The Biden administration said Monday it is seeking funding from Congress to hire another 2,000 air traffic controllers in the 2025 budget year after a series of near-miss incidents. A persistent shortage of controllers has delayed flights and, at many facilities, controllers are working mandatory overtime and six-day weeks to cover staffing shortages. The FAA wants $43m to accelerate the hiring and training of controllers."We need more air traffic controllers and we're hiring as many as we can," FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said. Staffing issues forced the FAA to extend cuts to minimum flight requirements at congested New York City-area airports through October 2024 - allowing airlines to fly fewer flights without forfeiting take-off and landing slots. The budget proposes spending $8b over the next five years - beginning with $1b in 2025 - to replace or modernize more than 20 aging air traffic control facilities and 377 critical radar systems.<br/>
general
A six-week audit by the Federal Aviation Administration of Boeing’s production of the 737 Max jet found dozens of problems throughout the manufacturing process at the plane maker and one of its key suppliers, according to a slide presentation reviewed by The New York Times. The air-safety regulator initiated the examination after a door panel blew off a 737 Max 9 during an Alaska Airlines flight in early January. Last week, the agency announced that the audit had found “multiple instances” in which Boeing and the supplier, Spirit AeroSystems, failed to comply with quality-control requirements, though it did not provide specifics about the findings. The presentation reviewed by The Times, though highly technical, offers a more detailed picture of what the audit turned up. Since the Alaska Airlines episode, Boeing has come under intense scrutiny over its quality-control practices, and the findings add to the body of evidence about manufacturing lapses at the company. For the portion of the examination focused on Boeing, the F.A.A. conducted 89 product audits, a type of review that looks at aspects of the production process. The plane maker passed 56 of the audits and failed 33 of them, with a total of 97 instances of alleged noncompliance, according to the presentation. The F.A.A. also conducted 13 product audits for the part of the inquiry that focused on Spirit AeroSystems, which makes the fuselage, or body, of the 737 Max. Six of those audits resulted in passing grades, and seven resulted in failing ones, the presentation said.<br/>
The US Justice Department has convened a grand jury as part of a criminal investigation into the Jan. 5 midair blowout of a Boeing Co. door plug on an Alaska Airlines flight, according to a person familiar with the matter. The grand jury activity, which usually includes the issuance of subpoenas for interviews and documents, is a sign that the investigation into Boeing — and whether it has criminal liability for the incident — is deepening. News of the grand jury doesn’t necessarily mean the probe will result in charges. Bloomberg reported previously that the department was looking into whether the door plug blowout falls under the government’s 2021 deferred-prosecution agreement with the company over two previous fatal crashes of its 737 Max jetliner. It couldn’t be immediately determined whether the criminal investigation is part of that review or has now become a standalone effort.<br/>
With Boeing facing multiple government investigations, the company needs to make “a serious transformation” around its safety and manufacturing quality, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Monday. The comments came one day after Buttigieg said the aircraft builder is under “enormous” scrutiny by his department since a panel blew off a Boeing 737 Max jetliner in midlfight. Over the weekend, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Justice launched a criminal investigation into the Jan. 5 blowout on an Alaska Airlines jet. That followed the company’s admission that it couldn’t find records that the NTSB sought for work done on the panel at a Boeing factory. The FAA, part of Buttigieg’s department, is also investigating Boeing. “Obviously we respect the independence of DOJ (the Department of Justice) and NTSB (the National Transportation Safety Board) doing their own work,” Buttigieg told reporters Monday, “but we are not neutral on the question of whether Boeing should fully cooperate with any entity — NTSB, us, or DOJ. They should, and we expect them to.” Buttigieg said Boeing must “go through a serious transformation here in terms of their responsiveness, their culture and their quality issues.” <br/>
President Joe Biden is proposing a huge increase in fuel taxes for private jets, which his administration is pitching as a fairness issue compared with airline passengers, who pay special taxes on every ticket. The proposal was included in a $109.3b budget request for the US DoT, which was released Monday. The fate of the proposal in Congress is unclear. Many of Biden’s budget ideas will founder in the Republican-controlled House. The largest business-aviation trade group came out against the targeted fuel-tax increase, saying private jets help companies succeed and create jobs. The White House earmarked nearly $22b for the FAA, including funds to hire at least 2,000 new air traffic controllers, and replace aging FAA facilities, which FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said are 40 years old on average. Democrats and Republicans in Congress have supported more FAA hiring of air traffic controllers and safety inspectors.<br/>
US airfares in January reached a 15-year low — excluding peak pandemic fares — but while our two countries have a lot in common, experts say Canadian travellers shouldn't expect the same deep discounts here. Despite the cost of living in North America creeping upward in most other respects, airfares in the United States were down 6.4% in January compared to the same month in 2023. Not only were ticket prices down year-over-year, they were actually 3% lower than pre-pandemic airfares in January 2020, and down 15% compared to a decade ago, according to consumer price index data(opens in a new tab) from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics published in February. In fact, prices in January were the lowest they've been in the US in 15 years, excluding during the peak pandemic years, when air travel slowed to a trickle. In Canada, airfares fell 14% in January compared to the same month in 2023, and 23.7% compared to December 2023, but still sat at 10% above pre-pandemic levels in 2019, according to Statistics Canada. John Gradek, head of the aviation management program at McGill University, said January's drop coincides with seasonal travel patterns – January typically represents a slump for the industry as holiday travel demand gives way to post-holiday homebody habits. Not only is it likely to be temporary, but he said it caps off a year of low airfares and is probably the last time we'll see prices drop in Canada for awhile. "Going forward, when we look at the consumer price index for March, April and May, the air transportation component of the index, will show a reversing trend and we'll see fares go back up again," Gradek said Friday. "You're seeing, even today, significant increase in the price levels across Canada."<br/>
Ukraine has initiated official negotiations with European and American aviation regulators regarding the possibility of resuming international flights during a state of war, Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine and Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development, said in an interview with RBC. "It is impossible to operate international flights without the approval of two regulators – European and American – that's how it works. The Ukrainian side has already conveyed its vision to the regulators on how the market will operate under the conditions of martial law, its risk assessments, approaches, and algorithms," the official noted. Kubrakov pointed out that there are not many examples worldwide of airports operating in areas where drones or missiles can strike at any moment. Israeli airports are the most successful example. Therefore, the Ukrainian side has spent and continues to spend a lot of time consulting the Israeli Civil Aviation Authority. "I don't want to discuss any specific timelines, but now we will officially convey our vision to the regulators, and we are entering into official negotiations with them," the Deputy Prime Minister added.<br/>
Australia’s new Western Sydney airport is to have a remote digital control tower, the first such installation in the country. Western Sydney is scheduled to open in 2026 and be capable of handling 10m annual passengers. Air navigation provider Airservices Australia says the digital technology will assist with managing increasingly-complex airspace. Over 20 high-resolution cameras will be fitted to monitor the airport and surrounding airspace, transmitting visual data to a centralised control room at Eastern Creek. Airservices Australia says the technology will include object-tracking, infra-red for night vision and low visibility, and image enhancement. It says this will enable air traffic controllers to “see beyond the limitations of the human eye”. “This exciting technology has earned its place in what will be an airport focused on delivering passengers and airlines an incredible experience,” says Western Sydney CE Simon Hickey. Development of the digital tower will be carried out in co-operation with Frequentis Australasia and technology infrastructure provider CDC.<br/>