Source: US FAA The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced the award of more than $898.9 million in infrastructure and safety projects through the FY2021 Airport Improvement Program (AIP). This total includes $113.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to award all grants at a 100-percent federal share. “Investing in our nation’s infrastructure is how our country helped spark an aviation industry that now supports millions of jobs,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. “These Airport Improvement Program grants will help modernize America’s airports and ensure that our air transportation system remains the safest and most efficient in the world.” Grant projects funded through the Airport Improvement Program promote safety, efficiency, environmental stewardship, infrastructure, and security at [...]

Source: US DOT U.S. airlines carried almost 10% more scheduled service passengers in March 2021 than in March 2020 (preliminary), the first year-over-year increase since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, according to data filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) by 22 airlines that carry more than 90% of the passengers. The reporting airlines carried 42.6 million passengers in March 2021 (preliminary), compared to 38.9 million passengers in March 2020. The systemwide increase was driven by a 14% increase in the number of domestic passengers (39.2M). Over the same period, the number of international passengers (3.4M) declined by 26%, the smallest year-over-year decline since February 2020. March 2020 was the first month in which airline travel [...]

Source: House Committee on Transportation Today, Chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Chair of the Subcommittee on Aviation Rick Larsen (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Committee Sharice Davids (D-KS), Vice Chair of the Subcommittee on Aviation Conor Lamb (D-PA), Representative Kaiali'i Kahele (D-HI), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit Rodney Davis (R-IL), and Representatives Drew Ferguson (R-GA), Bill Johnson (R-OH), Don Bacon (R-NE), and Jack Bergman (R-MI) introduced bipartisan legislation seeking to preclude new foreign airlines from operating to and from the United States when they exploit “flags of convenience” to avoid the regulations of their home countries, or otherwise undermine labor standards. Specifically, this legislation requires the U.S. Department of [...]

Source: ALPA The Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA), the world’s largest pilots union, issued the following statement today after the U.S. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee introduced the Fair and Open Skies Act. “ALPA is grateful for Chair Peter DeFazio’s (D-OR) leadership and continued commitment in protecting American jobs and fighting for fair competition for airline pilots and other U.S. workers. ALPA also recognizes and thanks Reps. Rodney Davis (R-IL), Rick Larsen (D-WA), Drew Ferguson (R-GA), Sharice Davids (D-KS), Don Bacon (R-NE), Kai Kahele (D-HI), Connor Lamb (D-PA), Jack Bergman (R-MI), and Bill Johnson (R-OH) for sponsoring this important legislation. Foreign airlines seeking a permit to fly to the United States cannot be allowed to do so [...]

Source: Transport Canada The global COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on the air sector in Canada. Airports have been significantly affected, experiencing major decreases in traffic over the past 15 months. Despite these consequences, airports have played a crucial role since the start of the pandemic by continuing to provide essential air services, including traveling to medical appointments, air ambulance services, community resupply, getting goods to market, search and rescue operations, and forest fire response. Today, the Minister of Transport, the Honourable Omar Alghabra, launched two new contribution funding programs to help Canada’s airports recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic: The Airport Critical Infrastructure Program (ACIP) is a new program providing close to $490 million to [...]

Source: A4A Airlines for America (A4A), the industry trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines, has joined with a number of U.S. and UK passenger airlines in the following letter to Department of Transportation Secretary Buttigieg and UK Transport Secretary Schapps encouraging the development of a path to safely and expeditiously reopen transatlantic travel. https://www.airlines.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/US-UK-Summit-Letter-Safe-Restart-of-Transatlatic-Travel-final.pdf

Source: US FAA The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposes civil penalties of $10,500 and $9,000 against two airline passengers for allegedly interfering with flight attendants who instructed them to obey cabin crew instructions and various federal regulations. The cases are as follows: $10,500 against a passenger on a Dec. 27, 2020 jetBlue Airlines flight from Ft. Lauderdale International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport. The FAA alleges the passenger repeatedly ignored, and was abusive to, flight attendants who instructed him to wear a facemask. At one point, while not wearing a mask, he coughed and blew his nose into a blanket. The passenger’s disruptive behavior diverted flight crewmembers from their duties. $9,000 against a passenger on a March 16, [...]

Source: UNWTO Minister of Tourism David Collado along with 15 more ministers and vice ministers of tourism of the Americas established partnership agreements and procedures for relaunching tourism in the region in a meeting called by the World Tourism Organization and led in its inauguration by Luis Abinader, President of Dominican Republic. Tourism leaders in the Americas committed to jointly addressing the reactivation of tourism, making the sector a priority and adopting international protocols. Additionally, they agreed to emphasize innovation and digital transformation, develop sustainable tourism and strengthen support mechanisms for workers and impacted companies. At the beginning of the meeting, the Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Zurab Pololikashvili commended the way Dominican Republic has handled the [...]