Global airlines faced disruptions to flights on Monday after Iran's missile and drone attacks on Israel further narrowed options for planes navigating between Europe and Asia. Iran's attack on Israel by more than 300 missiles and drones, which were mostly shot down by Israel's US-backed missile defence system, caused chaos in the aviation industry. At least a dozen airlines have had to cancel or reroute flights over the last two days, including Qantas, Germany's Lufthansa, United Airlines and Air India. This was the biggest single disruption to air travel since the attack on the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, according to Mark Zee, founder of OPSGROUP, which monitors airspace and airports. "Not since then have we had a situation with that many different air spaces closed down in that quick succession, and that creates chaos," Zee told Reuters, adding that disruptions were likely to last a couple more days. The latest routing problems are a blow to an industry already facing a host of restrictions due to conflicts between Israel and Hamas, and Russia and Ukraine. Iran's airspace is used by airlines travelling between Europe and Asia and those carriers will be restricted to two viable alternative routes, either through Turkey or via Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Zee said. Israel closed its airspace on Saturday, before reopening them on Sunday morning. Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon also resumed flights over their territories. Major Middle East airlines, including Emirates Airlines, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways, said on Sunday they would resume operation in the region after cancelling or rerouting some flights. It was not yet clear if the latest unrest would impact passenger demand, which has remained robust despite ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, said Brendan Sobie, independent aviation analyst.<br/>
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International travel roared back last year, pushing airports from London to Tokyo up in a global ranking of passenger traffic. Dubai International Airport ranked as the second busiest in 2023, up from fifth place in 2022 and fourth place in 2019, according to Airports Council International’s preliminary ranking, which was released on Monday. Passenger traffic to Tokyo Haneda International Airport jumped 55% last year from 2022, and the airport ranked fifth, up from 16th place a year earlier. Global airports served 8.5b passengers last year, up 27% from 2022 but still about 6% below pre-pandemic counts, ACI said, citing preliminary figures. The resurgence of international travel has been a bright spot for airlines with big international networks, while ultra-low-cost, domestic-focused U.S. airlines have struggled in recent months. Domestic U.S. airports continued to post big gains in passenger counts, but some slipped in the rankings compared with the middle of the pandemic, when international travel restrictions limited long-haul trips abroad. Nearly 78m people used Denver International Airport last year, up 12% from 2022, but the airport, a major hub of United Airlines, fell in ACI’s ranking to sixth place from third. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Delta Air Lines’ biggest hub, once again topped the list of the busiest airports, serving 104.7m passengers, ACI said. Story lists the 2023 rankings.<br/>
As part of an effort to protect consumers from deceptive and unfair practices, the U.S. Department of Transportation and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will hold a public hearing looking into airline loyalty programs, spokespeople for both agencies said on Monday. The May 9 hearing will include regulators, airline executives, consumer advocates and banking officials. Allegiant Air and Breeze Airways will represent the airline industry. Loyalty programs include airline credit cards and frequent flyer programs. The Transportation Department said in December it was scrutinizing the frequent flyer programs of major U.S. airlines for potential deceptive or unfair practices, the agency said as regulators step up oversight of the airline industry. In March the Department of Transportation said it was reviewing how the 10 largest U.S. airlines collect, handle and use the personal information of passengers.<br/>
Europe's aviation regulator reaffirmed advice to airlines to use caution in Israeli and Iranian airspace though it said no civil overflights had been placed at risk during weekend tensions surrounding Iranian drone and missile strikes on Israel. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said it and the European Commission would "continue to closely monitor the situation to assess any potential safety risks for EU aircraft operators and be ready to act as appropriate". EASA guidance that is already in place for airlines on Israel and Iran continues to apply, it said in an emailed note. That included exercising caution and following all available aeronautical publications for Israel and neighbouring airspace up to 100 nautical miles surrounding the country. For Iran, it recommended caution and said "there continues to be an increased potential for miscalculation and/or misidentification" in airspace over the Iranian capital Tehran. Global airlines face some disruption after Iran's attack on Israel with more than 300 missiles and drones, which were mostly shot down by Israel's U.S.-backed missile defence system or its allies before they reached Israeli airspace. The attack was in response to a suspected Israeli airstrike on Iran's Syria consulate on April 1 in which seven Iranian Revolutionary Guards commanders and officers were killed.<br/>
Boeing sought on Monday to reassure the public of the safety of its 787 Dreamliner plane days before a whistle-blower is scheduled to testify before Congress about his concerns regarding the jet’s structural integrity. In a briefing for reporters at the factory in North Charleston, S.C., where the plane is assembled, two top Boeing engineers said the company had conducted exhaustive tests, inspections and analyses of the plane, both during its development and in recent years, and found no evidence that its body would fail prematurely. The presentation came just under a week after The New York Times reported the allegations by the whistle-blower, Sam Salehpour, who works as a quality engineer at Boeing and is set to testify before a Senate panel on Wednesday. Salehpour said that sections of the fuselage of the Dreamliner, a wide-body plane that makes extensive use of composite materials, were not properly fastened together and that the plane could suffer structural failure over time as a result. The FAA is investigating his allegations. Salehpour’s claims instantly created another public-relations problem for Boeing, which has been facing intense scrutiny over its manufacturing practices after a panel came off a 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. Salehpour said that the gaps where sections of the Dreamliner’s fuselage were fastened together did not always meet Boeing’s specifications, something that he said could weaken the aircraft over time. The Boeing engineers disagreed with his assessment, without naming him. They said the plane had gone through extensive testing that showed that, in a vast majority of cases, the gaps met the specifications. Even if the gaps exceeded the specifications by a reasonable amount, they would not affect the plane’s durability, the engineers added. “Not only did we interrogate those airframes — we were taking out fasteners, we were looking for damage, we’re also doing the approval inspections to understand the build condition, and we didn’t find any fatigue issues in the composite structure,” said Steve Chisholm, a vice president and the functional chief engineer for mechanical and structural engineering at Boeing. Chisholm said the company had put the Dreamliner through extensive tests that turned up no evidence of fatigue in the jet’s composite structure. A 787 airframe was subjected to testing that put it through 165,000 “flight cycles,” the equivalent pressurization and depressurization of as many flights. That figure far exceeded the plane’s expected life span and the airframe still showed no signs of fatigue, he said.<br/>
Boeing will recommend that operators of its 787 Dreamliner inspect a nose component that helps maintain cabin pressure, a consequence of the plane’s tip-to-tail review in recent years that gained urgency amid fresh allegations it cut corners. Speaking to reporters at the company’s 787 factory in North Charleston, South Carolina, Boeing engineers said they’re recommending detailed visual inspections of the part after turning up potential safety issues during a review. There are roughly 1,100 Dreamliners flying commercially. Boeing’s latest recommendation comes as it responds to mounting scrutiny of its manufacturing and safety practices. The company’s safety culture will be the subject of congressional hearings in Washington this week, following a management shakeup stemming from a crisis of confidence after a fuselage panel blew off a different aircraft model, a 737 Max, during an early January flight. The planemaker is also working to dispel claims levied by a company engineer last week that shortcuts taken during 787 assembly work could weaken the advanced aircraft’s structure prematurely. The company has denied those allegations, saying it’s found no sign of fatigue in maintenance checks of the plane’s composite structure performed on about two-thirds of the more than 900 Dreamliners assembled using a manufacturing technique flagged by the whistleblower. The Boeing engineers said the issues prompting the latest planned inspections of the plane’s aluminum forward pressure bulkhead have nothing to do with the whistleblowers’ claims. The company hasn’t identified any safety issues with respect to the management of gaps in the aircraft’s composite airframe, said Steve Chisholm, a Boeing vice president of structural engineering.<br/>
Getting from downtown Manhattan to JFK Airport in under seven minutes for the same price as an Uber (UBER) is easy — as long as you fly above traffic. It sounds like something from the Jetsons, but according to air taxi companies like Joby Aviation (JOBY), it could be a reality by next year. With $400m in backing from Toyota (TM) and $60m from Delta (DAL), Joby is hoping to win the race to get air taxis — more formally referred to as electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOLs) — to market. EVTOLs are not simply a new type of chopper. They are 100% electric, just like an electric vehicle or a drone, and are designed to hold multiple passengers and luggage. “This is as close as we've seen, I think, in terms of the technology coming together to make something that you could use on a daily basis,” said Eric Allison, Joby’s chief product officer. But first, air taxis need regulatory approval. A representative from the FAA told Yahoo Finance while 2025 could be a launch year for flight, 2028 is a more realistic date for a competitive, scaled air taxi market in at least one location. That certification is the No. 1 thing to watch for retail investors interested in this space, according to Wall Street research firm Jefferies. “We don't know when certification for FAA will happen for any aircraft,” Jefferies’ aerospace, defense, and airlines analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu said. Joby hopes the technology powering their aircraft helps with the regulatory process. The FAA's certification requirements include meeting certain safety criteria and flying under a variety of conditions. The fully electric Joby aircraft has built in a number of safety measures, including six motors and four batteries, which were developed by a team of ex-Tesla employees.<br/>