A passenger jet had to abort its takeoff at Boston’s Logan International Airport when another aircraft on the ground got too close to the runway, the FAA said. Monday’s incident was the latest in a series of dangerous episodes involving planes at Logan. In February, a charter jet took off without permission and crossed an intersecting runway in front of a plane preparing to land. In March, two aircraft made contact near the gate area. Nobody was hurt in this week’s aborted takeoff, which frightened passengers and prompted an investigation by the FAA. An air traffic controller noticed the Spirit Airlines flight coming close to what’s known as the runway hold line and cancelled the American Airlines takeoff clearance “out of an abundance of caution,” the FAA said in a statement.<br/>Cosmo Rowell, a passenger on the American flight to Chicago, said the plane was already roaring down the runway, pressing him back into his seat, when he felt a jolt and a sudden deceleration, creating a stir in the cabin. “You definitely felt anxiety in the air,” said Rowell, a nurse from Salem, Massachusetts. “A couple of kids started crying.” Rowell travels regularly for work and although he has experienced an aborted landing before, he’s never been involved in an aborted takeoff. “This is something I hope never to experience again,” he said. The American flight returned to the gate and took off about 90 minutes later, the airline said. The Spirit flight was arriving from Atlanta. While rare, Monday’s episode in Boston is still a cause for concern, said Hassan Shahidi, the president and CEO of the Flight Safety Foundation, a nonprofit that provides safety guidance to the international aviation industry. “All these incidents really need to be understood to make sure they don’t happen again,” he said.<br/>
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The US Air Force is investing $235m in aerospace startup JetZero to build an unconventional plane that burns far less fuel than the aircraft that have long dominated the skies. The award, made by the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit, will be paid out over four years. JetZero plans to start flying a demonstrator model, a full-scale blended-wing body aircraft, by early 2027, US officials said Wednesday. JetZero was formed to solve one of the aviation industry’s biggest and most vexing problems: cutting its stubbornly high fossil fuel emissions while coping with rising demand. The company thinks by changing an aircraft design that’s been in place for about a century it can create planes that use half as much fuel. Traditional airplanes feature a long tube to house passengers and cargo, requiring a large tail to provide stability. The JetZero model will feature a shorter, wider fuselage that’s melded into the wings — with no tail. The new fuselage design is inherently more stable than those of the conventional jetliners produced by Boeing Co and Airbus SE, JetZero claims. With less weight and drag, JetZero’s aircraft will be large enough to carry upwards of 200 passengers, similar to the capacity of a small widebody jet. Its model will be powered with smaller Pratt & Whitney engines designed for narrowbody aircraft, according to its website. Using technology that company officials have refined with NASA over 30 years, Los Angeles-based JetZero aims to introduce a commercial version of its aircraft by early next decade, according to its website.<br/>
A passenger jet had to abort its takeoff at Boston’s Logan International Airport when another aircraft on the ground got too close to the runway, the FAA said. Monday’s incident was the latest in a series of dangerous episodes involving planes at Logan. In February, a charter jet took off without permission and crossed an intersecting runway in front of a plane preparing to land. In March, two aircraft made contact near the gate area. Nobody was hurt in this week’s aborted takeoff, which frightened passengers and prompted an investigation by the FAA. An air traffic controller noticed the Spirit Airlines flight coming close to what’s known as the runway hold line and cancelled the American Airlines takeoff clearance “out of an abundance of caution,” the FAA said in a statement.<br/>Cosmo Rowell, a passenger on the American flight to Chicago, said the plane was already roaring down the runway, pressing him back into his seat, when he felt a jolt and a sudden deceleration, creating a stir in the cabin. “You definitely felt anxiety in the air,” said Rowell, a nurse from Salem, Massachusetts. “A couple of kids started crying.” Rowell travels regularly for work and although he has experienced an aborted landing before, he’s never been involved in an aborted takeoff. “This is something I hope never to experience again,” he said. The American flight returned to the gate and took off about 90 minutes later, the airline said. The Spirit flight was arriving from Atlanta. While rare, Monday’s episode in Boston is still a cause for concern, said Hassan Shahidi, the president and CEO of the Flight Safety Foundation, a nonprofit that provides safety guidance to the international aviation industry. “All these incidents really need to be understood to make sure they don’t happen again,” he said.<br/>
Two years after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, the United States has begun easing rules that could allow commercial airlines to fly over the country in routes that cut time and fuel consumption for East-West travel. But those shortened flight routes for India and Southeast Asia raise questions never answered during the Taliban’s previous rule from the 1990s to the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. How, if at all, do you deal with the Taliban as they block women from schools and jobs, and engage in behavior described by United Nations experts as potentially akin to “gender apartheid?” Can airlines manage the risk of flying in uncontrolled airspace over a country where an estimated 4,500 shoulder-launched anti-aircraft weapons still lurk? And what happens if you have an emergency and need to land suddenly? Who wants to fly over such a country? The OPSGroup, an organization for the aviation industry, recently offered a simple answer: “No one!” “There’s no ATC service across the entire country, there’s a seemingly endless list of surface-to-air weaponry they might start shooting at you if you fly too low, and if you have to divert then good luck with the Taliban,” the group wrote in an advisory, using an acronym for air traffic control. Still, the possibility of overflights resuming would have a major impact on carriers. Though landlocked, Afghanistan’s position in central Asia means it sits along the most direct routes for those traveling from India to Europe and America. After the Taliban takeover of Kabul on Aug. 15, 2021, civil aviation simply stopped, as ground controllers no longer managed the airspace. Story has more.<br/>
Loss-making private jet firm Wheels Up Experience nabbed a key $500m lifeline but still faces turnaround challenges, as demand for private travel softens in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and rival operators lure some of their customers. Wheels Up avoided a possible bankruptcy when it secured backing from investors on Tuesday, including US carrier Delta. Shares rose 11% on Wednesday in midday trading. But the company still has work to do to become profitable in a more difficult environment, said business aviation consultant Brian Foley. Two operators have closed down since May in the face of diminished traffic and higher labor costs could force some private-jet operators out of business. "There will be some more casualties," Foley said. Rivals, meanwhile, say they have been picking up some of the company's customers. "I don't wish for turmoil in the market at all, but I'm an opportunist," said Jim Segrave, CEO of private operator FlyExclusive, who said his company has attracted customers from Wheels Up, the third-largest private-flight operator last year. Wheels Up said it is pleased with the response from customers. "We are in the middle of year-long meaningful improvement in our operational performance and service levels," the company said.<br/>
On Wednesday, work began at the Saint-Hubert airport which will include a new terminal with nine boarding gates. The new terminal should be operational in 2025. With this project, which was announced last February, Montreal-Saint-Hubert Airport (YHU) aims to become a hub for Canadian commercial flights. The new terminal is being built in partnership with Porter Airlines, which could eventually serve all major Canadian cities from the airport, located in Longueuil on Montreal's South Shore. This is a private investment of over $200m by the airport, in partnership with Porter Aviation Holdings and Holiday Inn, with a hotel also planned for the site. General contractor PCL has been appointed to carry out the work. YHU points out that the company, which has an office in Montreal, has already completed more than 30 airport projects in North America. Although the new terminal is due to open in mid-2025, no timetable has yet been made public. The airport expects to make an announcement this autumn. The 21,000 square metre terminal will eventually have an annual capacity of four million passengers. When the project was announced in February, a number of conditions were laid down to protect the quality of life of local residents. There will be no night flights, and commercial flights will not be allowed with just any aircraft. A development table was set up with elected representatives and various stakeholders in the region. It now has four working groups, which will focus on mobility, sustainable development and the noise climate, innovation and tourism, according to the airport.<br/>
SAS has been cleared to proceed with selling a batch of engineless Airbus A321s, for eventual part-out, to a US entity called Spectre Air Capital. SAS is undergoing a corporate restructuring – known as SAS Forward – through a US Chapter 11 bankruptcy process. Spectre had been one of two bidders for the airframes, court filings in July had disclosed, and its offer was the more favourable. A provisional agreement to sell the aircraft was reached in March this year. “One of the cornerstones of SAS Forward is a redesigned airline fleet, and this [sale] is one of many steps that [SAS is] taking toward that goal,” the filing states. It identifies the airframes as MSNs 1587, 1642, 1798 and 1817. All four were manufactured over the course of 2001-02 and they were all originally equipped with International Aero Engines V2500 powerplants. The court approved the transaction on 14 August. While the purchase price for the airframes remains confidential, the filing states that the transaction will “contribute substantially” to SAS’s liquidity. Spectre Air Capital is based in Texas and specialises in leasing and trading mid-life passenger and freighter aircraft.<br/>
The head of the Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines (AAPA) observes that the region’s air traffic recovery is in full swing, only held back by China’s international capacity and supply chain issues. At a media roundtable in Singapore, AAPA director general Subhas Menon struck an upbeat tone about the region’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. He observes that China is fully open to international travel following a long closure during the pandemic. “If you look ahead, it’s all upside,” says Menon. “China has a lot of room to grow. India is also growing substantially. All the [Southeast Asian] markets are completely open and going great guns. Traffic is growing at a very rapid pace.” That said, air traffic has yet to attain 2019’s levels – something he expects in 2024. First of all, China has yet to fully recovery. Whereas before the pandemic it represented a quarter of the Asia-Pacific’s international traffic, now it represents just 8%. More positively, Menon observes that China’s domestic market has fully recovered. “But with China’s reopening I think we can see the light at the end of the tunnel,” he says. Still, supply chain issues continue to be a major headache for Asia-Pacific airlines. This is slowing down airlines’ efforts to upgrade their fleets with new aircraft. Servicing aircraft has also been slowed down. “It’s all bogged down,” says Menon. “Things are not happening on schedule because of supply chain issues.” Another vexing issue in the region is a shortage of labour, particularly since many staff left the air travel sector during the pandemic. “Airlines are really struggling to get people,” says Menon. Nonetheless, he feels these are temporary issues that “will be resolved sooner or later.” Longer term, Menon stressed the importance of reducing emissions, and the key role governments and regulators will need to play to ensure a suitable supply of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). He says that sustainability generally and SAF specifically will be key topics at November’s AAPA annual general meeting in Singapore.<br/>
Korea Airports Corp. said Wednesday it is considering adding some 4,500 flights connecting the nation’s seven provincial airports to cities in China by the end of this year, to better respond to China’s travel rush in the coming months. The state-run airport operator held an emergency meeting earlier in the day to discuss measures regarding the Chinese government’s recent decision to lift a ban on group tours to Korea. "As China’s group travel to Korea resumes for the first time in six years, we will closely cooperate with local governments and the tourism industry so that many (Chinese travelers) can visit Korea using local airports," said Yoon Hyeong-jung, CEO of KAC, via a press release. According to the KAC, the number of Chinese travelers entering the country via local airports logged only 125,000 for the first half of 2023, recovering by only 18.8% compared to 2019 -- before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that drastically reduced travel demand. Following the recent lifting of a travel ban, the KAC said demand for travel to Korea is expected to soar later this year, especially around China’s National Day on Sept. 29. With an aim to attract some 720,000 Chinese travelers, the KAC said it plans to develop new flight routes between the two countries, hold duty-free merchandise discount promotions, establish an exclusive goods pickup zone for Chinese group travelers and develop low-cost tour packages. In addition, KAC said it plans to cooperate with local governments to operate tourism charter flights linked to local Korean cultural events, while putting efforts forward to develop corporate incentive travel programs that reward high-performing employees with trips, as well as medical tourism packages.<br/>
Boeing named Alvin Liu head of its China unit on Wednesday, picking a Chinese-born representative recently hired from the auto industry as the aircraft maker grapples with a drought in U.S. imports to the crucial aviation market. Both Boeing and Airbus now have top executives in China who were born in the country. China accounts for about a quarter of global aircraft imports and its dealings with Boeing have become mired in geopolitical and trade tensions with Washington. It was the first country to ground Boeing's 737 MAX following fatal accidents, and although existing planes have returned to service, China has been slow to resume imports, while broader plane imports and orders have become engulfed in political tensions. Liu is a native of Liaoning Province in the northeast part of China, Boeing said. The company did not disclose his age or nationality but said he had been leading its government operations team in China.<br/>
Malaysia's palm oil board and state oil firm Petronas (IPO-PETO.KL) have signed an agreement to study the use of used cooking oil and palm oil waste as sustainable aviation fuel. The two organisations signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Aug. 14 to explore the potential of palm-based products and wastes, such as used cooking oil and palm oil mill effluent, as the main raw materials for local bio-refineries to produce sustainable aviation fuel."The signing of the MoU is also in line with the National Energy Policy 2022-2040 to reduce carbon emissions and make the energy sector a catalyst for the nation's socioeconomic development," the Malaysian Palm Oil Board said in a statement on Wednesday.<br/>
A 55-year-old man was arrested last Saturday for misusing his boarding pass to enter the transit area of Changi Airport, said the police on Tuesday. The man had allegedly purchased an air ticket to obtain a boarding pass. He entered the transit area to send off his girlfriend, who was departing Singapore, according to investigations. As he had no intention of leaving the country, the man was arrested for violating the Infrastructure Protection Act 2017. The Act prohibits the misuse of boarding passes to enter protected places in the airport. Police investigations are ongoing. “The police would like to remind members of the public that the transit areas of Changi Airport are gazetted as protected places,” said the police.<br/>