Sir Keir Starmer’s cabinet is split over whether to allow a third runway at Heathrow, leaving the contentious scheme in a holding pattern as Britain’s busiest airport looks to press ahead with growth plans. Bosses at Heathrow, which handles more than 80mn passengers a year, are putting the final touches to their first expansion plan since the pandemic, but will not include a third runway at this stage, said people familiar with the matter. Downing Street and the Department for Transport said they were “open-minded” about a third runway, but only if it satisfied four tests: delivering growth across the country, meeting climate obligations and complying with air pollution and noise considerations. But one political aide said the cabinet was divided. “It’s no secret that there isn’t universal backing for the third runway, it’s just not a priority right now. [Energy secretary] Ed [Miliband] is the most obvious example of someone who is anti, but there are others who are uncomfortable about expanding Britain’s biggest airport,” the person said. Heathrow’s leadership is publicly committed to the third runway, but uncertainty over whether the government will approve the project is one factor holding back a decision. Others include financing and a recent change in ownership, after Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and French private equity group Ardian agreed to buy stakes this year. For now there is a “catch-22”, according to industry and government figures. The airport’s bosses are unlikely to formally begin the costly planning process for a new runway without knowing ministers would support it. But ministers said they were waiting for Heathrow to trigger that process before making a firm decision. <br/>
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Frankfurt Airport operator Fraport posted on Tuesday a 2% core income miss and a modest increase in its passenger numbers during the third quarter, as high location costs for German carriers hindered a recovery in travel demand. Shares in Fraport fell as much as 3% in morning trading. Fraport said its core income (EBITDA) rose slightly to E483.7m in the third quarter, which was 2% below a consensus estimate cited by Jefferies. Passenger numbers in Frankfurt in the quarter rose only by 1.8%, coming in 13% lower than levels seen in 2019 - before the pandemic brought global travel to a standstill. Despite the company confirming its full-year outlook, a rising cost base and slowing passenger growth at Frankfurt Airport raise concerns about its future growth trajectory, says Oliver Wojahn, an analyst from mwb research AG. While most other European markets have overcome crises and achieved new records in recent months, high location costs make Germany lag other markets in Europe in terms of passenger numbers, Fraport CEO Stefan Schulte said in a statement. Last month, Schulte said the airport would reach its pre-COVID passenger traffic levels in 2025 or 2026 as Frankfurt Airport's recovery largely depends on Boeing deliveries to Lufthansa. The latter accounted for more than 60% of Frankfurt's passengers in 2022. It was not clear when Lufthansa's capacity issues, which forced Fraport to cut passenger outlook in August, would be resolved, J.P.Morgan said.<br/>
Russia has been plotting to place incendiary devices on cargo planes in Europe and even performed a test run this summer, setting off fires at shipping hubs in Britain and Germany, according to four Western officials briefed on intelligence about the operation. The effort represents a potentially significant escalation of the Kremlin’s sabotage operations against Western adversaries. The goal of the plot, orchestrated by Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU, is not entirely clear, according to two of the officials, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters. It could have been what ultimately occurred: to set fires with incendiary devices placed at logistics hubs belonging to the package shipping company DHL, perhaps meant to instill fear or deliver a warning. But Western intelligence agencies are also investigating whether Moscow intended something more ambitious, and menacing, such as destroying planes on American runways, setting off bombs at U.S. warehouses or even blowing up aircraft midair. Officials said that both the U.S. and its European allies were potential targets of the Russian plot. The operation is an effort by Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, to inflict damage on the West for its support of Ukraine’s military, officials said. The Kremlin’s goal appears to be to shake Western backing for Ukraine or, failing that, exact a price for it. In the first two years of the war with Ukraine, the Kremlin largely avoided directly provoking Kyiv’s allies, particularly those belonging to NATO, officials said, fearful of a dangerous escalation. Today, any such reticence appears to have dissolved, they said. “Hostile activity carried out on behalf of the Russian Federation is increasingly taking the form of terrorist activities,” Poland’s domestic intelligence service said in a communiqué published last month.<br/>
After a year of almost daily cancellations, refunds and legal liability, frustrated international airlines have written to say they may cease flying to Tel Aviv entirely unless their requirements are met. In a dramatic turn, at least 15 international airlines have signed a joint letter to the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee, including Delta Air Lines, British Airways, Iberia, EasyJet, and Wizz Air according to Haaretz. The signatories threatened to give up flying to Israel altogether unless there was a formal acknowledgement of the security situation that would release them from legal liability for disruptions. The companies formally demanded amendments to the 2012 Aviation Services Law, which requires airlines to compensate passengers for cancellations made less than 14 days before departure. With payments reaching 1,100-1,500 shekels ($260-$400) per passenger, the airlines complain that flying to Israel is no longer financially viable, especially for smaller carriers. Without proper regulation regarding cancellations and payouts, they are left vulnerable to lawsuits, and have no economic incentive to continue providing flights to Israel. The airlines are seeking a softening of the law’s requirement to prove that they had done everything in their power to prevent the cancellation of the flight, exempting them from paying compensation. Air France has just extended the cancellation of all its flights to and from Israel until November 12, and American Airlines just confirmed it will not renews flights to Ben Gurion International Airport until September 2025. There are currently no U.S. airlines willing to fly to Israel. Those wishing to fly to the Jewish state are now left with the Israeli airline, El Al, as the only option. <br/>
Hong Kong’s three-runway system will come into operation on November 28, the acting finance chief has announced, urging interested stakeholders to capitalise on the city’s expanded aviation hub. “The three-runway system will be commissioned later this month on November 28 … This will make Hong Kong an even stronger aviation hub,” acting financial secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun said at the opening of the Super Terminal Expo on Tuesday. Wong also called on the aviation stakeholders to seize opportunities generated by the expanded project and promised authorities would offer any help they needed. “It means Hong Kong will provide you with a lot of business and corporate opportunities. So do not miss it if you have plans to do business,” he said. “Talk to the Airport Authority, talk to our business community, talk to the Hong Kong government. We will see how to facilitate so that you can realise your dreams.” Authorities have been urged to turn the city into a world-class international aviation hub – a vision spelled out in Beijing’s latest five-year national plan. Beijing’s point man on Hong Kong affairs, Xia Baolong, urged the Airport Authority in July to capitalise on its unique advantages under the city’s “one country, two systems” governing principle and continue contributing to national development. The airport’s expansion project cost HK$141.5b (US$18b) and includes a new 3.8km third runway, a second terminal building opposite the existing one and a new concourse. The 650-hectare project is expected to increase the airport’s capacity by 50% to accommodate 120m passengers and 10m tonnes of cargo annually. Airport Authority acting CEO Vivian Cheung Kar-fay said the three-runway system would serve as a good opportunity for carriers to expand their operation in Hong Kong and the body was working hard to attract airlines and passengers to the city.<br/>
Members of Boeing’s largest union approved a new contract on Monday, ending a weekslong strike that was one of the country’s most financially damaging work stoppages in decades. The contract was endorsed by 59% of those voting, according to the union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The union represents about 33,000 workers, most of whom make commercial airplanes in the Seattle area. More than three-quarters of the members voted on the contract. The union said its members, who had resoundingly voted down two previous contract offers from Boeing, could return to work as soon as Wednesday but must be back by next Tuesday. The strike began on Sept. 13, after the union rejected the company’s first proposal. “You stood strong, you stood tall and you won. This is a victory,” said Jon Holden, the president of District 751 of the machinists union, which represents the vast majority of the workers covered by the contract. The new contract will raise wages more than 43% cumulatively over the next four years, an improvement over the two previous offers. The first proposal would have raised wages just over 27%. Union leaders and Boeing had urged the workers to approve the deal. The union’s leadership had warned that future offers from the company could have worse terms than this proposal. In a statement, Boeing’s CE, Kelly Ortberg, said he was “pleased” that the agreement had been reached. “While the past few months have been difficult for all of us, we are all part of the same team,” he said. “We will only move forward by listening and working together.” Ortberg, who joined the company in August, is trying to restore Boeing’s reputation and business after multiple setbacks in recent years. Last month, he announced plans to cut about 17,000 jobs, or 10% of Boeing’s global work force, and make other changes.<br/>
Ending the strike only stemmed the bleeding at Boeing. Now, CEO Kelly Ortberg, just three months into the job, is faced with repairing a divided, demoralized, and drifting American corporate icon. More than 33,000 factory workers in the U.S. Northwest will trudge back to work over the next week after they voted by a slim margin to accept Boeing’s third contract offer, ending a seven-week strike that brought Ortberg’s honeymoon at Boeing to a shuddering halt. The strike has exposed divides that run right through the company, not just between the board and machinists, but also rifts within the union membership and resentment between white-collar staff and factory workers, according to interviews with more than 20 people with knowledge of Boeing’s operations, including current and former senior officials, suppliers, union leaders and plant workers. These fractures could hamper and delay a host of urgent issues facing Ortberg and his leadership team, including restoring plane production, restructuring Boeing's floundering defense and space business, and shoring up a supply chain creaking under the weight of years of safety and production crises at Boeing and a crippling pandemic, the people said. That’s before Boeing gets to what could be Ortberg’s defining moment: preparing a successor to the 737 MAX, a jet that has been a best-seller with airlines but has also become synonymous with the company's struggles in recent years.<br/>
After nearly two months on strike, some 33,000 Boeing employees will return to work over the next week. But getting the troubled manufacturer back on track will take a lot longer. Even before the strike began on Sept. 13, Boeing faced challenges, including a quality crisis, mounting debt and supply chain chaos. The Monday vote by union members to accept a contract and end the strike will put the focus back on how the company and its new CE, Kelly Ortberg, plan to address those festering problems. “Resolution of the strike was low-hanging fruit,” Jonathan Root, a senior vice president for Moody’s Ratings, said in a statement on Tuesday. Story features a look at some of the items at the top of Ortberg’s to-do list.<br/>
The transatlantic flight from London departed at breakfast time, and Joyce Beadling was hungry. Her friend warned her that the fruit salad tasted funny. But, trapped on a plane for hours, she had few options. So she ate her meal, plus her friend’s produce. The following evening, she regretted it. “It felt like my guts were being ripped out,” said Beadling, 69, a retired nurse from Rochester, Minnesota. Beadling believes the meals on her Sept. 22 Delta Air Lines flight landed her in the emergency room. Her pal, Catalina Lewis, 45, also fell ill and tested positive for three types of E. coli, according to results she shared with The Washington Post. The Minnesota travelers are two more voices in a growing chorus of groans over airplane food. Though the airlines serve thousands of harmless meals a day, several incidents this year have turned travelers’ stomachs. These issues are more serious than the usual complaints about flavorless dishes and limited options, exposing problems with safety standards and quality control. The same concerns have fueled Americans’ widening distrust of the food system; The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently linked E.coli to raw onions on McDonald’s Quarter Pounders and listeria to Boar’s Head deli meat. Story lists some recent in-flight meal offenses. Such egregious failings are rare, but food safety experts say tainted airplane food could be more ubiquitous than reported. “Airline passengers should be aware of food safety issues in the in-flight catering industry,” Darin Detwiler, a food safety adviser and associate teaching professor at Northeastern University in Boston, said by email, “because the confined nature of airplane travel makes foodborne illness outbreaks especially challenging to manage.”<br/>