United Airlines’ top executive said that a US plan under consideration to better reimburse stranded air passengers for delays and cancellations would threaten the long-standing safety “bedrock” of the industry. United CEO Scott Kirby said Tuesday that a plan being weighed by the Transportation Department to increase passenger payments beyond existing levels to pay for hotels, meals and re-booking after disruptions that fall under the airlines’ control could cost the industry “a god-awful amount of money.” But he couched his opposition around concerns for airline safety culture. “We should never risk changing the safety culture in aviation,” Kirby said at the US Chamber of Commerce Global Aerospace Summit in Washington. “I do not want a pilot, I do not want a mechanic, thinking about the extra cost of delay when they’re thinking about a decision.” While Kirby said he will be “adamantly vocal” in opposing such proposals, he did not explain why the industry would tolerate conditions that might lead workers to ignore safety issues out of fear for their jobs. The Transportation Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The agency said in May that it would propose a regulation for the first-ever mandatory compensation when airlines cause a cancellation or significant delay, including a meal, overnight accommodations, transportation to and from a hotel and re-booking on another flight. There has been no indication of when such a proposal might be adopted. The agency has created an online dashboard that displays current airline policies when they are responsible for disruptions.<br/>
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The Colombian carrier Avianca has announced the introduction of the Braille system on its airplanes in an initiative to become more accessible, allowing all its customers to travel comfortably and on their own terms, improving their passenger experience. Braille is a tactile writing system used by visually impaired people. Avianca is introducing this system into its fleet. Visually impaired passengers will be able to locate Braille signs at key points across the planes, such as seats, restroom access, emergency exits, and more. Currently, Avianca has three planes fully equipped with this system and plans to increase this number in the future. The initiative is part of the Avianca Accessible program, which focuses on identifying barriers faced by travelers with disabilities and eliminating them by raising awareness, training its operational teams, and improving the processes in a simple manner driven by technology.<br/>
Lufthansa plans to extend the service life of older Airbus A320 models and lease dozens of aircraft to soften the fallout from the partial grounding of A320neo jetliners hit with an extensive recall caused by engine flaws. The German carrier, among the biggest customers of Airbus SE’s most popular aircraft family, expects to have 20 of its A320neo aircraft out of service at any given time over the next few years due to repairs of their Pratt and Whitney engines, Spohr told reporters Tuesday. While it’s still assessing the full impact of the recall ordered by the US manufacturer for most of its PW1100 turbines, Lufthansa is planning for years of disruption — while also seeing an opportunity to handle some of the repairs through its maintenance unit. Speaking at the US Chamber of Commerce Aerospace Summit, Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said the airline is also mixing and matching engines so that planes aren’t grounded when the geared turbofan, or GTF, engine by Pratt & Whitney comes off the wing for inspection and possible repair. “It’s too early to give more detailed numbers, but this will have a significant impact on us,” Spohr said. He described the Pratt issue as one of the greatest engine disruptions the industry has seen in recent years, with the crunch being the worst in 2024. Another response to the disruption is what Spohr called “potential network trims,” though he said the focus is on the other two measures in order to keep such reductions at a minimum. Pratt parent RTX Corp. said on Monday that about 3,000 geared turbofan engines must be removed over the next three years to check for potentially flawed components made from contaminated metal powder. That represents most of the roughly 3,200 GTF engines currently in service on the jets. Spohr said the aviation supply side remains “very stressed” and will require some time to sort itself out. At the same time, demand for premium leisure travel is the strongest it has been in the last three to four decades, Spohr said. <br/>
Lufthansa is pushing ahead with the planned launch of a feeder airline connecting smaller regions with larger hubs, the managing director of the new business said in an internal memo to employees seen by Reuters on Tuesday. The basic framework of City Airlines, founded last year, has been in place with an operating licence since June, Marco Zenger said in the document. “We remain on track and on the path towards the operative start of City Airlines,” he wrote. Staff recruitment is planned for the end of the year, and Lufthansa is already in talks or pursuing talks with unions representing various groups in the air travel sector, according to the memo. A spokesperson for the German flagship carrier declined to comment on a timeline for the launch, details of which were first reported on the industry news website Aerotelegraph. With the new airline, Lufthansa is looking to reduce the cost of its existing feeder flight services connecting long-haul services from its Munich and Frankfurt hubs. The memo said that Lufthansa wants to negotiate employee transfers from its current Cityline business to the new City Airlines. Unions accuse Lufthansa of seeking poorer working conditions for employees. Meanwhile, many investors have criticised the group’s high personnel costs.<br/>
Portugal’s government has received preliminary reports from the two independent assessors hired to determine the value of TAP SA, a crucial step before moving ahead with the state-owned carrier’s sale. Ernst & Young and Banco Finantia have submitted preliminary drafts of their valuation reports to Parpublica, the state-holding company through which the government owns TAP, according to people familiar with the process. The assessments are still under discussion and the government has yet to receive final versions of these reports, the people said. A representative for Parpublica declined to comment and a spokeswoman at the Finance Ministry in Portugal, which oversees TAP, was not immediately available to comment. A spokeswoman for Ernst & Young also declined to comment. The long-awaited valuation reports are required for Portugal to start the privatization of TAP, which received more than E2b in state aid to survive during the coronavirus pandemic. The government plans to approve privatization of TAP at a cabinet meeting this month and complete the carrier’s sale during the first half of 2024, Portugal’s Secretary of State for Finance, Joao Nuno Mendes, told business daily Jornal de Negocios in July. Air France-KLM, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and IAG, the parent company of British Airways and Iberia, have said they may consider TAP. The Lisbon-based airline’s biggest attraction lies in its links to Brazil, of which it’s the biggest European provider. It also maintains a strong presence in Africa and operates a number of flights to North America. The valuation reports are based on data from 2022, said one of the people, who declined to provide details about TAP’s market value because the information is confidential. Last year, TAP posted net income of E66m, its first annual profit since 2017. The appetite for air travel has remained strong , with TAP’s passenger numbers rising 30% in the first half, the carrier said in a regulatory filing on Aug. 30.<br/>
Turkish Airlines began daily flights between Istanbul, Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires on September 10th. The company operates this route with Airbus A350-900 aircraft configured for 327 passengers. After a little more than four years, Turkish resumed its daily frequency to Argentina, given that the last time to perform this schedule had been in July 2019.<br/>In addition to increasing flights to Buenos Aires, also on September 10th, the airline expanded its services between Istanbul and Sao Paulo from 7 to 11.<br/>
China Airlines and EVA Airways, the two largest international carriers in Taiwan, saw demand for air travel in August soar on the back of strong demand during the summer vacation. The two carriers said the average load factor or passenger load factor, which is an airline industry metric to measure how much of an airline's passenger carrying capacity is used, topped 80% in August. In addition to summer vacation effects, market analysts said the airline industry has benefited from a surge in demand for air travel in the post COVID-19 era. EVA Air said it posted NT$18.17b in consolidated sales in August, up 51.24% from a year earlier with revenue generated from passenger flights soaring 246.95% year-on-year to NT$13.05b. EVA Air said the average load factor on its flights to the North American and European markets surpassed 90% in August. The carrier said with global passenger flight demand on the rise, it is planning to increase its number of flights to Seattle from seven a week currently to 10 in late October, raising the airline's total number of flights to North America to 87 a week. In addition, the number of flights to Okinawa will also be increased from one to two a day in late October, EVA Air said.<br/>
Air India has rolled out ‘Project Abhinandan’ aimed at providing personalised and hassle-free on-ground experience to Air India guests at 16 airports including Pune. As part of the project, Air India has deployed specially trained Service Assurance Officers at these airports, who will offer on-ground assistance across airport touchpoints to Air India guests who may require it – at check-in area or lounges, near the boarding gates, during transit, or at the arrival hall. The airports include Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Calicut, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Varanasi and Vishakhapatnam. Air India’s Service Assurance Officers are trained to sense passenger concerns at airports and will be placed at strategic touchpoints to proactively engage with guests, provide support, or troubleshoot any issues. They are also trained to address unforeseen issues such as missed flights, delayed baggage delivery and misconnections at airports, among others.<br/>
Singapore Airlines has unveiled plans to launch non-stop flights between Singapore and Brussels, after a hiatus of more than 20 years. Scheduled to take off on 5 April 2024, the airline will operate four flights per week to Belgium's capital city using 253-seat Airbus A350-900 aircraft configured with 42 seats in Business Class, 24 in Premium Economy Class, and 187 seats in Economy Class. Subject to regulatory approval, flight SQ304 is slated to depart from Changi Airport in Singapore on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 23:55. Singapore Airlines A350-900 reg: 9V-SMS. Picture by Steven Howard of TravelNewsAsia.com Click to enlarge.Singapore Airlines A350-900 reg: 9V-SMS. Picture by Steven Howard of TravelNewsAsia.com The return leg, operated as flight SQ303, is timed to depart Brussels on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at 12:10. The flight timings differ slightly between the winter and summer schedules as outlined below. The addition of Brussels increases the number of European destinations in Singapore Airline's network to thirteen.<br/>
The Thai aviation industry is on the cusp of a strong comeback after the pandemic, with many airlines preparing to expand their fleet and regain their former glory days. The upbeat sentiment follows three years of challenges since the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, forcing airlines to downsize their operations to survive during the global downturn. Chai Eamsiri, the CEO of THAI, said the pandemic had plunged the aviation industry into its most severe crisis since World War II. In 2019, Thai Airways operated a fleet of 103 aircraft, but during the pandemic, more than 80 aircraft were grounded, and only 20 aircraft were in operation, he said. The national flag carrier entered a business rehabilitation plan to address its debts caused by the Covid-19 crisis, leaving THAI with a fleet of 69 aircraft. It plans to increase its fleet strength to 75 aircraft in 2024 and to 98-100 aircraft by 2025 to support the recovery of the tourism sector, Chai said. Recently, Thai Airways restructured its aviation business group and transferred 20 aircraft from Thai Smile Airways to Thai Airways. India is one of the first markets to return to the 2019 pre-Covid levels, with approximately 65 flights per week, he said. The European market previously had nine destinations, and now there are seven. Thai Airways is also looking at the East Asian market, especially as the China market has not fully recovered, he said. “The national airline is planning to adjust its strategy to operate flights to Japan, catering to Thai tourists' preferences for travelling to Japan. Additionally, we are continuously exploring opportunities in the Middle East market, especially after launching direct flights to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia,” the THAI CEO said.<br/>
The Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) has launched an investigation into a “close proximity event” involving an Air New Zealand flight. An Air New Zealand Q300 aircraft was en route from Whangārei to Auckland on the morning of August 28 when crew took action to avoid a collision with a Beech 76 Duchess going in the opposite direction, the commission said on its website. “There was no collision, no damage, and nobody was injured.” The incident took place near the Brynderwyns, about halfway between Auckland and Whāngarei. Data on flight tracking website Flight Radar 24 shows the Air New Zealand flight was travelling at 5850 feet just after 10am that morning, while the Beech 76 was flying at 5700 feet – a difference of 150 feet (45 metres). The Air New Zealand flight reached 7175 feet about a minute later, putting it 1475 feet above the other aircraft. Aircraft must maintain a vertical separation of at least 1000 feet (300m) in New Zealand. Air New Zealand has been approached for comment.<br/>