US regulators are urging operators to adopt safer passenger restraints for front-row seats, after research indicated that lap seat-belts alone could result in severe injuries in an emergency landing. Current guidance permits operators to install seats set back from cabin walls and monuments, which allow their occupants to flail forward in the event of an accident. But the US FAA says recent research has detailed the potential for serious spinal and other injuries resulting from “excessive body flail” in seat configurations which – with only lap belts fitted – permit unrestrained forward motion of the upper torso. The potential for such injuries was “not considered likely”, it says, until recent research tests used post-mortem human surrogates – the formal term for cadavers – to compare their response to those of crash-test dummies. An investigation undertaken by the Medical College of Wisconsin, and presented at a 2016 conference in Atlantic City, states that the injury biomechanics of standard lap belts were previously “not well understood”. Its study into motion of post-mortem human surrogates, wearing lap belts under emergency landing loads, showed that the resulting injuries were “severe”. These included transection of the vertebral column, fractures to the femur, and multiple rib fractures. The femur fractures were probably caused by the lap belt’s slipping below the pelvis. In a 1 August safety bulletin, the FAA cites analysis of landing accidents including the Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-800 crash at Amsterdam in 2009 and the Asiana 777-200ER crash at San Francisco in 2009. “Occupants with free flail suffered spinal injury, while occupants whose torso was supported by seatback contact did not,” it states. <br/>
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The US FAA Friday proposed new procedures to improve the safety of Hawaii tourist sightseeing flights by plane and helicopter after a series of fatal crashes including one in 2019 that killed seven people in bad weather. The FAA proposed a new process for air tour operators to obtain authorization to safely descend below specific altitudes to avoid flying into bad weather. FAA Acting Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety David Boulter said the new process will help prevent situations in which pilots encounter poor visibility and become disoriented. The regulatory agency also unveiled proposals to bolster safety management practices for Hawaii air tours including pilot training and aircraft equipment. The new safeguards are expected to be in place in early 2024. The FAA also is encouraging Hawaii air tour operators to adopt Safety Management Systems - programs to manage risks and assure the effectiveness of safety controls - while the agency finalizes rules to mandate them. The National Transportation Safety Board last year cited the FAA decision not to implement some safety recommendations as contributing to the cause of a fatal Hawaii air tour helicopter crash that killed seven people in December 2019. The seven-seat Airbus AS350 B2 helicopter crashed in deteriorating weather in a remote area of wooded terrain near Kekaha, Hawaii. The NTSB said the highly experienced, 69-year-old pilot flew into a mountainous region and was unable to exit the area of limited visibility.<br/>
Passengers were forced to evacuate a check-in area at a terminal of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Sunday because of a security-related law enforcement investigation, officials said. The section of Terminal 1 was closed for about an hour until the all-clear was given for it to be reopened and airport operations returned to normal. Officials didn’t immediately say what prompted the evacuation. The roadway leading to the upper-level section of the terminal had also been closed because of the investigation, airport officials said on social media. Officials had encouraged passengers traveling through that area to check with their airlines about the status of their flights and to get dropped off at the lower level. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport is Florida’s third-busiest airport, behind airports in Orlando and Miami.<br/>
The Mexican government is no longer planning on moving up the timeline to pay off some $4.2b in outstanding bonds issued to finance a partly built airport on the outskirts of Mexico City that was later canceled, a senior transport official said on Friday. The canceled Texcoco project was meant to alleviate pressure at the capital's decades-old airport, but shortly after he was elected in 2018, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador ordered construction on the new facility halted, blasting it as too expensive and stained by corruption. His government initially paid off around $1.8b of the $6b in bonds issued to finance the ill-fated Texcoco airport, and now plans to stick with the established payback plan for the long-term bonds. "The finance ministry asked for everything to stay the same, so that's what's going to happen," Deputy Transportation Minister Rogelio Jimenez Pons told reporters. Jimenez had previously said that the finance ministry was considering an earlier payback schedule, as the funds used to pay off the bonds for the canceled airport currently come from a usage tax generated by the existing Mexico City International Airport (AICM). The Navy will soon take over the AICM and a handful of other airports currently run by the transportation ministry, and Jimenez had said the AICM would be turned over to military administration without the bond payback burden. "Everything will be paid back in the same way. It stays the same," stressed Jimenez.<br/>
The Italian Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC) on Saturday gave its green light to reopen the main terminal at Sicily's Catania airport, a statement said, nearly three weeks after it was shut down due to a fire. "ENAC's order ... allows the airport to return immediately, as of this evening, to normal conditions," Sicilian regional governor Renato Schifani said in the statement published on the airport's website. The fire at the airport, which acts as a hub for the east of Sicily and attracts more arrivals than the capital Palermo, broke out on July 16 and directly affected a small part of the structure. It caused major disruption for tourists and residents in the city below Mount Etna. Following the accident, the airport operated at reduced capacity through a smaller terminal, alongside which tent-like structures were built to help cope with the flows of passengers. Nobody was hurt in the blaze, the cause of which is still being investigated. "The airport's return to full operation also represents a guarantee for the entire Sicilian tourism sector, which we will continue to support in agreement with the national government," Schifani said. The Catania airport is regularly used by tourists heading to places including the resort town of Taormina, which is about 70 kilometers away, and Siracusa, with its Greek Theatre.<br/>
Fresh drone activity at Dublin Airport saw two inbound flights diverted on Friday with air traffic disrupted for a short period. The disruption came as the airport gears up for one of its busiest weekends of the year with hundreds of thousands of people set to travel through and from the airport over the bank holiday weekend. A spokesman for DAA, the authority that runs the airport, told The Irish Times there had been reports of unauthorised drone activity which caused the disruption shortly after midday. “Flight operations at Dublin Airport were suspended for around 10 minutes just after 12 noon on Friday following the confirmed sighting of a drone in the vicinity of the airfield,” the spokesman said. “This led to two flights - one Aer Lingus flight from Frankfurt and one Ryanair flight from Birmingham - being diverted to Belfast. A number of other aircraft were required to hold for a very short period.” The statement concluded with a remined that it is “illegal to fly a drone without permission within 5km of Dublin Airport”. In 2015, Ireland became one of the first countries in Europe to legislate for drone use with the law intended to specifically addresses the safety challenges posed by drones. Under the legislation, a drone cannot operate within five kilometres of an aerodrome or airport. It cannot be used over the heads of an assembly of people, over urban areas or in restricted areas such as military installations or prisons. A drone is not allowed to fly higher than 120 metres or more than 300 metres from its operator.<br/>
Pilots at Virgin Atlantic have indicated they would consider going on strike following "serious concerns" about fatigue and their wellbeing. Union Balpa said that in a recent vote, 96% of Virgin Atlantic pilots supported a ballot on industrial action. At issue are scheduling and rostering arrangements that were put in place during Covid which will come to an end in December. Virgin said it was willing to enter into talks in the coming weeks. The airline said the existing pay and lifestyle agreement was "agreed, developed and supported by Balpa pilot representatives within Virgin Atlantic, and our pilot community". A spokesperson for Virgin Atlantic said: "We continue to honour all agreements and have offered to enter formal pay and lifestyle negotiations with Balpa's pilot union representatives in the coming weeks, well in advance of the agreement expiring in December." Airlines were one of the worst hit industries during the pandemic after international travel came to a standstill to stop the spread of Covid. Virgin Atlantic employs 835 pilots and it is believed the majority are members of the Balpa pilots' union. A spokesperson for Balpa said: "Our members have registered a trade dispute with Virgin Atlantic arising out of serious concerns relating to pilot fatigue and wellbeing around scheduling and rostering arrangements, implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic." It said that 81% of its Virgin Atlantic union members voted in the ballot which its said gave Balpa "an overwhelming mandate to pursue this dispute". The maximum flying time for a commercial pilot is 900 hours per calendar year, according to the Civil Aviation Authority. It is understood that the rostered average for Virgin Atlantic pilots is around 750 hours.<br/>
Niger’s junta partially closed the country’s airspace, warning of an attack by a “foreign power” as a deadline passed on Sunday to reinstate ousted President Mohamed Bazoum. The deadline, imposed by West African neighbors, threatened intervention, though there was no sign of any military action as yet. Coup leaders said, however, action against them was unfolding. “The planning for this war was carried out,” junta spokesman Amadou Abdramane said on state broadcaster Tele Sahel. “A pre-deployment of forces to participate in this war has begun in two countries in central Africa.” He provided no further details. Niger on Sunday said it had closed its airspace for international flights except for a few countries including Algeria, Burkina Faso, Mali, Libya and Chad that have spoken out against a military intervention. “Any state from which military action is directed against Niger will be considered pro-belligerent,“ Abdramane said. West Africa’s defense chiefs agreed to a plan for a potential military intervention in Abuja on Friday after a three-day meeting of regional defense officials. It was unclear on Sunday at what time Ecowas, as the 15-member bloc is known, would consider the deadline to reinstate Bazoum to have passed. Any intervention was complicated over the weekend by the Senate in neighboring Nigeria, which urged diplomacy over military action, at least for now. <br/>
An online post threatening to bomb Jeju International Airport has led police to search the airport and attempt to track the writer, officials said Monday. The post was uploaded at 9:07 p.m. on an internet community Sunday, threatening to "launch a terrorist bombing attack on Jeju International Airport at two o'clock on Monday," according to police officials. The writer said a bomb had already been installed at the airport and threatened to stab people coming out of the airport. After spotting the post, police conducted a search of Jeju International Airport for two hours, but no explosives were found. Officials said police plan to deploy police personnel and step up access controls at the airport Monday to prepare for any emergency situation. Police were also tracking the writer, pledging to sternly punish the suspect. The police on Monday also searched Gimhae International Airport in the southeastern port city of Busan and Daegu International Airport in the southeastern city of Daegu after online bomb threats were made for both airports. An online post, uploaded at 12:18 a.m. Monday, threatened to detonate a bomb and kill everyone with a jackknife at Gimhae International Airport. Another post on an internet community, uploaded at 11:16 p.m. on Sunday, warned of "a terrorist bombing attack at Daegu International Airport on Aug. 9," threatening to "stab everyone to death." Shortly thereafter, the police searched the two airports but found no signs of terrorism, the officials said, adding they will step up security at the airports. The incidents mark the latest in a series of copycat crime threats that followed two fatal stabbing rampages in and around Seoul.<br/>
A major lounge operator at the Hong Kong International Airport plans to hire more staff, including ethnic minority workers with language skills, to cope with the surge in post-pandemic travel demand. Managing four lounges at one of the terminals, Plaza Premium Group said it aimed to hire 500 more employees by the end of the year, on top of the 500 it has recruited since 2021. The company’s global director of human resources, Joanna Lee Chui-ha, said it was eager to attract workers from ethnic minority groups, as their language skills and familiarity with different cultures would be valuable at the airport. “We open the door wide to welcome ethnic minority people to join us as we have the capacity to recruit as many as possible,” she said. “We discovered that employees with ethnic minority backgrounds have been a valuable asset in diversifying the cultural environment.” Towards that end, the company joined a recruitment programme jointly run by the Airport Authority and HKSKH Lady MacLehose Centre. It is part of the authority’s initiative of partnering with NGOs to provide young people with vocational training and subsidise their efforts to better themselves. After finishing the programme, the participants can choose their preferred jobs at the airport, while companies are inclined to hire the trained candidates.<br/>
The Department of Airports (DoA) is planning to upgrade Hua Hin Airport<br/>into an international airport to boost tourism. Rattapol Charoenphon, acting director of Hua Hin Airport, on Sunday said the airport, operated by the DoA, recently expanded its runway to 2.1 kilometres long and 60m wide to accommodate Airbus A320 aircraft. The airport also has parking bays for three of the aircraft, he added. Currently, Thai AirAsia is the only airline that provides a one-stop service between Hua Hin and Chiang Mai three times a week. Rattapol said the airport wants to serve international flights, and to do so, it needs to improve safety around the airport by building additional infrastructure, including expanding the traffic tunnel on Phetkasem Road, about 1km from the airport, and the airport train tunnel. The safe zone around the airport will also be improved to meet International Civil Aviation Organisation standards, he said. He said the DoA has a company in mind for the safety expansion project. It will need approval from the Transport Ministry, which must also forward the budget request to the Budget Bureau, he said. The project will need 600 days to complete after the contract is signed. In the meantime, the airport is also conducting a study on its options to expand facilities, he said, adding meetings with commercial airlines were planned to learn about their concerns. A report is expected this year before it is submitted to the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand for the approval of a licence to operate an international airport.<br/>
Airbus deliveries rose 11% in the first seven months of the year to 381 airplanes, the European planemaker said on Friday. For July, deliveries stood at 65 aircraft, it said in a monthly commercial update, confirming a Reuters report. After a slow start to the year, deliveries have picked up in pace since May as Airbus targets 720 deliveries for the year. Airbus reaffirmed the delivery goal with half-year earnings last week but dropped an interim target for underlying output of 65 narrow-body jets a month by end-2024, up from around 47 now. Airbus also said it had booked 60 gross orders in July, including previously announced deals with Pegasus Airlines (PGSUS.IS) for 36 more jets and with Icelandair for 13 A321XLR, the planemaker's newest single-aisle model. So far this year, it has booked 1,140 gross orders or 1,101 after cancellations, dominated by record demand from India. New orders also included a total of 10 A350-900 long-haul jets from undisclosed buyers and one from IAG for Iberia.<br/>
Duty-free retailer Dufry lifted its full-year profitability target after posting forecast-beating results for the first half thanks to a post-pandemic global travel boom and added business from Italy's Autogrill service stations. The retailer, which operates more than 2,300 shops at airports, on cruise liners and in seaports, said half-year turnover almost doubled to 5.72b Swiss francs ($6.54b). Adjusted for the addition of the Autogrill business, which was consolidated in February, turnover increased 31.5%, boosted by holiday travels in Europe and domestic trips in the US. CEO Xavier Rossinyol said the integration of Autogrill was advancing rapidly. "Behind the scenes we are working on even bigger opportunities, making our stores even more fun, more vibrant, and smarter, adding live events and gamification elements in our customer experience," Rossinyol said. Turnover in the Asia-Pacific region grew 272% from a very low base, dominated by domestic travel in China and intra-regional travel. Dufry - which has launched new sales concepts that focus on "mind, body and soul" and on premium perfumes, and which also focuses on selling organic and freshly prepared food and drinks - said July turnover grew an estimated 17%. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) reached 491.8m francs in the January-June period, 12% above average analyst estimates according to Refinitiv data.<br/>