United Airlines CE Scott Kirby has blamed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) after severe storms led to thousands of canceled flights in recent days. "I'm ... frustrated that the FAA frankly failed us this weekend," he said in a memo to the company's employees on Monday. "We estimate that over 150,000 customers on United alone were impacted this weekend because of FAA staffing issues and their ability to manage traffic," Kirby said in a memo reviewed by Reuters. Thunderstorms and failing equipment at an FAA facility created significant delays for air travelers across the US East Coast on Sunday evening as Washington and New York were forced to briefly halt most incoming flights. Kirby said that the FAA reduced arrival rates by 40% and departure rates by 75% on Saturday. That, he said, led to massive delays, cancellations and "put everyone behind the eight ball when weather actually did hit on Sunday and was further compounded by FAA staffing shortages Sunday evening." An FAA spokesperson said, "We will always collaborate with anyone seriously willing to join us to solve a problem." Last weekend, about 26,000 flights by all airlines were delayed and over 4,000 canceled between Saturday and Monday after thunderstorms ripped through parts of the United States, according to data from flight monitoring service FlightAware.<br/>
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Korean airlines are poised to suspend some of their air routes between Korea and China due to a drop in demand over China's travel visa restriction on tour groups to Korea. According to the aviation industry, Tuesday, Korean Air, the country's largest full-service carrier, will suspend its major Korea-China route between Gimpo and Beijing from Aug. 1 to Oct. 28. The route between Incheon and Xiamen will also be halted from Aug. 9 to Oct. 28. Asiana Airlines, Korea's second-largest airline, also announced it would stop serving the Gimpo-Beijing and Incheon-Shenzhen routes in July, after having already suspended its Incheon-Xi'an route last Tuesday. The airlines' measures came as the number of travelers between the two countries remained lower than expected due to China's ban on tour group visas, according to airlines officials. Aviation statistics from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's portal show 120.63m travelers flew between the two countries between January and May this year. The figure is only 16.7% of the 721.31m for the same period in 2019 before the pandemic, and also 17.3% of the 697.25m Korea-Japan travelers in the same period this year. In March, Chinese Ambassador to Korea Xing Haiming attended a ceremony marking the resumption of flights between Gimpo and China at Gimpo International Airport and referred to the high travel demand from the two countries' tourists and businesspeople. The resumption of flights between Gimpo and China, 56 flights per week, will "create a new dynamic in human resource exchanges and economic cooperation between the two countries," he said. China lifted its ban on tour group visas to 60 countries, including Thailand, Indonesia, Nepal and Vietnam. However, Korea and other US ally nations including Japan, Australia, Germany, Canada, Australia and New Zealand still face travel restrictions on tour groups. In response, China's state-controlled media Global Times reported negatively on the air travel suspension, Sunday.<br/>
Singapore Airlines (SIA) CE Goh Choon Phong’s remuneration rose 86% to S$6.7m for the financial year (FY) ended March 31, 2023. Goh’s compensation in the previous corresponding year was $3.6m, according to the company’s annual report. For the FY, the aggregate total remuneration paid to SIA’s key management personnel, excluding Goh, amounted to $8.8m. Chairman Peter Seah was paid around $597,000 in fees and benefits for the FY. Following record earnings for the recent FY, SIA rewarded eligible employees with a profit-sharing bonus of 6.65 months, and a maximum total of 1.5 months of ex-gratia bonus in recognition of their hard work and sacrifices during the pandemic. Strong demand and a continued recovery in the global aviation industry pushed SIA’s net profit to a record $2.2b, versus a net loss of $962m in the previous FY. The SIA Group, which includes its budget airline Scoot, operates a total of 188 aircraft connecting Singapore to 109 destinations. It carried some 26.5m passengers during the FY just ended. SIA said recently that its staff profit-sharing compensation is based on a long-standing formula agreed with staff unions. It will also award an additional half month of ex-gratia bonus for each of the last three financial years, or a maximum total of 1.5 months, to eligible employees. “SIA senior management will not receive this additional ex-gratia bonus,” the spokesperson added. The group now has some 24,000 employees on its payroll, up 12.3% year on year. The board also rewarded shareholders with a proposed final dividend of 28 cents per share. Including the interim dividend of 10 cents per share, the total dividend payout for the fiscal year stands at 38 cents per share. <br/>
A man was arrested for allegedly urinating and defecating on the floor of a Delhi-bound aircraft. The incident took place on Saturday on Air India's flight AIC 866 that had taken off from Mumbai, according to the captain's complaint. The incident is the latest among many others reported in the past few months of passengers on flights urinating on board or on their co-flyers after getting intoxicated. The suspect, identified as 40-year-old Ram Singh, reportedly spat, urinated and defecated in row nine of the aircraft. Following the misconduct, the cabin crew issued a verbal warning while he was secluded from surrounding passengers. The pilot-in-command was also intimated of the situation and a request for security assistance upon arrival was sent to the company. "The situation agitated a number of passengers on board the aircraft," the complaint read. Upon arrival in Delhi, a senior security person escorted the passenger to the police station, where a case was registered under obscenity and misconduct in public by a drunken person. The suspect was arrested following an investigation, deputy commissioner of police Devesh Kumar Mahla said. "He had not spit on or urinated on any passenger. He had committed misconduct at some other place in the flight," the officer was quoted by the Times of India as saying. <br/>
Air New Zealand is anticipating over half a million passengers will fly with them domestically on 6500 flights during the upcoming school holidays, and is selling tens of thousands more airfares than were offered last year. Queenstown is the most popular destination, the airline said, with nearly 70,000 seats available in and out of the tourist hotspot from Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. The winter school break takes place from July 1 through to July 16 and includes the Matariki public holiday on July 14. Air NZ will offer 580,000 seats on flights across its domestic network during the period, which it said is 45,000 more than in 2022. Of course, this many people travelling at the same time will mean extra busy airports and extra pressure on staff. "Our teams are working hard to prepare for the holiday demand, including increasing staff numbers where needed and enabling more customers to self-serve during their travel experience," said Air NZ chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty. "We've seen huge demand for travel across Aotearoa New Zealand over the school holiday period… our goal is to provide customers with the smoothest travel experience possible." On AM, Geraghty offered some advice for travellers to help ensure a smooth journey during the busy time. "I would say get there a little earlier and give yourself plenty of time," she told host Ryan Bridge.<br/>