Germany’s government must recover public funds from Frankfurt Hahn airport, as well as budget carrier Ryanair, after the European Commission concluded that they received support contrary to state-aid rules. The Commission opened an in-depth investigation into the funding – two measures for the airport and four for Ryanair – in October 2018. It has determined that a plot of land, previously acquired by the Rhineland-Palatinate state, was returned to the airport without the airport operator’s paying any compensation. The Commission also found that two marketing agreements between the state and Ryanair, as well as training support, were incompatible with European Union state-aid regulations. It has ordered the German government to recover E13-14m , plus interest, from Ryanair and around E1.25m from Hahn airport. Hahn airport filed for insolvency in 2021 but was eventually acquired by a German investor, Triwo, in 2023. Other measures investigated were found not to have breached regulations, including three airport services agreements between Ryanair and Hahn airport, the lease of a pilot school and maintenance hall, and a guarantee to the airport with respect to a land sale. After a preliminary examination, the Commission adds, another set of four support measures to Hahn, Ryanair and Haitec – a maintenance firm operating at Hahn – did not amount to state aid.<br/>
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Drone sightings prompted Sweden to temporarily halt air traffic at Stockholm's Arlanda airport overnight, police said on Monday. Police have launched an investigation into possible airport sabotage, they said in a statement. Traffic at Arlanda, Sweden's biggest airport, was halted around 2300 GMT and resumed at 0130 GMT, they added. Daily Aftonbladet quoted an aviation authority spokesperson as saying four drones of varying sizes were sighted from the air traffic control tower. "A decision was then made to halt take-off and landing," the spokesperson said. A spokesperson for airport operator Swedavia confirmed the temporary halt but declined to comment further. The aviation authority was not immediately available for comment.<br/>
A leaked document suggests Budapest wants to abandon the idea of setting a minimum levy on the kerosene that powers the booming airline industry before mid-century, in an apparent bid to unblock a stalled reform of European energy taxation rules that has sparked outrage among environmentalists. The European Commission proposed three years ago a reform to the 2003 Energy Taxation Directive as part of a package of measures to achieve the new target of a 55% cut in CO2 emissions by 2030, including a proposal to scrap the blanket exemption for aviation and maritime fuels. But the bill has been subject to repeated delay, exacerbated by the fact that tax is one of a handful of policy areas where EU legislation can only be enacted if backed unanimously by all 27 member states. In a compromise proposal seen by Euronews that looks to break a deadlock in intergovernmental talks, current EU Council presidency holder Hungary has suggested minimum tax rates for aviation and maritime fuels should be postponed until 2049. For Jo Dardenne, lead campaigner on aviation issues at the NGO umbrella group Transport & Environment in Brussels, the idea was wildly at odds with the EU’s climate policy targets. “It’s hard to find the words to describe the absurdity of a proposal to delay the introduction of a jet and maritime fuel tax to 2049, if not for ever," Dardenne said. “With its proposal, the Hungarian government has completely obliterated the very purpose of this last piece of the Green Deal, which was to put a price on dirty fuels.”<br/>
Gatwick Airport has apologised to passengers affected by flight delays and cancellations due to air traffic control shortages. Analysis of data from flight tracking website FlightRadar24 showed 49 departures and 51 arrivals were cancelled on Sunday, affecting more than 16,000 passengers. An airport spokesperson said the issues were not expected to continue through Monday, though there had been five cancellations by airlines earlier in the day. Gatwick said so far in 2024 it had safely handled more than 170,000 flights through Nats, a 4% increase on last year. An airport spokesperson said the service had been fully available more than 99.6% of the time, operating 24 hours a day. Gatwick typically had 800 or more flight "movements" a day from a single runway. The spokesperson added: "We will continue to work closely with the Nats leadership team to provide passengers and airlines with a good service. London Gatwick would like to apologise to any passengers who experienced disruption yesterday."<br/>
Russian officials said on Tuesday they shot down at least 15 drones around Moscow overnight in a wave of attacks that set residential buildings on fire, killed a nine-year-old child and forced more than 30 flights in the capital to be suspended. More than 60 drones were also downed over Russia's southwestern region of Bryansk, which borders Ukraine and the Lipetsk region in Russia's south, regional governors said. There was no damage or casualties reported there. Ukraine's domestic drone industry has been growing rapidly and Kyiv has been stepping up drone attacks on Russian energy, military and transport infrastructure. Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on the Telegram messaging app that at least 15 drones were downed around Moscow, with emergency crews dispatched to several sites across the region and near the Zhukovo airport and to the Domodedovo district - home to one of the Moscow's largest airports. Russia's RIA agency reported that Zhukovo was closed for air traffic following the suspension of more than 30 domestic and international flights there and at other airports that serve the Russian capital. <br/>
A Kenyan court suspended a government plan to allow India’s Adani Airport Holdings Ltd. to operate its main airport for 30 years until it rules on the matter. The High Court issued the order prohibiting any person from implementing or acting on the privately initiated proposal by Adani until the matter is determined, according to Faith Odhiambo, president of the Law Society of Kenya, an applicant in the case. Adani didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted outside office hours. The lawyers’ body and the Kenya Human Rights Commission, a non-governmental organization, are challenging the government’s right to lease the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in the capital, Nairobi, to Adani Airport as it breaches the constitution. “Leasing the strategic and profitable JKIA to a private entity is irrational” and contravenes the constitutional principles of “good governance, accountability, transparency, and prudent and responsible use of public money,” they said in their filings. The parties also argue that the $1.85b deal between the government and Adani Airport is “unaffordable, threatens job losses, exposes the public disproportionately to fiscal risk, and offers no value for money to the taxpayer.” They claim that Kenya can independently raise the funds to expand JKIA without leasing it for 30 years, according to their filings. Under the terms of the build-operate deal, the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s company would upgrade Kenya’s largest aviation facility and East Africa’s busiest airport and construct a second runway and a new passenger terminal. The government has defended the deal insisting that the airport is stretched beyond its capacity and is urgently in need of improvements. <br/>
Police in Guinea-Bissau have seized 2.63 tons of cocaine found on an airplane that arrived from Venezuela in the West African country's capital, the judicial police said. Agents confiscated 78 bales of drugs that were smuggled in on a Gulfstream IV aircraft during a raid on Saturday afternoon at Bissau's Osvaldo Vieira International Airport, the police said in a statement. The aircraft's entire crew of five, including the pilot, was arrested. They included two Mexican nationals as well as citizens of Colombia, Ecuador and Brazil. The detainees will appear before a regional court on Monday for interrogation, the statement said. Police said the raid, codenamed "Operation Landing", was carried out in cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre-Narcotics. Drug smugglers often use West African countries as a transit point to ship cocaine from South America to Europe. The seizure at the weekend is one of the biggest recorded in recent years.<br/>
India's GMR Airports Infrastructure said on Monday it increased its stake in the main airport in New Delhi to 74%, by buying out Frankfurt Airport operator Fraport's 10% interest in a deal worth $126m. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) will continue to hold its 26% stake in Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), one of the country's biggest and busiest airport, GMR said. The deal comes just over a month after heavy rainfall caused the airport's roof to collapse killing one person and shutting down a busy domestic terminal. GMR, which also owns stakes in Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport and Goa's Manohar International Airport, said the deal was part of its strategy to strengthening its presence in core assets. Fraport said the deal, which it expects to close in 180 days, will help it reduce its debt. It said the AAI and GMR shareholders have to approve the deal.<br/>
Boeing has told suppliers it is delaying a key production milestone for its 737 MAX by six months, three industry sources said, in a sign the planemaker is struggling to boost production of its best-selling jet.<br/>Boeing's latest 737 supplier master schedule communicated to the industry calls for MAX output to reach 42 a month in March 2025, compared with a previous target of September 2024, the sources told Reuters. Boeing has been struggling to recover production of its top single-aisle passenger plane due to additional safety and regulatory checks since a door panel dramatically flew off a 737 MAX jet in midair in January. While the so-called master schedule is a demand signal, it is not an official production target. Boeing has not changed its official plane production target, which calls for 38 MAX jets a month by the end of 2024, up from roughly 25 jets a month in July. When asked about the master schedule, a Boeing spokesperson directed Reuters to second quarter comments made by CFO Brian West in late July. “On the master schedule, we continue to make adjustments as needed and manage supplier by supplier based on inventory levels," West said. "Our objective remains to keep the supply chain paced ahead of final assembly to support stability.” In an effort to align with Boeing's lower production, supplier Spirit AeroSystems in August temporarily lowered its monthly output of fuselages for the 737 MAX to 21 a month from 31, reducing demand for parts from its own supply chain, a senior industry source told Reuters.<br/>
The rate of incidents involving lithium-ion batteries overheating on passenger planes hit a five-year peak last year, with e-cigarettes being the biggest culprit, according to a report from a nonprofit organization focused on safety standards. Incidents involving so-called thermal runaway, which occurs when the batteries overheat and can result in fires, have increased 28% over the five-year period from 2019 through 2023, the report from UL Standards & Engagement found. After vaping devices, which contributed to 35% of the reported incidents last year, power banks for charging electronics were the second-leading cause, according to the report released Monday. “Rechargeable devices like phones, laptops, tablets, and portable power packs are integral to the air travel experience, but with wide and increasing usage of lithium-ion batteries in these and other consumer products comes an increase in the safety hazards they present,” the organization said in the report. The FAA has also found this issue to be a growing problem, with lithium-battery air incidents rising from 16 in 2015 to 77 in 2023, according to data compiled by the agency. Already this year, there have been 37 verified events, including a July case involving a passenger’s e-cigarette overheating on a Delta Air Lines Inc. flight. <br/>