet manufacturing, the biggest segment of the commercial aircraft market, over the next two decades while US rival Boeing maintains its dominance in widebody sales, according to a new forecast. The global fleet will almost double to 46,880 passenger aircraft by 2042, jet lessor Avolon Holdings Ltd. said Tuesday in its World Fleet Forecast. Narrowbodies, the biggest segment of the commercial jetliner market, will pace the market with a 3.8% annual growth rate. Airbus makes the top-selling A320neo family of single-aisle jets, which compete with Boeing’s 737 Max. The Toulouse, France-based planemaker is forecast to increase its share of the in-service narrow-body fleet to 58% over the two-decade span, from a current 53%, Avolon said. Boeing, maker of the 777 and 787 Dreamliner widebodies, will hold onto its current 59% share of twin-aisle jets in service through 2042, the report said. Dublin-based Avolon is one of the world’s largest jet-leasing firms. It said the post-pandemic rebound in travel is fueling demand and driving up aircraft valuations as plane manufacturers scramble to ramp up production. New aircraft deliveries through to 2042 will require $4t in capital, the report said. <br/>
Global aviation needs $4t over the next 20 years to fund new commercial deliveries and transform the world's fleet to reduce emissions, leasing firm Avolon said on Tuesday. Airlines and leasing companies will take delivery of 44,300 commercial passenger aircraft by 2042, of which approximately half will be for replacement and half for growth, the world's third-largest aircraft lessor said. The world's commercial passenger aircraft fleet is set to nearly double to 46,880 aircraft by 2042, the Dublin-based firm predicted. Its new report comes ahead of the June 19-25 Paris Airshow where aerospace companies will highlight plans to reach an industry-wide target of net zero emissions by 2050, while wrestling with short-term supply chain problems. To reach the net zero goal, the industry needs to decouple its environmental impact from rising travel demand, which is expected to grow at 3.5% compared with GDP growth of 2.5%, Avolon said. Environmental critics say such rapid growth of commercial aviation is at odds with its objectives to curb emissions. Its new report comes ahead of the June 19-25 Paris Airshow where aerospace companies will highlight plans to reach an industry-wide target of net zero emissions by 2050, while wrestling with short-term supply chain problems. To reach the net zero goal, the industry needs to decouple its environmental impact from rising travel demand, which is expected to grow at 3.5% compared with GDP growth of 2.5%, Avolon said. Environmental critics say such rapid growth of commercial aviation is at odds with its objectives to curb emissions.<br/>
Travellers face higher fares in coming years as green taxes and aircraft shortages increase the cost of flying, an Irish aviation group said on Tuesday. Aircraft lessor Avolon predicts that the number of passenger planes in the world will almost double to 46,880 as demand for travel continues to increase. Passenger demand will rise by around 3.5% annually, says the company’s World Fleet Forecast, published on Tuesday. Avolon predicts, however, that environmental taxes and a shortage of aircraft will boost air fares so expansion will lag the 5 per cent to 6 per cent rates of the last two decades. The report blames the slow recovery in aircraft production for the shortage. The lessor also notes that there will be less scope to deregulate markets, which helped drive growth over the last 20 years.<br/>
Hong Kong-based Frontier Services Group Tuesday denied allegations it provided training to Chinese military pilots using Western and NATO personnel, adding it was unaware of any reason for its inclusion in an export control list. The security and aviation company, previously run by Blackwater founder Erik Prince, was added to an export control list by the Bureau of Industry and Security of the U.S. Department of Commerce. "We have never been contacted by the Bureau," Frontier said. "We would like to reiterate that since Mr. Prince's resignation, he has not been involved in any of the Group's business activities, and there is no ongoing relationship between Mr. Prince and the Group," it said. Frontier also clarified that Prince did not own more than a 5% stake in the company. The Biden administration on Monday added 43 entities, 31 of which were Chinese, to an export control list, restricting them from receiving U.S. exports for activities deemed contrary to U.S. interests.<br/>