Governments and airlines scrambled to lay on flights to evacuate thousands of tourists from Israel and repatriate the country's citizens, as the industry faced a warning over insurance cover in the wake of weekend attacks. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it would operate 12 extra flights on Wednesday and Thursday to and from Athens, Rome, Madrid, Bucharest, New York, Paris, Larnaca and Istanbul. Its low-cost unit Sun Dor also plans rescue flights from Istanbul. El Al had already announced an additional flight from New York and six flights to and from Larnaca. The latest move came as the combined death toll reported by both sides following the weekend attacks by Palestinian militant group Hamas and retaliatory strikes by Israeli forces reached more than 2,000 people. Most foreign airlines have suspended or curtailed services, leaving passengers uncertain how to leave or reach the country and consular services struggling to keep up with demand for assistance, with priority given to those with missing relatives. Israel's parliamentary finance committee said late on Tuesday it would debate authorising state guarantees for providing war risk insurance for Israeli airlines. The panel said insurance companies had indicated they were entitled to cancel cover with seven days' notice. Airline executives said some cover was still available. A senior official at insurance industry body Lloyd’s Market Association said Israel is not on a commonly used list of high-risk areas for aviation, but that it made sense for underwriters to seek to control their exposure given the escalating violence. "Some have therefore given notice to amend terms and conditions,” Neil Roberts, head of marine & aviation, said. British Airways said it would suspend flights to Tel Aviv after diverting a flight from London back to Britain shortly before it was due to reach Tel Aviv, citing security concerns. In an unusual move, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told reporters he had brought 34 Czechs back from Israel with him on his government plane after he stopped in the country on the way back from a conference in Oman. The minister, who the Czech government said was the first foreign official to visit Israel since the attacks, did not rule out sending another repatriation flight to Israel. Story has more.<br/>
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This spring, engineers at TAP Air Portugal’s maintenance subsidiary huddled around an aircraft engine that had come in for repair. The exposed CFM56 turbine looked like just another routine job for a shop that handles more than 100 engines a year. Only this time, there was cause for alarm. Workers noticed that a replacement part, a damper to reduce vibration, showed signs of wear, when the accompanying paperwork identified the component as fresh from the production line. On June 21, TAP pointed out the discrepancy to Safran SA, the French aerospace company that makes CFM engines together with General Electric Co. Safran quickly determined that the paperwork had been forged. The signature wasn’t that of a company employee, and the reference and purchase order numbers on the part also didn’t add up. To date, Safran and GE have uncovered more than 90 other certificates that had similarly been falsified, all linked to the same parts distributor in London: AOG Technics Ltd., a little-known outfit started eight years ago by a young entrepreneur named Jose Alejandro Zamora Yrala. While engineers are trained to spot components of dubious origin, “it’s always shocking when we have one in front of our eyes,” said a person familiar with the revelation, who asked not to be identified discussing internal deliberations. Story has more.<br/>
A travel boom has produced bumper earnings for major US carriers this year but signs of softening demand on domestic routes have amplified worries that the bubble is about to burst, sparking a sell-off in airline stocks and prompting analysts to slash their earnings estimates. As carriers report Q3 results starting on Thursday, analysts and investors will be looking at how carriers plan to remain profitable once consumer demand softens. Airline executives say travel remains the topmost priority for consumers. They have been attributing the slowdown in domestic travel demand to a jump in bookings for foreign trips. But analysts and investors are wondering if it is early signs of waning demand. A drop in international fares in recent weeks after the summer travel rush has only reinforced those concerns. "Demand is flashing warning signs," Jefferies analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu said. The airline industry, which is facing higher fuel and wage bills, has been relying on robust demand to mitigate inflationary pressure with higher fares. Airline fares, however, have been posting a double-digit decline from a year ago. Ticket prices for holiday travel are also down. Data from online travel agency Hopper show average domestic round-trip airfare for the Thanksgiving holiday next month is down 14% from last year. Similarly, fares for the Christmas travel season are 12% lower from a year ago.<br/>
The US Senate Commerce Committee said on Wednesday it plans to hold an Oct. 18 vote on President Joe Biden’s nominee to head the FAA after the agency has been without a permanent leader for 18 months. Nominee Michael Whitaker, a former deputy FAA administrator, won support from the committee’s top Republican Ted Cruz after his Oct. 4 confirmation hearing in which Whitaker said the agency must address a persistent air traffic controller shortage. The committee also plans to vote on the nominations of three nominees for the Federal Trade Commission. <br/>
Two people, including a police officer, were stabbed at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Wednesday afternoon. According to the Atlanta Police Department (APD), a police lieutenant and a female traveler were injured in the airport's security terminal. In a press release from police, airport security encountered a knife-wielding female who was outside of security. Authorities said that the female began walking to the south terminal, while armed with a knife. Police say that the knife-wielding woman first stabbed an adult male. As officers were attempting to restrain her, the knife-wielding suspect managed to stab an APD lieutenant. Police said that an officer managed to tackle the suspect and proceed to disarm and arrest her. Both suspects were taken to local hospitals, "alert, conscious and breathing," police said. The female suspect was not injured during the interaction, police said. A spokesperson for the international airport told Fox News Digital that "impacts to operations are minimal" and there is no threat to the public. <br/>
Police cleared Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport after a bomb threat was reported Wednesday, officials said. The airport posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that “Law enforcement has cleared the vehicle in question” and that “operations will slowly return to normal.” The security incident affected flights, road access, and security checkpoints. A source familiar with the situation said that someone parked at the airport’s curb claimed to have a bomb in a vehicle. The person was arrested, and a bomb squad investigated the scene, according to the source, who was not authorized to speak publicly. The incident took place in the public area of the airport rather than the Transportation Security Administration security checkpoints. But it caused the closure of two checkpoints to the main terminal, according to the source. Two other checkpoints remained open. Air traffic controllers briefly held a departing flight. “There is an emergency situation at the airport, and we’ve stopped departures,” an air traffic controller was heard saying over an aviation radio frequency. The transit agency that provides light rail service to the airport also reported that its trains are not accessing the airport. Spokesmen for the airport and airport police agency did not immediately comment further. <br/>
On a cold, foggy Saturday morning in February, an air traffic controller cleared a FedEx cargo plane to land on Runway 18L at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas. A Southwest Airlines jet was on the same runway, but the controller said it would take off before FedEx’s hulking Boeing 767 got too close. As the FedEx plane descended through thick clouds, though, the pilots saw something terrifying: the silhouette of the Southwest 737. The two planes were seconds from colliding. One of the FedEx pilots commandeered the air traffic control radio frequency. He ordered Southwest to abort its takeoff. It didn’t. The FedEx crew blasted the engines to climb away from the Southwest plane. “On the go,” a FedEx pilot radioed. The FedEx plane, which had three crew members, skimmed less than 100 feet over the other jet. The 128 people aboard Southwest Flight 708 continued on their way to Cancún, Mexico. Passengers were unaware that they had nearly died. In a year filled with close calls involving US airlines, this was the one that most unnerved federal aviation officials: A disaster had barely been averted, and multiple layers of the vaunted US air-safety system had failed. While the incident’s basic contours have been made public, a New York Times reconstruction of the near collision shows that an air traffic controller made virtually catastrophic mistakes. But the errors by the controller — who has continued to direct some plane traffic in Austin — were far from the whole story, according to 10 current and former controllers there, as well as internal Federal Aviation Administration documents reviewed by The Times. Austin-Bergstrom, like the vast majority of US airports, lacks technology that allows controllers to track planes on the ground and that warns of imminent collisions. The result is that on foggy days, controllers can’t always see what is happening on runways and taxiways. Some have even resorted to using a public flight-tracking website in lieu of radar.<br/>
Russia has filed a complaint with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) over the West's violations of civil aviation safety rules. The Foreign Ministry in a statement posted on its website stated the basis for the complaint as "unlawful unilateral restrictive measures of a discriminatory nature against the Russian Federation and its airlines." The ministry pointed out that it means the ban on the use of European airspace by aircraft of Russian airlines, sanctions on the supply of aircraft and spare parts for them, a ban on maintenance and provision of aircraft insurance services, detention of aircraft abroad, restriction of access to meteorological information for air navigation activities. "By their actions, the respondent states have jeopardized the safety of international civil aviation and seriously undermined mutual trust, which has been the basis of the international aviation system for almost 80 years," the ministry stressed. Russia firmly intends to seek the cessation of all these violations of the provisions of the Chicago Convention through the mechanisms of ICAO to resolve differences, the ministry said.<br/>
A full passenger traffic recovery is expected in 2024 for European airports, said the ACI Europe body, which represents the region’s airports, in a report published on Wednesday. ACI Europe added that passenger traffic at European airports was expected in 2023 to reach 95.5% of the pre-COVID pandemic volumes of 2019. <br/>
London Luton Airport halted all flights until 3 pm p.m. local time Wednesday after a fire tore through one of its car parks, causing a partial collapse. The blaze was triggered by a vehicle fire that spread in Terminal Car Park 2, the airport said. Images and video on social media showed the top floor of the multistory parking facility ablaze with dozens of vehicles on fire. It’s not yet known what caused the automobile to catch fire. Luton Airport, which handled more than 13m passengers last year, said in a statement that people shouldn’t travel to the airport as access remained “severely restricted.” “Our priority remains supporting the emergency services and the safety of our passengers and staff,” the airport said. EasyJet, one of the biggest operators at the hub, has canceled 35 return flights from Luton due to the closure. The carrier is allowing passengers on flights that have been scrapped to rebook or receive a refund, it said in an email. Incoming flights after 9:15 p.m. local time last night to Luton were diverted to London’s Stansted and Gatwick airport as well as Birmingham, according to data on FlightRadar24. Luton’s website showed about 80 commercial passenger flights were due to depart or arrive by midday Wednesday. The airport north of London is a hub for budget carriers including EasyJet, Ryanair and Wizz Air.<br/>
Staff at Humberside Airport are to hold six days of strikes in the coming weeks in a row over pay, a union has said. Unison said security and shop staff, cleaners, firefighters and refuellers would strike for 24 hours on Tuesday 17 October and for 48 hours on 31 October. Further action was also planned in November, with the union claiming its members were being paid less than similar staff at other airports. The airport said the strike would have "limited impact to passengers". Unison said staff at Humberside Airport who earned around GBP21,000 had been offered an 8.4% pay increase, while those earning around GBP27,000 had been offered a rise of 6.5%, and a 5.1% increase was offered to workers earning around GBP35,000. They "were paid significantly lower than their counterparts" at Manchester and Leeds Bradford airports, the union added.<br/>
China has set ambitious targets for its future use of sustainable fuels and electric power in civil aviation, opening a new front in its quest to compete with powerhouse manufacturers Boeing and Airbus in building the next generation of airliners. The 2023-2035 development guidelines on green aviation, released on Tuesday, are a sign of intent by Beijing to make headway in the global arena after the country’s success in the new energy vehicle (NEV) market and the summer debut of the C919, the country’s home-grown commercial jet. “China has accumulated technological advantages in new energy equipment, such as electric vehicles and rail transport, forming an advanced industrial foundation for the green development of the aviation manufacturing industry,” the guidelines read in part. The document was jointly drafted by four high-level government bodies – chief industry regulator the Civil Aviation Administration of China as well as the ministries of industry and information technology, finance, and science and technology. China boasts the world’s largest new energy vehicle market and holds a dominant position in the supply chain, although its overseas expansion has hit a snag after the European Union announced it would conduct an anti-subsidy investigation last month. The guideline drafters also laid out milestones to be reached by 2025, including “further improvements in energy efficiency, emissions reduction, electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing Aircraft (eVTOL) pilot operations and key technological breakthroughs in hydrogen-powered aircraft”.<br/>
Passenger throughput at the Beijing Daxing International Airport has surpassed 30m this year, the airport said on Wednesday. As of Wednesday morning, Daxing airport has also handled approximately 570,000 tonnes of cargo and mail. Since kicking off operations on Sept. 25, 2019, the airport has handled 84.55m passenger trips in total. To date, 54 domestic and international airlines have operated a total of 202 air routes from Daxing airport, connecting 185 destinations.<br/>
Brazilian planemaker Embraer is confident it will meet its outlook for aircraft deliveries in 2023, seen growing by about a quarter, and expects to be able to maintain that pace next year, CE Francisco Gomes Neto told Reuters. He said he hopes Embraer's performance for Q4 - typically one of its busiest periods for deliveries - will help it offset slower activity in early 2023. He noted that Embraer faces ongoing supply chain disruptions related to engines from Pratt & Whitney. Gomes Neto also described the just-concluded quarter as "good," saying that volumes were in line with the planemaker's full-year plans. Embraer is set to announce its Q3 results next month. The Brazilian company, the world's third-largest planemaker after Airbus and Boeing, expects deliveries in 2023 to jump as much as 25.8% to 200 jets, considering both its commercial and executive aviation units. The outlook includes 65 to 70 commercial aircraft deliveries. "The perspective is that we will reach that guidance we had announced," Gomes Neto said in an interview on the sidelines of an industry event in Sao Paulo. "Q2 and Q3 were good, which helps, but higher Q4 volumes will have to offset Q1, as we are still struggling a bit with supply chain issues." Embraer had delivered 62 jets by the end of Q2: 24 commercial and 38 executive jets.<br/>
Aerolineas Argentinas and Luxair said on Wednesday they will buy Embraer's E195-E2 jet for their fleets, helping ease investor concerns about demand for the Brazilian planemaker's largest commercial aircraft. Luxembourg-based Luxair placed a firm order for four E195-E2 planes and secured delivery positions for five more, while the Argentine flag carrier said it would add 12 aircraft to its fleet as replacements for its Embraer 190 jets. Embraer shares ended the day up 0.5%, outperforming Brazil's benchmark stock index Bovespa, which rose 0.3%. The E195-E2 is the largest aircraft in Embraer's E-Jet family of regional jets, accommodating up to 146 seats. Operators include Azul , KLM and Porter Airlines. The Luxair announcement marks a significant fleet shift for the company, which flies only Boeing 737 jets and De Havilland turboprops. The companies did not reveal price details but multiple analysts estimated Luxair's firm order for planes set to be delivered from Q4 2025 to be worth $300m. Aerolineas Argentinas said deliveries of its 12 E195-E2 aircraft would start next year and end in 2026. "With this deal we manage to modernize our fleet, increase productivity and reduce costs per seat," said the carrier's CEO Pablo Ceriani.<br/>