What a difference one year can make – as many people who traveled by air during the now-notorious last week of 2022 could tell you. But at the tail end of 2023, you’d mostly hear tales of improvement. As the days between Christmas and New Year’s tick off, airlines are continuing their streak of few flight cancelations after last year’s disastrous holiday travel meltdown. Figures from FlightAware show that US carriers have canceled less than 1% of all flights over the past week. Airlines scheduled more than 162,000 flights from December 20 to 26 and canceled just 1,100 of them. The FAA has warned that ground stops could go into place Wednesday for flights departing for major East coast airports in Philadelphia, Boston, New York and Washington as pilots and air traffic controllers battle low cloud ceilings and reduced visibility. But as of 3 p.m. ET, those ground stops have yet to materialize. Airlines have canceled only 129 flights in the United States and delayed another 3,800, according to FlightAware. The scene is diametrically opposed to Southwest Airlines’ schedule meltdown over the last 10 days of 2022, which caused the cancelation of 16,900 flights and left 2m passengers stranded. Even still, Southwest Airlines has delayed the most flights of any US carrier during the holiday rush — roughly one in four flights over the last week. From December 20 to 26, Southwest delayed 27% of its schedule, or 8,096 flights. Only 2% of Southwest flights have been canceled over the same period. Southwest delayed another 985 flights — or one in five flights scheduled — on Wednesday. Delays over the last week peaked on Tuesday, when US airlines delayed nearly 28% of all flights which arrived an average of 52 minutes late, according to FlightAware figures. “There’s a big difference between a delay and a cancellation,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said last week during a news conference.<br/>
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Despite economic uncertainty, there’s abundant optimism from airlines and travel experts when it comes to Canadians taking to the skies in 2024. A recent report from the IATA projected an estimated 4.7b people globally will fly in 2024 – which would exceed the previous record of 4.5b set in 2019. Even with the high volume of travellers, the IATA suggests the airline industry might only have a 2.7% profit margin. “Considering the major losses of recent years, the US$25.7b net profit expected in 2024 is a tribute to aviation’s resilience,” Willie Walsh, IATA’s DG, said in a written statement on the research. “People love to travel and that has helped airlines to come roaring back to pre-pandemic levels of connectivity. The speed of the recovery has been extraordinary.” Walsh’s optimism has been reflected at Porter Airlines, where the once-small regional airline spent 2023 aggressively expanding after acquiring 50 new Embraer E195-E2 jets to grow its network.<br/>
Boeing has urged airlines to inspect all 737 Max airplanes for a possible loose bolt in the rudder-control system after an international airline discovered a bolt with a missing nut while performing routine maintenance, the Federal Aviation Administration said on Thursday. After the international airline, which the agency did not name, noticed the missing nut, Boeing discovered that an undelivered 737 Max also had a nut that was not properly tightened, the FAA said. Boeing said it has delivered more than 1,370 of the aircraft worldwide since 2017 and has urged that all of them be inspected for the possible loose hardware. The company said it was also inspecting its undelivered 737 Max airplanes. “The issue identified on the particular airplane has been remedied,” Boeing said in a statement. “Out of an abundance of caution, we are recommending operators inspect their 737 Max airplanes and inform us of any findings.” The FAA said it was closely monitoring the inspections and would consider further action if additional instances of loose or missing hardware were discovered. Boeing said there had been no “in-service incidents” caused by possible loose hardware and that, before pushing back from the gate, flight crews routinely conduct checks that would alert them if the rudder was not working properly. Such inspections involve removing an access panel and visually confirming that the bolt in the rudder-control system has been properly installed, Boeing said. The company added that the inspections would take about two hours per plane. Several major American air travel companies, including United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, American Airlines and Alaska Airlines, use the 737 Max, a single-aisle workhorse aircraft built for short and intermediate distances. United, American, Southwest and Alaska each said they did not expect the inspections would affect their operations. Alaska said it would begin the inspections on Thursday and expected to complete them in the first half of January. Southwest said it was carrying them out during routine overnight maintenance.<br/>
Bulgaria and Romania said they’re close to an agreement that would bring them closer to the European Union’s visa-free travel zone, with restrictions for air and sea travel possibly being lifted from the end of March. Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov said Thursday the two Balkan nations, which joined the EU 16 years ago, have reached an “agreement in principle” with Austria, which is the last member state to block entry into the so-called Schengen area. He echoed comments made by Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu late Wednesday. Denkov said the trust built up with access to the Schengen system by air and sea will pave the way to full membership in the border-free zone. Austria’s Interior Ministry said talks on easing air access are ongoing, though there are no negotiations or date set for land access. “If there are no surprises, the next stage should follow,” Denkov told reporters in Sofia. Access to the EU travel area has been a source of frustration to Bulgaria and Romania, which have fulfilled the bloc’s requirements for years. They’ve met with resistance from EU member states that have taken issue with the countries’ ability to fight corruption and organized crime. Earlier this month, the Netherlands lifted its veto against Bulgaria, while Austria stood by its reservations over the influx of migrants into the bloc. The government in Vienna is demanding better border controls overland and wants Sofia and Bucharest to host migrants from Afghanistan and Syria. Eased control for air travel would mean passengers flying into Schengen airports won’t have to go through passport controls. <br/>
Russian authorities have approved the Yakovlev MC-21 to transport up to 211 passengers, a higher figure than previously permitted. Federal air transport regulator Rosaviatsia says the type certificate for the model was amended on 26 December. Under the previous authorisation the twinjet was able to take 175 passengers. “Before the approval of the amendment to the type certificate was issued, tests were carried out on the emergency evacuation of passengers and crew members of the aircraft,” says the regulator. It says the MC-21’s compliance with airworthiness standards and emergency equipment requirements have been confirmed. United Aircraft general director Andrei Boginsky says the approval will allow the manufacturer to deliver MC-21s in “all configuration options”. Rosaviatsia deputy head Andrei Dobryakov adds that development work is continuing to expand the operating parameters of the aircraft. Yakovlev has produced two versions of the MC-21 – the Pratt & Whitney PW1400G-powered MC-21-300 and the MC-21-310 which is fitted with Russian-built Aviadvigatel PD-14s.<br/>
Filipinos may start the new year ticking a destination off of their bucket list, as airfares are set to drop in January with the government's move to slash the fuel surcharge. In an advisory, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) said the fuel surcharge that airlines could collect from passengers will be cut to Level 6 in January from Level 7 in December. As listed in CAB's matrix, Level 6 means carriers can impose a fuel surcharge of only P185 to P665 for domestic flights and P610.37 to P4,538.40 for international routes. As required, CAB instructed airlines to submit an application for fuel surcharge to the agency before January. For January, CAB said operators may apply a conversion rate of P55.6 to $1 for airfares to be collected in foreign currency. Airlines may include the fuel surcharge in the billing of their passengers to somewhat recover the losses they incur from price fluctuations in jet fuel. For 2024, the IATA projects jet fuel to average $113.8 per barrel, and expects the aviation industry to consume 99b gallons. 'High crude oil prices are expected to continue to be further exaggerated for airlines as the crack spread, or the premium paid to refine crude oil into jet fuel, is expected to average 30% in 2024,' IATA said.<br/>
Aircraft lessor BOC Aviation said on Friday it agreed to buy four Airbus A321NEO and two Airbus A320NEO aircraft from Airbus S.A.S on Dec. 27. The company said the delivery of the aircraft had been scheduled for 2027 and 2028. It did not disclose the deal value under the agreement.<br/>
Passengers will fly in 2024 with airlines that are putting their post-lockdown plans into place. And that includes shiny new airplanes containing new seat designs arriving at a rapid pace. A scattering of new airports and terminals will change the game in a few key regions, although some routes and airplanes will be delayed into 2025 or further because of supply chain difficulties. Story looks at new airports and terminals before taking a look at the airplane deliveries and new seats.<br/>