Strong airline profits and higher defence spending have boosted the outlook for aerospace firms gathering for next week’s Singapore Airshow, but after a surge of activity in 2017 the event is expected to produce few big-ticket deals. The biennial show, the largest in Asia, will bring together buyers and sellers against the backdrop of China’s attempt to play a bigger role in a realigning global aerospace industry. The Chinese push into the commercial jet and military drone markets comes amid regional insecurity in Southeast Asia over its rising power while the US is retreating toward “America First” oriented policies. China was looking to get a leg up in commercial jet technology through a deal with Bombardier over the advanced C Series last year, but the Canadian company instead chose to partner with Airbus. The Airbus-Boeing duopoly could be further solidified if Boeing and Brazil’s Embraer agree to a tie-up that could involve their commercial and defence divisions. China, with its narrow-body C919, is not the only country trying to carve out space in the tightly controlled commercial market. Russia’s Irkut MC-21 and Japan’s Mitsubishi Regional Jet are also seeking to become serious competitors, and will be represented at the airshow like their Chinese rival. Manufacturers are targeting the Asia-Pacific region for product sales and services because it is the world’s fastest growing aviation market.<br/>
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India plans to increase its airport capacity more than fivefold to help handle a billion trips as carriers in the surging market await delivery of over 900 aircraft. Airline stocks surged. The proposal is part of an infrastructure boost announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Thursday in the federal budget for the year starting April 1. The government will raise spending on public projects by 20% for the year to US$94b. Apart from augmenting airports in the main metropolitan cities of the country, the government will connect 56 unserved airports and 31 unserved helipads. Under a so-called regional connectivity scheme, the government subsidizes some airline losses if they fly to remote areas, while capping airfares on those routes. Operations have already started at 16 unserved airports, enabling the poor to fly for the first time, Jaitley said. Before the government program began, only one in every six of India’s 450 airports or airstrips was in regular commercial use.<br/>
The long goodbye for Boeing’s iconic 747 jetliner is turning out to be a little premature. The planemaker won a $5.65b lifeline for the endangered jumbo as United Parcel Service exercised options for 14 more of the freighters. The deal came weeks after Delta parked the last of its 747 aircraft, marking the end of US passenger service for the iconic humpbacked plane nicknamed the Queen of the Skies. The UPS order rewards Boeing’s optimism that the venerable jet, which transformed air travel when it debuted in 1970, would live on as a cargo-hauler. The courier is also taking four Boeing 767 freighters as it rushes to keep up with growing demand and parlays gains from the recent US corporate tax cut into stepped-up investment. “The biggest reason we decided to expand is, one, we had an option on the 14, and with the tax reform that came in, it made us more optimistic that the economy was going to continue to be clicking,” said UPS CEO David Abney. The hulking jumbos, built to carry a 137.7-ton payload, are needed as UPS expands its network to profit from burgeoning air shipments in China and other Asian markets. The Atlanta-based company plans to use the 747-8 freighters on heavily trafficked “trunk routes” between the US and China and between China and its European hub, Abney said.<br/>
Dan Tanciar, a top official with the US Customs and Border Protection Agency, said that biometrics for international travellers, which allow passengers to board a flight or clear passport control via a photo, is right around the corner. “Our goal is to have this in place over the next four years,” said Tanciar, who is a deputy executive director of the Customs and Border Protection agency. The plan is to begin with international flights then expand to domestic, he added. “On inbound international travel, you’ll be able to leave the passport in your pocket,” he added. Tanciar says biometrics at the airport works by matching the picture the government already has, your passport photo, with a new image generated at the airport. Using biometric technology for domestic flights will take longer to implement, he says, because the TSA doesn’t have the same kind of national database of photos as the US government does with passports. Each state would have to come together to merge their driver’s license IDs. Three airlines are currently testing limited biometric entry: JetBlue, British Airways and Delta at airports in Boston, Atlanta and Los Angeles, but passports are still involved.<br/>
Airliners worldwide flew fuller last year than ever before, with an average of more than four out of five seats occupied. The average load factor was 81.4% worldwide, a record that represented a 0.9-point gain from the previous year, according to the IATA. Planes were more crowded despite 6.3% growth in capacity, meaning more planes and more seats on them. Demand, as measured in the average distance the passengers paid to fly, grew 7.6% for the year, including 4% in North America, according to the group. But rising fuel costs have dampened expectations for this year, as airlines began to warn of fare hikes to keep pace. "2017 got off to a very strong start and largely stayed that way throughout the year, sustained by a broad-based pick-up in economic conditions,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA's CEO, in announcing the traffic figures Thursday. “While the underlying economic outlook remains supportive in 2018, rising cost inputs, most notably fuel, suggest we are unlikely to see the same degree of demand stimulation from lower fares that occurred in the first part of 2017." The load factor among US airlines was 82.54% during the first 10 months of 2017, according to the Transportation Department’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics. That rate included 84.54% for domestic flights and 80.83% for international flights. But if that feels crowded, the load factor in India weighed in at 89.3%, according to IATA. If you're looking for roomier flights, Japan's flights averaged two-thirds full.<br/>
Strong demand for manufacturing exports stoked the air freight sector to its best performance in seven years, as global cargo traffic grew 9% year-over-year in 2017, according to IATA’s December Air Freight Market Analysis. Comparatively, in 2016, air freight traffic increased 3.6%. Worldwide air cargo capacity, meanwhile, increased 3% in 2017, leading to a global freight load factor of 45.5%, up 2.5 points from 2016. Annual air cargo capacity growth in 2017 was its slowest since 2012. IATA senior economist David Oxley noted the air cargo sector’s growth was more than twice as fast as world trade volumes (4.3%) in 2017, reflecting an improved environment for manufacturers linked to the global restocking cycle as well as resurgent investment. “Air cargo had its strongest performance since the rebound from the global financial crisis in 2010. [At] 9%, that outpaced the industry-wide growth in both cargo capacity and in passenger demand,” IATA DC and CEO Alexandre de Juniac said. “The outlook for air freight in 2018 is optimistic … we see growing strength in international e-commerce and the transport of time and temperature sensitive goods such as pharmaceuticals.” De Juniac acknowledged that challenges remain, citing a needed industry-wide evolution to more efficient processes.<br/>