Hackers are demanding $6m in bitcoin from the operator of the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport for documents they stole during a cyberattack last month and posted on the dark web this week, an airport official said Wednesday. The Port of Seattle, which owns and runs the airport, has decided not to pay, the official said. The airport previously linked the attack to a ransomware gang called Rhysida, and now the FBI is conducting a criminal investigation, said Lance Lyttle, the port's managing director of aviation. Lyttle told a U.S. Senate committee that the airport appears to have stopped the attack, but the hackers were able to encrypt some data. “On Monday, they posted on their dark website a copy of eight files stolen from Port systems and are seeking 100 bitcoin to buy the data,” Lyttle said. Lyttle did not describe the documents. He said the airport will contact any individuals whose personal information might have been stolen. Port officials have said paying the ransomware would not be a good use of taxpayer money. The airport is still recovering from the attack, which began Aug. 24. The attack was launched at a busy time, a week before the Labor Day holiday weekend. Flights were able to operate, but the attack snarled ticketing, check-in kiosks and baggage handling. Passengers on smaller airlines had to use paper boarding passes. The mayor of Columbus, Ohio, said last month that Rhysida was behind a data breach of city systems. The mayor downplayed the value of the stolen data and said the city never got a ransom demand.<br/>
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Huge crowds and high prices haven’t kept travelers at home. And many North American air travelers are still enjoying their time at airports, according to the overall satisfaction scores in the 2024 North America Airport Satisfaction Study from J.D. Power. Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport is the most satisfying airport in the study’s “mega-airport” category, which looks at facilities serving 33m or more passengers per year. It’s followed by Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. MSP has consistently been a top performer in the category, Michael Taylor, managing director of travel, hospitality and retail at J.D. Power, told CNN Travel. “Lately, the completion of internal and external projects has helped MSP dramatically,” Taylor said, adding that the Minnesota airport scores at the top of every dimension in the study in the mega-airport category. Minneapolis-Saint Paul is currently working on a $242m Airport Modernization Program making over its Terminal 1 concourses. The study evaluates three airport categories — mega-airports, large airports and medium-sized airports — based on 26,290 traveler surveys collected from August 2023 through July 2024. It looks at seven core dimensions (listed in order of importance): ease of travel through the airport; level of trust with the airport; terminal facilities; airport staff; departure experience (trip to airport, grounds, parking, signage, baggage dropoff, etc.); food, beverage and retail; and arrival experience (exiting the airport, baggage claim, transportation location, signage, etc.).<br/>
A new proposal from the country’s transport regulator would charge airlines $790 for each passenger complaint it resolves — regardless of which party wins the dispute. The Canadian Transportation Agency on Wednesday launched a one-month consultation on the proposed reforms, which would apply to valid customer complaints processed and settled by the regulator. The agency estimates it will be able to close just over 22,600 air travel complaints per year, amounting to roughly $17.9m in fees charged to airlines. It says the charge aims to cover 60% of the projected $29.8m annual cost of handling eligible complaints, with expenses stemming largely from salaries and benefits for the agency’s resolution officers. While the fees could dissuade airlines from rule-breaking, passenger rights advocate Gabor Lukacs says the measure comes “too little, too late” and fails to serve as an adequate disincentive. The transport agency says its backlog of air travel complaints now sits at a record high of about 78,000, driven in part by unprecedented tallies last year amid ongoing traveller frustrations.<br/>
At one Canadian airport, removing laptops and liquids from your carry-on at security is a thing of the past, thanks to a fresh use of half-century-old technology. This month, Vancouver became the first flight hub in the country to deploy CT scanners in a bid to detect explosives and other threats, the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority says. The agency said Wednesday it plans to install the technology, which provides 360-degree views via computerized X-ray imaging, at airport checkpoints across the country in the coming years. As a result, travellers will no longer need to remove liquids, aerosols, gels or large electronics — laptops included — from their carry-on bags, said Vancouver International Airport CEO Tamara Vrooman. It maintains high security standards while making it easier to move through the checks, she said in a statement. The project was announced at the Vancouver airport, where five of the machines now sit astride conveyer belts in the security screening area. They've been operation since Sept. 4, according to the airport authority. Nada Semaan, who heads the aviation security authority, said the technology aims to catch explosives and other "threat items" while easing the passenger experience. The agency said more upgrades are planned at other airports over several years, beginning this fall. It declined to specify a timeline or which airports will undergo a security overhaul. The Crown corporation said its funding for the project amounted to $23m for the first year.<br/>
Mali's security situation remained unclear on Wednesday after insurgents attacked an elite police training academy and other strategic areas on Tuesday, killing trainees, overrunning part of the airport and setting the presidential jet alight. Analysts and diplomats described the attack as a major blow to the junta and regional bloc ECOWAS and the European Union issued statements condemning it. Mali has not confirmed the death toll, but said on state television on Tuesday evening that there had been "some" deaths. A video that circulated online showed sleeping quarters with around two dozen bunk beds in tight formation that had been torched. Several charred bodies can be seen, some under the beds. Reuters has not authenticated the videos. Flights resumed on Wednesday morning to Bamako's main airport, where much of the violence - claimed by Al Qaeda affiliate Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) - took place a day earlier. The al Qaeda-linked group said in another statement on Wednesday that "hundreds of enemy soldiers were killed and wounded" in the attack that also saw the destruction of six military aircrafts including a drone, while four others were partially disabled. The attack came on the 64th anniversary of the founding of Mali's gendarmerie, and came days after junta leader Assimi Goita had said his army had "considerably weakened armed terrorist groups", in a speech marking the anniversary of Mali's decision together with junta-led neighbours Burkina Faso and Niger to form a security and political alliance.<br/>
Boeing will start furloughing tens of thousands of employees in the coming days as it seeks to blunt the effects of a strike involving its largest union, the company said on Wednesday. The strike, which began on Friday, has drastically slowed production of commercial airplanes because most of the union’s more than 33,000 members work in manufacturing in the Seattle area. Boeing announced a series of cost-cutting measures this week to stem losses that could reach into the billions of dollars in a prolonged strike. “With production paused across many key programs in the Pacific Northwest, our business faces substantial challenges and it is important that we take difficult steps to preserve cash and ensure that Boeing is able to successfully recover,” the company’s CE, Kelly Ortberg, said in a message to employees on Wednesday. Ortberg joined Boeing last month, part of a management shuffle after a panel blew off one of the company’s planes in flight this year, leading to a crisis for the company. In response, federal regulators limited Boeing’s plane production and the company initiated a series of changes aimed at improving quality and safety. Managers planned to meet with workers on Wednesday to review how the temporary furloughs, which Mr. Ortberg said would affect “a large number of U.S.-based executives, managers and employees,” would play out. He also said that he and other company leaders would take a pay cut for the rest of the strike, though he did not say by how much.<br/>
China Development Bank Financial Leasing Co. agreed to buy 50 Boeing Co. 737 Max jets, the company’s second major order in as many weeks as it adds newer, more fuel-efficient planes to its fleet. The 737-8s are due to be delivered between 2028 and 2031, China Development Bank said in a statement dated Sept. 18. CDB Leasing, as it’s known, earlier this month agreed to buy 80 Airbus SE jets from the A320neo family. The Max order from China is a vote of confidence in Boeing, which is hamstrung by factory-worker strikes and struggling to increase production rates. Chinese airlines and lessors have been large buyers of Airbus jets in recent years. CDB is the eleventh-largest airplane lessor in the world, according to KPMG.<br/>