The US State Department will continue to offer government-sponsored charter flights to Europe from Tel Aviv to help Americans leave Israel through at least Sunday, a spokesperson said on Tuesday. The department said about 1,500 US citizens and family members have departed Israel on the charter flights to Athens and other transport options since Friday after offering more than 5,000 seats. The State Department has said flights have generally departed at half capacity or less. The department had previously only committed to offering charter flights through Thursday. Some expatriates were leaving Israel following the Oct. 7 assault by Palestinian militant group Hamas on southern Israel that killed 1,300 people. Israel has responded with a bombing campaign on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Some expatriates were leaving Israel following the Oct. 7 assault by Palestinian militant group Hamas on southern Israel that killed 1,300 people. Israel has responded with a bombing campaign on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. US airlines have added flights to Athens and boosted the size of planes to accommodate Americans flying from Israel seeking to return home. The State Department said over 3,000 U.S. citizens have also told the department they have successfully left Israel and the West Bank in a variety of ways.<br/>
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Operations at Syria’s Damascus airport will resume as of “tomorrow afternoon,” after an Israeli air strike put it out of service, state TV reported early on Wednesday, citing the director of the Civil Aviation Authority. On Thursday, Syria said Israeli forces launched simultaneous missile attacks on the airports in its capital, Damascus, and the northern city of Aleppo, damaging the runways and putting both hubs out of service. <br/>
Planes with more than 230 passengers will not be able to land at Montreal Saint-Hubert Airport in a bid to “generate less noise.” The construction of a new terminal is underway at the Longueuil airport, and many citizens in the area are concerned about increased noise. Last February, Longueuil Mayor Catherine Fournier announced an agreement with the airport to ban commercial night flights from April 2024. In a press release, Yanic Roy, president and CEO of Saint-Hubert Airport, says the decision is a reasonable one to not worsen the situation for citizens living nearby. Porter Airlines, the first company to operate flights out of Saint-Hubert, will use Embraer E195-E2 planes, which it says are the quietest and most energy efficient on the market. Pascan Aviation will operate at the airport, but the aircraft will only transport around 30 passengers at a time. The airport says there is still room for other carriers to set up there. “With a capacity of 4m passengers annually, the future terminal of Montreal Saint-Hubert Airport can still accommodate many other airlines since half of its capacity still remains available to new carriers,” indicates the airport in a statement.<br/>
Regulators in Brussels will seek tougher concessions from airlines looking to merge in order to ensure fair competition, the new EU antitrust commissioner Didier Reynders has said. Airlines typically offer to give up valuable airport take-off and landing slot concessions to rivals to clear the way for deals. But there is evidence that these concessions have not always worked for previous deals, with some slots not taken up or not used on the routes originally planned. Brussels will now ask airlines to ensure slots are allocated to rivals on routes with competition concerns. In some cases, airlines may also be asked to sell assets not core to their passenger business to gain clearance. In his first interview since becoming commissioner for competition, Reynders told the Financial Times: “We see some remedies are not efficient. In the past, the main request [to airlines] was to ask [to offer] slots to other companies.” But he said that if it were “impossible and not enough”, regulators needed to seek other concessions from airlines, such as forcing them to sell assets. “Some years ago, we were sure the slots solution was fine. Maybe the results are not there,” added Reynders, who is caretaker commissioner while Margrethe Vestager is on unpaid leave to run for president of the European Investment Bank. His comments coincide with a wave of consolidation in the European airline industry following the disruption of the pandemic. One antitrust lawyer said the Commission had changed the way it looked at airline mergers since the pandemic because of “scepticism” over the old system. The Commission could insist on the disposal of assets that would “directly support the entry and viability” of a competitor. The assets could range from planes to cargo businesses or contracts with airport ground handlers. Story has more.<br/>
A verdict on how much Heathrow airport can charge airlines must be reconsidered in part, the UK’s competition watchdog has ruled, amid a longrunning row at Europe’s busiest airport. In March, the aviation regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), ordered London’s largest airport, to cut its passenger charges by about 20% next year, which could result in lower air fares. The CAA said the cap on Heathrow’s average charge for each passenger must be reduced from GBP31.57 for 2023 and last year, to GBP25.43 over the next three years. The airport had hoped to raise the fees it charges to airlines to fund baggage handling, security and other costs, which are set by the regulator. Heathrow and three airlines – British Airways, Delta and Virgin Atlantic – appealed against the CAA’s decision. The airlines argued that Heathrow’s charges were higher than industry averages and that it could curb the aviation sector’s recovery from the Covid pandemic. Heathrow argued lowering the cap on fees would damage investment into the airport. The companies lost their appeal after a provisional ruling by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in September, although it found that the regulator had “made some errors” that needed to be revised. The CMA said on Tuesday that the CAA “was not wrong on most of the issues that were appealed to it”, but had ordered it to reconsider three parts of its pricing decision. Kirstin Baker, who chairs the CMA’s group that assessed the appeals, said: “Having considered these appeals, we found that the CAA’s Heathrow price control struck broadly the right balance between ensuring prices for passengers are not too high and encouraging investors to maintain and improve the airport over time. “There are a handful of smaller issues we have ordered the CAA to look at again and it has agreed to do this swiftly.” Of the three issues, the first relates to a part of the CAA’s cost of capital calculation, the second relates to a part of its passenger forecast, and the third relates to a specific adjustment known as the “AK factor”.<br/>
Dublin Airport has opened talks with airlines over an increase in passenger numbers that is taking it close to the 32m annual cap that previously led to planning complications. State company DAA, which runs the airport, has reported more than 25m passengers in the first nine months of 2023, as travel returns to levels not seen since before the coronavirus shutdown. Such growth has spurred expectation that the passenger cap might be breached before the end of the year, a question that is said to be “live” in aviation circles. The cap was imposed by planners when they approved the airport’s second terminal. At issue is whether a breach spurs any action by objectors or planners, although planners appeared to accept DAA’s explanations after the overall number of passengers exceeded 32m in 2019. Concern about the cap comes as DAA seeks a relaxation of night-flight restrictions after a High Court stay on enforcement action by Fingal County Council. Last month, the DAA sent a 500-page dossier to An Bord Pleanála in a case seeking its approval for new “noise abatement” measures.<br/>
Some workers at Humberside Airport are staging a 24-hour strike in a dispute over pay. The action involves firefighters, re-fuellers, security and travel shop staff and cleaners. Unison Yorkshire and Humberside regional organiser Michael Parkinson said strike action was always a "last resort", but staff felt "undervalued". Humberside Airport said there would be "no significant impact to normal operations". Parkinson said: "The company which owns the airport is profitable, and we believe they can comfortably afford a pay rise for staff. They want the employer to recognise the loyalty and dedication they've shown, especially during the pandemic," he said. "It's up to airport management to meet with the union and put forward an acceptable pay offer."<br/>
Southeast Asian countries are rushing to expand their major airports to meet rising domestic demand as well as attract foreign investment and travelers to boost economic growth, although some plans are raising concerns about over- investment. According to Nikkei research into expansion plans for airports near the capital cities of seven countries in the region -- Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Cambodia -- total annual passenger handling capacity will reach at least 653m people by 2030, nearly doubling from the 336m people as of January 2023. In Thailand, a satellite terminal opened at Suvarnabhumi Airport near Bangkok in September. The launch comes at "the best time for reviving the domestic economy," Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said at the opening ceremony. He expressed hope that the expansion would contribute to the recovery of Thailand's tourism industry, which was hurt by the pandemic. The terminal can host up to 28 aircraft and handle 15m passengers a year. Once fully operational, the airport's overall capacity will increase by 30% to 60m passengers annually, easing congestion. The airport also expects a third runway to be completed in 2024. It further aims to build a second satellite terminal and another runway by 2030, and increase annual passenger handling capacity to 150m. The Thai government is also planning to expand two other airports, Don Mueang International Airport near Bangkok and U-Tapao Airport, located southeast of the capital. The total capacity of the three airports in the metropolitan area would increase to 200m passengers by 2030. The rush in Thailand and other countries to develop airports is being fueled by the rise of domestic demand amid their growing middle-income class. Air passenger demand in Southeast Asia is expected to nearly triple in the two decades from 2019, according to the Japan Aircraft Development Corporation. The region's average annual growth rate of 4.6% is higher than the global figure of 3.4%. Vietnam will invest nearly 100t dong ($4b) to increase the capacity of Hanoi's Noi Bai International Airport to 60m passengers by 2030, 2.5 times its current amount. Story has more.<br/>
Planemakers are betting on steady demand for business jets as the world's largest corporate aircraft show kicks off on Tuesday, but analysts are turning cautious about the appetite for private flying due to growing macroeconomic risks and a fading pandemic-induced boom. The National Business Aviation Association's (NBAA) annual corporate aircraft show kicks off in Las Vegas against a backdrop of persistent supply-chain snags, high interest rates, an uncertain economic picture and escalating geopolitical tensions amid the military conflict in the Middle East. Private aviation witnessed a surge during the pandemic, both in users and buyers, as the wealthy took control of their travel due to public health concerns. Although those concerns have faded and commercial air service on key routes has resumed, industry executives have said they don't see demand slowing. But Wall Street is turning cautious. "If the Israel-Hamas situation worsens, oil prices spike up and the economy slows down. That could be a factor affecting demand," TD Cowen analyst Cai von Rumohr said. "It is a cyclical business after all." Marquee names such as Bombardier, Textron, Embraer and Boeing are expected to showcase their latest models at the show, according to the NBAA. Textron took the wraps off its newest Cessna Citation CJ3 Gen2 business jet on Monday, while Embraer unveiled its Phenom 100EX business jet, its latest aircraft in the Phenom 100 series, last week. "We're happy with the conversations we're having with our customers and are looking forward to a great show," a Textron Aviation spokesperson said in an emailed statement.<br/>
Supply-chain challenges are continuing to slow the production and maintenance of commercial aircraft, but OEMs express cautious optimism that the situation will improve towards the end of next year. Speaking at the European Regions Airline Association General Assembly in Innsbruck on 11 October, executives from Airbus and Embraer joined airline leaders in acknowledging that the main driver of the challenges is a lack of skilled workers – a dynamic not unique to the air transport sector but one that it feels acutely. “The number one challenge across the industry is the global skills shortage,” Claude Debeauquenne, Airbus’ head of single-aisle market development, tells FlightGlobal. “We need more people and we need more skilled people. “This is something that we see with our customers, with our partners and of course this is something that we see at Airbus as well.” And it is not something that can be fixed overnight. “We are seeing it improve slowly,” Embraer Commercial Aviation CE Arjan Meijer said during a panel discussion. He predicts noteworthy improvements in supply chains “not by the end of this year but probably next year”. Debeauquenne concurs with Meijer on that timescale. “We see a continuation of those difficulties going into next year,” he says. “And then hopefully [they will] probably ease and [there will be] a bit more flexibility in the system by the end of next year.” Airbus, he notes, is taking on 13,000 new members of staff in 2023 as it stays “on the trajectory of being able to meet demand” for new aircraft, which, he highlights, is incredibly strong. Indeed, Debeauquenne is keen to stress that Airbus is still aiming to reach a production rate of 75 per month on the A320 programme, for example, by the end of 2026 – a marked increase on the 63 per month it was producing pre-pandemic. But both executives accept that even with new staff joining, there is work to do to achieve pre-Covid levels of productivity. Story has more.<br/>