Source: ICAO Responding to a variety of recent and emerging aerospace and geopolitical developments throughout its 223rd session, which concluded yesterday, the ICAO Council realized important progress towards facilitating the aviation sector’s recovery from the impacts of the pandemic, towards enhancing the safety, security and sustainability of flight, and towards improving the governance of the UN’s specialized agency for civil aviation. The foundation of ICAO’s COVID-19 recovery strategy is assuring the implementation of the recommendations of the ICAO Council Aviation Recovery Taskforce (CART). Prepared in cooperation with the WHO and other UN and aviation bodies, its recommendations have been updated on a continuous basis throughout the pandemic in order to reflect the highly dynamic context, knowledge, and challenges. This session, [...]

Source: FAA The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposes civil penalties ranging from $9,000 to $22,000 against eight airline passengers for allegedly interfering with flight attendants who instructed them to obey cabin crew instructions and various federal regulations. The cases announced today include assaulting flight crew, drinking alcohol brought aboard the plane and refusing to wear facemasks. The enforcement actions are part of the FAA’s zero-tolerance policy for unruly and dangerous behavior by passengers. Since Jan. 1, 2021, the FAA has received approximately 3,100 reports of unruly behavior by passengers, including about 2,350 reports of passengers refusing to comply with the federal facemask mandate. During the same timeframe, the FAA has proposed $563,800 in fines against unruly [...]

Source: IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has launched a self-registration portal to make it easier for COVID-19 testing labs to join the IATA Travel Pass Lab Network. IATA’s Lab Network provides a list of eligible lab locations around the globe so that travelers can easily find a location for a COVID-19 test prior to travel.  The newly launched portal provides a one-stop-shop for labs to self-register to be included in the Network. Labs wishing to join the IATA Lab Network should confirm that they meet the eligibility *criteria* and register through the new Self Registration Portal. Before they are included in the IATA Travel Pass, IATA will validate the information and contact labs directly to finalize their registration. [...]

Source: ACI NA Airports Council International – North America (ACI-NA), the trade association representing commercial service airports in the United States and Canada, today welcomed the announcement of a bipartisan infrastructure framework that includes $25 billion in new airport infrastructure investment. “It is great to see bipartisan agreement about the pressing need to upgrade America’s airports,” said ACI-NA President and CEO Kevin M. Burke.  “For too long U.S. airports have been underfunded and unable to make many of the terminal, runway, and access improvements needed to keep pace with an increasing number of passengers and flights at their facilities.  With airports facing over $115 billion in documented infrastructure needs over the next five years, the $25 billion in new investments [...]

Source: US DOT   The 23 U.S. scheduled passenger airlines employed 0.9% fewer full-time equivalents (FTEs) in April 2021 than in March 2021: April’s total number of FTEs (391,501) was down 3,562 from March (395,063) and down 70,096, a 15.2% drop from the onset of the pandemic in March 2020 (461,597). April 2021 was the lowest FTE total for the month of April since 2014 (384,265). April 2021, scheduled passenger airlines employed 60% of the total airline industry FTEs, down from 63% in March 2020. Total industry includes cargo and charter. Regulations require U.S. airlines to report employment numbers for employees who worked or received pay for any part of the pay period(s) ending nearest the 15th day of the [...]

Source: ALPA The Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA) applauded Sens. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and Mike Rounds (R-SD) today for introducing the Recognizing and Ensuring Taxpayer Access to Infrastructure Necessary for GPS and Satellite Communications Act of 2021, or the RETAIN Act. The proposed bipartisan legislation will ensure that those negatively impacted, both in the public and private sector, can recover costs accrued from GPS and satellite communication interference caused by Ligado Networks’ operations. In April 2020, as the world was focused on how to best navigate through the COVID-19 public health crisis, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) took the opportunity to grant Ligado access to the public airwaves adjacent to bands traditionally reserved for satellite navigation [...]

Source: US FAA The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has launched an additional way for its engineers, safety inspectors, systems safety specialists and other aviation safety employees to report safety-related issues and concerns. Information shared and submitted via this new system will be used to validate or verify an aviation safety concern, identify the root cause, and determine the appropriate corrective action. The Voluntary Safety Reporting Program provides those who work in the FAA’s Aviation Safety organization the ability to report confidentially any safety concerns without fear of punitive action. The FAA’s Aviation Safety workforce is composed of about 7,400 professionals who provide oversight of airlines, manufacturers, maintenance providers, aviation medical practitioners and flight crews. “We can [...]