Canada has received a C grade on flight safety oversight — down from an A+ almost two decades ago and far below most of its peers — according to a draft report from a United Nations agency. The confidential audit from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) obtained by The Canadian Press says the country has fallen precipitously to a score of 64 out of 100, with three areas of safety oversight in particular seeing a big drop-off: aircraft operations, airports and air navigation. Canada’s score topped 95% in the UN body’s previous report in 2005. The UN body recommended that the federal government establish a system to lock in full regulatory compliance by airlines and airports, shore up certification related to dangerous goods and ensure proper training and fatigue management for air traffic controllers. A shortage of the latter and a trend toward off-loading safety responsibilities from government to industry remain concerns across the continent, said Ross Aimer, CEO of California-based Aero Consulting Experts. “Every other day you hear there’s what we call a near miss. I don’t like that term ’near miss’; I would like to call it a near collision,” Aimer said.<br/>
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Canada’s federal regulations are behind the high cost of domestic air fares, a new report says. Excessive fees and taxes on airlines and airports are being passed down to travellers and making ticket prices less competitive, according to a Montreal Economic Institute study. “Ottawa prefers to treat our airports as cash cows, rather than the essential transportation infrastructure that they are,” said Gabriel Giguère, the author of the new study. “These taxes have a direct effect on the high cost of domestic travel in this country.” Using a roundtrip flight from Montreal to Vancouver during Spring Break 2024 as an example, Giguère estimated taxes and fees would make up more than a third of the final ticket price. While Porter Airlines charges $332 for the flight if booked today, the airport improvement fee of $102 plus $14.24 security fee and subsequent sales tax would equal to $180, bringing the final price up to $512. According to the report, rental fees imposed on airports are a major reason ticket prices are so high. “For the 2022-2023 fiscal year, the rents paid to the federal government amounted to $419m, an increase of 42.5% in just 10 years,” the report says. Toronto Pearson and Montréal-Trudeau, two of Canada’s busiest airports, accounted for more than half of the rent collected in 2022. This amounts to about 12% of the two airports’ total revenue, according to MEI. “Compared to the billions of dollars it collects in rent, the federal government invests little, if anything, in maintaining airport infrastructure,” the report says.<br/>
French Transport Minister Clement Beaune confirmed on Thursday a no-fly zone over Paris on the evening of the Olympic Games opening ceremony next July, and tried to reassure people that the transport system could handle an expected surge in numbers. There will be a no-fly zone from 1900-0000 local time on the night of the Olympic Games' opening ceremony on July 26. This no-fly zone will span an area of 150 km. This will also mean there will be no arrivals or departures out of Paris' three main airports of Roissy-Charles de Gaulle, Orly and Beauvais for that period. The no-fly zone risks disruption to leading global airlines which fly into Paris, such as Air France-KLM, British Airways, Lufthansa, Emirates, American Airlines and Singapore Airlines. The Paris no-fly zone echoes a similar measure set in place by Britain for the London 2012 Olympics.<br/>
The production of eco-friendly jet fuel is expected to triple to 1.875b litres in 2024, accounting for 0.53% of the aviation industry’s fuel needs, said the International Air Transport Association (Iata). But this is still far behind the amount needed to reach the target of having cleaner jet fuel form 5% of fuel consumption by 2030. That is because to meet this target, about 17.5b litres of eco-friendly fuel – more than nine times the projected amount in 2024 – will need to be produced yearly by 2030, Iata said at its global media day on Dec 6 in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2023, greener jet fuel volumes reached 600m litres, double the 300m litres produced in 2022, said Iata. Sustainable aviation fuel refers to jet fuel made from waste materials such as used cooking oil and animal fat. Singapore Airlines and its budget arm Scoot are among those committed to reaching a goal of 5% sustainable aviation fuel use by 2030. In November, the International Civil Aviation Organisation and its member states – including Singapore – adopted a global framework for cleaner aviation fuels to reduce carbon emissions in international aviation by 5% by 2030.<br/>
Boeing has signaled to suppliers that plans to ramp up production of its bestselling 737 narrowbody jetliner will move about two months more slowly than originally anticipated, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The US planemaker now expects it will produce 42 of its 737s per month starting in February 2024, according to a new master schedule that Boeing briefed to its suppliers over the past week, the sources said. Both Boeing and its European rival Airbus have laid out ambitious plans to increase production, particularly for popular single-aisle models, to meet soaring customer demand. However, both planemakers have had to battle supply chain bottlenecks and production disruptions. Analysts had already suspected Boeing would alter its on-paper schedule, which targeted the end of 2023 to reach 42 jets produced per month, after a supplier error slowed ramp-up plans this autumn. The new schedule pushes subsequent rate increases as well, shifting Boeing's plan for 47.2 jets a month from June to August 2024, while its target to increase 737 production to 52.5 jets a month was moved from December 2024 to February 2025. Boeing now expects to hit its pre-pandemic goal of 57.7 aircraft per month in October 2025, a delay of three months from the original July 2025. Boeing declined to comment specifically on the new master schedule, which it does not disclose.<br/>
An artificial intelligence startup targeting air travel has raised $34m in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz to more aggressively pursue deals with the Department of Defense. Air Space Intelligence Inc. has long sold its tools — which have been described as Waze for air travel — to commercial carriers including Alaska Airlines. The startup’s marquee product, called Flyways, can help flight dispatchers pick routes for planes, taking into account factors like flight traffic, weather and airport conditions. The new financing brings Air Space’s valuation to roughly $300m, according to people familiar with the situation who asked not to be identified because the details are private. The startup declined to comment on its valuation. This fall, Air Space won two contracts with the US Air Force totaling $2.7m and has qualified to compete for a third valued at as much as $900m, the startup said. News of the deals has not been been previously reported. Air Space joins a growing cohort of Silicon Valley startups seeking to win the US Defense Department as a customer. Earlier this year, it signed an eight-figure, multiyear deal with Alaska Airlines, and the startup says that the segment of its business related to commercial customers is profitable. Now, following a series of small deals with the US Air Force, it’s working to expand its government business. Air Space CEO Phillip Buckendorf said that eventually the company aims to build out the government side of its operation to the same scale as its commercial one, “if not bigger.” David Ulevitch, a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, said Air Space was an appealing bet in part because of its applications in both the public and private sectors. “The DoD knows they need to level up their mission-critical infrastructure such as air operations and are looking toward the private sector for solutions,” said Ulevitch, who co-leads his firm’s American Dynamism practice, which seeks to invest in companies that advance causes like national security and infrastructure. Ulevitch also will become an Air Space board observer.<br/>