general

Airlines are sounding the alarm that the four hurricanes that hit the US in four months this year are taking a bite out of profits. The impact on earnings shows that carriers' concerns about climate change are already materializing as storms, sea level rise and extreme heat interrupt operations and supply chains. American Airlines Group Inc. faced disruptions from Hurricanes Debby and Helene this year. These storms and other issues reduced third-quarter earnings by $90m for the airline’s third quarter, CEO Robert Isom said on a call with analysts last week. Southwest Airlines Co. said last week that flight cancellations caused by Hurricane Milton will cut into fourth-quarter revenue by about a half percentage point and increase non-fuel costs by the same amount, both on a per-mile basis. JetBlue Airways Corp. said on Tuesday that it expects the hurricane to contribute to unit revenue and cost headwinds of about one percentage point each. For United Airlines Holdings Inc., Hurricane Beryl's impact on Houston in early July helped increase non-fuel costs to fly each seat a mile — a gauge of efficiency — CFO Michael Leskinen said on a call with analysts earlier this year.<br/>

Flights between the U.S. and Europe have not been this cheap in three years, when many countries were just lifting Covid-19 era rules. Fares are low even for the traditionally slow late-fall and winter months outside of major holidays. “It is brutal to fill seats during these times of year,” said Brett Snyder, who writes the Cranky Flier travel industry site. According to flight-tracking company Hopper, “good deal” fares across the Atlantic to Europe are averaging $578 in November, down from $619 a year earlier. It is the lowest deal fare for this month since 2021, when they were going for $479 and much of international travel was in a slump because of the pandemic, Hopper data shows. In January, after the year-end holidays, 2025 fares are even lower: $558 compared to $578 for the same month in 2024, though higher than $488 in January 2022, according to Hopper. U.S. domestic airfare, on the other hand, is more expensive compared with last year in every month from November through March. Many airlines from financially troubled Spirit Airlines to profitable Southwest Airlines have cut flights or trimmed growth plans into next year, which has helped keep U.S. fares firm. Aircraft scarcity is also limiting airlines from adding many flights. There are also some periods of weaker demand overall, executives at the largest U.S. carriers, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and American Airlines have said, calling out the week before and after the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday.<br/>

Groups representing major airlines on Friday criticized the Biden administration's broad public inquiry into the state of competition in air travel, saying the review needs more time and could dramatically impact the future of U.S. aviation. Carrier groups including Airlines for America and the International Air Transport Association urged the Justice Department's Antitrust Division to extend the public comment period for another 60 days beyond the Dec. 23 deadline. The government "should not rush the collection of information about the highly competitive air transportation marketplace, pull resources from high-tempo operations during the holiday season, or fail to collect the necessary information," they said. The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) said it would consider the airlines request for an extension. It added: "The American people deserve a healthy and competitive aviation sector that allows for reliable service, fair prices, and a wide availability of travel options for communities of all sizes." The Justice Department did not immediately comment. Airlines and the Biden administration have repeatedly clashed in recent years. The agencies want details on previous airline mergers, exclusionary conduct, airport access, aircraft manufacturing, airline ticket sales, pricing and rewards practices and the experiences of aviation workers. U.S. President Joe Biden has made boosting airline competition a top priority and his administration has taken an aggressive approach to blocking consolidation efforts in the airline industry.<br/>

Higher UK taxes on private jet flights will not deter wealthy passengers willing to pay hundreds of thousands of pounds for a ticket, industry bosses have said. The UK Budget on Wednesday outlined plans to raise air passenger duty on all flights, with steeper increases for many private jets. The duty is calculated on the length of the journey, whether a passenger is in an economy or premium seat and, for private flights, the size of the plane. It was already due to rise in April next year, but commercial flight passengers now face an additional 13% increase from 2026-27. For passengers in the largest private jets, the duty will increase an extra 50%, to a maximum of £1,141 per person. But private jet executives said that even at these higher levels, the duty would make up less than 2% of the average cost of a flight, and was likely to be easily absorbed by wealthy customers. “After analysing the Budget and understanding what this will mean for our ultra-high-net-worth individual clients, we believe that the APD increase will have very little impact,” said Toby Edwards, co-chief executive of Victor, a private jet charter company headquartered in Abu Dhabi. A one-way Victor private jet flight from London to Kuala Lumpur cost about £190,000 for three passengers, Edwards said. The tax rates from 2026 would add £3,423 to the price of this flight on an ultra-long range aircraft such as a Bombardier Global 7500, he added. “These relatively small price increases won’t deter our clients.”<br/>

International flights to and from China are expected to grow by nearly 31% year on year between late October and March, with Asian destinations and Chinese carriers leading the way, industry data shows. One Canadian airline also expanded so abruptly that it caught the attention of the foreign ministry in Beijing. One-way flights to and from China are anticipated to soar by nearly 40,000 to 168,871 from late October to March compared to a year earlier, according to data compiled by British aviation analytics firm OAG. The number of seats offered could also rise by 29% to 35.2m, the OAG data shows. “Generally tourism is the most important factor,” said Li Hanming, the founder of a US-based aviation consultancy. “It is winter now, so people living in northern China are flying south.” Air Canada plans to increase round-trip flights between Shanghai and Vancouver from four to seven in December, before resuming the service connecting Beijing and Vancouver the following month, according to CAAC News, a media platform affiliated with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). Air Canada did not respond to a request for comment. The plans followed the lifting of restrictions by Ottawa earlier this month on the number of flights permitted to operate on China routes. Canada announced at the outset of the Ukraine war in 2022 that Chinese airlines could make just six round trips a week to Canada, with no direct flights to Beijing. Chinese carriers have an advantage because they can fly over Russia, while their Canadian peers are banned.<br/>

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg urged 33,000 striking workers on Friday to vote to accept a new four-year contract deal that includes a 38% pay hike that would end a seven-week work stoppage. "It’s time we all come back together and focus on rebuilding the business and delivering the world’s best airplanes. There are a lot of people depending on us," Ortberg said in an email to workers. The improved contract offer includes a 38% pay rise over four years, up from a prior 35% hike. Workers are set to vote on Monday.<br/>

Spurred by increasing global demand for air travel, aviation emissions have been rising faster than those from rail, road, or shipping in recent decades. Solutions to invert the trend are slow-dripping: Sustainable Aviation Fuel, which can cut emissions on a flight by 80% when produced and used correctly, could represent two thirds of the reduction in emissions needed for aviation to reach its net-zero goal by 2050. But, it’s in short supply and in the best case scenario, SAF will have accounted for just 0.53% of all jet fuel use in 2024, a far cry from the levels required to make an impact. While airlines and regulators scramble for ideas to decarbonize the industry, some engineers are suggesting that an entirely new type of aircraft shape is required to save big on fuel consumption and therefore emissions. This does away with the traditional “tube and wing” design that has been the mainstay of commercial aviation for 100 years, in favor of something called a “blended wing body,” in which the wing area takes up a large portion of the fuselage and creates a distinctive-looking plane. In 2020, Airbus created a small scale, remote-controlled blended wing demonstrator, to test out a design the company said could save up to 20% of fuel. In 2023, California-based JetZero announced plans for an aircraft with a similar design, with capacity for over 200 passengers and has an ambitious target of entry into service by 2030. Now, San Diego-based Natilus has joined the race with Horizon, a blended wing aircraft that is also meant to carry about 200 passengers while producing half the emissions and using 30% less fuel than current Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 aircraft — the models it’s aiming to compete with.<br/>