Airfare, departure times, flight length — these are the usual considerations for travelers who want to book a flight. But now, more are looking at a new factor: the aircraft itself. One in five travelers said they are doing more research into the plane they may be flying on before they book, while slightly more (22%) said they are limiting air travel for the rest of the year, according to a survey conducted in June by the digital analytics company Quantum Metric. Overall, 55% of travelers said they have changed the way they book flights because of recent news about aircraft and airlines, the survey showed. The survey did not directly mention Boeing, but a steady stream of media coverage about the company — from its quality control to business ethos — have dominated headlines since a door panel blew off a Alaska Airlines flight on Jan. 5, 2024. These stories have directed consumers’ focus to Boeing’s aircraft, which was something travelers didn’t use to pay attention to, said Danielle Harvey, global vice president and head of travel and hospitality strategy at Quantum Metric. “Our research infers that fliers are doing more research to understand and potentially avoid Boeing aircrafts,” she said. The survey also showed 13% of respondents are avoiding discount carriers to feel more secure about flying.<br/>
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Airlines that spent years clamoring for new jets are changing their tune. Cash-strapped, low-cost and deep discounter airlines are putting off spending billions of dollars on new aircraft to save money as they try to return to steady profitability and face the impact of engine repairs. Airlines flooded the U.S. with flights this year, driving down fares particularly in the domestic market, where low-cost carriers concentrate, and weighing on carriers’ revenue while costs have gone up. Spirit Airlines, JetBlue Airways and Frontier Airlines last posted annual profits in 2019, while larger carriers have returned to profitability. Lower prices on plane tickets are noticeable: Fare-tracker Hopper estimates “good deal” airfare in September is going for $240 for roundtrip U.S. domestic flights, down 8% from last year. Now, some of those same airlines are dialing back their growth plans and deferring deliveries of new aircraft. The bulk of the price of an airplane is paid upon delivery. “You have too much supply, so it’s natural for us as an industry to reduce the supply,” Frontier CEO Barry Biffle said. Frontier earlier this month said it is is deferring 54 Airbus aircraft to at least 2029. Part of the problem is that years of aircraft delivery delays mean carriers don’t want to add too many planes too quickly, Biffle said<br/>
Revenge travel after the darkest days of the pandemic contributed to travel roaring back across the globe, with airlines, hotels and cruises reporting double-digit growth and travelers using their savings, taking on debt or even selling their homes to splurge on bucket list adventures or multiple trips. Now, at least for some travelers, that furious vacation spending is slowing down. While high-income travelers are still booking luxury experiences and jet-setting abroad, other consumers have been cutting back on travel spending to meet the high cost of living. Data from Tourism Economics (on behalf of the U.S. Travel Association, a travel group) shows that the meteoric rise in post-pandemic travel spending that began in 2021 has reached a plateau. In earnings calls this month, top hotel chains like Hilton and Hyatt reported less demand by leisure travelers for lower-priced brands, while online travel agencies, like Expedia Group and Booking Holdings, and short-term rental companies like Airbnb also noted slowdowns. For those still seeking a vacation or two, that softening demand means bargains — in the form of lower airfare and hotel perks. “The revenge travel effect is finally receding, and so are prices,” said Steve Hafner, CE of the Kayak search engine, adding that the fall season will be an ideal time for travelers to “snag up a deal.” Though demand for air travel has continued to surge in 2024, with international and domestic traffic matching 2019 levels, according to the IATA, bookings made in June and July for the months ahead slowed down, especially for domestic travel. “A likely explanation is a return to prepandemic levels of growth,” the trade group wrote in a recent report. Looking toward the fall, ticket prices are lower than last year and cabin capacity remains high. In the United States, carriers have been flying more passenger seats this year compared to last year, according to global travel data provider OAG.<br/>
Air travellers who hoped the era of "tiny toiletries" was nearly over are facing fresh disappointment, as European airports re-introduce strict cabin bag rules. Some EU destinations had scrapped the 100ml limit for liquids being carried in hand luggage. But from Sunday, they must all bring it back due to a "temporary technical issue" with new security scanners. It follows a similar move by the UK earlier this summer. It means if you have been on holiday, you cannot buy a large bottle of suncream, perfume or a local tipple before you get to the airport and expect to carry it home in your hand luggage. But why has it happened? And will the relaxed rules that had started in some locations ever return? Airline passengers around the world had grown used to strict 100ml restrictions on liquids, pastes and gels, which had to be put in a clear plastic bag. But new scanning machines which use CT X-ray technology should in theory enable larger volumes of liquids to go through, and laptops to stay in bags. Some EU airports, for example in Rome and Amsterdam, had already put them in place and eased their rules. Most had not yet. Some others have been trialling the new technology. The Europe branch of the Airports Council International (ACI) estimates around 350 of these scanners are now in use across 13 EU countries such as Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, and Sweden. However, the EU has reinstated the 100ml limit so a technical issue with the new equipment can be addressed, although it has not said what this issue is.<br/>
German authorities are warning of unconventional incendiary devices sent by unknown persons in packages, German news agency dpa reported on Friday, citing a message sent to airlines and logistics companies.<br/>The parcels were sent from European locations to other locations on the continent and caught fire on the way, the report said.<br/>The security notice was sent issued by the domestic intelligence service BfV and federal crime agency BKA, it said.<br/>
Schiphol Group NV, the owner of Amsterdam’s airport, will spend E6b in upgrading the hub’s infrastructure over the next five years, its biggest investment plan to date. The investment will go toward maintaining and renewing key airport infrastructure including baggage, climate-control systems, escalators and taxiways, according to a statement on Friday. The outlay is double the amount Schiphol had announced last year for the four years through 2027. The company, which also operates Eindhoven and Rotterdam airports, said passenger satisfaction was not at desired levels. The state of the infrastructure is “currently far from what we want to offer our passengers,” Pieter van Oord, the CEO of Schiphol Group said in the statement. Amsterdam Schiphol was last year dubbed the world’s worst airport by Willie Walsh, the head of the International Air Transport Association, amid a battle over a capacity reduction plan and an increase in charges. Schiphol’s CFO Robert Carsouw said the airport had made fixes that were possible with the assets it had, citing for instance, improved wait times at security. However, upgrades are required across the facility, he said. “When it comes to having sufficient square meters, having clean toilets, making sure that when there are queues you have sufficient space to queue, that requires an overhaul of most of the airport,” Carsouw said in an interview. The airport on Friday said monthly traffic numbers were “increasingly” close to pre-Covid levels, with more departing passengers on peak days in May and during the summer vacation period than in 2019. The group anticipates the total passengers at its Amsterdam airport will be between 65m and 68m this year.<br/>
Hundreds of Border Force staff at Heathrow Airport have started a four-day strike in a long-running dispute over rosters. About 650 members of the Public and Commercial Services Union have walked out amid complaints that their new rosters are inflexible. Research by the union showed that four in five Heathrow Border Force workers suffer from stress at work. The Home Office has said there are plans in place to minimise disruption and that officials remain open to finding a deal for staff. After the four-day strike, Border Force staff will then work to rule and refuse to work overtime from 4 September until 22 September.<br/>The union has said more than one in four members have taken time off due to stress or related mental health reasons since the introduction of the new rosters in April. Most staff regularly worry about managing home commitments around work, according to the union. General secretary Fran Heathcote said: "This survey shows how badly our members' wellbeing is being affected by the new roster system. These inflexible rosters are preventing parents dropping off and picking up their children from school.<br/>
Bad weather disrupted Philippine schools, state offices and foreign exchange trading for the second time in a week, with the government warning of floods and landslides due to storm Yagi and the monsoon rains. Government work and classes in public and private schools in Metro Manila were suspended, according to government advisories on Facebook. FX trading will halt from noon, the bankers association said. Some local Philippine Airlines Inc. and Cebu Air Inc. flights were canceled, according to airport authorities. The disruptions come five days after heavy monsoon rains flooded parts of Metro Manila and other areas of the Philippines. In July, more than 30 people died as Typhoon Gaemi brought floods and landslides. Yagi, called Enteng in the Philippines, is packing maximum sustained winds of 75 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 90 km/hour, according to local weather bureau Pagasa. The storm may make landfall over Isabela or Cagayan province in northern Luzon this afternoon or tonight, it said. <br/>
New Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg met this week with the head of the FAA as the planemaker faces numerous regulatory issues and increased scrutiny, an agency official confirmed. Ortberg told employees on Friday in an email he had met with the FAA this week and discussed the company's safety and quality plan. FAA administrator Mike Whitaker in January barred Boeing from boosting production of its best-selling 737 MAX after a door panel blew out during a Jan. 5 flight on a new Alaska Airlines jetliner. Ortberg, who took over as CEO on Aug. 8, wrote to employees that he told the FAA of the company's "focus on true culture change, empowering employees to speak up when they see potential issues and bringing the right resources together to solve them." Ortberg held his first board meeting as CEO this week and met with Pentagon and other officials. The company also faces ongoing labor talks. Whitaker said in May he planned to travel to Seattle in September to meet with the company about its quality efforts. Whitaker has said the agency will continue its increased on-site presence at Boeing and fuselage supplier Spirit Aerosystems for the foreseeable future. In June Whitaker said at a Senate Commerce hearing that the FAA was "too hands-off" in oversight of Boeing before January. "The FAA should have had much better visibility into what was happening at Boeing before Jan. 5," Whitaker said. This month, Boeing said it suspended test flights on its 777x that is awaiting certification. A component between the engine and airplane structure was discovered with cracks during a maintenance check and cracks were also found on the other test planes.<br/>
A senior executive at cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike will testify before a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on Sept. 24 on the company's faulty software update that caused a global IT outage.<br/>Adam Meyers, senior vice president for counter adversary operations at CrowdStrike, will testify before the House Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection subcommittee, the panel said Friday. "Considering the significant impact CrowdStrike’s faulty software update had on Americans and critical sectors of the economy -- from aviation to medical services -- we must restore confidence in the IT that underpins the services Americans depend on daily,” said Representative Mark Green, who chairs the Homeland Security committee.<br/>The committee had sent a letter in July to CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz asking him to testify on last week's global tech outage. CrowdStrike did not immediately comment Friday. The July 19 incident led to worldwide flight cancellations and impacted industries around the globe including banks, health care, media companies and hotels chains. The outage disrupted internet services, affecting 8.5m Microsoft Windows devices. Delta Air Lines has vowed to take legal action after it said the outage forced it to cancel 7,000 flights impacting 1.3m passengers over five days and cost it $500m. CrowdStrike has rejected Delta's contention it should be blamed for massive flight disruptions.<br/>