general

Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines received top marks in J.D. Power’s North American airlines customer satisfaction survey for 2024. The firm’s results, announced Wednesday, noted that airlines investing in their staff are seeing more satisfied customers despite higher airfares compared to a year ago. “There are many aspects to the overall air travel experience that airlines cannot control, but one area in which they can profoundly influence is the positive effect that airline staff has on passengers,” Michael Taylor, J.D. Power’s senior managing director of travel, hospitality, retail and customer service, said in a statement. “The big takeaway from this year’s study is the power of people to positively influence the overall flight experience. Airlines that are investing in staff training and recruitment are finding ways to overcome the negative effects of crowded gates and planes simply by being nice to their customers.” According to the survey, passengers’ main priorities are getting to their destinations easily and safely. That outweighs even ticket price in determining a traveler’s satisfaction with their chosen carrier. J.D. Power conducted its survey between March 2023 and March 2024, polling 9,582 passengers who traveled on a major North American airline during that period. Story has details. <br/>

The U.S FAA said on Wednesday it was delaying requirements for air traffic controllers to get at least 10 hours off between shifts and 12 hours off before a midnight shift as it grapples with a staffing shortage. The new rules had been put in place after an independent review of fatigue issues called for new minimum rest periods. Those had been due to start by mid-July, but have been delayed due to discussions between the FAA and a union representing controllers. The FAA is struggling to address a persistent shortage of air traffic controllers and a series of near-miss incidents, including some reported to be the result of controller errors. Under current rules, controllers handling active airplanes must get an eight or nine-hour break between shifts in most instances. FAA Air Traffic Organization COO Timothy Arel said the move to require more hours off between shifts would be delayed as the agency holds discussions with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) union. The hope is to come to a joint agreement on new rest periods for the 2025 schedule "or sooner where feasible," Arel said, adding "fatigue is no exception and must be taken seriously." A NATCA spokesperson said the union was not consulted in advance of the FAA determination regarding time off from duty before all shifts. "We have asked for a briefing on the scientific materials and data relied upon in the FAA's decision," the union said.<br/>NATCA added it would work with the FAA "to review the data and attempt to collaboratively develop requirements to provide sufficient time off-duty before all shifts."<br/>

Georgia’s Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock dismissed safety concerns from local lawmakers about additional flights to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Wednesday. “We respect them, and I have affection for my colleagues in Maryland and Virginia, but they are wrong on this issue. To put it bluntly, they are just wrong,” Warnock said in an interview with Bloomberg’s Kailey Leinz. Warnock, whose state includes the corporate headquarters of Delta Airlines, backs the effort to allow for five additional round-trip flights from the airport as part of a proposed 5-year reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration. He said he “remains hopeful” that Congress can get the bill over the finish line by May 10 when the agency’s current funding expires. Fellow Democratic senators from the states neighboring Washington have long opposed any additional flights, arguing they would worsen delays, increase noise pollution and jeopardize safety. Last month, Virginia Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine cited an instance at the airport in which two planes narrowly avoided collision on a runway. But Warnock dismissed their concerns. “This will not compromise safety in any way, and we have addressed this issue with the FAA,” Warnock countered, adding that the proposal would only add 1% more to the daily operations of the airport.<br/>

Timescales for resumption of flight operations at Brazil’s Porto Alegre airport remains uncertain after heavy rain led to flooding which closed the airport. The airport authorities have issued a NOTAM – which provisionally remains in effect until 30 May – confirming that the facility, near the southern coast of Brazil, is “closed due to overflow”. Porto Alegre is run by German airport management company Fraport’s local division, Fraport Brasil, which took the 25-year concession in 2017. It says operations at the airport “remain suspended for an undetermined time”. “There is no forecast for the resumption of operations,” it adds, advising passengers to contact airlines regarding flight status. Fraport Brasil says it is in contact with Brazilian civil defence agencies, as well as air transport authorities, in order to monitor and assess the situation. The passenger terminal is closed. Porto Alegre, which has a single runway, is among the 10 busiest airports in the country, handling around 7.5m annual passengers. Its management team states that – like several locations in Rio Grande do Sul – the airport has been “severely affected” by the heavy rain. “Our teams are working to implement measures to mitigate the impacts suffered,” it adds. “These actions include co-ordination with the federal government, strengthening security at our facilities and for our employees.”<br/>

stonia's foreign ministry has summoned the head of the Russian embassy in Tallinn to protest the jamming of GPS signals, the Baltic country said on Wednesday. Estonia accuses neighbouring Russia of violating international regulations by disturbing GPS navigation in airspace above the Baltic states, echoing concerns from airlines that say they have contended with such interference for months. The Estonian foreign ministry on Wednesday summoned Russia's charge d'affaires to convey its message. Moscow and Tallinn last year expelled each other's ambassadors as relations deteriorated in the wake of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. "Jamming the GPS signal is an element of Russia's hybrid activities, disrupting everyday life and threatening the security of allies," Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said in a statement. Russia's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. GPS, short for Global Positioning System, is a network of satellites and receiving devices used for positioning, navigation and timing on Earth in everything from ships and planes to cars. The jamming of GPS signals can be disruptive to commercial airliners but they can usually navigate by other means.<br/>Finnish carrier Finnair last month said it would pause all flights to Tartu in Estonia to allow the local airport to upgrade its navigation system, which has so far relied only on GPS.<br/>

Regulators face possible legal challenge over a decision to limit airlines using Dublin Airport to 14.4m passengers this winter to ensure the airport does not breach a controversial cap on numbers. The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) confirmed on Tuesday that it would limit airlines operating at the airport to a maximum of 14.4m seats between October 27th next and March 29th, 2025, the winter travel season. The move is meant to assist Dublin Airport’s operator, State company DAA, in complying with a 32m passengers a year cap imposed by planners as condition of opening an extra runway in 2022. Documents published with the decision on Tuesday show that the airport’s biggest airline, Ryanair, could go to court if the IAA decision costs it historic rights to take-off and landing slots at the airport. Aer Lingus, its owner International Airlines’ Group (IAG), and British Airways also all questioned whether the IAA could legally limit their capacity to ensure that DAA complies with a planning condition. Ryanair’s response states that any “unlawful implementation” of conditions that result in the carrier losing slots “will give rise to a requirement to vindicate our rights up to and including court action”. The airline dubbed the IAA proposal an “unlawful interference” with airlines’ historic rights to arrival and departure slots at Dublin Airport, in a response to the authority’s initial proposal last month. Aer Lingus argues that the regulator is effectively trying to limit passenger throughput at Dublin “which it has no jurisdiction to do”. The carrier said on Tuesday that it would review the decision in detail and consider its response.<br/>

Spanish travel booking group Amadeus said on Wednesday it expects its revenue to jump in the second quarter compared to the first three months of the year as demand remains strong despite higher costs for airline tickets. "If we take together the first quarter with the estimates for April, we see a growth close to 4% (from a year ago)," Amadeus CEO Luis Maroto said in a call with analysts. Total bookings grew 2.8% to 125.2m in the first quarter, benefiting from the Easter holiday at the end of March, though they were still below 2019's pre-pandemic level of 162.6m. The rise in bookings was led by a 31% jump in the Asia Pacific region. "Amadeus' figures are on a positive recovery path that will take it back to pre-pandemic levels this year," brokerage Bankinter wrote in a note. Amadeus's first-quarter adjusted net profit rose 20% to E325m ($349.05m), beating LSEG-polled analysts' forecast of E310.9m as travellers booked more air travel. "We are seeing a very strong resilience on the demand side and still no worrying signs of weakness," Sabadell analyst Alvaro del Pozo said. "Travel demand will hold up as long as the employment data globally continues to be strong," he added. Growth in Western Europe bookings was flat, dampened by strikes at major airlines which led to cancellations, Maroto said. In its latest report, industry group IATA said it expects strong demand to continue this summer after March data, the latest available, showed traffic was still soaring thanks to the Asia-Pacific market.<br/>

Italian police seized E130m from two directors of an airline that went bankrupt after a 1980 air disaster that killed 81 people above the southern Italian island of Ustica, Milan prosecutors said on Wednesday. The "Ustica massacre" is one of the unsolved mysteries of recent Italian history. Despite 40 years of investigations and trials, the cause of the in-flight explosion on the DC-9 airliner that took off from Bologna and was headed for Palermo has never been clarified. The seizure carried out on Wednesday by the Guardia di Finanza police relates to civil judicial proceedings that had ended in 2023 with the transport and defence ministries ordered to pay E330m to the defunct airline company Itavia. The compensation was aimed at satisfying the creditors of the company, which had closed six months after the disaster. According to the Milan prosecutors' statement, two businessmen, who had become majority shareholders in Itavia while the company was in extraordinary administration, stripped the company of its assets and used E130m for their own private interests. "They almost wiped out the remaining company assets from the compensation payments," prosecutors said. "In particular, the E130m funding was also partly used to pay off the bank loan used by the two to acquire the majority stake in Itavia," they added in their statement. The prosecutors did not name the two individuals involved. However, in an emailed statement the two businessmen, who identified themselves as Jacopo Di Stefano and Marco Scorzoni, denied any wrongdoing.<br/>

The head of aircraft leasing giant AerCap predicted that tightness in global jet markets would last through the rest of the decade, fuelled by supply chain issues and conservatism on production among engine makers. Demand for air travel has rebounded since the pandemic, while planemakers are struggling to get back to production levels seen before the health crisis disrupted supply chains, helping to push up airfares. "I believe it will take until the end of the decade before the airframers and the supply chain get together and work it out; that will be 2030, I suspect," CEO Aengus Kelly told a company investor event on Wednesday.<br/>He was speaking after AerCap gambled on continuing bottlenecks in MRO or repair shops by agreeing to buy 150 new spare LEAP engines from French-U.S. venture CFM, which powers all Boeing and some Airbus narrow-body jets. The engines will be managed by Shannon Engine Support, a joint-venture between AerCap and France's Safran, which co-owns CFM along with GE Aerospace. Shortages of spare engines, especially those made by CFM rival Pratt & Whitney, have forced airlines to ground jets while waiting for repair slots, which are already scarce due to faster than expected wear-and-tear in harsh climates.<br/>

A FedEx Corp. cargo plane made a hard landing at Istanbul Airport on Wednesday after the jet’s front landing gear couldn’t be deployed due to a hydraulic failure. Videos on social media showed the 9-year-old Boeing Co. 767 freighter sliding on its fuselage across the runway. No one was injured in the incident and the crew evacuated the aircraft, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, Turkey’s minister for transport and infrastructure, said in a post on X.<br/>