Canada has listed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a “terrorist” entity and urged its citizens in Iran to leave. The Canadian government made the announcement on Wednesday, saying that the move will help Ottawa with “countering terrorist financing”. “The decision to list the IRGC through the Criminal Code listing regime sends a strong message that Canada will use all tools at its disposal to combat the terrorist activity of the IRGC, conducted both unilaterally and in knowing association with listed terrorist entities such as Hezbollah and Hamas,” the Canadian government said in a statement. Iran on Thursday condemned Canada’s listing as an “unwise and unconventional politically motivated step”, the Fars news agency reported. Relations between Iran and Canada have been rocky for decades. Ottawa cut diplomatic ties with Tehran in 2012, citing its nuclear programme and support for the embattled Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad. The relationship soured further in 2020 after Iran shot down a plane with dozens of Canadian citizens and permanent residents on board. The Ukraine International Airlines flight was bound for Kyiv when it was hit with two missiles shortly after takeoff from Tehran on January 8, 2020. The missile strike came at a time of heightened tensions between Iran and the US. Hours earlier, the IRGC had targeted US forces in Iraq after the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad.<br/>
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Footage has been shared of the moment a pilot with Egyptian airline Nesma announced the captain of the aircraft had died. Posted on social media platforms X and Tiktok, the video shows the interior of the plane cabin of Nesma Airlines flight NE130 from Cairo, Egypt to Taif, Saudi Arabia as the first officer declared over the PA that the captain had died. The copilot told passengers the plane would be diverted to the Saudi city of Jeddah as a result. The Aviation Herald reported that the Sky Vision Airbus A320-200 landed safely in Jeddah about 30 minutes later. Egyptian media reported that the captain, Hassan Youssef Adas, suffered a medical emergency in-flight and died shortly afterwards. While such incidents are very rare, it is not unheard of for the pilot of a commercial passenger jet to die in the cockpit. In 2023, a veteran pilot for Chilean airline Latam died after a medical emergency on a flight from Miami, Florida to Santiago, Chile. In that case, the aircraft made an emergency landing in Panama City to allow the pilot to receive treatment, but he later passed away. In 2015, there were two in-flight pilot deaths in one week. On October 5 of that year, an American Airlines pilot died after becoming ill just before his plane landed in the US. The following day, a pilot of a United Airlines flight passed out and died.<br/>
Aircraft leasing firms have struck settlements with Russia totalling around $2.7b for over a quarter of the roughly 400 aircraft stuck in the country since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In return, international lessors handed ownership of the planes to state insurance company NSK, which transferred them to Russian airlines. Lessors have been suing dozens of insurers over losses of at least $8b over the trapped planes. Some of the world's largest aircraft lessors faced off against their insurers in a Dublin courtroom last week at the start of a months-long battle over around E2.5b of insurance claims related to the jets. A similar case is scheduled for London in October. Some cases are also due to be heard in U.S. states. Below are details of settlements reached between lessors and Russia. Ireland-based AerCap, the world's largest lessor, said in September 2023 it had received $645m from NSK in a settlement over 17 jets and five spare engines leased to state-controlled airline Aeroflot and its subsidiary Rossiya. In December 2023, the lessor reached a second settlement worth $572m over 47 aircraft and five spare engines leased to JSC Ural Airlines and JSC Siberia Airlines (S7).<br/>
Huge swings in the cost of Israeli airfares have left economists struggling to get a handle on inflation in wartime. A new methodology used by Israel’s statistics bureau to measure the prices of airplane tickets has caused so much confusion that almost all forecasters failed to predict the direction of inflation in the past two months. A single analyst in a Bloomberg survey of 18 correctly said annual price growth wouldn’t accelerate in May, when the cost of air travel plunged following a surge a month earlier. Though airfares account for just 1.6% of the consumer-price index, they are part of a larger transportation and communication category that makes up nearly a fifth of the basket, meaning big changes can heavily tilt monthly readings up or down. “The transportation section has had great fluctuations in recent months,” says Nira Shamir, chief economist at Israel Discount Bank. “It is, in fact, becoming unpredictable.” At stake is the ability of banks and traders to make investment decisions such as whether to favor instruments linked to consumer prices or look for other ways to hedge their exposure. The recent surprise readings also make it harder to map out the path of monetary policy after the central bank shifted to a pause following an interest-rate cut to start the year. <br/>
China is pressing India to restart direct passenger flights after a four-year halt, but New Delhi is resisting as a border dispute continues to weigh on ties between the world's two most populous countries, officials said. India-China relations have been tense since the biggest military confrontation in decades on their disputed Himalayan border killed 20 Indian and at least four Chinese soldiers in June 2020. Thousands of troops remain mobilised on each side. Since the clash, India has made it difficult for Chinese companies to invest, banned hundreds of popular apps and severed passenger routes, although direct cargo flights still operate between the Asian giants. Direct flights would benefit both economies, but the stakes are higher for China, where a recovery in overseas travel after the COVID-19 pandemic is lagging, while India's aviation sector booms. Several times over the past year or so, China's government and airlines have asked India's civil aviation authorities to re-establish direct air links, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters, with one saying China considers this a "big issue". "We hope the Indian side will work with China in the same direction for the early resumption of direct flights," China's Foreign Ministry told Reuters in a statement last week, adding that resuming flights would be in both countries' interests.<br/>
Boeing is temporarily shifting some engineers away from its experimental X-66A plane project to help support commercial development programs and speed up deliveries of existing jets, the planemaker said on Thursday. The X-66A project is an experimental plane being co-developed by NASA and Boeing that is focused on helping the U.S. achieve its goal of net-zero aviation greenhouse gas emissions. "It is critically important that we meet our commitment to customers on 737-7, 737-10, 777-9 and 777-8F and on airplane deliveries," Boeing told Reuters in an emailed statement. Boeing is trying to ramp up jet production and meet delivery schedules as it navigates safety concerns after it came under scrutiny following a mid-air incident involving an Alaska Airlines-operated MAX 9 jet. With the X-66A jet, NASA and Boeing aim to develop a new generation of more sustainable single-aisle aircraft. The jet will feature extra-long, thin wings stabilized by diagonal struts, known as a "transonic truss-braced wing" concept. Boeing said it had discussed the plan with NASA and the U.S. space agency offered additional personnel to help maintain progress on the X-66.<br/>
Boeing is nearing a deal to buy back Spirit AeroSystems after its former subsidiary made substantial progress in separate talks with Airbus over a transatlantic breakup of the struggling supplier, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday. Boeing initiated talks earlier this year to buy back the Wichita, Kansas-based supplier it spun off in 2005, seeking to stabilize a key part of the supply chain for its strongest-selling jet following a mid-air blow out on a new 737 MAX in January. However, talks hit a stumbling block over Spirit's work for Airbus, with the European group threatening to block any deal that involved Boeing building parts for its newest models. Boeing and Airbus have broadly succeeded in dividing Spirit's programs into work that Boeing will take back, along with work that the planemaker's European rival Airbus will take. There is also a third category of programs that may be sold or dealt with separately, said one of the sources. The exact timing of the deal is unclear, but the sources said it could come within days or weeks, barring last-minute snags. All of the sources spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks. Airbus, which has been widely seen as the main stumbling block to a deal, is seeing "good progress" in talks with Spirit, a source familiar with the matter said. A second source said a deal over Spirit's Airbus-related assets was more likely than not before Airbus' mid-year earnings in July. Boeing declined comment. Spirit spokesman Joe Buccino did not comment specifically on the talks, saying, "our focus remains on providing the highest quality products for our customers.”<br/>
Joby Aviation said on Thursday the U.S. aviation regulator has authorized the use of the air-taxi maker's in-house software to perform tasks such as managing pilot workload and matching passengers with aircraft similar to ride-hailing apps. The nod for the operating system, known as ElevateOS, comes as Joby gears up to launch its commercial air-taxi operations as early as 2025. The Santa Cruz, California-based company is one of the several makers of air taxi - also known as electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft - that has emerged over the last few years with a promise to decongest urban travel by offering intra-city rides. Joby has commercial agreements to integrate the software with Uber Technologies and Delta Air Lines that will allow passengers to book and pay for flights, Bonny Simi, Joby's president of operations, told Reuters in an interview. ElevateOS was authorized for use by the US FAA as part of its Part 135 Certification, which Joby received in 2022, she said, adding the company has tested the system by ferrying employees between its sites. The air-taxi maker also plans to make money from selling the software as a service. The company's eVTOL aircraft is designed to carry a pilot and four passengers at speeds of up to 200 mph. Joby, which went public in 2021 through a SPAC merger, has attracted investments from transport industry heavyweights such as Toyota, Uber and Delta Air. Several large publicly companies have bet on air taxi makers, but the industry faces technological and regulatory hurdles in beginning operations and achieving profitability.<br/>