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A whistleblower has urged Boeing to ground every 787 Dreamliner jet worldwide after warning they are at risk of premature failure ahead of a high-profile hearing on Capitol Hill. The planemaker has been grappling with its latest crisis since a cabin panel blowout in January raised fresh questions about the production of its bestselling commercial jet, the 737 Max. But the FAA is now investigating allegations by the Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour that the manufacturing giant took shortcuts to reduce production bottlenecks while making the 787. He also raised issues about the production of the 777, another wide-body jet. Salehpour, who has worked at Boeing for more than a decade, says he faced retaliation, including threats and exclusion from meetings, after raising concerns over issues including a gap between parts of the fuselage of the 787. Asked if Boeing should ground 787 jets for inspection, he told NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt: “The entire fleet worldwide, as far as I’m concerned right now, needs attention. And the attention is, you need to check your gaps and make sure that you don’t have potential for premature failure.” Boeing has insisted the 787 and 777 are safe, and that retaliation against whistleblowers is not tolerated inside the company. At a briefing earlier this week, executives described how a rigorous program of tests and inspections had left the firm confident of the jets’ durability. In a statement on Monday, Boeing said: “We are fully confident in the 787 Dreamliner because of the comprehensive work done to ensure the quality and long-term safety of the aircraft. These claims about the structural integrity of the 787 are inaccurate.”<br/>

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Tuesday announced a new partnership with more than a dozen state attorneys general to investigate consumer complaints against airlines. The partnership sets up a process for state attorney general’s offices to review complaints from travelers and then pass the baton to the federal Transportation Department, which could take enforcement action against airlines. “The support that’s being offered by state attorney general’s offices means that our capacity to protect airline passengers is expanding,” Buttigieg said at Denver International Airport, where he appeared with Colorado’s attorney general, Phil Weiser, a Democrat who is among those joining the partnership. The federal-state initiative is Buttigieg’s latest step aimed at improving protections for air travelers and ensuring that airlines are held accountable when they err. The Transportation Department has issued more than $164m in penalties against airlines during his tenure, according to the agency. Buttigieg has also pressed airlines to seat children with their parents for free and to improve the services they offer to travelers who experience lengthy delays or cancellations. The Transportation Department said attorneys general from 15 states — California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin — had signed agreements to be part of the partnership. The attorneys general from the District of Columbia, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands also have joined, the department said, bringing the total number involved to 18. Of those, 16 are Democrats and two are Republicans. Under federal law, states are generally barred from enforcing their own consumer protection laws against airlines. State attorneys general have pushed for federal legislation that would empower them to take action against airlines, just as they can against companies in other industries.<br/>

U.S. airlines got a little bit better with mobility devices in 2023. The 10 major carriers transported 835,327 wheelchairs and other aids last year, and there were 11,527 reports of damage, according to the Department of Transportation. That’s a rate of 1.38 devices damaged per 100 carried, down from 1.41 per 100 in 2022. USA TODAY covered incidents of mobility device damage by airlines throughout 2023, and a recurring theme in the reporting was that when wheelchairs or other mobility devices are damaged in transit, it’s akin to broken legs for the person who uses the device. The DOT tracks these incidents and released full-year numbers in February. The data showed a slight improvement in wheelchair handling across the industry, but for advocates and regulators, it’s still not enough. “Any number greater than zero is not an acceptable number,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg previously told USA TODAY. “This not only affects your trip, it affects your life.” Story lists rankings.<br/>

About 800 airline food service staff at Toronto’s Pearson airport went on strike Tuesday, leaving thousands of passengers without meals. Gate Gourmet employees voted 96% against an offer from the Swiss-owned travel catering company on Monday night, Teamsters Canada said. The workers cook, package and deliver food and beverages to planes for in-flight service. The job action, which kicked off a minute past midnight, affects travellers on Air Canada, WestJet and a majority of flights to and from the country’s busiest airport. “Our members are trying to survive this cost of living crisis and support their families through these difficult times. That’s what this is about,” said Martin Cerqua, lead negotiator for the union local. He said employees, many of whom earn between $18 and $20 per hour, are asking for a living wage and earnings on par with workers across the country. For example, Gate Gourmet employees who unload tray carts and wash dishware and cutlery at the Vancouver airport make $6 per hour more than their co-workers at Pearson, he said. “We’ve fallen so far behind,” Cerqua said from the picket line on the fringes of the airport. “It’s a dirty, difficult, physically demanding job.” Gate Gourmet is the largest airline catering company operating out of Toronto, with clients that include Air Canada, WestJet, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines.Owned by Gategroup, it operates in more than 135 locations in 33 countries, according to its website. Those figures include eight airports in Canada. The caterer said its latest offer was “fair and market-competitive,” laying out a 12% pay raise over three years.Current wages range between $17.69 and $25.10 per hour, said Elaine Dray, Gategroup’s head of human resources in North America. Rather than considering only wage disparities, she said the company looks at overall compensation. Air Canada said short-haul flights will be most affected.<br/>

Spanish airlines expect a record summer season and are adding 13% more seats from a year ago, confident that consumers will continue to travel despite inflation pressuring their spending, the head of Spain's airlines industry group said on Tuesday. From the beginning of April to the end of October, the group has scheduled up to 758,000 flights, 9% more than in the same period in 2023 with a total capacity of up to 240m seats. "Everything seems to indicate that we will have record numbers again this summer in terms of demand. People are travelling more than before despite inflationary tensions," Javier Gandara, head of the Spanish Airlines Association, told a news conference. Leisure travel demand, which has boomed since the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions ended, remains strong despite a squeeze on household incomes. Separately, tourism industry group Exceltur estimated on Tuesday that sales in the sector, including hotels and transport companies, will rise 6% in Q2 from record levels a year ago after a strong start to 2024. "We are concerned about how to manage this growing flow of tourists," said Exceltur VP Jose Luis Zoreda, who supported more regulations to curb the proliferation of holiday homes, as proposed by the Canary Islands, to avoid a negative impact on the local community. Gandara said airline services to the Canary Islands and the southern region of Andalusia, among the top Spanish destinations for summer tourism, will have 14% more seats, above the Spanish average, while the cities of Madrid and Barcelona will see 15% added compared to a year ago.<br/>

Dutch airspace was almost completely closed for nearly three hours late on Monday and early on Tuesday due to a technical outage of air traffic control systems, local authorities said. The outage occurred at 11 p.m. local time (2100 GMT) on Monday and was resolved almost three hours later, Air Traffic Control Netherlands said. During that time very limited air traffic was handled in Dutch airspace, while flights were diverted to other airports in the region. The air traffic control authorities said they were investigating the outage, and gave no further details on the cause. "We are aware of the unpleasant consequences this has for passengers, airlines, and the airport. Further investigation is being conducted into the cause of the malfunction that occurred," they said in a statement. The outage mainly hit traffic to and from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, one of Europe's busiest hubs, although the number of flights affected was limited because the problems occurred at night.<br/>

Hundreds of Border Force officers at Britain's Heathrow Airport are to strike for four days from April 29 over changes to their working conditions, the Public and Commercial Services trade union said on Tuesday.<br/>

Emergency services were on the tarmac at Birmingham Airport as it temporarily suspended operations on Tuesday, 16 April, due to a “security incident on an aircraft”. An Aer Lingus flight to Belfast took off this afternoon before turning around and landing back in Birmingham. Footage showed emergency vehicles driving towards the plane as it landed. An Aer Lingus spokesperson said: “An undeclared item discovered on Aer Lingus Regional flight EI3647, operated by Emerald Airlines, from Birmingham to Belfast today was not a security risk.” A Birmingham Airport spokesperson said the airport “reopened at 1800 hours following a security incident on an aircraft. “All passengers and crew disembarked safely.”<br/>

Flights to Israel are set to remain disrupted for months amid heightened tensions with Iran, while other routes may take longer as airlines skirt the volatile region. British low-cost carrier easyJet Tuesday said it was extending its suspension of Israel flights for the remainder of the summer season, until Oct. 27, and would refund customers due to fly. Rival Wizz Air resumed flights to Tel Aviv on Tuesday but said that passengers may experience “schedule changes” and that it was monitoring the situation. Dutch airline KLM canceled flights to Israel until April 21, and said it was not flying over Iran and Israel. Air India said it had temporarily suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv and its Tuesday service was listed as canceled. Germany’s Lufthansa Group said it had resumed flights to Tel Aviv, Amman, Jordan, and Irbil, Iraq, on Tuesday, but had canceled flights to Tehran, Iran, and Beirut up until Thursday. It also said it is not using Iranian airspace currently. United Airlines, the only U.S. airline currently flying to Israel, suspended flights and has offered customers due to travel to Tel Aviv before May 1 a full refund; while Air Canada has warned of delays to Israel services. Along with flights from national carrier El Al, flights from European airlines Swiss, Transavia and AeroItalia were en route to Tel Aviv on Tuesday afternoon London time, according to Flightradar24 data.<br/>

The number of people killed in plane crashes in Russia dropped to a decade low in 2023, despite Western sanctions on Russia's aviation industry which had raised concerns about flight safety, according to new data. Sanctions imposed in response to Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine include a ban on the supply of spare parts and services for Russian airlines. But even as Russian planemakers scramble to plug the gap left by foreign manufacturers, data from the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) that oversees accident investigations, showed that 2022 and 2023 were the safest years in the last decade. There were 11 deadly accidents in Russia in 2023 which killed a total of 20 people, four fewer than the figure for 2022, the IAC said in a report. The IAC's data does not include the death of mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose plane crashed in August 2023, killing all 10 people on board. The Kremlin said a week afterwards that investigators were considering the possibility that Prigozhin's plane was downed on purpose, but the results of their probe have not been published. In a disclaimer, the IAC said incidents where "illegal interference" with civilian aircraft had taken place were not included. Around 966,000 flights took off in Russia last year, down from a pre-pandemic high of 1.12m in 2019, according to Russia's aviation watchdog Rosaviatsiya. The total number of passengers carried was 105.4m in 2023. At least 30 people were killed in plane crashes in Russia each year from 2014 to 2021, said the IAC, which works across a grouping of former Soviet republics, including Russia. The deadliest year was 2018 when 128 people died in aviation accidents.<br/>

Record rains that inundated the United Arab Emirates and surrounding countries, killing at least 18 people in Oman and bringing air travel to a standstill in Dubai, were expected to continue into Wednesday, the authorities said. Dubai typically records around five inches of rain in a year. The deluge that fell by Tuesday evening alone equaled that amount. For the United Arab Emirates, it was the largest rainfall event in 75 years, the country’s National Center of Meteorology and the government announced on social media. Flights heading to Dubai International Airport were being diverted on Tuesday, the airport said, and it suspended operations for at least 25 minutes earlier in the day because of the intense storm. The airport said there was “major flooding” on roads leading to the airport and urged people to check their flight status and to “allow significant extra travel time to the airport and use the Dubai Metro for smoother transit.” More rain was expected overnight in Dubai and across the United Arab Emirates, beginning in the west and spreading eastward, according to the center of meteorology. In Oman, which borders the U.A.E. to the east, a separate rain event killed at least 18 people, including “some 10 schoolchildren swept away in a vehicle with an adult,” The Associated Press reported. Officials there warned that heavy thunderstorms with strong winds and hail were expected overnight into Wednesday. Videos on social media showed planes at Dubai International Airport taxiing through deep water. The airport, which is the base of operations for the airline Emirates, said it recorded more than 80m visitors in 2023. It is one of the world’s busiest airports for international travel, with flights to 262 destinations across 104 countries operated by more than 100 airlines. Elsewhere in Dubai, the heavy rains, which began overnight, flooded portions of major highways as drivers abandoned their vehicles on roadways, The A.P. reported.<br/>