The union representing thousands of striking Boeing U.S. factory workers said late on Tuesday a survey showed members were overwhelmingly against the planemaker's latest pay proposal, which it described as its "best and final". Earlier in the day, Boeing said it would extend the timeline for a vote on a new contract after the union had rejected the company's initial Friday deadline. More than 32,000 Boeing workers in the Seattle area and Portland, Oregon, walked off the job on Sept. 13 in the union's first strike since 2008, halting production of airplane models including its best-selling 737 MAX. Nearly 95% rejected Boeing's offer of a 25% pay rise over four years, leading to the strike. An improved proposal announced by Boeing on Monday would lift the pay gain to 30% and restore a performance bonus, but the union said a survey of its members found that was not enough. "The survey results from yesterday were overwhelmingly clear, almost as loud as the first offer: members are not interested in the company's latest offer," International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751 said on Tuesday. The union has been seeking a 40% pay rise and the restoration of a defined-benefit pension that was taken away in the contract a decade ago.<br/>
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A U.S. Senate panel investigating Boeing's safety culture on Wednesday faulted the planemaker's quality practices and oversight by the Federal Aviation Administration citing documents obtained in an ongoing investigation. The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which is holding a hearing Wednesday with FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker, said Boeing workers continue to feel pressure to prioritize speed of production over quality. The committee's Democratic staff said in a memo Boeing struggles to ensure employees are adequately trained, fails to ensure improper parts are not installed and its quality inspection procedures and the FAA’s review raises questions about qualifications and the independence of individuals performing inspections. In some facilities, Boeing personnel are allowed to inspect their own work. "Given the depth and history of Boeing’s safety deficiencies, its lack of candor with the FAA, and the agency’s reactive regulatory posture, the newly released information raises questions about the effectiveness of the FAA’s oversight of the company," the committee said. Boeing said it has "taken important steps to foster a safety culture that empowers and encourages all employees to share their voice, but it will require continuous focus." The FAA did not comment but Whitaker said at a House hearing Tuesday that Boeing needed to undertake significant safety culture improvements that might not be completed for years.<br/>
The head of the Federal Aviation Administration will tell a U.S. Senate panel on Wednesday that the agency will remain engaged with the Justice Department on oversight of Boeing. FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker will tell the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that the agency will "expeditiously provide notice, in real time, of any activities that may be criminal so that DOJ can take any action they deem appropriate," according to written testimony seen by Reuters. Boeing agreed to plead guilty plea to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge and pay at least $243.6m in July after breaching a 2021 agreement with the U.S. Justice Department, according to a court filing.<br/>
Dublin Airport operator DAA and Aer Lingus have rejected a suggestion from Minister for Tourism Catherine Martin that the solution to the passenger cap impasse at the national aviation hub can be solved by diverting traffic to regional airports. Speaking to reporters outside the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation’s (ITIC’s) annual conference on Wednesday in Dublin, the former Green Party deputy leader said regional tourism balance is the solution to the crisis. Reiterating a point raised by some of her Government colleagues in recent weeks, the Dublin Rathdown TD said there are “no capacity issues” at regional airports such as Shannon and Cork and that the “dispersal of tourists” to regional areas would be a “win win”. Martin said: “Even if there wasn’t a cap in Dublin Airport, we should be really focusing on regional tourism.” However, Aer Lingus chief corporate affairs officer Donal Moriarty and DAA CE Kenny Jacobs later rejected the suggestion. On Wednesday afternoon, Jacobs told the ITIC conference that the Government’s suggestion is “naive and simplistic” and “does not reflect how the airlines actually work”. He said the Government should encourage the airlines “to go to the regions”. However, he said: “By capping Dublin, all you’re doing is immediately costing the Irish economy jobs, you’re hurting the Irish tourism industry and you’re giving Irish aviation and tourism a bad look.”<br/>
Campaigners are calling on government to "say no" to Gatwick Airport's plans to bring its northern runway in to regular use. The airport submitted a development consent order in 2023, which is currently being looked at by the Planning Inspectorate. Gatwick wants to bring its second runway, usually used for taxiing planes and in emergencies, in to regular use. A spokesperson for Gatwick said its Northern Runway Project was considered to be "nationally significant" and was "thoroughly scrutinised by the Planning Inspectorate". Sally Pavey, from Communities Against Gatwick Noise Emissions (Cagne) said the group, which has more than 5,000 members across Kent, Surrey and Sussex, wants to see Gatwick "go away and apply correctly for a new runway". She told BBC Radio Surrey the group had "seriously questioned" the new runway fitting in to government policy at hearings about the application. "We would like government to say no. This is not policy. This is not making best use of existing runways," Ms Pavey added. The Planning Inspectorate is expected to make a recommendation to the Secretary of State for Transport by the end of November. The final decision by the Secretary of State is due in February 2025.<br/>
The Seattle factory strike crippling production at Boeing Co. is triggering delays to 737 Max deliveries across Asia, a region that’s already home to some of the biggest order backlogs for the flagship aircraft. The US manufacturer is due to hand over 981 Max jets to carriers in Asia, led by Air India Ltd. and Indonesia’s Lion Air, by 2030, according to data from Cirium. That’s close to one-third of all scheduled deliveries of the aircraft worldwide over that period. But with Boeing at loggerheads with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents some 33,000 Boeing employees who have been striking for almost two weeks, concerns are escalating about the reliability of the plane pipeline. Responding to queries, Korean Air Lines Co., Vietjet Aviation JSC and Japan Airlines Co. said they were either suffering delivery delays due to the strike, expecting planes to arrive late or concerned about handover dates slipping. Others including Singapore Airlines Ltd. said they were working with Boeing on delivery schedules in light of the factory shutdown. Aviation’s supply chain is still fractured from the pandemic, and Asian carriers are struggling to get enough aircraft to meet demand as it is. The union’s strike only makes things worse. At stake is capacity in a region that’s the growth engine for air travel worldwide. And when there aren’t enough seats for everyone who wants to fly, fares typically go up. The dispute — combined with supply-chain ruptures and economic woes — means plane deliveries worldwide will stall in 2024, according to aviation advisory firm IBA. They won’t reach their 2018 pre-pandemic high until 2026, IBA said this week.<br/>
South Korea has been forced to repeatedly shut down runways at the two main airports for the capital Seoul since June due to disruption from balloons carrying trash launched by North Korea, a South Korean lawmaker said on Wednesday, citing aviation data. On 20 different days since June 1, all or some runways at Incheon and Gimpo airports were closed for landings or takeoffs, or both, when balloons were detected in the vicinity, Democratic Party member of parliament Yang Bu-nam said in a statement. In total, the closures lasted 413 minutes. North Korea has launched more than 5,500 balloons with bags of trash attached to them since late May, saying it was responding to balloons carrying propaganda leaflets flown by South Korean activists. The balloons are carried by wind and some have dropped in the South, including near the presidential office and on airport runways. While most were removed by authorities without incident, some have disrupted airport traffic and caused small fires. On June 26, Incheon airport runways were closed for a total of 166 minutes, the most over 24 hours, according to aviation official data released by Yang's office. On Monday, takeoffs and landings were suspended at Incheon, the world's fifth-busiest international airport and an important cargo hub, for a total of 90 minutes. The balloons have also disrupted operations at Gimpo, which is on the western edge of the capital Seoul and mostly serves domestic flights.<br/>
Incheon International Airport Corporation has reaffirmed its status as a global leader in airport services by maintaining its top ranking in the Airports Council International's service evaluation for three consecutive years. At the sixth Customer Experience Global Summit held in Atlanta on Wednesday, Incheon Airport received both the Airport Service Quality "Best Airport" award and the "Most Enjoyable Airport" award, on top of the ACI's Customer Experience Accreditation, marking the highest level of recognition in global customer experience. The ACI evaluates airport customer experience management and innovation from a customer-centric perspective. Incheon Airport demonstrated its distinctiveness in the service sector by achieving certification for three years after attaining all five ACI accreditation levels in 2022.<br/>
Shareholders have approved Chorus Aviation’s planned $825m sale of its aircraft leasing business to HPS Investment Partners, a deal Chorus has said it aims to close before year-end. The Halifax-based aviation services company, which also owns Canadian regional airline Jazz Aviation, said on 25 September that shareholders approved the planned sale by a 98% margin. The move, when completed, will see Chorus dispose of a leasing segment it started in 2016, leaving the company with three remaining divisions: Jazz, aircraft modification and service provider Voyageur Aviation and pilot-training school Cygnet Aviation Academy. Chorus on 30 July revealed its plan to sell its Regional Aircraft Leasing unit for proceeds of $825m to HPS, an investment firm with offices in New York City. As part of the agreement, HPS will assume responsibility for $1.1b in aircraft-related debt. When formed in 2016, Chorus called the leasing business Chorus Aviation Capital. At the time, the company said intended to create a “globally competitive regional aircraft leasing” operation that would diversity its business beyond its airline Jazz.<br/>
The white, feathery lines behind airplanes that look like bits of harmless cloud are anything but, warn experts, who say they could have a greater environmental impact than the aviation sector's CO2 emissions. The condensation trails -- contrails, for short -- are being increasingly studied as scientists work with the industry to find technological solutions to the problem. Classified as non-CO2 emissions from aircraft, in September they were the subject of a symposium in Montreal organized by the International Civil Aviation Organization, a UN agency. Contrails are clouds that form at high altitudes in cold, humid areas called ice supersaturated regions (ISSRs). When jet fuel is burned by engines, water vapor condenses on to soot particles to form ice crystals. Enough ice crystals, and they begin to form cirrus clouds -- high-altitude, wispy white filaments that, when created this way, trail out behind planes as they cross the sky. These trails trap some of the heat that rises from the Earth at night, preventing it from radiating back out of the atmosphere -- thus acting as a greenhouse gas, causing warming, explains Donald Wuebbles, a professor at the University of Illinois. Contrails that stay in the sky for a few minutes are not very worrisome, he says. "But if they form at night, they'll maybe last a little longer, and at night they can cause a warming effect," he adds. Non-CO2 emissions could account for up to two-thirds of aviation's impact on global warming, which "gives you an idea of how important they are to consider," Wuebbles said. And contrails could form up to 57% of that impact -- far more than the C02 emissions from burning fuel, according to a 2021 study.<br/>