The aviation industry will press regulators this week for urgent action to help tackle GPS "spoofing" amid a surge in such activity, which can send commercial airliners off-course, due to conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. International trade body IATA and European regulator EASA have organised a meeting in Cologne, Germany, on Thursday that will bring together airlines, plane manufacturers and aviation technology firms, as well as national and regional regulatory bodies, to discuss the issue. Spoofing might involve one country's military sending false Global Positioning System (GPS) signals to an enemy plane or drone to hinder its ability to function. The problem for commercial aviation comes if that false signal is then picked up by a GPS receiver in a passenger plane, potentially confusing the pilot and air traffic control. And there are signs that's becoming more common. In December, aviation advisory body OPSGROUP flagged a surge in GPS spoofing affecting private and commercial jets around the Middle East, including Iraq, Iran and Israel, and the Black Sea.<br/>
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The FAA on Wednesday halted Boeing’s planned expansion of its 737 Max aircraft production, but it cleared a path for the manufacturer’s Max 9 to return to service in the coming days, nearly three weeks after a door plug blew out during an Alaska Airlines flight. “Let me be clear: This won’t be back to business as usual for Boeing,” said FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker in a statement Wednesday. “We will not agree to any request from Boeing for an expansion in production or approve additional production lines for the 737 MAX until we are satisfied that the quality control issues uncovered during this process are resolved.” Boeing has been scrambling to ramp up output of its best-selling aircraft as airlines clamor for new jets in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. “We will continue to cooperate fully and transparently with the FAA and follow their direction as we take action to strengthen safety and quality at Boeing,” the company said in a statement. Boeing shares were down roughly 1% in after-hours trading after the FAA’s announcement. The FAA on Wednesday also said it approved inspection instructions for the Max 9 aircraft. Airlines had been awaiting that approval to review their fleets to return those planes to service.<br/>
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun met with several U.S. senators Wednesday on Capitol Hill as scrutiny on the company’s leaders intensifies over a blown door plug on one of the company’s 737 Max 9 planes. “I’m here today in the spirit of transparency ... [and to] answer all their questions, because they have a lot of them,” Calhoun told reporters. The meetings were organized at Calhoun’s request, according to people familiar with the matter. The FAA grounded the planes after a door plug blew out Jan. 5 as Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, a nearly new 737 Max 9, was climbing out of Portland, Oregon, exposing passengers to a force so violent it sucked out headrests and seatbacks. The FAA is still reviewing data from 40 early inspections of the planes before it can approve safety review instructions that would clear the path for the planes to return to service. “It’s been difficult to predict [how long that process will take], so we’ve sort of stopped trying,” FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker Tuesday. “But as soon as we get it sorted out it’ll be up again.” Sen. Dan Sullivan, a Republican from Alaska, told reporters after his meeting with Calhoun that the Senate is looking into addressing airline safety in the FAA reauthorization bill. “Aviation safety can’t be reactive. It has to be proactive. And that is why we need to get this darn FAA reauthorization done,” Sullivan said.<br/>
Nearly three weeks after a hole blew open on a Boeing 737 Max 9 during an Alaska Airlines flight, terrifying passengers, new details about the jet’s production are intensifying scrutiny of Boeing’s quality-control practices. About a month before the Max 9 was delivered to Alaska Airlines in October, workers at Boeing’s factory in Renton, Wash., opened and later reinstalled the panel that would blow off the plane’s body, according to a person familiar with the matter. The employees opened the panel, known as a door plug, because work needed to be done to its rivets — which are often used to join and secure parts on planes — said the person, who asked for anonymity because the person isn’t authorized to speak publicly while the National Transportation Safety Board conducts an investigation. The request to open the plug came from employees of Spirit AeroSystems, a supplier that makes the body for the 737 Max in Wichita, Kan. After Boeing employees complied, Spirit employees who are based at Boeing’s Renton factory repaired the rivets. Boeing employees then reinstalled the door. An internal system that tracks maintenance work at the facility, which assembles 737s, shows the request for maintenance but does not contain information about whether the door plug was inspected after it was replaced, the person said. The details could begin to answer a crucial question about why the door plug detached from Flight 1282 at 16,000 feet, forcing the pilots to make an emergency landing at Portland International Airport in Oregon minutes after taking off on Jan. 5. The door plug is placed where an emergency exit door would be if a jet had more seats. To stay in place, the plug relies primarily on a pair of bolts at the top and another pair at the bottom, as well as metal pins and pads on the sides.<br/>
Boeing is set to deliver its first 737 MAX to a Chinese airline since March 2019 on Wednesday, flight data shows, ending a four-year freeze on imports of the U.S. planemaker’s most profitable product in a respite for severely strained trade relations between the world’s two largest economies. For Boeing, the delivery symbolizes the re-opening of doors to China, one of the fastest-growing aerospace markets, which Boeing projects will compose 20% of the world’s aircraft demand through 2042. It represents a vote of confidence for the planemaker during a difficult period for Boeing following a Jan. 5 mid-air cabin blowout during a full flight. Chinese imports of the MAX have been suspended since it was grounded worldwide in 2019 following two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019. Safety bans have been lifted with existing MAX already flying inside China, but new deliveries had remained on hold. Boeing has faced increased scrutiny following the Jan. 5 mid-air incident on an Alaska Airlines flight. Nobody was seriously injured, but the FAA grounded 171 MAX 9s after the incident. A 737 MAX 8 for China Southern Airlines is scheduled to depart from Seattle Boeing field in Washington state at 9 a.m. Pacific Time (1200 ET) for Honolulu, flight data from FlightRadar 24 shows, before its final destination in China.<br/>
Argentina's largest union started a 12-hour strike on Wednesday with tens of thousands of workers demonstrating in the heart of Buenos Aires against tough economic austerity measures and reforms by new libertarian President Javier Milei. The action, hitting sectors from transport to banks, is the biggest show of opposition to Milei's plans for spending cuts and privatization since he took office last month, pledging to fix an economy reeling from 211% inflation and crippling debt. But even as the strikes, which started at noon local time, took a toll on transport, banks, hospitals and public services, Milei's government vowed to stick to its reform plans. Local airlines said they had been forced to cancel hundreds of flights.<br/>
Greece on Thursday will launch an initial public offering (IPO) for a 30% stake in Athens International Airport, a sale which along with a company dividend could yield up to E1.2b for the state, according to sources. The country is selling 90m shares, through a combined offering to Greek and foreign investors and existing shareholders, in its biggest IPO after its 2010-2018 debt crisis. Athens International Airport, the operator of Greece's biggest airport, has set the price range for its IPO at E7.0 to 8.2 ($7.62 to $8.92) per share, the country's privatisation agency said on Wednesday The IPO will run from Jan. 25 to Feb. 1 and the final pricing will be determined following the six-day book-building period. The listing on the Athens Stock Exchange is expected to take place in February and the company's free float is expected to be about 19%.<br/>
Some 58.9m passengers passed through Changi Airport in 2023, rebounding to 86% of traffic levels seen before the Covid-19 pandemic. This was also an 83% increase from the 32.2m passengers the airport handled in 2022. In 2019, before the pandemic hit, the airport registered 68.3m passenger movements. About 328,000 flights took off from or landed at Changi Airport in 2023, according to the latest figures released by airport operator Changi Airport Group (CAG) on Jan 24. It handled 382,000 flights in 2019. Between October and December 2023, the airport recorded 16.1m passenger movements, surpassing 90% of pre-pandemic levels. December was the busiest month of the year for Changi Airport, with 5.8m passengers moving through it. This was 91% of traffic levels in December 2019.<br/>