general

Building on strong bookings this summer, American Airlines said Thursday it will add three new European destinations next summer and revive another international route that it last flew in 2019. The announcement comes one day after Delta Air Lines said it will expand service to China later this year. The news from two of the biggest US carriers underscores the airline industry’s confidence that its strong recovery from the pandemic will continue and that planes will remain packed. American said that next summer it will add flights to Copenhagen, Naples and Nice, France — all new destinations for the airline — from Philadelphia. It plans to resume flights between Chicago and Venice that were dropped four years ago. The Fort Worth-based airline said it will also extend seasonal summer service on some transatlantic routes longer than in previous summers. Delta is doing something similar this year. Atlanta-based Delta announced on Wednesday that it expand China service with 10 flights per week to Shanghai from Seattle and Detroit. International travel to and from China has been slower to recover than just about any other region due to COVID-19 restrictions.<br/>

The Supreme Court of Canada agreed on Thursday to hear an appeal from a group of airlines looking to quash rules that boost compensation to passengers for delayed flights or damaged luggage. Air Canada, Porter Airlines and 16 other appellants argue that Canada's four-year-old passenger rights charter violates global standards and should be rendered invalid for international flights. The legal action that started in 2019 states that by imposing heftier compensation requirements for flight cancellations or lost baggage, the regulations exceed the Canadian Transportation Agency’s authority and contravene internationally agreed upon rules known as the Montreal Convention. In December, the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed the airlines' case, with the exception of one regulation that applies to the temporary loss of baggage. The Canadian Transportation Agency and attorney general argue there is no conflict between passenger protections and the Montreal Convention, a multilateral treaty. Under the federal rules, passengers must be compensated with up to $2,400 if they were denied boarding because a trip was overbooked — so-called flight bumping. Delays and other payments for cancelled flights warrant compensation of up to $1,000. Travelers can receive up to about $2,350 for lost or damage baggage, though the exact number fluctuates based on exchange rates. Air passenger rights advocate Gabor Lukacs, who was an intervener in the case at the Federal Court of Appeal, said the government could undercut the airlines' case by passing legislation that states the regulations are applicable and payable, regardless of the provisions of the Montreal Convention. <br/>

A small private jet crashed into a motorbike and a car while attempting to land at an airport in the outskirts of Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, leaving at least 10 people dead, officials said on Thursday. A Beechcraft Model 390 (Premier 1) aircraft, a light private business jet, was carrying six passengers and two crew when it crashed near Elmina township at 2.08 p.m. (0608 GMT), just before it was due to land, Selangor police chief Hussein Omar Khan told reporters. The aircraft lost contact with the air traffic control tower and crashed into a motorbike and a car on the highway, he said. "There was no emergency call, the aircraft had been given clearance to land," Hussein Omar said. A search and rescue mission is underway. The country's civil aviation authority (CAAM) said the flight had departed from the holiday island of Langkawi and was en route to Selangor's Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport near capital city Kuala Lumpur. CAAM CE Norazman Mahmud said the aircraft made first contact with Subang Air Traffic Control Tower at 2.47 p.m. and landing clearance was given at 2.48 p.m. "At 2.51 p.m., the Subang Air Traffic Control Tower observed smoke originating from the crash site but no mayday call was made by the aircraft," he said. The CAAM said the flight was operated by Jet Valet Sdn Bhd, a Malaysian private jet services company.<br/>

Peak summer in China — the first in four years without harsh Covid restrictions. Tickets for attractions like the Forbidden City in Beijing are selling out in minutes. Streets are crowded and subway stations are even more packed than usual. Foreign tourists, however, are few. For many, China is a step too far. The pandemic is gone, but the memory of how it was handled remains — images of deserted streets and barricaded buildings are hardly fodder for holiday brochures and tourism campaigns. Visa hassles, a lack of flights, idiosyncratic payment systems and the language barrier also limit China’s appeal to tourists from places such as North America and Europe. “If you go to the Forbidden City these days and find 20 or 30 foreigners, that would be a lot,” said Jay Li, a tour guide in China’s capital. “Most people come to China for business reasons and maybe tour around a bit. It’s certainly not comparable with the situation before Covid — foreign tourists are probably only about 20% of that level.” Even a plan to increase international flights won’t result in a sudden rush of tourists, or bring numbers anywhere near to pre-pandemic levels when China received about 136m visitors a year on average. China and the US have agreed to raise the number of round-trip flights to 24 a week by the end of October. Previously, the number of weekly flights between the two was 340. China also just lifted a ban on group tours to overseas destinations including the US, Australia, the UK, South Korea and Japan, easing the door open for outbound travel. The effect of that is likely to be muted too, given a general hesitancy to travel abroad after the pandemic scarred the nation’s economy and psyche. The main factor putting Chinese travelers off overseas trips is concern about safety in other countries, where they are fearful of getting an unfriendly reception, according to an April survey by Dragon Tail International. Also cited in polls by the company: health concerns, difficulty in getting documents such as visas, and the high cost. In the April survey, 58% of respondents said they either definitely wouldn’t leave mainland China in 2023 or were unsure about going abroad.<br/>

Economic and environmental issues regarding a proposed airport in Saemangeum are emerging once again as the tendering process to construct it came to an end, Thursday. The Seoul Regional Office of Aviation wrapped up its four-day tender bidding process after receiving tender bid applications from building developers who are interested in the Saemangeum International Airport proposed project, which the government hopes will be built by 2029 in North Jeolla Province. The Saemangeum airport project is part of the government's efforts to seek balanced regional growth across the country, a policy adopted in 2019. The government plans to spend a total of 807b won ($600m) on the airport project, with 510b won assigned for its construction. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the local government aims to develop the renowned tidal flat of Saemangeum into a global business and logistics hub with the construction of the international airport. Three companies qualified via the tender process to construct works relating to the proposed international airport on the 1.89m-square-meter site, which will feature a single 2,500-m-long runway. The ministry will evaluate the three companies' applications and announce the results a few months from now. However, activists denounced the ministry for proceeding with the construction bid phase while it remains still uncertain whether the airport will actually be built. The Ministry of Environment's environmental impact evaluation is still underway and a final decision on whether to proceed with the airport's construction can only be reached with its consent.<br/>

While noting a strong traffic and profitability recovery among airlines, lessor BOC Aviation expects supply chain challenges to continue slowing aircraft deliveries. In an investor call for it’s the first half of its 2023 financial year, BOC Aviation chief financial officer Steven Townsend said that conditions continue to improve among the lessor’s airline customers, driven by a growing passenger business and rising ticket prices. Moreover, headwinds have abated somewhat in the first six months of 2023, namely the cost of fuel. High interest rates, however, increase costs for airlines and BOC Aviation itself, although these are offset by improving revenues. “While rebounding more slowly than originally anticipated, growth in China’s outbound passenger flows should sustain the Asia-Pacific market’s impetus over the balance of this year and into 2024,” says Townsend. “The number of domestic flights now exceed 2019 levels, while international and regional flight numbers were at 53% of those as at end-July – up from less than 10% at the beginning of the year. We expect this renewed activity to be reflected in Chinese airlines’ aircraft orders and their demand for leased aircraft, especially following the expansion of permissible countries to which Chinese can travel from 60 to 138, announced last week.” BOC Aviation COO Tom Chandler warns that delivery days from aircraft manufacturers continue. BOC Aviation saw deliveries of twelve aircraft originally scheduled for the first half of 2023 pushed back to the second half. Of aircraft delivered in the first half a “significant number” only arrived in June. “We believe that supply chain and labour issues will continue to impact our OEM partners at least for the remainder of this year and may take another one or two years to recover but once the delays have stabilised then the net effect will abate,” says Chandler. As for BOC Aviation’s first half results, the lessor swung to a net profit of $262m compared with a net loss of $313m a year earlier. Revenues for the first six months were $1.1b, down 8.3% from a year earlier. BOC Aviation owns 404 aircraft, manages 35, and has 213 on order.<br/>