Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg snapped back Thursday at criticism from airline executives who say the Biden administration over-regulated them, pointing out that some of those airlines are making large profits despite new passenger-protection rules. Buttigieg said the rules his department has imposed, including automatic cash refunds after flights are canceled, enjoy broad public support and “will stand the test of time.” The comments came after the CEOs of Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines said they hoped the government will be more pro-business when President-elect Donald Trump returns to office. Delta CEO Ed Bastian said the Trump administration will be “a breath of fresh air” for his industry. “I know that some airline CEOs have expressed hopes that the next administration will be less passenger-friendly and more corporate-friendly than this administration,” Buttigieg responded during a news conference to discuss Thanksgiving travel. “The passenger protections that we have put in place deservedly enjoy broad public, bipartisan support. I just don't run into a lot of people who are against the idea that you ought to get an automatic refund without any hassle, for example.” Buttigieg argued that strong passenger protections are good for the airline business. “Some of these companies have been showing very healthy profits even at this new and higher level of consumer protection, demonstrating to me that these things can travel together,” he said.<br/>
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Alaska Airlines flight attendant Rebecca Owens works 10 hours a day but only gets paid for half that time - a legacy of a common U.S. airline policy to pay cabin crew members only when planes are in motion. Owens, and thousands of cabin crew like her, wants that to change. In August, 68% of Alaska flight attendants in a ratification vote rejected a contract that would have increased average pay by 32% over three years. It was also the first labor agreement that would have legally required airlines to start the clock for paying flight attendants when passengers are boarding, not when the flight starts to taxi down the runway. Delta Air Lines, the only major U.S. airline whose flight attendants are not in a union, instituted boarding pay for its flight attendants at half of their hourly wages in 2022 when they were trying to organize. Alaska and union leaders have resumed federally mediated contract negotiations this week. "I want to be compensated for my time at work and want a livable wage so that you can stand on your own while working this job," said Owens, 35. Negotiations at Alaska are being closely watched because one airline's contract tends to become an industry benchmark. Cabin crews at United Airlines, Frontier and American Airlines' regional subsidiary PSA Airlines are also negotiating new labor agreements.<br/>
The FAA might need to slow down air traffic during the busiest holiday travel times because of air traffic controller staffing shortages, particularly in the Northeast. FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker says this is most likely to occur in the New York area, where the agency has not been able to keep up with demand for air traffic controllers. “During the Thanksgiving travel period, we will use traffic flow management initiatives to deal with any staffing shortages on that particular day in this airspace, and we expect to have some of those shortages. So, we’re working diligently to make sure that that can operate as efficiently as possible,” Whitaker told reporters at a Thursday news conference at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport outside of the capital. Earlier this year, the agency moved responsibility for handling Newark area air traffic to its facility in Philadelphia. “The has been meant to get us healthy on a staffing level,” Whitaker said, adding that since the move, there is now a “strong pipeline of 28 certified controller trainees who want to work in this airspace.” The FAA anticipates Tuesday, November 26, will be its busiest day for air traffic. Whitaker says the slow downs, if needed, will be put in place for safety reasons.<br/>
US aviation regulators are examining whether pilots of Boeing Co.’s 737 Max should take new precautions following two incidents in which planes were filled with smoke after large birds struck the engines. A small group of investigators at the Federal Aviation Administration has developed internal recommendations on how to address the issue, including potentially requiring pilots to shut down one or both air conditioning packs during takeoff that regulate airflow in the cockpit. The recommendations, seen by Bloomberg News, also urge the FAA to review all novel and unique features of the 737 Max to ensure that they are adequately communicated in pilot operating manuals. A representative for the FAA said Thursday that the agency is convening a Corrective Action Review Board “in the coming weeks,” and that the board’s work will include “thoroughly evaluating the internal FAA safety recommendations.” The National Transportation Safety Board said separately Thursday that it was gathering information about the bird-strike incidents but didn’t say whether it would conduct its own investigation. The mishaps involved Boeing Co. 737 Max aircraft flown by Southwest Airlines Co. and LEAP-1B engines made by CFM International, a joint venture of General Electric Co. and Safran SA. The FAA said it’s collaborating with Boeing, CFM and European aviation safety regulators to address the engine issue. The review board — which identifies and evaluates safety issues, develops corrective steps and can order changes at airlines or manufacturers — will “examine the data and develop a path forward,” the FAA said in a statement. “The FAA has determined this is not an immediate flight-safety issue.”<br/>
The FAA intends to require airlines to inspect horizontal stabiliser hardware on Boeing 787s due to components possibly being assembled incorrectly by the company during manufacturing. The FAA proposed the inspections in notice released on 21 November. It says Boeing already made operators aware of the issue and recommended inspections in an “Alert Requirements Bulletin” released by the company in August. The regulator’s action responds to a report of possible “misalignment at final assembly” of horizontal stabiliser hardware – specifically, a “pivot pin lock ring, outer pivot pin and outboard spacer misalignment”. “One operator further reported a left-side pivot assembly that did not have a visible gap between the outboard nut and trap fitting,” the FAA adds. “A misaligned pivot pin lock ring caused a pivot pin outboard spacer to not be set flush against the horizontal stabiliser pivot bearing and outboard washer.” The result can be “decreased lateral load capacity”, possibly leading to “loss of pivot pin retention parts… [which] could result in the loss of the horizontal stabiliser.”<br/>
FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker said on Thursday he plans to soon visit Boeing's Seattle offices to meet with CEO Kelly Ortberg as the planemaker resumes 737 MAX production. Earlier this month, the FAA said it would boost its oversight of Boeing as the planemaker prepares to resume production of its 737 MAX jets following a 53-day strike that ended two weeks ago. "We are working closely with Boeing to make sure the safety management system is driving their actions during" the restart of production, Whitaker said, who spoke to Ortberg earlier this month on the production plan. Boeing did not immediately comment. The FAA noted that it maintained its enhanced on-site presence at Boeing factories throughout the strike "and will further strengthen and target our oversight as the company begins its return-to-work plan." Whitaker capped production at 38 737 MAX planes per month in January after a door panel missing four key bolts flew off an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 in flight that month, exposing serious safety issues at Boeing.<br/>The FAA said in October it was opening a new safety review into Boeing. That month, the Transportation Department's Office of Inspector General criticized the FAA's oversight of Boeing. At a holiday travel press conference at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, near Washington on Thursday, Whitaker did not directly answer whether he plans to remain as FAA administrator once President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20. But he said he plans to engage with the transition team. Whitaker has a five-year term that does not expire until 2028.<br/>
The U.S. deputy attorney general has suspended a controversial civil asset-forfeiture program by the Drug Enforcement Administration that targeted unsuspecting airline passengers and subjected them to potentially unlawful seizures of cash from their bags. The Justice Department's inspector general, Michael Horowitz, announced the suspension of the DEA's program by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco in a new report released on Thursday that raised grave concerns about the program and questioned whether some of the searches were conducted legally. "The DEA was not complying with its own policy on consensual encounters conducted at mass transportation facilities, resulting in personnel creating potentially significant operational and legal risks," Horowitz wrote in a memo to Monaco and Anne Milgram, the DEA administrator. Civil asset forfeiture has long been a controversial program that critics argue infringes on people's constitutional rights against unlawful search and seizure. It allows police to search and seize property from people who may be suspected of a crime, even if they are never charged. The proceeds from the seizure are typically split among the law enforcement agencies involved in the search, creating what some argue is a perverse financial incentive for federal, state and local police departments. The property owner can recover the assets only if he or she can prove the seizure was not connected to any criminal activity, creating a legal burden that is costly and time-consuming.<br/>
The FAA said on Thursday it was allowing U.S. flights to resume to six airports in northern Haiti. On Nov. 12, the FAA said it was barring U.S. airlines from operating in Haiti for 30 days after three commercial jetliners were struck by gunfire. The agency said its bar on flights to Port-au-Prince would remain place until Dec. 12, but it was allowing American carriers and general aviation pilots to fly to six airports in Haiti - Port-de-Paix, Cap-Haitien, Pignon, Jeremie, Antoine-Simon and Jacmel. Spirit Airlines, which flies to Cap-Haitien, said it had not yet resumed flights.<br/>
South-East Asian airline operators will soon be able to make stopovers in other Asean member nations, says Transport Minister Anthony Loke. This would be made possible by the implementation of Protocol 5 on Own Stopover Rights between Points within the Territory of any Asean Member State, he added. “Before this, Asean airline operators could only go to a particular destination and return to their original point of departure. Under Protocol 5, they can go to another point within other Asean member states (in the course of the same flight). For example, a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore will also be able to head to Bali in Indonesia,” he told a press conference after the signing of Protocol 5 on Friday (Nov 22). The signing is in conjunction with the 30th Asean Transport Ministers and 58th Senior Transport Officials meetings. Loke said the move will also boost regional air connectivity.<br/>
A trial that has allowed pilots on certain flights to choose the most direct and efficient paths has been extended by almost six months until the end of April 2025. The air traffic management concept – called user-preferred routing (UPR) – lets pilots decide their flight paths, in the hopes of shortening flight times, saving fuel and reducing carbon emissions if wind conditions are in their favour. Traditionally, pilots have to use a fixed network of airways to get from one point to another. The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) announced in August that the UPR trial had begun on 38 routes across the airspaces of Singapore, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand. The flights are operated by national flag carriers Singapore Airlines (SIA), Garuda Indonesia, Qantas and Air New Zealand. These routes include those from Singapore to Adelaide, Auckland, Brisbane, Cairns, Christchurch, Darwin, Melbourne and Perth, as well as from Sydney to Singapore. Vincent Hwa, director of air traffic services at CAAS, told The Straits Times that feedback for the trial from the carriers and the air navigation service providers involved has been positive. The three-month trial was initially set to end in early November.The extension will allow the parties involved to collect more data on the benefits of UPR over a longer period, and to expand the trial to cover more of the Asia-Pacific region, Hwa said. CAAS and its Japanese counterpart, the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau, recently agreed to encourage the use of UPR in the region. Mayur Patel, head of Asia at aviation data consultancy OAG Aviation, said the use of UPR benefits passengers in several ways.<br/>
Wellingtonians dreaming of flying non-stop to the likes of Singapore and Los Angeles could see their hopes become a reality thanks to a new $500m infrastructure plan. The multi-year investment includes extending the length of the runway, something which has proved highly contentious in the past. But instead of physically building an extension into the sea, it is going to utilise the current area used as safety zones by adding the engineered materials arresting system, or EMAS. Similar to a gravel trap on a motorway, these energy absorbing blocks are designed to crush under the weight of an aircraft, slowing it to a stop. Wellington will be the second airport in Australasia to use the system after Queenstown. The current safety zone is described as a ‘paint on’ solution, which shortens the runway, whereas the EMAS system is counted as part of the runway even though it’s an area pilots will be doing their utmost to avoid.<br/>