general

A Russian cargo plane with seven people on board crash landed in eastern Siberia and caught fire, the emergencies ministry said Wednesday. The Antonov An-12 aircraft "disappeared from radars" during its final approach outside the city of Irkutsk, the ministry said on its Telegram channel. According to preliminary information, the aircraft was carrying seven people and travelling from the city of Yakutsk, the ministry said. It said a rescue team had arrived at the scene and the aircraft was on fire. Antonov planes were manufactured during the Soviet era and are still used throughout the former Soviet Union for civilian and military transport. They have been involved in a number of accidents in recent years. Once notorious for accidents, Russia's major airlines have shifted from ageing Soviet aircraft to more modern planes. But poor aircraft maintenance and lax safety standards persist, and the country has recently seen several deadly air disasters. <br/>

Airlines are continuing to benefit from high demand for air cargo and healthy yields, according to industry association IATA, but rising consumer and producer prices could eventually weigh on growth. Outlining another month of strong air cargo performance in September 2021, IATA notes on 3 November that supply-chain congestion around the world is still a largely positive trend for airlines in demand terms, as businesses with low inventory-to-sales ratios seek faster transportation methods. IATA also states that despite already-high air cargo fares trending upwards in recent weeks, they remain historically favourable versus shipping costs. “In September, it was on average three times more expensive to send a kilogram of chargeable weight using air compared to ocean, compared to 12.5 times more prior to the crisis,” IATA states. The biggest constraint on airlines meeting demand is likely to be a lack of capacity – particularly in bellyholds, as parts of the passenger fleet remain grounded, the airline body says. But while airlines enjoy high traffic and record freight load factors, of concern regarding future trends is the “strong increase in prices, both for businesses and consumers” in the wider economy, which could eventually put the brakes on demand, IATA says.<br/>

FAA chief Steve Dickson told a US congressional panel that Boeing has "more work to do" as the planemaker continues to face scrutiny following two fatal 737 MAX crashes in the space of five months in 2018-2019 that killed 346 people. "Boeing is not the same as it was two years ago but they have more to work to do," Dickson told the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday. Boeing did not immediately comment. "We have reset the relationship with Boeing in no uncertain terms." Dickson's comments came in the face of scrutiny from Congress. Senator Maria Cantwell, the committee chair, disclosed she plans to release a report on aviation whistleblowers by the end of the year. "Line engineers had early warnings, whether it's the (Boeing) 787 battery issue, or whether it was this issue related to synthetic airspeeds or the complexity of automation and overload of pilots in the system," Cantwell said. "Those line engineers weren't listened to." Dickson said the FAA is delegating fewer responsibilities to Boeing for aircraft certification. He told the committee the FAA is "demanding more transparency" from manufacturers. The FAA is currently scrutinizing a number of issues involving Boeing airplanes. Boeing agreed to a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department in January including $2.5b in fines and compensation stemming from the 737 MAX crashes. Congress in December approved legislation boosting FAA oversight of aircraft manufacturers, requiring disclosure of critical safety information and providing new whistleblower protections. Cantwell pressed Dickson on whether the FAA can meet all the reform requirements. "I'm not going to allow the law to be skirted here. This issue is about whether you're going to follow a process that allows us to see the work of the FAA, see that it's completed," Cantwell said.<br/>

The FAA is leading what its chief regulator calls a global effort to ensure the world’s airline pilots have adequate manual flying skills and sufficient training in “flight path management”. As part of that “human factors” focus, FAA administrator Steve Dickson also says future FAA aircraft certifications will rely partly on validations involving non-US pilots with varying experience and training. “Some of these issues have not gotten the attention they need… Issues around manual flying skills,” Dickson tells lawmakers during a 3 November Senate hearing. “We are leading the efforts on flight path management and use of automation.” Dickson’s comments address a long-simmering issue that gained salience following two 737 Max crashes – one in 2018, the other in 2019 – that killed 346 people. Investigators attributed the crashes to errant activation of the Max’s flight-control system, corresponding flight control difficulties and multiple cockpit alerts that likely confused the pilots. Aviation safety experts noted notable missteps in how the pilots responded to the alerts. Dickson says the FAA has written a draft “advisory circular” addressing manual flying skills, information management by pilots and “air carrier training programmes for flight path management”. “Flight path management is at the core of the concern that I have,” he adds, noting the circular was written by the FAA’s “chief scientist for human factors”.<br/>

The first pilot report of a person flying a jetpack high over Los Angeles was enough to start a federal investigation. The second caused a stir on airport channels, with an air traffic controller remarking, “Only in LA.” Months after that, a controller warned, “The jetpack guy is back.” The authorities now say the jetpack guy may in fact be more of a balloon guy. “One working theory is that pilots might have seen balloons,” Rick Breitenfeldt, a FAA spokesman, said on Wednesday. The FAA made its statement after NBC 4 News in Los Angeles on Monday published police video and photos showing what appeared to be an inflatable, life-size or larger-than-life-size balloon in the shape of a person floating above the Beverly Hills and Holmby Hills areas. The station observed that it looked like Jack Skellington, the spindly looking and sharply dressed main character from Tim Burton’s 1993 film “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”The images were captured by a Los Angeles Police helicopter crew in November 2020, about two weeks after a second jetpack sighting, and around Halloween, the station said. “The FAA has worked closely with the FBI to investigate every reported jetpack sighting,” Breitenfeldt said. “So far, none of these sightings have been verified.” The Los Angeles Police Department declined to comment, saying that the investigation was being run by the FAA and the FBI. The FBI said that it was investigating the reported sightings but had not been able to verify them. Like the FAA, the bureau said, “one working theory is that pilots might have seen balloons.”<br/>

Safety aspects of two potential scenarios for single-pilot operations in commercial aircraft are to be assessed under a new research project initiated by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. The project is intended to provide a “qualitative and quantitative” assessment of the main safety hazards as well as examine whether compensation measures proposed enable these single-pilot concepts to be implemented without reducing the safety levels associated with current two-pilot operations. EASA says it has been approached by airframers “interested in exploring the possibility” of reducing the number of pilots in large aircraft operations in the medium to long term. The first concept under consideration is extended minimum-crew operations, or ‘eMCOs’, whereby flight times are increased by allowing single-pilot periods during cruise – supplemented by advanced cockpit support or ground assistance – and enabling crew rest. The more radical concept – with a potential introduction from 2030 – involves end-to-end single-pilot operations, or SiPOs. EASA points out that its air operations regulations regarding flightcrew composition already lay out conditions which might permit single-pilot operations. “In the future, it is expected that these conditions and limitations will need to evolve in order to extend single-pilot operations to large [aircraft],” the authority says, “provided that compensation means…are in place in order to provide for an overall level of safety equivalent to today’s two-pilot operations.”<br/>

London Southend Airport, devoid of flights since Ryanair Holdings Plc pulled out last month, is making a push to find new airline tenants for next year’s summer season. Owner Esken expects to announce the restoration of services by the end of February, Chairman David Shearer said Wednesday. The terminal previously pushed back its planned reopening to next April from late this year. Southend is the smallest of six airports that style themselves London hubs after rebranding in 2012. While it’s also the most distant from the UK capital, Esken is seeking to make a virtue of its vacant runway slots, competitive pricing, uncrowded terminal and rail links direct to the City financial district. “I think we have a pretty compelling offering,” Shearer said in an interview. “One of the benefits is that we can be nimble.” The company is in talks with a number of airlines about next summer, he said. Southend, an hour east of London by train from Liverpool Street station, catered to about 2 million passengers a year prior to the coronavirus crisis as it pursued ambitious plans to rival the discount hubs of Stansted and Luton. The airport has seen several false starts in the past, with the pandemic upending its latest plans as Flybe, Britain’s biggest domestic airline, folded in early 2020 and EasyJet Plc, the hub’s longest-standing major tenant, exited later in the year after almost a decade of flights. Esken turned to Carlyle Group to help safeguard Southend’s future, securing a GBP125m loan in August from an infrastructure fund of the private-equity firm, convertible into a 30% stake in the airport. Wizz Air still has a notional base at Southend but isn’t due to resume flights until next summer, a spokesman for the airport said.<br/>

Asia's gradual easing of international travel curbs is proving a welcome relief for the region's hard-hit tourism operators slowly opening up to visitors from around the world - with one giant exception. China, previously the world's largest outbound tourism market, is keeping international air capacity at just 2% of pre-pandemic levels and has yet to relax tight travel restrictions as it sticks to zero tolerance for COVID-19. That has left a $255b annual spending hole in the global tourism market for operators such as Thailand's Laguna Phuket to try and fill. Managing director Ravi Chandran says Laguna Phuket's five resorts have shifted their marketing focus to Europe, the United States and United Arab Emirates to make up for the loss of Chinese visitors, who accounted for 25%-30% of its pre-COVID business. "Up to today, we have not done significant marketing or promotion in China ... because we don't feel anything coming our way," Chandran said. The pandemic has cost Thailand an estimated $50b a year in tourism revenue and Chinese were above-average spenders based on tourism ministry data. Thailand hopes to receive 180,000 foreign tourists this year, a fraction of around 40m it received in 2019, as it opened places beyond Phuket to tourists on Monday. Many experts expect China to keep such stringent measures such as up to a three-week quarantine for those returning home until at least Q2 of next year and possibly then open gradually on a country-by-country basis.<br/>

Hong Kong airport officials plan to segregate passengers on mainland China flights from other international travellers in an unprecedented move to prevent cross-infection and build a stronger case for reopening the city’s border with the rest of the country, the Post has learned. The proposal to divide Hong Kong International Airport into two zones also involves assigning staff to either side with no mixing allowed during working hours, according to sources who were briefed last week on the plans. They said the finer operational details were still being finalised but the airport was set to confirm the segregation arrangements by November 10 with a view to implementation soon after. The move is part of Hong Kong’s tougher zero-Covid strategy aimed at achieving closer alignment with Beijing – prioritising the return of two-way travel with the mainland ahead of opening up to the rest of the world. Addressing the matter, the Airport Authority only said it “constantly reviews preventive measures according to the government’s latest guidelines”. The Food and Health Bureau, meanwhile, said the government was reviewing the arrangements at the airport “so as to further enhance the infection control measures”. “This includes possible further segregation of groups of passengers … arriving/travelling to and from places of different risk levels,” it added. Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, a government pandemic adviser, said the airport’s plan was a good way to reduce cross-infections.<br/>