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Global air passenger traffic surpassed 6.6b in 2022 with the return of international traffic, according a report from Airports Council International (ACI) World. While US airports took four of the five the top rankings, Dubai International Airport (DXB) came in at fifth. The ranking covers both domestic and international passengers. <br/> Atlanta in the US took the top spot with 93.699m passengers, while Dallas/Fort Worth (US) came in second with 73.362m. Denver (US) was third with 69.286m, Chicago (US) fourth with 68.34m and Dubai (UAE) was at fifth position with 66.069m passengers, the report said. An earlier report said DXB maintained its top position as the busiest airport for international passenger traffic for the ninth consecutive year in 2022. ACI World's latest World Airport Traffic Dataset reveals the top 20 busiest airports in the world and the airport passenger, cargo, and aircraft movement rankings for over 2,600 airports across more than 180 countries and territories.<br/>

The IATA has slammed North American aviation regulators for dragging their feet on increasing staffing at air traffic control (ATC) centres. IATA DG Willie Walsh said on 19 July that the USA’s FAA and Canada’s NAV Canada, the Canadian air navigation services provider, are “letting down airlines and the travelling public” as air traffic peaks to the highest levels since the global Covid-19 crisis. “Over the past 12-18 months, airlines have responded to the very strong post-pandemic travel demand by adding tens of thousands of employees to their workforces,” Walsh says. “US passenger airline employment is now at its highest level in over two decades. In contrast, ATC staff shortages in North America continue to produce unacceptable delays and disruptions for the travelling public on both sides of the border.” A recent report from the US Department of Transportation’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) concluded that the FAA’s current air traffic controller shortage is a risk that must be addressed promptly. The report, published on 21 June, said the Covid-19 pandemic impacted the regulator’s ability to maintain ”the required number of controllers” at numerous US facilities. As a result, airlines and passengers have experienced thousands of delays and cancellations. “The recent report… makes clear that the FAA has allowed the controller workforce to shrink to the point where it is challenged to maintain continuity of operations at the country’s most-critical air traffic control facilities,” Walsh says. The report notes that in March 2022, 20 of 26 critical ATC facilities – more than two-thirds – were staffed below an 85% staffing threshold agreed to by the FAA and air traffic controller union NATCA in 2014. That means the majority of control centres across the nation – including busy facilities overseeing Miami, Dallas-Fort Worth, Atlanta and Chicago – are operating with far fewer controllers than nominally necessary. “Poor ATC performance comes on top of the FAA and DOT requiring airlines to invest over $630m to upgrade or replace fully certified onboard avionics equipment on thousands of aircraft to mitigate the risks of 5G roll-out near airports,” Walsh adds. “This is unique to the US. The 5G roll-out in other parts of the world has not required anything like this of airlines.” “This double whammy of poor planning is exceptionally disappointing,” he adds.<br/>

Senator Ed Markey on Wednesday said he is proposing additional taxes on private jet trips to address the climate impacts of wealthy travel. Markey, a Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee that oversees aviation, said the bill would require wealthy travelers "to pay their fair share for the environmental and infrastructure costs of their use of private jets." The bill would increase the surcharge for non-commercial aviation, with the proceeds going to an environmental trust fund. Markey cited a study from the progressive Institute for Policy Studies that found private jets have emissions at least 10 times higher than commercial airline planes per passenger. "Billionaires and the ultra-wealthy are getting a bargain, paying less in taxes each year to fly private and contribute more pollution than millions of drivers combined on the roads below," Markey said in a statement. The study found the size of the global private jet fleet has increased 133% in the last two decades from 9,895 in 2000 to 23,133 in mid-2022.<br/>

The US Congress’ tussle over the 1,500h pilot-training rule took an interesting turn on 18 July when a senator proposed requiring that new airline pilots have hundreds of hours in specific aircraft classes and in specific flying conditions. The bill, introduced by Tammy Duckworth, Democratic chair of the Senate aviation subcommittee, comes amid a seemingly escalating battle in Washington over changes floated to US pilot-training requirements. Changes have been proposed as part of Congress’ next Federal Aviation Administration funding bill, which is now working through the US House and Senate. Duckworth’s proposal takes aim at the Regional Airline Association (RAA), which is among parties lobbying for changes to the 1,500h rule. The measure, which has been in effect for over a decaede, requires most new airline pilots to have 1,500h of flight time before applying to work on an airline flight deck. It has staunch support from democrats and pilot unions. Duckworth’s bill would stipulate that the 1,500h include 900h of cross-country flying, 200h of night flying and 75h of instrument flying. It would also require new pilots have 375h of “flight time in the class of airplane for the rating sought”. “Certain organisations, such as the Regional Airline Association, have expressed concern over the quality of flight hours that aspiring pilots accrue,” Duckworth’s office says. The bill “would require FAA to enhance existing regulations governing aeronautical experience standards for airline transport pilot certification”. Indeed, the RAA and other critics, including former FAA administrators, say the 1,500h rule forces pilots to log far too much time in small planes – flying that leaves them ill-prepared to operate large passenger jets. They say the rule has significantly worsened a pilot shortage to the benefit of existing pilots. The RAA thinks solutions include allowing pilots to count structured training at airlines, and more simulator time, toward their 1,500h. How Duckworth’s proposal might work in practice remains unclear. Some sources think it could impose more burdens on new pilots, such as by requiring they log more hours flying aircraft in bad weather. The proposed 375h in “the class of airplane for the rating sought” has raised eyebrows. Details are unclear but that provision would seemingly require new pilots have more time in more-expensive aircraft, like multi-engined types.<br/>

Europe’s cheap flights and pricey train tickets promote dirty forms of transport, campaigners say, with “outrageous” tax breaks encouraging people to heat the planet as they head on holiday. Train tickets are double the price of flights for the same routes, on average, according to an analysis from Greenpeace published on Thursday. The campaigners compared tickets on 112 routes on nine different days. To get from London to Barcelona, they found, the cost of taking the train is up to 30 times the cost of jumping on a plane. Holiday destinations across Europe this week have been baking in deadly heat made hotter by greenhouse gases released from burning fossil fuels. “E10 airline tickets are only possible because others, like workers and taxpayers, pay the true cost,” said Lorelei Limousin, a climate campaigner at Greenpeace. “For the planet and people’s sake, politicians must act to turn this situation around and make taking the train the more affordable option.” Flying is one of the most polluting activities a person can do and also one of the hardest to clean up. Unlike eating a burger or driving a car – which have cleaner alternatives such as plant-based meats and electric vehicles – there is no way to fly without changing the climate. Experts have criticised schemes claiming to offset emissions from flying as flawed. The Greenpeace campaigners found train travel was more expensive than flying, on average, on 79 of the 121 routes they studied. On many routes, there were individual days where the train was cheaper than the plane, even if the average cost was greater. Trains beat planes on eight or nine of the nine days tested on 23 of the routes. Half of these were deemed “great” for having regular and reliable connections, a good speed and tickets below E150.<br/>

Operations at Catania airport are likely to be constrained for several days after a fire at Terminal A forced a reduction in services. Terminal A is likely to remain closed for another five days, following the fire on the evening of 16 July, according to Italian civil aviation regulator ENAC. The number of departing flights has been restricted to two per hour – although this is being gradually increased to four. ENAC and airport operator SAC state that a temporary structure is being built at Terminal C to increase passenger capacity and enable a further hike in the hourly departure rate to seven. NOTAM information for Catania says that traffic is subject to “flow restrictions” owing to the “unavailability” of the passenger terminal, with a four-per-hour limit on scheduled flight arrivals. Shuttle services have been implemented to ferry passengers to alternative Sicilian airports including Palermo, Trapani and Comiso. The increased traffic at Palermo has concerned the airport’s management company, GESAP, which points out that there is a risk to service quality – particularly because Palermo was already having to cope with strong demand. “This emergency requires extra work and responsibility from everyone,” says GESAP managing director Vito Riggio.<br/>

London Heathrow is to establish a new back-up control tower which will become operational in 2025, and replace an older facility. The airport already has an off-site virtual tower back-up – implemented in 2009 – which serves to recreate the hub’s main control tower, and provide operations up to 70% of full capacity, should it ever be needed. But the new virtual contingency facility, while initially offering the same service level, will subsequently be enhanced with the aim of enabling it to offer a 100% operation. UK air navigation service NATS says the centre will be based at the airport and use live high-definition cameras to replicate the view from the tower. NATS has been contracted to deploy the installation and undertake the transition. Work has started on the new centre, it says, which will provide “added resilience” to Heathrow’s operation and “protection” of the country’s aviation infrastructure. NATS says it has never been necessary to switch to the back-up tower, but exercises to simulate a main-tower shutdown and transfer are regularly conducted. “Investing in a state of the art virtual contingency facility with NATS provides us with confidence that passenger journeys will still go ahead even if our business as usual operating plans are disrupted,” says Heathrow head of airport operations Kelly Stone. NATS general manager for Heathrow air traffic services Pete Glass adds that the planned enhancement of the facility – which will be carried out in a second development phase – will involve deploying “some of the latest technologies” to improve its capabilities.<br/>

The number of flights in Egypt increased by about 29% during the first six months of 2023, totaling 191,000 flights, compared to 148,000 flights in the same period of 2022, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Wednesday. The ministry added that the number of passengers increased by about 43.5% to a total of 23.2m passengers during the first half of 2023, compared to 16.15m passengers in the same period of 2022. Minister of Civil Aviation, Mohamed Abbas Helmy, stated that several new routes are expected to be opened for EgyptAir in the coming period. Helmy explained that the first flights of the company to the Indian capital, "New Delhi," are scheduled to start in August, with four flights per week. In September, EgyptAir will begin operating two weekly flights to both the city of "Misrata" in Libya and "Tokyo" in Japan, in addition to the recently launched routes such as "Dhaka" in Bangladesh and "Manchester" in the United Kingdom.<br/>

A Philippine inter-agency panel chaired by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Wednesday rejected a 267b pesos ($4.9b) unsolicited offer from a local consortium to operate and upgrade the country’s ageing main international airport. The panel said it preferred to invite bids for the airport modernisation project, which based on the government’s estimate would cost 170.6b pesos, and the consortium of six of the Philippines’ largest conglomerates was welcome to join. Ranked among the world’s worst international gateways, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport badly needs an upgrade to end chronic flight delays, address congestion, and improve facilities. Previous attempts to modernise the airport have failed due to disputes between authorities and contractors. The government-approved project aims to boost annual airport capacity to at least 62m passengers from the current 35m, and increase air traffic movement to 48 aircraft per hour from 40, almost similar to the consortium’s goal of upgrading the facility. There was no immediate comment from the consortium when asked if it was open to participating in the bidding, but said in a statement the airport’s modernisation required a long-term and comprehensive solution. In January and May, power outages at the airport disrupted over 300 flights affecting more than 65,000 passengers.<br/>