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President Joe Biden’s administration is asking Americans for ways to ease consumer service hurdles they face when canceling subscriptions or obtaining refunds – part of a broader effort to address kitchen-table issues for voters ahead of the election. The White House unveiled an initiative, dubbed “Time is Money,” which aims to “crack down on all the ways that corporations — through excessive paperwork, hold times, and general aggravation — add unnecessary headaches and hassles to people’s days,” according to a White House release detailing the effort. The administration is unveiling a portal where Americans can submit suggestions for what actions the government can take next. Efforts already underway — or being expanded — aim to make it easier to drop subscriptions and memberships, submit health claims online, streamline parents’ communications with schools and get a human customer-service representative on calls. A rule proposed by the Federal Trade Commission, if finalized, would require companies to make it as easy to cancel a subscription or service as it was to sign up. The agency is reviewing public comments on the proposal. The Federal Communications Commission is now launching an inquiry into whether to extend those requirements to the communications industry. Biden has made targeting so-called junk fees — hidden charges on consumers — and burdensome company practices a centerpiece of his agenda, touting the measures as helping control costs for Americans battered by high prices.The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is initiating rulemaking to require companies under its jurisdiction to let customers talk to a human by pressing a single button – an effort to avoid so-called “doom loops,” where consumers say they are confronted by complex menu options on the phone and must listen to repeated, lengthy automated messages when seeking help. The FCC will also launch an inquiry into considering such requirements for phone, broadband and cable companies. CFPB plans to issue rules or guidance to crack down on “ineffective and time-wasting chatbots used by bans and other financial institutions” in customer service. “The administration is cracking down on all the ways that companies, through paper work, hold times and general aggravation, waste people’s time and then really hold onto their money,” White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden told reporters. The efforts follow a Department of Transportation regulation forcing airlines to provide automatic refunds to travelers if flights are canceled or significantly altered.<br/>

Brazil’s government has declared that the flood-hit Porto Alegre airport will be re-opened to commercial flights from 21 October. Minister for ports and airports Silvio Costa Filho has authorised carriers to resume ticket sales to the airport and says its operator expects full capacity to be restored from 16 December. Porto Alegre’s Salgado Filho airport suffered extensive flooding as a result of destructive storms that hit the state of Rio Grande do Sul at the end of April. Flights were suspended from 3 May. The government says restoration of service will be “gradual”, beginning with 128 aircraft movements over a 14h period, and civil aviation regulator ANAC will decide on initial slot allocation for airlines seeking to resume flights. Costa Filho says the measure “will, without a doubt, accelerate the recovery of the state’s economy”.<br/>

Europe’s air passengers will from September be forced to again limit themselves to 100ml liquid items in their carry-on bags. Described by the European Commission as a “temporary” and “precautionary” reimposition, the move covers the EU and European Economic Area and follows the UK bringing back the curbs at its airports in June. The reversal appears to be down to concerns about whether the newest CT or C3 scanners, which have recently been installed at dozens of airports across the continent, can correctly read bottles. C3 scanners were meant to facilitate passengers bringing drinks and other large bottles onto an aircraft. The EU’s about-turn does not affect the other main benefit of the new scanners, which mean passengers do not have to remove gadgets like computers and tablets from bags for separate screening. Most airports have also been making continued use of older X-ray scanners, where passengers have still had to stick to the 100ml rule and the separate screening of some electronics. Airports Council International Europe (ACI), an industry body representing the continent’s airports, described the EU rule change as a “setback” for passengers and a “blow” to airports that had spent heavily on procuring and installing the new “cutting edge” scanners.<br/>

Heathrow has said it experienced a 90,000 decline in passenger numbers on routes included in a GBP10 per person government scheme. It described the electronic travel authorisation (ETA) system as “devastating for our hub competitiveness”. The Conservative government introduced ETAs in November 2023 for people entering or transiting through the UK without legal residence or a visa. ETAs, which cost £10, are required for nationals of Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. The programme is scheduled to be extended to the rest of the world this autumn, although for travellers from the EU, the European Economic Area and Swiss nationals it will be introduced early next year. The airport said: “While Heathrow continues to attract new routes and record passenger numbers, the latest data following the introduction of the ETA shows that Heathrow has lost 90,000 transfer passengers on routes operating to and from the seven countries included in the scheme, since its introduction in 2023. This is devastating for our hub competitiveness. “We urge the government to review the inclusion of airside transit passengers. Every little bit of extra competitiveness that the government can deliver for aviation will help deliver vital growth for the whole of the UK economy.” The ETA is largely based on the US electronic system for travel authorisation (Esta) system, and requires travellers to apply to enter the UK before departing and pay the GBP10 fee. This applies not only to direct flights from the country but also for those who are using UK airports for more than two hours to connect to other flights.<br/>

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has written to the UK’s Secretary of State for Transport, Louise Haigh, over the non-availability of slots for Nigeria’s flag carrier, Air Peace, at Heathrow airport. Air Peace currently operates from Gatwick which is a second-tier airport, due to the fact that it was unable to get slots at Heathrow. On July 26, the Minister who spoke at the League of Airports and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC) seminar in Lagos said Nigeria would no longer allow a situation where the country’s airlines are not allowed to tier one airport overseas in line with the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) saying failure not to allow Air Peace into Heathrow may lead to Nigeria taking British Airways to second tier airports. Fulfilling his threat to demand better for Air Peace, the minister in a letter dated August 1, 2024, which was addressed to the UK Secretary of State for Transport, Louise Haigh, he warned that if Nigeria’s Air Peace is not allocated a space at London Heathrow, the federal government would be forced to deny British Airways and Virgin Atlantic slots at the Lagos and Abuja airports.<br/>

Growing fears of the Israel-Gaza war sliding into a wider conflict involving Iran and its proxies are affecting demand for air travel to the Middle East, with bookings down by 7% for the region. Flight tickets issued in the period between July 15 and July 25 for any future travel date to the Middle East are down 7% year on year, with Jordan and Lebanon suffering the biggest drops, data from travel research company ForwardKeys has found. Bordering the Israel-Gaza conflict, Jordan has recorded a 21% year-on-year decline in flight bookings and Lebanon a 14% decrease in tickets booked between July 15 and July 25 for future travel dates, the data showed. “Travellers increasingly prioritise destinations perceived as stable and secure, and the escalation of tensions in the region will undoubtedly impact travel demand in some way,” Olivier Ponti, director of intelligence and marketing at ForwardKeys, told The National. Data for flight bookings made in the first seven months of the year also reflects concerns about escalating geopolitical threats in the Middle East.<br/>

In every attack on Israel, whether by Iran or Hezbollah, Ben-Gurion Airport is considered a potential target. The airport in Lod is a national symbol, the main gateway to Israel through which nearly 60,000 people pass daily - even now when dozens of foreign airlines have canceled or suspended their flights to Israel. The fact that US Air Force transport planes land at the civilian airport with ammunition, and that the area between Yehud and Lod and Highway 40 houses the Israel Aerospace Industries headquarters and some of its production facilities, makes the region a prominent target in the intelligence files of countries and terrorist organizations. The Air Force does not disclose the locations of Iron Dome batteries, but interceptions have often been observed around Ben-Gurion Airport. Even when the airport was closed temporarily due to rocket fire, it was shut down for a short while to clear interception debris from the runways to avoid damaging aircraft engines and tires. Currently, there are no plans to close the airport. However, in case of prolonged attacks, the "Silver Wings" contingency plan will begin, and the Ben-Gurion Airport’s operations will be relocated to Ramon Airport near Eilat.<br/>

Russia’s government has approved measures allowing wet-lease of aircraft, through an amendment to the country’s aviation regulations which will take effect from 1 September. The amendment – one of a number of changes to the Air Code signed by president Vladimir Putin on 8 August – features in the section on aircraft chartering. It refers to arrangements under which civil aircraft are provided by a lessor to a lessee for a fee, over a specified period, along with the service of crew members for transporting passengers, baggage, cargo and mail. Wet-leasing in Russia has previously been prohibited but this restricts the fleet flexibility of carriers. The Air Code amendment, published by the government, formalises wet-leasing arrangements along similar lines to those applied internationally. It states that the lessor and lessee must have valid operator certificates, adding that the aircraft provided under wet-lease is not included in the lessee’s air operator’s certificate. Lessors, it says, are obliged to ensure maintenance of airworthiness and compliance of the crew with federal aviation requirements, and retain all obligations to members of the cockpit and cabin crews.<br/>

One of the two runways at Japan's Narita Airport was closed on Tuesday (Aug 13) after an American cargo plane made an emergency landing due to an issue with its hydraulic system, officials said. An Atlas Air Boeing 747 cargo jet en route to Los Angeles turned back to Narita for an emergency landing after the problem became apparent at 1:10am (1610 GMT), a transport ministry spokesman said. "The seven crew members of the Boeing 747 were not injured, but tyres were found ruptured and the wheels damaged," the spokesman told AFP. Narita's runway A was closed for at least seven hours, but the "tyres were changed and the operation of the runway is expected to resume at 8:30 am," he said. The closure's impact on other flights had been minimal, he added. No further details of the mechanical issue were immediately available. The incident comes after a brake glitch on a Singapore Airlines plane forced a runway closure at Narita on Monday.<br/>

South Korea has deployed a bedbug sniffer dog at its main Incheon international airport in a bid to reduce the risk of the tiny insects entering the country when athletes, officials and fans return from the Paris Olympics. Leading the campaign is a two-year-old beagle named Ceco, who pest control company Cesco said is the first and so far only canine trained in the country to detect the odour of pheromones, the chemicals released by bedbugs. Ceco is capable of sweeping a standard hotel room in under two minutes, company official Kim Min-su said. The pest control company has teamed up with South Korea's ministries of security and transportation, as well as the Disease Control and Prevention Agency, and is working with airlines and Incheon airport to screen travellers on arrival. Last year, authorities in Paris raced to contain a nationwide panic over bedbugs as the city geared up for the Olympics, worried that the tiny wingless critters might ruin the event and conducted a campaign to root out any infestation. "As the global community is gathering in Paris, France, on the occasion of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, there's a chance bedbugs will enter the country following the event," a government press release said. "Therefore, we are taking a preemptive response to intercept the entry through the Incheon international airport, which is the main gateway to the country." Ceco and his team were deployed on Friday as more athletes and officials started arriving from Paris and will continue to work through to Sept. 8, the government said.<br/>

Israel Aerospace Industries is proceeding with a plan to establish a presence in Abu Dhabi, where it will convert Emirates aircraft into freighters, highlighting how the United Arab Emirates remains committed to building ties with Israel even as tensions rise in the region. The aviation arm of IAI, which provides maintenance repair and overhaul services for aircraft, is set to reconfigure 10 Boeing Co. 777s from Emirates’ fleet into cargo freighters at two hangars starting in October, Shmuel Kuzi, the executive vice president of the division, said in an interview. The Israeli company had signed a deal with the airline to convert four aircraft in 2021, which at the time marked one of the first outcomes for aviation companies from the normalization of relations between the UAE and Israel. Relationships between Israel and several nations across the Middle East have been strained since October, when the Israel-Hamas war erupted in Gaza. Turkey halted trade with the state, while US-led efforts to get Saudi Arabia and Israel to formally recognize each other have stalled. The UAE, meanwhile, has pledged to stick with its decision to recognize Israel, though it has frequently criticized the country for continuing its war in Gaza and has called for a cease-fire. “The situation is very, very sensitive,” said Kuzi, referring to talks with airlines and leasing companies that are current or future customers. “Aviation is always influenced by the political issues, but today I’m able to say that hangars are full.” State-owned IAI said it’s seeing increasing demand from lessors and airlines for freighters that have been converted from passenger aircraft amid limited slots from planemakers Airbus SE and Boeing for new planes.<br/>