Grants add to an already large pot available for helping local airports shore up infrastructure and weather the pandemic. More than $273 million in airport safety and infrastructure grants from the Federal Aviation Administration have been awarded to 41 states and US territories. The sum is a considerable decrease from the $800 million Transportation Secretary…
If you board a domestic flight in Asia-Pacific, you might end up flying for more hours than you bargained. Some countries in the region wrap around the globe, facilitating domestic routes well over 2,000 miles. What are the longest domestic routes in the region, and how do they operate? What is a long domestic route? When we…
Southwest Airlines temporarily grounded 115 Boeing 737-800 on July 16 because of inconsistencies in aircraft weight data. “Out of an abundance of caution, we temporarily ceased flying the respective aircraft to enter the correct weights of the aircraft in question into the system and reset the program,” said Chris Mainz, Southwest on July 16. “As…
WASHINGTON – Two Boeing 737 MAX crashes that killed all 346 passengers and crew aboard were the “horrific culmination” of failures by the planemaker and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), a U.S. House panel concluded after an 18-month investigation. The crashes “were not the result of a singular failure, technical mistake, or mismanaged event,” the House…
Airbus celebrated five years of operation at its single-aisle production facility in Mobile, Alabama on Monday. The company made Mobile its first U.S.-based manufacturing plant in 2015 with 250 employees and the goal of bringing the production of its most popular narrow body jet, the A320 family, closer to its U.S. customers. Not only has…
The global aviation industry says now is the time to begin planning “the mission of the century”: delivering a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine to billions of people in some of the most remote parts of the world. The International Air Transport Association said in a statement Thursday that shipping a single dose of the…
The chief executive of UK-based low-cost carrier EasyJet has warned that the lack of government support targeted at the airline industry is threatening the sector’s long-term competitiveness. Government inaction could make the UK air travel industry “increasingly reliant on foreign airlines”, Johan Lundgren writes in an article for the Daily Mail. “This is the last chance to…
Unprecedented, shocking, severe – all words that have been frequently used to describe Covid-19’s impact on aviation since the outbreak effectively grounded the industry in March. Several months on and the shock has subsided to be replaced by talk of the “new normal”, “social distancing” and the world “post-Covid”. Business aviation activity is undoubtedly recovering…
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has renewed its call on governments in Latin America and the Caribbean to allow a wider restart for aviation, as well as consider providing further financial relief and aid to the airlines. According to the latest figures released by the association, global demand measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPK) has retracted…
Southwest Airlines announced Thursday it intends to launch year-round service later this year to two new destinations: Miami International Airport and Palm Springs International Airport. The announcement comes as U.S. airlines have slashed fall schedules following a surge in COVID-19 cases and weakened travel demand. Business travel has been at a virtual standstill since March, forcing airlines to woo skittish…
US airline trade organisation Airlines for America (A4A) estimates four years will pass before travel returns to normal following the coronavirus pandemic. The group’s chief executive Nick Calio says on 3 September that passenger airlines will not experience the V-shaped recovery that the industry initially expected. “We are fighting for survival,” Calio says on a…