The U.S. government has seized an airplane linked to Nicolás Maduro, the leader of Venezuela, and brought it to Florida on Monday because it was bought in violation of U.S. sanctions, according to a Justice Department statement. The Biden administration is trying to put more pressure on Maduro because of his attempts to undermine the results of the recent presidential election in his country, White House officials said. The Justice Department said in its statement that it had seized a Dassault Falcon 900EX owned and operated by Mr. Maduro and his partners after it had been brought to the Dominican Republic for maintenance work. The department then had the plane flown to Florida. The plane had been purchased in the United States for $13m through a shell company and “smuggled” out of the country “for use by Nicolás Maduro and his cronies,” said Merrick B. Garland, the U.S. attorney general. The Homeland Security Department helped the Justice Department lead the operation, one U.S. official said. The Commerce Department was involved as well. Let this seizure send a clear message: Aircraft illegally acquired from the United States for the benefit of sanctioned Venezuelan officials cannot just fly off into the sunset,” Matthew S. Axelrod, the assistant secretary for export enforcement at the Commerce Department, said in a written statement. Video footage broadcast Monday showed the airplane, a sleek white jet with red stripes, sitting on a tarmac in Florida.<br/>
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Incoming flights into Newark were briefly held on Monday as travelers started returning home from Labor Day weekend. Equipment outage caused a ground stop at Newark Liberty International Airport starting at around 2:30 p.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The agency later confirmed that a "radar issue" triggered the ground stop and the slowing down of flights into New Jersey. The issue is not only preventing flights into EWR, it's also causing departure delays.<br/>
Airlines operating flights from European airports will soon have to report the estimated climate impact of vapour trails from jet engines to the European Commission, as well as the amount of carbon dioxide they emit annually. The airline industry had lobbied hard against the new rules — adopted by government delegates behind closed doors on Friday (30 August) — saying there wasn't enough research data on the effects of contrails. But the European Commission, while acknowledging “inherent uncertainties” about the non-CO2 climate impact of the aviation industry, said “the net contribution to global warming [was] well known” and that the new reporting requirements would help to further knowledge. “Studies have shown that the uncertainty in these effects is not a sufficient reason to avoid action,” the EU executive said. Contrails contain nitrogen oxides, black carbon and other climate harming substances, and have been shown to promote cloud cover in the high atmosphere where, unlike low lying clouds, they help trap heat. Some estimates suggest their contribution to global warming is at least as much as that of the 2% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions that come from aircraft. Environmental groups were critical of a temporary carve-out for long haul flights under the final agreed text. The rules will apply next year only to flights between airports in the European Economic Area – that is, the EU plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. “Long-haul airlines receive preferential treatment once again from the EU,” said Krisztina Hencz, aviation policy manager at Brussels lobby group Transport & Environment. “They have worked hard to undermine action and research on non-CO2 and they are being rewarded for their efforts.” “At the end of the day, this proposal was there to help better understand the problem of non-CO2 and this effort has been hampered,” Hencz told Euronews, noting that airlines had only won a limited concession from lawmakers - the rules will extend to all flights into and out of the EU from 2027.<br/>
Israel's Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport (TLV) has been shut down due to a national strike against the Netanyahu government. The strikes followed the announcement that the bodies of six hostages had been retrieved from the Gaza Strip. The nationwide protests demand that the Israeli government agree to a ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza. Thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets in Tel Aviv and other major cities, urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure a deal for the return of hostages. The strike has also impacted the country's main airport, which was closed for two hours from 8:00 to 10:00 AM local time, according to a report by the local news media outlet Israel Hayom. The airport closure could disrupt flights not only today but also throughout the coming week. Senior aviation industry officials informed Israel Hayom that even a three-hour closure could lead to flight schedule disruptions lasting up to 72 hours. Sources within the Histadrut, Israel's General Organization of Workers, estimate TLV airport will be closed for several hours, though the exact duration has yet to be determined.<br/>
A report on airport management published by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism found that 71.8m international flight passengers used Japanese airports in 2023, including those making transfers. This was around 70% of the level prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Boosted by rising tourism, in 2019 the total number of passengers arriving or departing on international flights in Japan reached a record high of 103.3m. This figure dropped to below 20m for the following three years, during the COVID-19 pandemic, before showing a strong recovery in 2023. However, the volume of international freight passing through Japanese airports in 2023 fell 10% year on year to 3.3m tons. Narita was the airport with the most international flight passengers in 2023, handling 33% of the total, followed by Haneda with 24%, Kansai with 23%, and Fukuoka with 9%. This was the third consecutive year that Kansai ranked lower than Haneda, taking third place. Narita had the highest share of international freight at 56.2%, compared to Kansai with 21.7% and Haneda with 17.1%.<br/>
oekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, the country’s main port of entry by air, is mandating all inbound travelers to register their details with the SatuSehat electronic health pass as a preventive measure against a new, more virulent strain of mpox. The recent spread of clade Ib mpox across West and Central Africa prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare the virus a public health emergency of international concern in mid-August. The airport's communication and legal senior branch manager, M. Holik Muardi, said all international passengers entering Indonesia must complete the SatuSehat self-declaration form prior to departure. "This policy is implemented for arrivals from all countries without exception and has been effective since Aug. 29," Holik said on Monday, as quoted by Antara News. The SatuSehat health pass requires the personal information of travelers, including their full name, mobile phone number, date and port of arrival, flight and seat number, as well as other details of their planned journey, including country of departure, transit countries and any countries they have visited up to 21 days before departing for Indonesia.<br/>
Sydney Airport has installed a new Light Detection and Ranging System (LIDAR) to help manage the risks of windshear during take-off and landing. As part of the Low-Level Windshear Alert System (LLWAS), the technology is designed to let pilots and airport staff know of dangerous low-level wind conditions. The system updates every 10 seconds, transmitting windshear alerts to the airport’s air traffic control tower. According to Sydney Airport chief operations officer Adrian Witherow, Sydney Airport is looking to focus on safety as it anticipates hitting 2b passengers by 2040. As the airport expands to meet growing demand, investing in advanced technologies reflects our commitment to safety and operational efficiency with timely information to support optimised runway configuration,” he said. “This new technology is a game-changer for Sydney Airport significantly increasing our ability to proactively detect and respond to sudden changes in wind patterns near the runway and alert pilots in the vicinity. We are extremely proud to be the first in Australia to implement this technology, and we’re looking forward to bringing it online and seeing it in action.” The news comes amid recent weather troubles at the airport, which again experienced heavy delays on Monday as high winds of up to 120km/h hit the east coast, forcing the closure of two runways and the cancellation of more than 60 domestic flights.<br/>
A Brisbane air traffic controller was found lying asleep across two chairs while on duty in December 2022. An ATSB investigation into the incident concluded that the employee had worked multiple night shifts in a row with “reduced extended rest periods”, which likely reduced their ability to “obtain restorative sleep”. While no flights were scheduled until after the shift ended, investigators ruled that “sleep inertia” could have delayed their communication in the event of an unexpected broadcast. In its final report into the incident, the transport safety watchdog found “several factors” that had led to the controller falling asleep. “These included the time of day, the very low workload in their sector, a roster pattern with multiple consecutive night shifts, and the controller increasing their risk of falling asleep by lying across two chairs, not moving, and not undertaking activities to maintain mental alertness,” said ATSB Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell. While the airspace was clear at the time, Mitchell noted that, had the controller been woken up by a radio broadcast, they would have risked “sleep inertia” delaying their communications and causing them to give incorrect instructions, as well as difficulty managing any airspace conflicts from aircraft operating without clearance. “There were no negative consequences from this occurrence, but it does highlight areas for improvement in work scheduling and fatigue risk management,” he said.<br/>
Abu Dhabi clean energy company Masdar believes there is a "compelling business case" for using hydrogen to make air travel greener, a senior executive said on Monday. Mohammad Abdelqader El-Ramahi, Masdar's chief green hydrogen officer, said synthetic aviation fuels were a "low-hanging fruit" in the industry. Airlines are banking on sustainable fuels to "drop in" to existing jet engines and cut the bulk of CO2 emissions caused by flying. More radical remodelling of aircraft, involving electric batteries and alternative engines, is expected to take a smaller part of the slack. Using hydrogen is an alternative to the most common type of sustainable fuel made from cooking oils and plant waste, of which supplies are limited. This involves splitting hydrogen off from water (H2O), ideally using climate-friendly means such as wind or solar power, and combining it with CO2. European Union rules will require this variant, known as eSAF, to make up 1.2% of jet fuel by the early 2030s, eventually rising to 35% by 2050. "One could say the 1.2% is very low. It is not," El-Ramahi told a summit of green hydrogen investors in London. "If you look at the current evolution of the aviation sector and you look at this quantity, this quantity is ginormous." He said biofuels would "not be able to scratch the surface" of the volumes of cleaner fuel needed, especially when competing with land needed to grow food. Fines for failing to comply with EU rules also mean that an aviation company could end up paying double if it does not go down an eSAF route, he said. "We believe that sustainable aviation fuels or eSAF synthetic fuels are one of the low-hanging fruits," El-Ramahi said. "It's a very compelling business case."<br/>