In late September, an experienced pilot at low-cost European airline Wizz Air felt anxious after learning his plane would fly over Iraq at night amid mounting tensions between nearby Iran and Israel. He decided to query the decision since just a week earlier the airline had deemed the route unsafe. In response, Wizz Air's flight operations team told him the airway was now considered secure and he had to fly it, without giving further explanation, the pilot said. "I wasn't really happy with it," the pilot, who requested anonymity from fear he could lose his job, told Reuters. Days later, Iraq closed its airspace when Iran fired missiles on Oct. 1 at Israel. "It confirmed my suspicion that it wasn't safe." In response to Reuters' queries, Wizz Air said safety of crew and passengers was its utmost priority and would not be compromised "in any circumstances", adding its decisions on where to fly are based on stringent risk assessments in collaboration with third party intelligence specialists. "Our aircraft and crews will only fly in airspace that has been deemed safe and we would never take any risks in this respect," Wizz Air also said in a statement. The airline said it had conducted a thorough risk assessment before deciding to fly over Iraqi airspace in November and followed guidance from the European Commission and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which had deemed it safe on July 31.<br/>
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The Piney-Pinecreek Border Airport has a unique claim to fame — its runway straddles the border of the U.S. and Canada. But after seven decades of operation, the small airport that sits near Roseau, Minnesota, and Piney, Manitoba in Canada, will close for good on Friday. The Minnesota Department of Transportation said in a news release earlier this month that the airport “had very low use and faced large maintenance expenses including runway, apron and terminal reconstruction. The international agreement required to operate the airport expires on Dec. 26 and will not be renewed by either airport owner.” The airport opened in 1953 with a grass runway — a paved runway was added in 1978. It is one of six airports straddling the border, but the only one with a paved runway. It was often used by Americans traveling to Canada to hunt and fish. Under the international agreement, staff at the airport are allowed to cross between the two countries for their work without going through the typical customs process.<br/>
While the incoming administration, led by President-elect Donald Trump, with the Republican Party, which will have a majority in Congress, has not yet said much about its plans for the commercial aviation industry, including the FAA, some indications point to an operating environment benefitting businesses. The now-outgoing administration, via the Department of Transportation, led by Pete Buttigieg, the Secretary of Transportation, announced its proposed rules on automatic refunds for canceled and/or delayed flights on December 5. The DOT explained that it has published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking, providing an opportunity for stakeholders, including airlines, to comment on its proposed changes. This includes paying passengers between $200 and $775 for delayed flights between three and more than nine hours and no additional costs when rebooking on the next available flight. According to the Department, the European Union – with the EU261 regulation – and other countries have passenger protections that compensate travelers and provide services when an airline is to blame for a significant delay. The DOT pointed out that one study concluded that the EU’s regulations have reduced the likelihood and duration of delays.<br/>
Airports in the UK and Channel Islands will stay open late to try to get passengers to their destinations for Christmas, after fog caused disruptions on Christmas Eve. Flights to and from Jersey and Guernsey were earlier delayed, diverted or cancelled because of heavy fog throughout the day. Exeter and Southampton agreed to join the two main Channel Islands airports in extending operating hours to give the weather more time to improve, Guernsey's airline Aurigny said. Aurigny said it would do "everything possible to get everyone to their loved-ones this Christmas", while Jersey Airport said it would remain open "as long as possible" on Christmas Eve.<br/>
Gatwick Airport is expected to experience its busiest festive season since the pandemic, according to the UK Civil Aviation Authority. The West Sussex airport is anticipating Sunday will be its busiest day, with 769 flights. On Christmas Day it will be open and operating with an expected 228 flights. Nick Williams, head of passenger operations, said Christmas was a "busy time" and staff were "working hard to deliver the best possible experience for passengers". The most popular Christmas long-haul destinations this year from Gatwick are Dubai, Shanghai and Cancun, with Geneva, Barcelona and Milan the most popular short-haul. Last December almost 11m passengers jetted off from UK airports for the festive season, according to the UK CAA. Gatwick was one of the busiest of those airports. A total of 1,635,732 passengers travelled through it in December 2023.<br/>
Passenger traffic at Greek airports posted new records in the Jan-Nov 2024, according to data provided on Tuesday by the country’s Civil Aviation Authority. Total passengers recorded at all airports in Greece exceeded 76.24m over the first 11-month period of the year, up from 69.77m in the same period of 2023, an increase of 9.3%, yoy. Based on the figure, the airport passenger record was broken in 2024, as the number by October exceeded all of the previous year, 2023. In terms of flight arrivals and departures, a 7.5% hike was recorded by the 39 airports in the country in the first 11 months of 2024 compared to the corresponding figure in 2023, 577,118 flights, up from 536,679 flights in Jan-Nov 2023. In terms of the 24 airports operated by CAA, passenger traffic increased 8.1% compared with the first 11-month period of 2023.<br/>
The transport ministry said Tuesday it will launch an aviation seatbelt awareness campaign to prevent turbulence-related accidents during flights, amid the year-end travel season, currently under way. The campaign, running from Wednesday through Feb. 2, aims to raise awareness about the dangers of turbulence during flights and the importance of wearing seatbelts. Actor Kim Kwang-kyu and girl group CLASS:y will participate in advertisements and campaign songs, which will be put on digital displays at major airports and screens in public transportation, including KTX bullet trains. Over the past three years, air turbulence was responsible for 111 aviation accidents worldwide, accounting for 61.7% of the total 180 accidents, according to the ministry. South Korean airlines reported 14,820 air turbulence incidents in the first six months of this year, which accounted for 72% of last year's total.<br/>
China's domestically developed C919 aircraft has sped up its commercialization process in the past year, with the model already being used to connect 10 domestic destinations. In 2025, the C919 is expected to be put into use on more routes and cities and contribute to the fast growth of the air transportation market. The single-aisle C919 jetliner, comparable to the narrow-body Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 series, has transported more than 1m passengers since the model entered commercial operations on May 28, 2023, said Shanghai-based Commercial Aircraft Corp of China, manufacturer of the C919. So far, the C919 has netted more than 1,000 orders from home and abroad, and COMAC has delivered 14 aircraft to three State-owned carriers — Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines. They together operate 14 C919 aircraft on 15 domestic routes. Shanghai-based China Eastern, the model's launch customer, operates nine C919 jetliners on eight routes. The carrier has operated more than 6,200 flights and transported more than 850,000 passengers using the aircraft.<br/>