The baggage-handling meltdown at JFK after the Jan 4 storm unpacked some harsh reality for all travellers: Airlines have little incentive to spend to expedite delayed luggage, and travellers have little protection and few rights. Nothing compels airlines to pay to ship bags by cargo carrier or rival airline. Regulations generally cover airline requirements for lost luggage, not delayed bags. The Port Authority, which operates JFK, publicly implored airlines to expedite bags and get them delivered by the end of Monday, Jan 8. That call had little impact: The Port Authority says the baggage backlog didn’t clear until Friday, for the most part. That was 8 days after the storm. Tuesday, nearly 2 weeks after the snow, about 100 Air China bags were still on the ground at JFK, Swiss says it had about 400 bags left behind at JFK. <br/>
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Worldwide air passenger traffic was up 8% year-over-year in November, the sector’s strongest rise in 5 months, according to IATA’s November Air Passenger Market Analysis. For the first 11 months of 2017, passenger traffic increased 7.7% over 2016, considerably ahead of the 5.5% 10-year average pace. “We expect another year of above-trend passenger growth in 2018 as a whole, albeit at a slower pace than seen in 2017,” IATA senior economist David Oxley said, citing increases in airline input costs such as fuel prices and labour costs in certain countries. “We are unlikely to see the same degree of stimulation to demand from lower airfares in 2018 than we have in recent years.” Oxley noted that as of Jan 11, oil prices are their highest level since May 2015, and over 50% higher than in mid-2017. <br/>
London Heathrow put forward proposals for a sloping runway and said the landing strip could be shortened as it seeks to cut GBP2.5b (US$3.4b) from the cost of expansion plans. The hub also proposed the phased opening of new terminals and a number of alternative road links as part of a 10-week consultation aimed at reducing the expense of the GBP16b to a level where it could be funded without a significant hike in user charges. Building the third runway on a slope would allow it to span London’s M25 orbital motorway with the minimum of extensive tunnelling work, Heathrow said Wednesday. The airport also put forward suggestions for guiding principles on noise, pollution and frequencies that would apply when new airspace rules are developed for the enlarged airport. <br/>
The EU may attempt to strip British airlines of some flying rights after Brexit, with officials in Brussels warning that UK-based carriers could see their ability to compete across the bloc impeded. A meeting of the EC and diplomats from the remaining 27 EU countries has taken the first steps in sketching out the EU’s negotiating position on post-Brexit aviation links with Britain. If this becomes the EU’s stance going into the next phase of the talks, it would be another indication of the tough line being put forward by the bloc, following last week’s strengthening of the proposed language on the transition period. Britain’s withdrawal from the bloc means that there would technically be no agreement to enable planes to fly between the U.K. and the EU. <br/>
France will abandon plans to build a new airport in the west, the prime minister announced Wednesday, ordering the activists who have been protesting the project for nearly a decade to leave their makeshift settlement and unblock nearby roads. Despite their long-sought political victory, the activists refused. Nantes mayor Johanna Rolland, meanwhile, said the national govt "ceded to blackmail and threats." "The Notre-Dame-des-Landes project will be abandoned," prime minister Edouard Philippe said. "This is a logical decision, considering the dead-end where this project has found itself." He noted that plans for the airport were first made 50 years ago and "the debate should have ended long ago." <br/>
The Cambodian govt has approved plans to build one of the world's largest airports in south-eastern Kandal province, although the key players have yet to work out the details. The Phnom Penh Post Monday reported the plans, citing a document from the Council of Ministers, dated Dec 21. The document approved an investment proposal from Cambodia Airport Investment to build a US$1.5b, 2,600ha airport in Kandal province's Kandal Steung district, about 30km south of Phnom Penh. A 2,600ha airport would be the ninth-largest airport in the world, putting it just behind Chicago O'Hare (2,610ha), and ahead of China's Beijing Capital International (2,330ha). The size of the current Phnom Penh International Airport is about 400ha. But the project is just getting off the ground, according to officials. <br/>