general

Airlines are showing more interest in turbulence prediction technology after two headline-grabbing incidents in recent weeks, but are holding back from making passengers stay in seatbelts at all times, according to global airline body IATA. A dramatic loss of altitude on a Singapore Airlines flight last month led to dozens of injuries and the first death linked to plane turbulence in 25 years. Days later, 12 more were injured as a Qatar Airways flight hit turbulence. "There is no silver bullet when it comes to turbulence. But more information, more data will definitely improve the situation," said Nick Careen, senior vice president, operations, safety and security, at the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Aviation is seeing an increase in turbulence and incident reporting, but bad turbulence remains rare and the severity has not increased, Careen said at IATA’s annual gathering in Dubai. Passengers aboard Singapore flight SQ321 said crew and those not strapped in left the floor and slammed into the cabin ceiling, cracking it in places. The incident has put seatbelt practices in the spotlight, with airlines typically allowing passengers to undo belts during normal cruise conditions, while recommending they keep them on. "I don't believe there is a conflict," IATA DG Willie Walsh told Reuters.<br/>

Airlines and energy firms clashed over scarce availability of alternative fuels on Tuesday as carriers ended a three-day summit struggling to square near-record demand with supply chain problems and pressure to meet environmental goals. The aviation industry has committed to reducing net emissions to zero by 2050 largely through plant-based Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF). But with current supplies of SAF covering just 0.5% of the airlines' fuel needs, disagreements surfaced during an annual meeting of the IATA, attended by energy companies including France's TotalEnergies. "Total's net earnings last year were $23.2b. The whole airline industry's net earnings in 2023 were $27b," IATA Director General Willie Walsh said during a closing debate. "The fuel companies who produce the problem ... we need to see those companies like Total investing significant sums of money in the development of Sustainable Aviation Fuel. That's the reality of where we are." The head of the French energy giant's aviation and marine business defended its commitment to helping industries like aviation, which has few immediate alternatives, meet its goals. "Thank you for raising our excellent results," senior vice-president Louise Tricoire, responded during lively exchanges on stage in Dubai, adding that TotalEnergies already re-invests the bulk of its profit in renewable energy research. "So I don't agree that we don't do our part with SAF; we are doing our part". SAF production doubled in 2023 and is expected to triple in 2024. But it costs three times more than kerosene and airlines reiterated this would have to be passed to consumers. They also complain they are competing with other industries for access to limited renewable fuel capacity and need more support from governments to complete the ambitious switch-over.<br/>

IATA director general Willie Walsh believes pressure to suppress air travel growth as a way of countering aviation’s climate change impact is only a debate in Europe and that it is “arrogant” to expect emerging countries to be deprived of the economic benefits of air connectivity the continent has enjoyed. It comes amid several moves, of which Dutch plans to cut capacity at Amsterdam Schiphol airport is among the most high-profile, aimed at curbing air travel growth on environmental grounds. Walsh rejected suggestions that the industry may have to stop growth in order to address its climate change impact. “Typically this debate about whether growth should be suppressed is a European debate, and its solely a European debate, and its solely in certain parts of Europe. You don’t have this discussion in other parts of the world,” he said during a press conference at the IATA AGM in Dubai on 3 June. By contrast Walsh says the attitude outside of Europe, especially in populations where take-up of air connectivity remains relatively limited, is far more appreciative of the economic value of air connectivity. “Outside of Europe, I don’t hear any discussion of suppressing growth, in fact quite the opposite,” he says. ”When I travel around the world and meet airline CEOs, talk to regulators, talk to politicians, outside of Europe they have a huge appreciation for the value new connectivity will bring to their economies. I think when we discuss this from a European context I think we are quite arrogant to believe the rest of the world should follow what Europe is doing, because the rest of the world has not had the benefit the Europeans have had. The rest of the world wants to. Aviation will unlock huge economic value in countries like India. Africa today is only 2% of commercial aviation and it should be much higher. Think of the economic contribution, what it would mean for people, the ability to travel, the ability to connect, for business to reach new opportunities.”<br/>

RwandAir CE – and outgoing chair of the IATA board of governors – Yvonne Makolo believes the airline industry still has a long way to go on improving its record on diversity. Speaking during the opening press conference at the IATA AGM in Dubai on 2 June, Makolo cited diversity as an issue that still requires significant attention and action. “As the first female chair of IATA’s board of governors, I was aware of the example it gives to all women in aviation and of my responsibility as an agent of much-needed change,” she states. Reflecting the scale of the industry’s challenge on diversity, Makolo’s appointment as board chair came after 80 men held the role. Noting that next year will bring to a close IATA’s 25by2025 initiative, which is aimed at increasing the number of women in executive roles at airlines, Makolo says: “Its lasting contribution will be in creating a mindset where there is nothing special in IATA having a female chair of the board or an airline having a gender balanced management team or pilot population.” But speaking to FlightGlobal on the sidelines of the event, Makolo says that rather than replacing 25by2025 with another formal initiative, the industry “just needs to get on with it”. “We all know how bad the situation is,” Makolo says. “There’s no way we can exclude 50% of the population and expect the industry to continue thriving,” she states.<br/>

Emirates Airline president Tim Clark has contrasted the investment in airports in the Middle East and Asia with activity in other regions, saying the latter are failing to keep pace. Speaking during a roundtable briefing at the IATA AGM in Dubai on 2 June, Clark cited London Heathrow as an example of an airport that requires investment. “The investment that needs to go into Heathrow needs to move at pace,” Clark says. “The airport is seriously lagging behind in many of its customer-facing functions.” The problem is not the management of Heathrow, which has been supportive of Emirates, he says, but comes from a lack of investment by the owners – something that he suggests might change now that the facility has new major shareholders. And the issues are by no means unique to the London hub, Clark says. Aside from Heathrow, Amsterdam Schiphol is “going south” amid moves by the government to cap traffic at the airport, he says, adding: “I don’t see much going on in France. I don’t see much going on in the US.” Airport owners everywhere should always be looking beyond immediate shareholder value, Clark says, and on to long-term investments in the airport experience – successful implementation of which will encourage return visits.<br/>

Europe's aviation regulator will propose next week that its US counterpart, the FAA, acts as an observer on safety audits including those of Airbus planes, its chief told Reuters on Tuesday. Speaking on the sidelines of the Berlin Aviation Summit, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency's (EASA) new director, Florian Guillermet, said he will be in Washington next week for talks with the FAA. The aim of the proposal is to be granted reciprocal arrangements with FAA audits of Boeing planes and to increase information sharing more broadly. The two regulators will not go as far as performing joint audits of aircraft. The plans show how the recent safety crisis at U.S. planemaker Boeing is changing the way aircraft production is regulated. In March the EU watchdog threatened to suspend its indirect approval of Boeing jet production. Guillermet said on Tuesday that he was aware of the steps being taken by the FAA to ensure that Boeing improves safety and quality after a door panel blew out during a Jan. 5 flight on a new 737 MAX 9 operated by Alaska Airlines. "We have visibility on how this action plan is being rolled out. From our expert standpoint, this goes in the right direction," he said.<br/>

Lawmakers want access to Boeing's full comprehensive quality improvement plan delivered to the Federal Aviation Administration, the top Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure committee said Tuesday. Representative Rick Larsen said lawmakers want access to the plan after meeting behind closed doors with FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker, who in late February gave Boeing 90 days to develop a comprehensive plan to address "systemic quality-control issues." "We want to evaluate it ourselves," Larsen said. "The problems of Boeing in safety and culture were a long time in the making -- and the change in safety culture will be a long time in making as well," Larsen said.<br/>The FAA did not immediately comment. Boeing said Tuesday it is "working transparently with congressional leaders to provide the information requested about our Safety and Quality Plan." The planemaker last week released the plan's 11-page executive summary that disclosed six critical, safety-focused production areas it will address. Key performance measures include employee proficiency, number of hours to address issues, including the total number of rework hours per airplane, and supplier shortages. Whitaker in February barred Boeing from boosting production of its best-selling plane after a door panel blew out during a Jan. 5 flight on a new 737 MAX 9 operated by Alaska Airlines. He said last week he did not expect Boeing to win approval to increase production of the MAX "in the next few months." Larsen expects the FAA to continue intense oversight of Boeing. "The inspectors at Boeing that FAA has put on the line are going to be there a long time -- this is going to be a sea change for the Federal Aviation Administration," he said.<br/>

Boeing's outgoing CEO David Calhoun told Reuters on Tuesday that the planemaker's board would decide his successor and he would support its choice. Calhoun is set to step down by the end of the year as part of a broad management shakeup brought on by the planemaker's safety crisis, exacerbated by a January mid-air panel blowout on a new 737 MAX plane operated by Alaska Airlines. Speculation has grown over his successor. Calhoun supports Stephanie Pope, the head of Boeing's commercial division, while investors, analysts and others have called for a new top executive with both CEO and engineering experience. "The board is prepared to make their decisions, they have time to be able to make them," Calhoun told Reuters on the sidelines of an aviation conference in Berlin, adding that he is committed to getting the company through its recovery. Later on stage, Calhoun said he would support whoever is chosen for the role. "It has been thought through. Okay, we'll get to a conclusion. It'll be a great one, and I'll be the most supportive player in the field," he said. Calhoun has been a Boeing board member since 2009, and was named CEO in 2020 to help turn the U.S. plane maker around following two fatal crashes involving the MAX, its strongest-selling jet. However, Boeing has lost market share to competitor Airbus and its share price has fallen nearly 32% this year as production of the MAX plummeted this spring.<br/>

Airbus is negotiating a major sale of A330neo aircraft to China, with talks gaining momentum since President Xi Jinping visited his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron last month. The largest Chinese airlines are considering buying more than 100 of the upgraded A330 models, according to people familiar with the matter. The terms are still being discussed and the timing is uncertain, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential. The negotiations underscore the increasingly stark contrast between Airbus and Boeing Co. when it comes to doing business in China’s crucial aviation market as geopolitical tensions between the Asian nation and the US run high. An order of that magnitude would be significant considering it’s for a single type of jet across a range of carriers, and it’s been around two years since Airbus’s last China transaction. China has once again halted imports from US-based Boeing, just months after it had restarted following a five-year drought, as regulators review a cockpit voice recorder design already approved by their counterparts in the US and Europe. Meanwhile France-based Airbus benefits from its local investment in Asia’s largest economy, including a factory that builds the workhorse A320neo model and another that installs interiors in the A330, and was one of the key beneficiaries of Xi’s recent outreach to European leaders. A spokesman for Airbus declined to comment. Air China Ltd., China Southern Airlines Co. and China Eastern Airlines Corp. didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. <br/>

While China’s aviation market is one of the fastest growing in the world, a series of lawsuits against local governments and local-government backed entities this year over millions of yuan worth of overdue subsidies have dampened the ambitions of its regional airlines. Domestic tourism has been a bright spot for China’s economy this year, but smaller regional airlines have yet to benefit, while they are also facing increasing competition from the sprawling high-speed railway network. “The importance of regional aviation cannot be neglected as it connects communities across various city pairs, but with rapid growth of high-speed railway across China, this does pose a threat to regional airlines,” said Mayur Patel, head of Asia at OAG Aviation. However, as with any regional domestic carrier’s viability, it requires government subsidies to remain economical and the impact it has on local communities.” And while subsidies in aviation are not uncommon, in China, local governments are much more active, including airline ownership. Regional carrier Joy Air has filed three lawsuits since the start of the year against three local governments – two concerning overdue subsidies – according to filings with the People’s Court of Weicheng district in the city of Xianyang, Shaanxi province, on March 15. Joy Air claimed Tianshui Maijishan Airport had not met its contractual obligations to pay 3.14m yuan (US$433,000) in subsidies for flying a route between Xian and Tianshui, a city in China’s northwestern Gansu province, between 2016 and 2018. The two parties had signed an agreement in March 2016 that Joy Air would initiate the route, with the airport assuming the obligation to pay for the operating expenses.<br/>