general

As an increasing number of passengers are acting out on crowded aircraft this summer, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has an admonition for passengers. “If you’re onboard an airplane, do not get in the way of the flight crew,” he said Friday before boarding a flight at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. “We expect everybody to respect flight crews and their fellow passengers.” Incidents ticked up over the summer months, from 586 last summer to 747 this year, according to FAA records. Those numbers are still down from highs reached during the coronavirus pandemic. The FAA has been issuing fines and touting a zero-tolerance approach. Earlier this month, the agency said it had referred some of the most serious cases to the Justice Department to consider criminal prosecution. “No one should do anything that endangers the flight crew or fellow passengers on a plane, and doing so could lead to you being referred for criminal prosecution and facing tens of thousands of dollars in fines,” Buttigieg said. He made the comments as the TSA said the summer was the busiest at airports nationwide in the agency’s two-decade history. Buttigieg said airlines are doing a better job than last summer at getting passengers to their destinations.<br/>

A Rhode Island airport ended a brief lockdown Friday after police said the potential security threat that prompted it was unfounded. The Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport in Warwick posted online about the lockdown shortly before noon. It said police determined there was no credible security threat about 45 minutes later. “Travelers are asked to check with their airlines regarding potential delays,” it said. Warwick Police Sgt. Jason Brodeur had said the investigation began following a phone call about a potential individual at the airport armed with a rifle. Gov. Dan McKee, who had been brief about the lockdown, released a statement thanking all emergency personnel who responded quickly to the scene. The lockdown happened during one of the busiest travel days of the year as travelers began the long Labor Day holiday weekend.<br/>

The Dutch government will move ahead with plans to cap the number of flights at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport next year to reduce noise, it said on Friday, a decision that is fiercely opposed by flag carrier KLM and airline industry groups. "Aviation can bring the Netherlands a lot that's good, as long as we pay attention to the negative effects for people that live near the airport," said Transport Minister Mark Harbers in a statement announcing the cap, which will go into effect in 2024 pending approval from the European Commission. Flights will be capped at 452,500 per year, Harbers said, 9.5% below 2019 levels and lower than a previous proposal of 460,000. Airlines that use Schiphol including Air France-KLM (AIRF.PA) have sued to try to prevent the cap at one of Europe's busiest airports. They say it will harm business and violate previous agreements. KLM on Friday called the cap "incomprehensible" and said implementing it would damage the Netherlands. The decision is "arbitrary, ill-thought out and undercuts procedures normally used," said Ourania Georgoutsakou, managing director of industry group Airlines For Europe (A4E). The government's main reason for the cap is to address noise pollution, but it has also cited the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as recurring logistical problems at the airport. Environmental groups and Schiphol itself support the cuts. The IATA, which supports the airlines' case, on Thursday told the Dutch caretaker government not to proceed ahead of a national election in November. "In a few months’ time, this government will not be accountable for the severe consequences that may follow from the Schiphol decision, particularly with respect to relations with the Netherlands’ trading partners, and lost jobs and prosperity at home," IATA said in a statement.<br/>

When Donal Mullane flew from London to Italy over the long August bank holiday weekend it was meant to be a short city break in Florence. But on Monday, when he was due to return, the UK’s air traffic control system all but shut down. Like thousands of other passengers caught up in the resulting travel chaos after a technical failure grounded hundreds of flights, the 59-year-old had to wait days before getting home, eventually touching back down at Heathrow on Thursday afternoon. Mullane, who works in financial services in London, now has to go through the drawn-out process of claiming a refund from British Airways to cover the extra expenses incurred on accommodation and food. He said he was determined to ensure he is not left “out of pocket”. But what he won’t get back is the hours spent trying to rebook his flight via overworked call centres, nor is he entitled to compensation for lost earnings after his employer informed him his three-day absence from work would be treated as unpaid leave. “I have found the whole incident incredibly frustrating,” said Mullane. The outage at National Air Traffic Services (Nats) last Monday was the worst in more than a decade and led to the cancellation of more than 2,000 flights over the past five days, with many more delayed. While the exact cause is still being investigated — the suspected trigger is a flight plan message that the system did not recognise — airlines left dealing with the chaos are calling for a reform of compensation rules. It has also led to a wider debate about consumer protection for air passengers and whether the aviation regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority, should be given greater powers. Airlines have been left facing a bill as high as GBP100m, according to some estimates, because passengers are allowed to claim the costs of extra accommodation and living expenses incurred as a result of a flight being cancelled. In contrast Nats, which handles more than 2mn flights a year, said as it had an “obligation to ensure air traffic safety” it could by law “take appropriate measures to reduce traffic volumes when needed without incurring financial penalties.”<br/>

Rishi Sunak faces “electoral carnage” if the government rejects its climate advisers’ recommendations on halting airport expansion, a coalition of community groups have warned. The prospect of a renewed political battle around airport growth in various parts of England has been reignited amid concern from campaigners at suggestions the government could reject the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) advice that all such expansions must be halted. While such a move would lead to clashes in the courts, groups such as Communities Against Gatwick Noise and Emissions (CAGNE) warned the Tories would lose more support in “blue wall” constituencies than they stood to gain from any pivot away from green policies. Greenpeace also said it was confident that ignoring the CCC’s advice would make it easier to challenge airport expansion plans in the courts. The government is preparing to reject the CCC finding that there should be no further airport expansions in Britain until a “capacity management framework” for aviation was developed, the Sunday Telegraph claimed. The prime minister is facing pressure from emboldened backbenchers eager to press home the case for airport growth to boost the UK economy. A Department for Transport spokesperson said on Sunday: “Airport growth, and the aviation sector as a whole, has a key role to play in boosting our global connectivity and helping grow the economy. We remain supportive of airport expansion where it can be delivered in a sustainable way.” But while hostility to London’s ultra-low emission zone might have been key to the Tories winning the recent Uxbridge byelection, the party was warned that a temptation to sacrifice climate policies on other fronts would cause a backlash.<br/>

Chinese domestic traffic during the summer period grew above pre-pandemic levels, even as international recovery remains sluggish. According to data released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), Chinese airlines carried around 130m domestic passengers during the July-August period, a 7.4% increase compared to the same period in 2019. The regulator adds that there were over 1m flights mounted during the two-month period, similar to pre-pandemic levels. The CAAC notes that Chinese cities seeing the highest demand includes major metropolises like Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Beijing, Chengdu and Shanghai. Routes that see high demand include Shenzhen-Shanghai, Guangzhou-Hangzhou, Beijing-Shenzhen, it adds. However, CAAC data shows that the number of international flights remains well below pre-Covid-19 levels. During the July-August period, there were an average of around 1,100 international flights, which is only 44% of 2019 levels. The latest traffic data comes as China’s major operators narrow their operating losses in their half-year earnings. While domestic traffic has largely recovered close to pre-pandemic levels, international traffic has been slower to recover. China in late-2022 reopened its international borders, after it scrapped most of its ‘zero-Covid’ travel restrictions.<br/>

The Asian financial hub of Hong Kong and the Chinese province of Guangdong cancelled hundreds of flights and evacuated nearly 800,000 people Friday as the imminent arrival of Typhoon Saola forced closures of businesses, schools and financial markets. Packing winds of around 200 kph, the super typhoon could make landfall late on Friday or early on Saturday in Guangdong, and rate among the five strongest to hit the populous province since 1949, authorities have warned. Across Guangdong, 785,155 people had been evacuated from high-risk areas, while 13 cities delayed the start of the school term on Friday following the summer break. In Hong Kong, more than 300 people were stranded at the airport by the cancellation of about 460 flights as the city of 7.5m people raised its hurricane warning to the highest level. "It's very sad for me because I am not able to attend my daughter's oath-taking," said a tearful Ledenila Barizo, 54, who had been due to fly to the Philippines, as she paced in front of the airline desk. The weather will deteriorate rapidly as the typhoon makes landfall, Hong Kong weather officials said, with storm surges of about 3 metres (10 feet) higher than the normal tide and maximum water levels reaching a record. Weather authorities in China have said Saola could make landfall along the coast between the cities of Huidong and Taishan. Hong Kong and Macau lie in the centre of that stretch.<br/>

Taiwan worked to restore power to more than 30,000 households after Typhoon Haikui barrelled into the east and south of the island, as cities and counties in the affected areas closed schools and businesses and domestic airlines cancelled flights. Haikui made landfall in the mountainous and sparsely populated far southeast of Taiwan on Sunday afternoon, the first typhoon to directly hit Taiwan in four years. It then moved across the southern part of the island. State-run utility Taipower said Haikui knocked out power for more than 240,000 households but that fewer than 34,000 were still waiting for electricity to be restored as of Monday, around half of those in the eastern county of Taitung. Counties and cities across southern, eastern and central Taiwan cancelled classes and declared a day off for workers on Monday. In capital city Taipei there were sporadic gusty rain showers. Taiwan airlines cancelled 189 domestic flights on Monday, with only a handful scheduled to fly, while ferry services to surrounding islands were also suspended. There was less disruption to international flights, with only 23 cancelled, the Civil Aeronautics Administration said. Haikui is much weaker than Typhoon Saola, which hit Hong Kong and the southern Chinese province of Guangdong on Saturday.<br/>

Korea's finance ministry said Monday it plans to lift visa processing fees for Chinese tourists through the end of this year and increase the number of flights in line with efforts to attract more Chinese visitors. The latest move came three weeks after China's tourism authorities announced the decision to lift the ban on group tours to South Korea, ending a six-year hiatus caused by frayed relations following the deployment of a US defense system here. From 2017 to 2019, the average number of Chinese tourists visiting South Korea came to 4.99m annually. While the figure came to just 540,000 over the January-June period of this year, the number of visitors is widely expected to start a full-fledged recovery in the fall on the back of normalized international travel and Beijing's updated policies. The government plans to attract 1.5m additional Chinese tourists in the second half, with a goal of reaching 2m for all of 2023. The figure is expected to contribute to a 0.16 percentage-point growth in Korea's gross domestic product. In order to attract more tourists, Korea plans to lift visa processing fees, currently set at 18,000 won ($13.6) for visitors arriving in groups, until the end of December. The country also opened two additional visa centers in China, raising the total number of such offices to seven. Korea added it will "proactively" approve additional flights between the two countries. In August, the number of weekly flights between Korea and China came to 697, which is around 63.4% of the number posted in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.<br/>