For most of us, traveling home for the holidays involves bringing clothes, presents and possibly some food to add to the feast awaiting us. But three US travelers attempted to bring something else cross-country for the season of peace: loaded guns. The three were caught during the busy holiday travel period by TSA officers in separate incidents across the East Coast. On December 22, a Florida man was stopped at Harrisburg International Airport in Pennsylvania, after TSA staff detected a .380 caliber handgun in his luggage, loaded with no fewer than seven bullets. “The traveler claimed that he forgot that he had his loaded gun with him,” TSA said. Then on Christmas Eve, a woman from Maryland was stopped at DC’s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport after TSA staff noticed a 9mm gun loaded with six bullets in her carry-on. The gun – with pink paneling – was the 39th detected at the airport in 2023. That’s the highest number ever caught at Reagan – the previous record was 30 in a year, in 2021. The gun was detected by the X-ray machine at the security checkpoint, the TSA said in a statement, adding: “Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police confiscated the gun and cited the individual on a weapons charge.” The woman now faces a penalty of up to $15,000.<br/>
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Pro-Palestinian protesters briefly blocked entrance roads to airports in New York and Los Angeles on Wednesday, forcing some travelers to set off on foot to bypass the jammed roadway. As US airlines contended with a rush of holiday travel, the demonstrations snarled traffic on the outskirts of New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and the Los Angeles International Airport. A total of 62 people were arrested during the two protests, police said. In New York, activists locked arms and held banners demanding an end to the Israel-Hamas war and expanded rights for Palestinians, bringing traffic to a standstill on the expressway leading up to the airport for about 20 minutes.<br/>Video posted to social media showed passengers, some carrying suitcases, leaving vehicles behind and stepping over barriers onto the highway median. One woman could be heard saying that she was “sorry for what’s going on in another country,” but she had to get to work, using an obscenity. Twenty-six people were arrested on the roadway, said Steve Burns, a spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The agency also dispatched two buses “offering rides to travelers involved in the backup to allow them to reach the airport safely,” Burns said. Around the same time as the New York protest, a major thoroughfare leading to the Los Angeles airport was shut down by another group of pro-Palestinian protesters, who dragged traffic cones, trash bins, scooters and debris into the lanes, according to news helicopter footage.<br/>
“I fully expect my wheelchair to keep getting damaged, and it’s a fairly significant source of stress for me when I fly,” Heather Bennett said. Bennett is one of thousands of wheelchair users whose devices were damaged while flying in 2023 and one of more than 30 disabled travelers who shared their personal stories of such damage with USA TODAY this year. According to the Department of Transportation, there were 8,637 reported mobility device damage incidents as of September, about 1.4% of the total number transported. Full-year data for 2023 is expected in early 2024. For comparison, by the end of September 2022, airlines had reported 8,348 incidents of mobility device damage to the DOT. While the numbers for 2023 are slightly higher so far, airlines also carried almost 75,000 more mobility devices in 2023 compared to the previous year. Even so, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said those numbers need to be brought way down. “Any number greater than zero is not an acceptable number,” he said. “This not only affects your trip, it affects your life.” Bennett agreed, saying not a lot of people realize, “it’s not just the damage to the chair, it’s the time in my life that I have to take to fix it that ended up being costly.” Buttigieg and accessibility advocates want airlines to do better, and are optimistic about regulatory changes being considered for 2024 that could help bring some improvement. <br/>
Even before her job offer was finalized in 1973, Senka Dukovich realized her career as a flight attendant had an expiry date. “I had to sign a contract as a new hire that I would quit after 10 years, or that I would quit at 32 years old, whichever came first. Can you believe that?” the Toronto resident recalled. Her initial interview with Air Canada contained another demeaning surprise. “I was told to wear a skirt and I was told to turn around. That was my first experience with what you might call sexism.” Before the 1970s, female cabin crew, then known as stewardesses, faced discriminatory hiring and work policies marked by strict weight limits, age ceilings, appearance guidelines and marriage bans. But, amid a swelling tide of second-wave feminism — from Chatelaine to the Royal Commission on the Status of Women — a new generation of flight attendants fought to overturn sexist expectations and bring fair labour standards to the skies. Susan Barnes was in her early 20s when she signed on with Canadian Pacific Air Lines in 1968. Mandatory retirement was at age 30. Marriage was a fireable offence. Regular weigh-ins — when cabin crew stepped on a scale before departure — were also required. “I had a weight restriction of 112 to 116 pounds. So if I weighed less than that or more than that, I got taken off the line with no pay,” Barnes recalled. “I never saw the boys step on the scale.” Management regulated appearance down to the last eyelash. Each worker was told during a two-month training program which mascara and eyeliner to wear, available only from the company store. In 1970, Canadian Pacific conceded to end the marriage ban following demands from a small group of flight attendants, including Barnes. A wave of “new” nuptials followed immediately. Story has more. At the time, pregnancy was also a no-no, until Barnes’s committee demanded accommodation, she said. After the change, stewardesses still went unpaid until they returned from leave.<br/>
AIR fares for flights between Zimbabwe and South Africa - mainly the Harare-Johannesburg and Bulawayo-Johannesburg routes - have shot up dramatically during the festive season (Christmas and New Year holidays), with some airlines now charging an extortionate US$1 003 for a return booking from the capital for a one-hour-30 minutes trip. A one-way trip on that route costs as much as US$570, which is too exorbitant. This has disrupted travellers' holiday plans and family or friends' reunions. The airlines operating those busy routes include Airlink, Fastjet, South African Airways and Safair. Air Zimbabwe and British Airways (Comair) are no longer in operation. The average fare for a flight between Harare and Johannesburg, which is an hour-and-a-half long, is about US$350, but prices have doubled or even trebled in some cases. The current fares being charged are more or less equivalent to the price of a return ticket from Harare to Dubai. For instance, a Kenya Airways flight from Harare to Dubai costs US$766; Ethiopian Airways (US$867) and Emirates US$1 004.<br/>
India has launched an investigation into how 303 Indians ended up on a chartered flight that was grounded in France last week because of suspected human trafficking, authorities in the western Indian state of Gujarat said on Wednesday. Tipped off by an anonymous informant, French authorities on Friday prevented the plane from flying to its listed destination of Nicaragua from a refuelling stopover at Vatry airport in northeastern France. It had taken off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with 11 unaccompanied minors among the passengers, 276 of whom returned to India on Tuesday. Many of the Indians onboard hailed from Gujarat, officials said. Sanjay Kharat, a senior Gujarat police official, said authorities had obtained the names and addresses of 21 persons from the state who were on the flight, and that investigators were trying to determine who facilitated their travel. "Our teams have already spoken with some of them ...(or) their family members," he said. The flight was operated by Romania's Legend Airlines. Its lawyer Liliana Bakayoko declined to name the client who chartered the plane, citing contractual confidentiality. An official at India's home ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the registration of the chartered flight and "people operating this entire nexus" had been identified, but declined to elaborate. A ministry spokesperson did not respond to an email seeking further comment. French authorities placed two of the passengers on "assisted witness" status after investigating them for suspected people smuggling, while another 25 remained in France to apply for asylum. In France, "assisted witness" is an intermediate status between that of a witness and an indicted suspect.<br/>
The Philippines on Wednesday received bids from four groups for a 170.6b peso ($3b) contract to upgrade and operate its main airport in Manila. The groups that submitted bids were Manila International Airport Consortium, Asian Airport Consortium, GMR Airports Consortium and SMC SAP & Co Consortium, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said before opening the offers. The concession period is 15 years, and extendable by 10 years. The Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the main gateway for travelers to the Philippines, has been handling traffic well beyond its capacity of 33.2m passengers a year. In 2019, the last full year of the pandemic, passenger traffic reached 47.9m. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration wants to tap private companies to manage the airport as part of a wider infrastructure push. The project involves upgrading of terminals, increasing of capacity to up to 62m passengers annually, and improving technology infrastructure, according to the Philippine transportation department. Conglomerates Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., Alliance Global Group Inc., Ayala Corp., Filinvest Development Corp., JG Summit Holdings Inc. and Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp. formed the Manila International Airport Consortium, according to live-streamed proceedings. Holding company House of Investments, Inc. has joined GMR Airports International BV and Cavitex Holdings, Inc. in submitting a bid for the airport project, while Cosco Capital Inc. is part of the Asian Airport Consortium. Bidders’ financial and technical qualifications will be screened in the coming days, Bautista said. The winning bidder is expected to be announced next quarter, ABS-CBN reported.<br/>
Airfares are expected to gradually fall next year due to an increase in licensed airlines and a higher number of aircraft in the air transport sector, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT). The CAAT said on Tuesday night that eight airlines had recently received air operator licences from the transport minister (Suriya Jungrungreangkit) and were planning to deploy a total of 60 airplanes throughout 2024. According to the aviation authority, five of the eight airlines are domestic. They include Ezy Airlines (formerly known as Landarch Airlines), Pattaya Airways, P80 Air, Really Cool Airlines and Siam Seaplane. With a combined investment of 3.85b baht, these airlines have yet to receive air operator certificates to start operation. The CAAT acknowledged that airlines often need to make profits to support flights that yield marginal profits, as long as ticket prices remain within the ceiling prices set by the authority. Concerning the increase in airfares during festivals, the CAAT assured that all airlines continue to adhere to the stipulated airfare ceilings. The CAAT recommended that the sooner passengers booked tickets, the cheaper they would pay for flights. It explained that airlines had downsized personnel, fleets, infrastructures and management systems during the Covid-19 pandemic for survival. At present, demand for air travel exceeds supply and airfares have seen an increase of 17% worldwide.<br/>
Local airlines and the top-five foreign carriers flying into Malaysia are projected to boost seat capacity by 24% and 31% respectively, in 2024. According to MIDF Research, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) is actively expanding its hub, aiming for 83 airlines operating from domestic airports in the next two years -- exceeding the 2019 figure by 20%. Airlines anticipated to enter in the second half of 2024 include Air India, British Airways and Qantas, added the research firm. “We project an 85% recovery of the 2019 levels in the current year, with domestic rebounding at 90% and international at 80%. Our preliminary estimate indicates a projected growth of 4% in overall traffic next year compared to 2019 levels to be propelled by the expansion of local airline fleets, the return of both new and existing foreign airlines and a gradual resurgence of Chinese tourists,” MIDF Research said in a report. MIDF Research said air traffic for this month is expected to receive a partial boost from the 30-day visa-free entry agreements with China, India, and the Middle East, in addition to the peak travel season. For November, despite it being an off-peak travel season, it noted that Malaysian airports recorded a 27.4% year-on-year (y-o-y) rise in passenger movements, reaching 77% of pre-pandemic levels (domestic: 75%, international: 78%), with 6.6m passengers.<br/>
Just 25 departures on Christmas Day were cancelled at Sydney Airport despite severe flooding to the domestic runway apron and terminal. In total, only 6.5% of flights out of Australia’s busiest airport failed to take off, with no international services affected. The result will be seen as a huge success for Qantas, Virgin and the airport itself after another year of poor performance. On Christmas Eve, more than 64 mm of rain fell between 5:30 pm and 7 pm and further rain the following day. The thunderstorms were caused by slow-moving cell that saw the state emergency service rescue more than 20 people in the eastern suburbs of the NSW capital. Users on social media posted a series of photos showing the damage, including one depicting a Rex transit vehicle wading through water. Australian Aviation reported last week how Australia’s big three East Coast airports are collectively expecting around 10.5m passengers across their respective holiday peak periods. Sydney has forecast 2.6m passengers through its terminals over the three weeks from 14 December to 3 January, while Melbourne is expecting more than 4.2m between 20 December and 29 January, and Brisbane is tipping 3.7m between 1 December and 28 January. The forecast for Sydney is almost 500,000 more than last year, which saw a disappointing December with less traffic at Australia’s biggest airport than five other months of the year. “While it’s great to see many Australians heading away on an overseas holiday, we’re also excited to welcome an influx of overseas visitors who are choosing to enjoy a summer getaway in Sydney,” said Scott Charlton, CEO of Sydney Airport.<br/>