Global aviation heavyweights led by airline body IATA are pushing to suspend airport slot access rules until October 2021, they said on Thursday, but will give some ground to budget carriers angered by measures they deem anti-competitive. The draft proposal, first reported by Reuters, was issued jointly by IATA, airports body ACI and slot coordinator association WWACG. It would prolong the current suspension of rules requiring airlines to use 80% of their take-off and landing windows or else cede some to rivals. Rules on the allocation of airport slots have big ramifications for airline competition and market access for low-cost carriers, which were making ever deeper inroads before the pandemic. The current waiver expires on March 31. “We oppose the extension of slot waivers into summer 2021 because this will lead to fewer flights and higher fares for consumers,” a Ryanair spokeswoman said. “Legacy airlines at hub airports will have no incentives to operate flights,” she added. “Slot waivers distort competition by preventing low-fare airlines from expanding while legacy carriers are able to reduce capacity and raise prices.” The issue is increasingly divisive among airlines and airports, pitting budget carriers largely absent from IATA against the organisation’s more traditional membership. In a bid to address concerns, the proposal would restore the “use-it-or-lose-it” principle during the northern summer but reduce the utilisation rate required to keep slots to 50%. “All parties agree that the normal threshold (80:20) should be replaced by a lower threshold,” the draft document says. “(The) slot usage requirement threshold shall be set at 50:50.”<br/>
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The number of travelers passing through airport security checkpoints in the United States reached its highest level since mid-March on Wednesday despite urging from federal health officials for Americans to spend Thanksgiving at home. In a pandemic-era record, 1,070,967 people passed through security at America's airports on the day before Thanksgiving. That number is just 40% of last year's passenger volume on the same day, when 2,602,631 people were screened. The US CDC last week urged Americans not to travel for Thanksgiving, but since that warning was issued nearly 6m travelers have passed through airport security. The TSA receives passenger information from the airlines as part of its screening responsibilities, and the data does not show widespread cancellations in recent days, TSA spokesman Andy Post said. From September to October, the number of scheduled available seats departing US airports was down nearly 50% compared to the same timeframe last year. Due to increased demand, that number is only down 39% for the Thanksgiving holiday period, according to Airlines for America, a trade association that represents major North American airlines. While Wednesday was busy, industry groups expect the Sunday after the holiday to be even busier.<br/>
Russian airlines could require additional state funding to help them pay off debts built up as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and a weakening rouble, a central bank report published on Thursday said. The report said corporate debt had risen 14% due to COVID-19 and the fall in the rouble, which has slid more than 20% against the US dollar this year due to lower oil prices, the economic fallout of the pandemic and geopolitical risks. These factors could contribute to delays in companies paying their debts and make it more difficult for those in particularly hard-hit sectors like aviation to return to pre-crisis level revenues. “Given airlines’ increased debt burden and higher spending on measures linked to epidemiological safety, the industry could need further government support for them to be in a stable financial condition,” the central bank said. Russian airlines have lost around half their revenue during the pandemic, with passenger traffic falling more than 46% in the first nine months of the year to just under 60m people. The Russian government earmarked 23.4b roubles ($309.2m) in compensation to airlines - including nearly 7.9b for state carrier Aeroflot - as the country grounded flights and imposed lockdowns during the pandemic.<br/>
Transport Canada said Thursday it plans to take a harder look at the relationship between regulators and the manufacturers they oversee, an effort to change the way it validates aircraft following the return of Boeing’s 737 MAX to the skies. We “have to look at the interaction that different authorities have with their manufacturers,” Nicholas Robinson, the regulator’s director of civil aviation, told a Canadian hearing on aircraft certification and the MAX. Canada is close to validating the jet that the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) cleared for flight earlier this month after it was redesigned following two fatal crashes that killed 346 people. There will be some differences between what the FAA has approved for the MAX and what Canada will require for its airlines, such as in training. In the past, regulators promptly followed the guidance of the FAA on Boeing aircraft, but many are now wary of seeming to toe the FAA line after the U.S. agency was faulted for lax oversight. “It’s public record that information was not forthcoming with regard to particular aspects of this aircraft,” Robinson said. “That will have to change.”<br/>
The Federal Court has punted consideration of airfare refunds, which customers say they are owed following hundreds of thousands of cancelled flights, to provincial courts. Justice Michael Manson says in a decision today that a proposed class-action lawsuit seeking certification is outside the Federal Court’s jurisdiction, even though air travel is a federal area of responsibility. Plaintiff Janet Donaldson launched a proposed class action against Air Canada, Air Transat, WestJet Airlines and its Swoop subsidiary after the COVID-19 pandemic struck in March and triggered a global travel industry collapse. The British Columbia resident says WestJet cancelled her flight but initially gave her no reimbursement options, offering travel vouchers instead. Manson’s ruling strikes her claim on jurisdictional grounds, but avoids weighing in on the merits of the refund issue itself. A handful of proposed class-action suits are ongoing in provincial courts, including in B.C. and Quebec, as frustrated customers seek refunds for trips they paid for but never took.<br/>