A U.S. appeals court said three Muslim men cannot sue FBI agents after being placed on the "No Fly List" for refusing to become government informants. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said the 16 agents were protected by qualified immunity, despite their "improper behavior" and the three men's belief that Muslims in the United States had been unfairly targeted. Circuit Judge Gerard Lynch wrote for a three-judge panel that the agents had no reason to believe they were violating the men's religious beliefs, because none of the men had told them so during their interactions. Qualified immunity shields federal officials from liability for violating constitutional rights that were not clearly established at the time of the violation. Muhammad Tanvir, Jameel Algibhah and Naveed Shinwari sued in 2013 after being put on the No Fly List for refusing to spy on U.S. Muslim communities, despite no evidence the men threatened airline or passenger safety. The men, all U.S. citizens or permanent residents who were born abroad, said inclusion on the list violated their religious beliefs, cost them jobs, harmed their reputations, and kept them from seeing family in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen. Though eventually removed from the list, they sought damages under the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. The case in 2020 had reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld an earlier 2nd Circuit ruling that the men could seek damages from the FBI agents. It did not address qualified immunity.<br/>
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Canada has expanded its air transport agreement with Australia, opening the skies for more connectivity between the two countries. The new agreement allows for an unlimited number of direct passenger and cargo flights and enhanced operational flexibility for each country's airlines. It also includes access to any point in the other country's territory. Canada’s Minister of Transport Anita Anand shared the news on Tuesday. "This expanded air transport agreement will improve connectivity for passengers, deepen our cultural and commercial ties, and strengthen our supply chains. This is great news for travellers and businesses in both our countries,” Minister Anand said. Ottawa calls this a “significant expansion” of the agreement as it is expected to meet the needs of the bilateral market for the long term. This expanded agreement was reached at the International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) Air Services Negotiation Event, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.<br/>
IATA director general Willie Walsh says that supply chain issues in the aviation industry will continue for up to five more years, causing frustration among airline managers and further pushing back a full post-Covid-19 recovery. He made the comments at the ALTA Airline Leaders Forum in Nassau, Bahamas on 29 October. Based on discussions with airline CEs at this year’s ALTA meeting, he says the industry’s supply chain issue is ”probably not getting worse, but it’s not getting better”. The machinists strike at US airframer Boeing is the latest wrench to be thrown into the industry’s post-pandemic recovery. “Uncertainty is causing challenges for airlines who are trying to plan their programmes and networks and growth for 2025 and 2026,” Walsh says. “We are seeing a lot of caution in the industry in terms of adding additional capacity. Nobody is really sure whether the aircraft that they ordered will be delivered, and whether the aircraft they have in-service, they’ll be able to maintain in-service, because of the ongoing problems with supply chain. “The industry continues to adapt but it’s going to be three, four maybe even five years to come,” he adds. Another cause of headaches for airline managers could be novel technologies that have not have been mature or stable enough to withstand teething issues, such as problems with Pratt & Whitney’s geared turbofan (GTF) engines.<br/>
Boeing overcharged the U.S. Air Force for spare parts for C-17 transport planes, including marking up the price on soap dispensers by 7,943%, according to a report by a Pentagon watchdog. The Department of Defense Office of Inspector General said on Tuesday the Air Force overpaid nearly $1m for a dozen spare parts, including $149,072 for an undisclosed number of lavatory soap dispensers from the U.S. planemaker and defense contractor. “The Air Force needs to establish and implement more effective internal controls to help prevent overpaying for spare parts for the remainder of this contract, which continues through 2031,” said Inspector General Robert Storch. "Significant overpayments for spare parts may reduce the number of spare parts that Boeing can purchase on the contract, potentially reducing C-17 readiness worldwide." Boeing said on Tuesday it was reviewing the report, adding that it "appears to be based on an inapt comparison of the prices paid for parts that meet military specifications and designs versus basic commercial items that would not be qualified or approved for use on the C-17." Boeing said it plans to provide a detailed written response to the report in the coming days and said the spare parts were substantially modified to meet military specifications. The Pentagon's budget is huge, breaking $900b last year, making overcharges by defense contractors a regular headache for internal watchdogs, but one that is difficult to detect.<br/>
Airbus is in the process of finalising delivery of its longest-range single-aisle jet, the A321XLR, to Spanish airline Iberia, industry sources said on Tuesday. The keenly awaited delivery - the first of a new variant of the best-selling A321 jet - involves a formal handover and transfer of ownership, though the Spanish airline will not officially welcome the plane into its fleet until next month. The plane is scheduled to depart Hamburg, Germany, where it was assembled, for Madrid at 1500 GMT on Wednesday, just ahead of Airbus' quarterly earnings announcement, according to departure information posted by FlightRadar24. An Airbus spokesperson declined comment. Iberia did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but its parent IAG, which also owns British Airways, said the Spanish airline would hold a ceremony to mark the delivery on Nov. 6. The delivery, originally due in 2023, will revive industry attention towards a hotly contested part of the market between Airbus and Boeing. Launched in 2019 to steal a march on Boeing's plans at the time to build a new jet in the middle of the market, the A321XLR targets a gap left by the out-of-production Boeing 757, where the A321 family outsells the largest versions of the 737 MAX.<br/>
Chinese planemaker COMAC has opened an office in Singapore, China's embassy in the southeast Asian city state said, as the state-owned company tries to break into a global passenger jet market dominated by Western manufacturers. The new Asia-Pacific office was a key symbolic step for the passenger jet maker in taking its aircraft overseas, China's ambassador to Singapore, Cao Zhongming, said at the inauguration. "It's hoped that COMAC will make steady progress on the road of internationalisation," he added, the embassy said in Monday's brief posting on social media site Weixin. This year COMAC has stepped up plans for production and sales of its C919 narrow-body passenger plane, which is in a category similar to Boeing's 737 MAX and the A320neo planes of Airbus, although only flown within China.<br/>