A United Airlines round-trip ticket from Denver to Dallas in late March is advertised for $91. But checking one bag at the airport both ways will cost an extra $80 — nearly as much as the flight. Checked bag fees are hitting record highs as airlines up the ante. Bag fees are lucrative revenue for airlines and a way to save on taxes, airline experts say. Last week, American Airlines said it was raising luggage fees by $5. American will charge $40 for customers who don’t first prepay online and $35 if they do. United, JetBlue and Alaska Airlines have also announced fee increases this year. (Southwest is the only airline that does not charge for checking bags. Delta charges $30 for a first checked bag, but has not raised its prices since 2018.) Luggage fees feel like they’ve been around forever, but they are a relatively new phenomenon. In 2008, American became the first major US airline to charge customers for checking a bag, instituting a $15 fee. Airlines also charge extra for bags that weigh over a certain threshold, often 50 pounds. Charging for bags separately, a move known as “unbundling,” is a way to move part of the price out of the base airfare and into fees for tax savings purposes. said Gary Leff, an expert on the airline industry and founder of the travel website View from the Wing. Domestic airfares are subject to a 7.5% federal excise tax, but that tax doesn’t apply to airline fees. So an airline can save $75m in tax fees off its $1b revenue in domestic checked-bag fees.<br/>
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The US FAA has said it will mandate a fix for a previously signaled Boeing 737 MAX design problem that may theoretically disable the jet's engine anti-ice system, though that's a remote possibility. The issue, reported on Friday in the Seattle Times, is separate from a directive reported by the FAA last year that requires airlines to limit the use of an engine anti-icing system on the aircraft. In February, the FAA issued two airworthiness directives related to a condition on the strong-selling MAX and to lay out inspection and repair procedures on the 787. Airlines had reported a separate issue with a system on Boeing's 787 Dreamliner jets, which has caused what the FAA calls "relatively minor" damage to the engine inlets on about two dozen of the jets in service. Boeing said in a statement that it discovered the MAX issue during a review of flight deck systems in 2021 and issued instructions to operators in November 2022 to address the potential concern. The planemaker said it "is a remote concern that has never been seen during decades of service" from the older 737 NG model to the newer MAX. "Neither is an immediate safety-of-flight concern based on extensive engineering analysis," Boeing said in the statement.<br/>
The Biden administration will finalize revisions to its climate model for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) feedstocks in the coming weeks, a White House official said. "The Administration is committed to getting this right – to both reflect the latest science and create new economic opportunities through SAF production – and plan to finalize updates in the coming weeks," the official told Reuters.<br/>
Venezuela’s government has condemned the scrapping of a Boeing 747-300M following its retrieval by US authorities from Buenos Aires, where the jet had been impounded nearly two years. The 747, in the livery of Emtrasur, had been the subject of a legal wrangle after the US government alleged it was being used for activities prohibited by sanctions, particularly against Iran. It was flown from Buenos Aires to Florida on 12 February. Images circulating on social media indicate that the airframe, with its livery de-identified and its engines removed, has since been broken up. The Venezuelan government says the aircraft has been “destroyed” having been “stolen” from Argentinean territory, adding that it “categorically denounces the act of vandalism”. This condemnation is echoed by the Latin American intergovernmental economic organisation ALBA-TCP – of which Venezuela is a founding member – which refers to the “unjustifiable destruction” of the 747.<br/>
Flights at Port-au-Prince airport in Haiti’s capital have been disrupted for the second straight day by heavy gunfire nearby, as the Caribbean nation grapples with surging gang violence and political instability. The US Embassy in Haiti issued a security alert on Friday, warning of gunfire and disruptions to traffic near the domestic and international terminals of the Toussaint Louverture International Airport, as well as surrounding areas including a hotel and the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police. “The US Embassy is temporarily halting travel of official US personnel to the airport and instructing any US personnel at the airport to remain there,” the embassy said. It comes a day after shootings erupted across Haiti’s capital, forcing flight cancellations and killing at least four people during an attack on a police station. American Airlines said Thursday it had suspended its daily service between Miami and Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince. “We will continue to monitor the situation with safety and security top of mind and will adjust our operation as needed,” spokesperson Laura Masvidal said. Haitian airline Sunrise Airways told CNN that it suspended “all flights until further notice to ensure the safety of passengers, ground crews, and aircraft.” Rapid gunfire near the airport had “caused damage to some aircraft and endangered users” of the domestic terminal, according to Sunrise Airways. A US flight carrying dozens of Haitian deportees was also canceled, according to a source with knowledge of the operation and a lawyer for one of the deportees.<br/>
Serial deliveries of several new Russian aircraft types – including the Yakovlev MC-21, SJ-100 and Ilyushin Il-114-300 – have been postponed, according to a number of media outlets in the country. Russian president Vladimir Putin, during an address to the federal assembly on 29 February, only briefly mentioned the civil aircraft industry, noting plans to modernise at least 75 airports in six years. “It is also necessary to update the fleet of our airlines using our own domestic aircraft,” he added. “They must meet all modern requirements for quality, convenience and safety – a difficult task. “[Russia’s air transport industry] bought too much [capability] abroad, but did not develop their own production.” While Putin did not refer to specific domestic aircraft programmes, Russian business publication Kommersant says the MC-21, SJ-100 and Il-114 deliveries are being pushed back by up to two years, to 2025-26. It adds that there are delays to the Tupolev Tu-214 and UZGA LMS-901. It claims the domestically-powered version of the MC-21 has increased in weight, reducing its range performance, as a result of using domestic equipment and composites, citing its own sources.<br/>
A bomb scare shut down Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls Airport on Friday, forcing the country’s president to cancel a planned address at a conference on renewable energy, an official said. Zimbabwean President Edson Mnangagwa was due to address the conference in the morning, but “had to suspend his trip to allow for investigations which are already underway,” presidential spokesman George Charamba said. Authorities couldn’t confirm local media reports that the president’s plane made a U-turn while traveling to the conference. Charamba said that airport authorities were informed by Fastjet airline about an email sent “by a John Doe” claiming a “credible bomb/firearm threat” targeting Zimbabwe’s airports. Security systems are “now on heightened alert,” Charamba said, urging people to be calm while investigations proceed. “While our country is peaceful, and all our ports of entry are well secured, such alerts on possible terrorist attacks are taken very seriously,” he said. The Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe said that the incident had forced some flights to divert or delay landing, and more disruptions were likely “to allow for the continuous monitoring of the environment.”<br/>
Thailand plans to more than double the capacity of its main airport in Bangkok as the tourism-reliant nation seeks to build an aviation hub to serve the Southeast Asian region. Airports of Thailand Pcl will add two new runways and a new passenger terminal besides expanding the capacity of the existing facility at Suvarnabhumi airport, according to Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin. Once completed in 2030, the airport will be able to handle 150m passengers annually, up from about 60m now, he said. The expansion of Suvarnabhumi, the gateway to Thailand for tens of millions of foreign tourists, is part of Srettha government’s efforts to position the country as a regional aviation hub that caters to major airlines and air cargo operators. The government also plans to build new airports in other tourist hot spots such as Chiang Mai and the Andaman region besides augmenting the capacity of other existing airports. Thailand’s strategic location in the heart of the Asia Pacific region, bordered by three neighboring countries, and its benefit from the ASEAN open skies policy are key factors which will drive the aviation hub initiatives, Srettha said on Friday. The government wants Suvarnabhumi to be ranked among the world’s top 20 within five years from 68 now, he said. Suvarnabhumi’s upgrade will include expansion to the east and west side of its existing terminal to handle an additional 30m passengers annually. A new terminal to be built to the south will handle another 60m travelers and will be linked to the main facility, Srettha said. The prime minister didn’t say how much the expansion will cost and how it will be funded. State-controlled Airports of Thailand, the operator of the nation’s six major airports, earlier said it planned to invest around 100b baht ($2.8b) between 2024 and 2029 for capacity addition. The nation’s second-biggest company by market value has said new investment will be mainly funded from internal cash flow.<br/>
Boeing said on Friday that it was in talks to acquire Spirit AeroSystems, a struggling supplier that the manufacturer spun out nearly two decades ago and that makes the bodies of the 737 Max jet. In reabsorbing Spirit, Boeing would be seeking to rescue and restructure a troubled but important partner that has been battered by years of losses and quality control problems. Spirit’s problems have also at times limited how fast Boeing can produce Max planes, its most popular commercial jet. Bringing Spirit, one of the company’s key suppliers, back in house would be a significant strategic shift for Boeing, which has long relied on outsourcing to make its planes. That strategy has come under increasing scrutiny amid concerns about Boeing’s quality issues. Both companies have faced intense scrutiny since Jan. 5, when a panel on a 737 Max 9 blew out during an Alaska Airlines flight shortly after takeoff, exposing passengers to deafening wind at 16,000 feet. The pilots operating the plane landed it safely with no serious injuries reported. Experts say the episode could have been catastrophic had it happened at a higher altitude with passengers moving about the cabin. The National Transportation Safety Board said in a report last month that the plane appeared to have left a Boeing factory without the bolts needed to hold the panel, known as a door plug, in place. Door plugs are used to cover gaps in a plane’s body where an emergency exit would have been installed if the jet had the maximum number of seats. The incident followed two crashes of Max 8 jets in 2018 and 2019 that together killed nearly 350 people. Aviation regulators grounded Max planes for nearly two years after those crashes. That crisis cost Boeing about $20b. Acquiring Spirit could enable Boeing to change the supplier’s policies and production practices more easily, something it has been seeking for a few years from the outside. Problems with quality and operations led to a leadership shake-up at Spirit last fall. Patrick Shanahan, a former Boeing employee and senior Defense Department official, took over as CE of Spirit. “We believe that the reintegration of Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems’ manufacturing operations would further strengthen aviation safety, improve quality and serve the interests of our customers, employees and shareholders,” Boeing said in a statement.<br/>
Boeing has delayed plans for its supply chain to ramp up production of its bestselling 737 jetliner, according to a presentation seen by Reuters, as the company deals with regulatory curbs on its output and increased scrutiny following a mid-air blowout on a MAX 9 in January. The US FAA in late January barred Boeing from increasing production of the 737 MAX following the Jan. 5 accident, and could prove a setback in the future as the U.S. planemaker struggles to raise production levels to compete with its European rival Airbus. According to Boeing's latest 737 supplier master schedule seen by Reuters, the supply chain was previously told to inrease production rates from the equivalent of 38 aircaft a month to 42 in February this year which is now delayed to June. Boeing will push back a rate increase from 47 jets a month from August 2024 to January 2025. A move to 52 737s per month scheduled for February 2025 is now estimated to take place in June 2025, a timeline that would allow Boeing to stay on track for its goal of producing 50 jets per month in 2025-2026, a critical enabler for achieving $10b in free cash flow in the same timeframe. Boeing won't hit its pre-pandemic goal of 57 aircraft per month until February 2026, from a previous estimate for August 2025. The supplier master schedule lays out the expectation for when suppliers should be at a given production rate. While it usually predates Boeing's own shift to a new rate, it is an important signal of confidence for the supply chain, who rely on it for planning future workforce and equipment investments.<br/>