Fourteen people on a small jet died when the plane crashed in Brazil’s northern Amazonas state on Saturday, the state’s governor said. The accident took place in the Barcelos province, some 400 km from the state capital, Manaus. “I deeply regret the death of the 12 passengers and two crew members who were victims of the plane crash in Barcelos on Saturday,” said Wilson Lima, Governor of Amazonas state on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Our teams have been working from the outset to provide the necessary support. My sympathy and prayers go out to their families and friends.” The Manaus Aerotaxi airline issued a statement confirming that there had been an accident and that it was investigating but offering no details about deaths or injuries. “We count on respect for the privacy of those involved at this difficult time and will be available to provide all necessary information and updates as the investigation progresses,” the statement said. The Brazilian Air Force (FAB) said in a statement that investigators from the Accident Investigation and Prevention Center (CENIPA) had been called in to begin an investigation into the reasons for the crash of the small aircraft, an Embraer Bandeirante with the registration PT-SOG. Governor Lima said that the bodies had already been removed from the aircraft and that the victims were Brazilian tourists. Lima also added that the region faces heavy rainfall and the most likely cause of the accident was an error in the route taken at the time of landing.<br/>
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Major US airlines have recovered from Covid-19 pandemic losses and are amassing vast profits, but amid those record-setting financial performances flight attendants are threatening strikes and calling for substantial wage increases and improvements in working conditions. The sums of money are huge. American Airlines reported record quarterly revenue in the second quarter of 2023 at $14.1bn, United Airlines reported record revenue in the same quarter at $14.2bn and a threefold increase in profit, and Alaska Airlines also reported record revenue in the second quarter of 2023 at $2.8b. But workers are also negotiating new contracts and campaigning hard for better pay and conditions. The AFA-CWA represents more than 6,500 flight attendants at Alaska Airlines, who have held pickets at airports in their fight for a new union contract. They are pushing for a 40% wage increase and threatening a possible strike during the 2023 holiday season. The union is still working under a 2014 contract that was extended twice and has requested mediation with the National Mediation Board. Kiara O’Bryant, a Seattle-based flight attendant at Alaska Airlines for over 12 years and negotiating committee member for the union, said flight attendants were currently only paid from door closure until door open on flights. “All of that time we spend with passengers on the ground or sitting and waiting for other aircrafts in between flights goes unpaid,” said O’Bryant. “There are instances where flight attendants are sitting anywhere from two to four hours, what becomes a mechanical rolling delay, where that full time is not accounted for and paid for. So, it’s not just the boarding, but it’s anytime that we are required to be on duty at work in uniform, that we are advocating for pay,” she said.<br/>
Citing air traffic controller staffing issues, US regulators announced on Friday they will again extend cuts to minimum flight requirements at congested New York City-area airports through October 2024, giving relief to airlines who faced delays because of government staffing issues. Under minimum flight requirements, airlines can lose their takeoff and landing slots at congested airports if they do not use them at least 80% of the time. The waiver allows airlines to not fly some flights and still retain slots. The FAA said the number of certified controllers at the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control (N90) "is still not sufficient to allow the FAA to handle normal traffic levels," The FAA said it continues working "on a long-term solution to solve the chronic low levels of fully certified air traffic controllers at N90." Airlines for America, an industry group, said it appreciated "this latest waiver extension as the FAA navigates air traffic controller staffing shortages... US airlines will continue to operate larger aircraft to help reduce pressure." US airlines Tuesday expressed growing frustration with ATC shortages, which have snarled flights. Due to staffing shortages, the FAA previously in August extended temporary cuts to minimum flight requirements at congested New York City-area airports and Washington National Airport through Oct. 28 after first issuing the waivers in March after Delta Air Lines and United Airlines sought permission not fly up to 10% of flights. "The system can't cope with the number of flights today," JetBlue Airways CEO Robin Hayes told Reuters Tuesday. He said airlines received an initial waiver for flights in March "quite late... We have to get ahead of this." Airlines have faced flight woes after a record-setting US summer travel season and voluntary cut flights because of air traffic shortages. They want to add more flights to address demand. The FAA in August said it met its yearly goal of hiring 1,500 controllers but is still about 3,000 controllers behind staffing targets. <br/>
On a sunny Friday morning this month, the outdoor plaza at Mexico City’s new Felipe Ángeles airport was so quiet you could hear insects chirping, interrupted suddenly by the roar of three F-5 fighter jets overhead. The gleaming airport is the most visible sign of how Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador has reshaped aviation in Latin America’s second-largest economy — by inserting the military across the sector and trying to push airlines to use his new hub. The process has put him at odds with domestic and international airlines and the US government, and so far has not lured much passenger traffic. Inside the terminal, none of the 100 check-in desks had a queue, while at arrivals a recruiting office invited scarce passengers to join the military. Old-school leftist López Obrador in 2019 tasked the defence ministry with building the airport at a cost of $5bn after cancelling a partially built one designed by architect Norman Foster, claiming that the project was plagued by corruption. Felipe Ángeles opened to great fanfare last year. The new airport — which is run by the army — is slick and airy but is also 44km from the city centre, with limited ground connections. Airlines say they have to set ticket prices so low to fill planes that they struggle to make money. About 7,700 passengers flew to or from the airport each day in July, compared with 90,500 at Benito Juárez, the capital’s saturated main airport. López Obrador is trying to change that. This month, the armed forces in Mexico will start selling tickets on its own commercial airline out of the new airport. At Benito Juárez, pure cargo operations were stopped by presidential decree this year, raising ire among US officials. Passenger flights were cut sharply in a second government decision in August, this time prompting a fierce backlash from international and local airlines. Peter Cerda, regional vice-president at airlines association Iata, said: “Making the unilateral decision of just pushing capacity somewhere else . . . without good analysis, particularly without collaboration with the industry and working together like it occurs in every other city around the world, that’s what’s been ineffective here. Ultimately the passenger is going to suffer . . . with less availability of flights, [fewer] destinations and higher prices.”<br/>
A Belgian court on Friday sentenced eight defendants in the country's largest ever trial involving the 2016 Islamist bombings in Brussels that killed 32 people, Belga news agency said. Six men, who were found guilty of murder and attempted murder for their part in the twin bombings at Brussels airport and third bomb on the city's metro on March 22, 2016, were handed sentences ranging from 20 years to life in jail. Among those convicted was Salah Abdeslam, the main suspect in the trial over the Paris attacks that killed 130 people. The court considered that the French sentence of life in prison for his role in the 2015 Paris attack and his 20 year prison sentence over a Brussels shooting was enough and he did not receive a further sentence. On the run after fleeing the French capital, he was seized in Brussels four days before the Belgian attacks.<br/>
Passenger travel on air routes connecting to China in August recovered to around half of the 2016 level before Beijing restricted travel to South Korea in 2017 over a row over Seoul's hosting of a US missile defense system, data showed Sunday. The number of travelers on such routes came to 931,272 in August, which accounts for around 45% of the 2.06m posted in the same month of 2016, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. In 2017, China banned group tours to South Korea in retaliation for the deployment of an advanced US anti-missile system in South Korea. China pressed South Korea to withdraw the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, claiming that the deployment could hurt Beijing's security interests. Seoul and Washington said the anti-missile system is only meant to counter North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile threats. China's tourism authorities, meanwhile, announced the decision to lift the ban on group tours to South Korea in August, ending a six-year hiatus. Air travel between South Korea and China also has been recovering throughout this year on the back of eased COVID-19 restrictions.<br/>
Mumbai Airport experienced more than 100 flight delays and several cancellations after a private jet veered off the runway when landing Thursday evening. A Learjet 45, operated by New Delhi-based charter company VSR Aviation, was involved in a “runway excursion” at 5:08 p.m. after flying in from Vizag, according to a Ministry of Civil Aviation spokesperson. There were no casualties among the six passengers and two crew on board, the spokesperson said. The runway was closed for almost two hours and reopened after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation gave clearance following safety checks, a representative for the airport said. More than 130 departures were delayed and 14 flights canceled Friday morning at the airport, Flightradar24’s website showed. The airport is operated by Adani Group, which plans to expand and become a leader in the sector, CEO Arun Bansal said in March. Adani operates seven airports and is building another in Navi Mumbai that will open next year, with the aim of handling 90m passengers annually by 2036.<br/>
Airports around the world are relocating sensitive electrical equipment to rooftops to protect it from flooding, reinforcing runways to handle extreme temperature swings and revving up air conditioning as climate change complicates operations. In New York, the $19b redevelopment of John F. Kennedy International Airport includes preparing for more extreme weather events such as storm surges and coastal floodings. Up north in Alaska, melting permafrost is forcing fortification of runways, while in Europe, contractors are studying building materials that allow runways to handle bigger temperatures swings or redesigning buildings for sweltering summers. “The impact of climate change has humbled us all,” said Rick Cotton, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns JFK along with the smaller LaGuardia and Newark airports. While the aviation industry has promised to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, harsher weather conditions are already forcing a rethink of critical infrastructure in airports and airfields across the world. The rise in sea level alone means airports may have to spend $57b to maintain current risk levels by the end of the century, according to a Climate Risk Management report published in 2021 by Newcastle University and the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in the UK. Heat waves this summer across the US, Europe and Asia put pressure on cooling systems at airports — which are crucial not just for keeping passengers comfortable but also ensuring critical electronic systems don’t overheat. Sudden rainstorms in August made planes at Frankfurt, Germany’s busiest airport, look like they had been parked in a lake, while last year’s hot temperatures in the UK caused London Luton Airport’s runway to buckle. Runways contain different mixtures of asphalt depending on a region’s climate. A surface in Dubai, for example, is made up of a different composition to withstand higher temperatures than one in the UK, which is now sweating under hot temperature for long periods. Story has more.<br/>
When Essence Griffin started working as a flight attendant in 2022 she was thrilled. Griffin was in her early 20s and desperate to see the world. The years stuck at home during the pandemic had “lit a fire” inside her. “I really wanted to travel,” she tells CNN Travel. “I was like, ‘I’ve got to get out, and I’ve got to go see things as soon as I can.’” At first, Griffin’s job as a flight attendant for a US airline felt like the perfect opportunity. But after just over a year of flying, she decided to take a step back. “I’m taking a break now,” she says. “I got burned out.” Griffin’s not alone. Working as a flight attendant might sound like a dream job – but in a post-pandemic aviation landscape defined by delays, lost luggage, staffing issues and disruptive passengers, the dream is souring for some. 2020 saw many aviation workers furloughed, while those still working risked falling ill. Then, as the pandemic waned and airplanes returned to the skies, airlines struggled to restaff quickly enough to match demand. When aviation returned, disruptive passengers seemed more prevalent than ever – with the then-obligatory wearing of face masks often the inciting factor. Since 2021, the US FAA has reported a “rapid growth” in “incidents where airline passengers have disrupted flights with threatening or violent behavior.” US flight attendant Rich Henderson, who’s been flying for a decade, says during the pandemic, “the whole thing shifted, the whole environment and the energy in the environment shifted.” “I always tell people that when Covid happened, all of the fun parts of being a flight attendant, all of the satisfying, exciting parts of being a flight attendant were stripped from the job,” Henderson says. In Henderson’s opinion, it’s all yet to shift back – staffing, scheduling and long days remain an issue, while disruptive passenger incidents are a continuing concern.<br/>