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A consumer rights organization says the Canadian Transportation Agency is pressuring passengers to stay silent about its rulings on their complaints -- a move the country's airline regulator says falls squarely within its mandate under the law. The agency has asked at least one complainant who posted a decision on the Air Passenger Rights' Facebook page(opens in a new tab) to delete their post, said Gabor Lukacs, president of the advocacy group. "The decision was posted in the group by one of the passengers involved in the decision, who has since removed the post at our request," reads an email to Lukacs from an agency director and posted online. The message asks Lukacs for his group's "collaboration in preventing future public sharing of confidential information." Lukacs called the move "unconstitutional," saying it limits free expression. "You cannot imagine a small claims court making a decision confidential," he said. "You go and read whatever you want." Passengers should be allowed to share the outcome of cases brought before complaint resolution officers at the regulator, Lukacs argued. The rulings could inform other travellers seeking to file for compensation or refunds from an airline -- including customers who were on the same flight -- among other complaints. Otherwise, the adjudication process "becomes a kind of black hole" that insulates decision-makers from scrutiny and accountability, he said. "Once mediation turns into binding decision-making, that cannot be kept confidential unless there are some very, very important issues like protecting victims in sexual assault cases." However, federal legislation says otherwise. Recent amendments to the Canada Transportation Act state that the regulator can "decide to keep confidential any part of an order" -- except for several key parts of the ruling, such as the flight number, date and whether a delay was within the carrier's control -- at the request of the complainant or the airline.<br/>

The Argentine government published a sweeping decree on Wednesday aimed at opening up the country's aviation sector, inviting foreign airlines to enter the market long dominated by state-run carrier Aerolineas Argentinas. The reform should boost the number of routes, flight frequencies and bring in more competitors, the transportation secretariat said in a statement. Carriers can now petition to operate as many routes and frequencies as they want, subject to safety approval, according to the decree. Airlines also now have full control over how much they charge for tickets, the decree states, doing away with a dormant regulation which allowed the government to set a price floor. The administration of libertarian President Javier Milei, who took office in December, has tied up a number of "open-skies agreements" with other countries in recent months, allowing their airlines to operate domestic routes in Argentina under some conditions. Brazil, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Uruguay and Canada have all signed agreements so far, potentially opening up the Argentine market to carriers from Gol to LATAM to Air Canada. The transportation secretariat said on Wednesday that more such agreements should be signed in coming months. Aerolineas Argentinas operated 62% of domestic flights in May, according to the most recent regulator data available. Trailing behind it were local low-cost airline Flybondi with 26% of the domestic market and Chilean carrier Jetsmart with 11%.<br/>

UK airlines face the prospect of paying out millions of pounds in new compensation claims after the Supreme Court ruled that passengers should be paid compensation if a flight is cancelled because of pilot illness. The UK’s highest court on Wednesday ruled that a British Airways subsidiary was wrong to refuse to pay £200 in compensation to UK couple Kenneth and Linda Lipton after their flight from Milan to London City Airport was cancelled in 2018 because the pilot did not report for work because of illness. In a summary of the judgment, the court said that “although the sum at stake is small, the decision has the potential to affect tens of thousands of claims which are made annually”. Under consumer rights law, airlines do not have to pay passengers compensation if a flight is cancelled because of “extraordinary circumstances” that are beyond the company’s control. BA Cityflyer had refused to pay the compensation claims for the cancelled flight from Milan, where it does not base spare crew, on the grounds that pilot illness was an “extraordinary circumstance”, a decision initially upheld by a county court. The couple unsuccessfully appealed in a county court before moving up to the High Court, which found in their favour. The airline appealed in turn to the Supreme Court. Finding against BA Cityflyer, the Supreme Court judges unanimously ruled that a pilot’s absence through sickness “cannot be categorised as extraordinary”. The court said: “Staff illness is commonplace for any business. Just as wear or tear of an aircraft’s physical components is considered an inherent part of an air carrier’s activity, so too is managing illness of staff.” In a statement, BA said: “We are disappointed with this decision and respect the judgment of the court.” Consumer rights company Which? welcomed the decision, which it said was “highly significant for travellers”.<br/>

Regular flights between the Syrian capital of Damascus and Saudi Arabia resumed Wednesday for the first time in more than a decade as part of a thaw in relations between the countries, Syrian state media reported. Syria and Saudi Arabia had severed ties in 2012 over President Bashar Assad’s brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters at the start of the civil war. But most Arab countries have restored diplomatic ties with Damascus, which was readmitted to the 22-member Arab League l ast year. Syria’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Ayman Soussan, said the resumption of flights was “an additional step in the process of development in relations between the two brotherly countries,” state news agency SANA reported. In May, Syrian pilgrims traveled on a direct flight to Saudi Arabia for the annual Islamic Hajj pilgrimage, but Wednesday’s Syrian Airlines flight to Riyadh marked the return of regular commercial flights. Syria’s 13-year civil war is now largely frozen, with the central government in Damascus having reasserted control over most of the territory, while much of the northwest is still controlled by a patchwork of opposition groups and the northeast by Kurdish forces.<br/>

Mali is currently unable to refuel commercial aircraft in its capital Bamako due to fuel shortages and is asking airlines to refuel elsewhere until next week, its transport ministry told Reuters. "There are a lot of flight operations these days and that has affected the fuel stock," Ould Mamouni, a ministry spokesman, said on Tuesday night. "This is to announce to companies that given the limited fuel stock, they will not be able to refuel in Bamako; they can consider obtaining supplies in neighbouring countries before coming to Mali." In a letter seen by Reuters late Tuesday, the director general of the West African country's National Civil Aviation Agency asked the representative to Mali of regional air traffic control agency ASECNA to notify airlines of the measure, which would last from July 9 until July 15. "I invite you to take the necessary steps to issue a notice to air users on the unavailability of Jet A1 fuel at President Modibo Keita-Senou International Airport," he wrote.<br/>

North Korea's trash balloon campaign, missile launches and the emergence of GPS "spoofing" have increased risks in South Korean airspace, aviation experts say, complicating airline operations as tensions rise between the rival nations. In late May, North Korea began floating thousands of balloons with bags of trash, including human excrement, suspended under them into South Korea, in what analysts say is a form of psychological warfare. Hundreds of balloons landed in the South during seven waves between May 29 and June 27, including one on a runway at Incheon airport, forcing a three-hour suspension of takeoffs and landings at its biggest international gateway. When the balloons first appeared, aviation navigation interference from North Korea also spiked, including what appears to be the first bout of so-called "spoofing" affecting commercial aircraft in the South. "Airspace safety is gradually deteriorating," OPSGROUP, a membership-based organisation that shares flight risk information, said in a June bulletin. "There are no official airspace warnings for South Korea, but the risk situation seems to be getting worse." South Korea's transport ministry said its military, air traffic control authorities and airlines maintain a 24-hour surveillance and communication system.<br/>

Japan plans to adopt measures to resolve an aviation fuel shortage that is threatening to ground a surging tourism industry, Nikkei has learned, securing more tankers and stepping up imports. The shortage has been fueled by a combination of factors, including oil refinery shutdowns that have lengthened distances to deliver fuel to airports, as well as regulations enacted in April that limit overtime for truck drivers, reducing hauling capacity. Regional airports have been particularly affected, with the jet fuel shortage causing delays to the addition of new international routes, as well as plans to add more flights to existing routes. Adding more flights and routes is crucial to growth in the tourism sector, which has seen a resurgence from pandemic lows. While demand for air travel is growing, Japan lacks the maritime shipping capacity to deliver fuel to meet demand. Requirements that vessels transporting fuel domestically must be Japanese-flagged and staffed by Japanese nationals are also seen as limiting supply. In response, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism will add three more fuel tankers to domestic routes. The ministry will first reassign one Japanese-flagged tanker used for overseas shipping to domestic routes. The change will go into effect this month. The ministry will designate a foreign-flagged tanker as a Japanese-flagged tanker as soon as October. Later, a new third tanker will be put into operation. At the end of March, there were 281 vessels carrying aviation fuel, heating oil and similar products through domestic routes, according to an industry survey. However, the average distance for shipping petroleum products has increased by more than 10% over the past decade.<br/>

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun apologized and vowed the planemaker would follow government rules after the National Transportation Safety Board said the company provided non-public information speculating about possible causes on a 737 MAX mid-air emergency, the safety panel's top official said on Wednesday. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy told Reuters Calhoun called her after the NTSB criticized Boeing on June 27 for violating its investigation rules into the mid-air blowout of a new Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 door plug with four missing bolts. "He said they were revisiting with everybody what the rules are for NTSB investigations," Homendy said, calling it a "very good conversation." Boeing declined further comment on Wednesday but said previously the company deeply regretted "that some of our comments, intended to make clear our responsibility in the accident and explain the actions we are taking, overstepped the NTSB’s role as the source of investigative information." The NTSB said Boeing would no longer see information produced during its probe. Unlike other parties, Boeing will now not be allowed to ask questions of other participants at a hearing on August 6-7. The NTSB said last month a Boeing executive comments during a factory tour attended by dozens of journalists "released non-public investigative information and made unsubstantiated speculations about possible causes." Homendy said Wednesday that NTSB investigators were still conducting interviews and still requesting information in the investigation and are likely to have more questions after next month's hearing. "Our investigators are getting the information they need," Homendy said.<br/>

Virtually no human activity is as difficult to decarbonise as flying. Relatively light, energy-dense aviation fuel — or Jet A-1, as the most common type is known — packs vast amounts of energy into a tiny amount of space and weight. Finding an equally efficient alternative is a daunting prospect. “Jet A-1 verges on being perfect in terms of weight for power,” explains Andrew Charlton of aviation consultancy Aviation Advocacy. Right now, the leading alternatives are “sustainable aviation fuels”. These are produced from non-fossil sources — including used cooking oil, animal fats, or even carbon from the air — and can be used as a direct replacement for Jet A-1. But there are many questions about how quickly the production of such fuels can be scaled up, their cost, and the effect of their production on other activities, such as agriculture. The main “feedstock” for SAF, at present, is used cooking oil. The oil is filtered and “hydrogenated” — a process in which the oxygen is replaced with hydrogen, to turn it into a hydrocarbon. The resulting mixture is distilled. Producers are also working on ways to turn material from municipal waste into SAF. There is considerable excitement, also, about the potential for a technology called “power-to-liquids” or “e-fuels”, which uses electrolysis to turn carbon pulled from the air into a carbon-based fuel. Lauren Riley, chief sustainability officer for the US’s United Airlines, describes that technology as particularly exciting. “You avoid that whole concern about constraints on feedstocks,” Riley says, referring to concerns about the availability of other material to turn into SAF. “Power-to-liquid, literally, is pulling carbon out of the atmosphere and you do that using sustainable power.” Story has more.<br/>

Lilium NV is close to selling 100 electric flying taxis to Saudi Arabia’s state-owned airline, formalizing a framework deal arranged in late 2022. The startup is likely to announce the Saudia order at an event at its headquarters near Munich later this month, according to a person familiar with the matter who wasn’t authorized to comment ahead of the announcement. A Lilium spokeswoman declined to comment on the potential order, which was first reported by Reuters. Saudia didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside of normal business hours. Flying taxi firms including Lilium and rival Volocopter GmbH are entering a crucial phase as they seek additional funding to keep them in the race toward certification. Lilium’s aircraft, which features small ducted fans and two pairs of wings, is targeted to begin flying in 2026.<br/>