The US government has approved a complaint brought against the Netherlands and European Union by Jet Blue and industry group A4A over landing slots at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, Jet Blue said on Friday. JetBlue said in a statement that it has asked the US government to pursue countermeasures after being denied landing slots at Schiphol, one of Europe's main air transport hubs. The move follows a decision this week by Schiphol's slot coordinator to reduce slots for the summer of 2024 as ordered by the Dutch government, with none available to new entrants including JetBlue. JetBlue said industry group Airlines for America (A4A) has asked the US Department of Transportation to delay granting an application by German company USC GmbH for a US air carrier permit until the matter is resolved. Separately, in a letter dated Nov. 2, the Department of Transportation said it has approved two complaints filed by JetBlue and A4A against the Netherlands and the European Union in relation to the dispute. The Dutch government plans to cut flights at Schiphol to 452,500 per year, almost 10% below 2019 levels, to reduce noise and other pollution. The move is being contested by Dutch flag carrier KLM, part of Air France-KLM, and by industry groups including the IATA. A4A said that US airlines will lose 339 landing slots as a result of the Dutch plan. "The Department finds that...capacity reduction measures being undertaken at (Schiphol) constitute unjustifiable and unreasonable activities ... and are in violation of the of the U.S.- EU Air Transport Agreement," the letter signed by Assistant Secretary Carol Petsonk said.<br/>
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The hostage situation at Hamburg Airport ended Sunday afternoon, around 18 hours after a man drove his vehicle through the gates of the airport with his 4-year-old daughter inside, authorities said. The man was arrested and the girl appears to be unharmed. Hamburg police posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, that “the hostage situation is over. The suspect has left the car with his daughter. ... The child appears to be unharmed.” Police also said that “the man was arrested by the emergency services without resistance.” The airport in the northern German city had been closed to passengers and flights canceled since Saturday night when the man, who was armed, broke through an airport gate with his vehicle and fired twice into the air with a weapon, according to German news agency dpa. The man drove the vehicle just outside a terminal building and parked it under a plane. Authorities said the man’s ex-wife had previously contacted them about a child abduction. Police said the 35-year-old man, a Turkish citizen, had his daughter inside the car after reportedly taking her by force from the mother in an ongoing custody battle. A psychologist had been negotiating with the man for several hours. Nobody was injured during the standoff after all passengers had evacuated the airport, police said. On Sunday evening, police released details about the hostage taker's identity saying he was a Turkish citizen who was already under investigation for allegedly kidnapping his daughter in March 2022, dpa reported. At that time, he had traveled to Turkey with his daughter without authorization, but the mother was later able to bring the child back to Germany. More than 100 flights were canceled and several planes were rerouted during the 18-hour hostage situation. Thousands of travelers had been affected by the standoff and hundreds were put up at hotels close by. Flight operations at the airport resumed on Sunday night, almost 24 hours after the hostage situation began.<br/>
Egypt’s prime minister has stated that the government intends to open the management and operation of airports to the private sector. Mostafa Madbouly made the declaration during a roundtable at the transport and logistics event Trans MEA in Cairo, which opened on 5 November. The roundtable included more than 20 specialist international firms, says the Egyptian cabinet. Madbouly discussed the Egyptian government’s interest in partnering with the private sector in the transportation field. The cabinet says he stressed that the government was “keen” to encourage private involvement. “We have certainty that the private sector is best suited to manage and operate various projects and facilities,” it adds. It says this covers both sea and land ports, adding that the government plans to offer opportunities for private companies to operate airports – although the cabinet did not refer to any specific facilities. Around 2001-02 the Egyptian government established a holding company, EHCAAN, for airports and air navigation, which has subsidiaries including the Egyptian Airports Company and Cairo Airport Company.<br/>
Middle Eastern air transport activity has recovered more sharply than expected post-pandemic, Boeing’s sales chief for the region believes, with Saudi Arabia becoming a particular focal point. Boeing’s latest commercial market outlook shows demand for 3,025 aircraft in the Middle East over the next 20 years. This figure includes 1,350 widebodies. The Middle East will have the lowest ratio of single-aisle to widebody deliveries of any region – just 1.2. Saudi Arabian carriers Saudia and Riyadh Air underscored the widebody demand earlier this year as each placed orders for 39 Boeing 787s. Speaking during the Arab Air Carriers Organization conference in Riyadh, Boeing’s vice-president of commercial sales and marketing for the Middle East, Omar Arekat, said: “It’s a very exciting time. There’s a paradigm shift in the region and Saudi Arabia in particular.” He highlights such aspects as the simplification of visa processes, along with the demand that has made booking a flight to Riyadh more “difficult”, adding: “It’s really becoming a destination.” Saudi Arabia handles large quantities of pilgrimage traffic but the government is driving an initiative to generate tourism through its Vision 2030 programme. Arekat believes Boeing has an advantage in the region, because it has had strong aviation ties with Saudi Arabia – both commercial and defence – for some seven decades. “We look at Saudi with more strategic depth,” he says. “It allows us to be involved more in the set-up of infrastructure. We’re major partners for the kingdom.” While Saudi Arabia’s development programme is particularly ambitious, the Middle East region in general is experiencing a strong recovery surge, Arekat says, defying expectations over the length of time it might take. “Demand has exceeded the projected recovery plan,” he says. “I think a lot of airlines didn’t see a fast recovery coming.” Operators in the region are “very resilient”, he adds. Air travel in the Middle East is particularly important and, although the region has specific challenges, there is a “lot of activity”.<br/>
Israel urged its citizens on Friday to reconsider trips abroad and to exercise extra caution if already out of the country, citing an increase of hostility toward Jews and Israelis over the present conflict with Hamas in Gaza. Life threatening assaults, antisemitism and incitement have been significantly rising in many countries, a joint statement from the prime minister's office and the foreign ministry said, since Israel launched its campaign in Gaza. On Monday, Israel issued a "highest level travel warning" for Russia's Dagestan region after hundreds of Dagestanis, mostly young men, rampaged through the terminal building of an airport and on to the tarmac hunting for Jewish people who had just flown in on a flight from Tel Aviv. Israel's bombardment of Gaza from air ground and sea has sparked anti-Israel protests in Europe and the Middle East. Gaza health authorities say at least 9,227 people have been killed since Israel started its offensive in retaliation for the Hamas rampage on Oct. 7 which killed 1,400 people in the deadliest day of Israel's 75-year history.<br/>
India's air safety watchdog proposes reduced night work hours and more rest for pilots, among measures to address rising complaints of pilot fatigue, according to draft regulations seen by Reuters on Saturday. The proposal from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation come more than two months after it decided to conduct a review of pilot fatigue data collected during spot checks and surveillance of airlines. The review was launched after an IndiGo pilot collapsed and died in August before his flight. Changes would include cutting the maximum flight duty period to 10 hours from 13 hours for pilots operating at night, and increasing the minimum weekly rest period to 48 hours from 36 hours. The directorate did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the draft. Such rule changes are usually circulated for comments from airlines, pilots and other stakeholders before being finalised. While pilot fatigue is a global problem, India is at the heart of the matter as the world's fastest-growing aviation market, with hundreds of planes on order by IndiGo and Tata group-owned Air India. IndiGo, India's biggest airline, has said the pilot who died had a 27-hour break before duty and was in good health.<br/>
No nation in the world is buying as many airplanes as India. Its largest airlines have ordered nearly 1,000 jets in 2023, committing tens of billions of dollars to a spending spree that is unparalleled in aviation. In New Delhi, Indira Gandhi International Airport will be ready for 109m passengers in 2024, as it prepares to become the world’s second busiest, behind Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in the United States. And this is happening in a vast country still heavily reliant on trains – with 20 journeys by rail for every one by air. The enormous aviation build-up, with a surge of investment behind it, has pride of place in India’s case for a greater standing on the world stage. As it moves up the ranks of the world’s biggest economies, India is scrambling to meet the expanding ambitions of its ascendant middle class. Its airports present highly visible achievements. Air travel remains out of the financial reach of most Indians. An estimated 3% of the country’s population flies on a regular basis. But in a nation of 1.4b people, that percentage represents 42m – executives, students and engineers who yearn to get quickly from here to there inside India’s borders, and to gain easier access to destinations beyond, for both business and vacation. Kapil Kaul, CE of CAPA India, an advisory firm focused on aviation, calls “the next two to three years critical for achieving the quality of growth that India desires and deserves”. Growth has so far been profitless. Now Indian aviation must prove it can make money. The effects of the spending spree should redound across India’s economy. Cargo comes with passenger traffic, and foreign investment tends to follow closely behind, Kaul said. Arrivals at the international terminal in Indira Gandhi airport are greeted by a wall of giant sculptural hands, their fingers and palms folded into the signifying shapes of the Buddha’s gestures, looking both ancient and futuristic. In 2012, when they were installed, 30m passengers passed through the airport. By the time the airport has expanded to its new capacity, another one will have been built from scratch on the other side of the city.<br/>
International air fares are set to remain stubbornly high throughout the first half of next year, but the preferences of travel-hungry Australians are shifting. After the broad reopening of borders by mid-2022, international airlines have largely enjoyed bumper profits by operating fewer flights than an average pre-pandemic year, all while Australians’ pent-up demand for travel meant they were able to charge eye-watering amounts for tickets. Since then, international air fares have steadily decreased from record highs seen during the previous year. Average return economy air fares from Sydney to London currently cost about $3,000 for most of 2024, but rise to $3,500 and above during periods of peak holiday travel, according to flight aggregator site Skyscanner’s savings generator tool. Fuel prices and inflation are in part driving higher operating costs at Qantas, the airline’s chair, Richard Goyder, told the company’s annual general meeting on Friday. He said the airline had been absorbing most of the increased costs. “However, with sustained high fuel prices and a weaker Australian dollar, last month we increased fares by an average of 3.5% to recover some of this higher cost,” Goyder said. The long-term forecast for crude oil is US$85-$95 a barrel for the next 12 months, though the elevated margins enjoyed by refineries during the conversion to jet fuel have come down recently.<br/>
Chris Caputo stood on the tarmac at Burlington International Airport in Vermont in early October and looked to the clouds in the distance. He had piloted military and commercial aircraft over a long career, racking up thousands of flight hours, but the trip he was about to take would be very different. That’s because the airplane Caputo would fly runs on batteries. Over the next 16 days, he and his colleagues flew the plane, a CX300 built by their employer, Beta Technologies, down the East Coast. They would make nearly two dozen stops to rest and recharge, flying through congested airspace over Boston, New York, Washington and other cities. When the journey came to an end in Florida, Beta handed the plane over to the Air Force, which will experiment with it over the next few months. The trip offered a vision of what aviation could look like years from now — one in which the skies are filled with aircraft that do not emit the greenhouse gases that are dangerously warming up the Earth. “We’re doing some really meaningful work for our state, our country and the planet,” Caputo said. “It’s hard not to want to be a part of it.” For most of aviation history, electric aircraft have been little more than a fantasy. But technological advancements, particularly in batteries, and billions of dollars of investment have helped make short-distance electric air travel feasible — and, its backers hope, commercially viable. Beta, which is privately held, has raised more than $800m from investors like Fidelity, Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund and the private equity firm TPG Capital. The company employs about 600 people, mostly in Vermont, and recently finished building a factory in Burlington where it plans to mass produce its aircraft, which have yet to be certified by the FAA.<br/>