Source: ALPA The Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA) issued the following statement after the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3935, the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act. The bill contained a poison-pill provision, which, if enacted by the Senate, could raise the airline pilot retirement age from 65 to 67. “As the world’s largest nongovernmental aviation safety organization, ALPA is committed to keeping flying safe. Unfortunately, H.R. 3935 as passed by the House will introduce new risk by raising the mandatory pilot retirement age. “Raising the retirement age is not only a solution in search of a problem, but it is also a proposal that has not been studied or vetted by aviation safety experts—those upon [...]

Source: IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released the following statement by its Director General, Willie Walsh, on the performance of the United States and Canadian air traffic control (ATC) organizations. "Over the past 12-18 months airlines have responded to the very strong post-pandemic travel demand by adding tens of thousands of employees to their workforces. US passenger airline employment is now at its highest level in over two decades, for example. In contrast, ATC staff shortages in North America continue to produce unacceptable delays and disruptions for the traveling public on both sides of the border. United States "The recent report by the US Department of Transportation (DOT) Office of the Inspector General makes clear that the Federal [...]

Source: ALTA Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) exceeded its 2019 passenger traffic levels for the second time this year. However, this month, the Middle East ranked as the world's highest recovering region, exceeding its May 2019 levels with 3.2%. The region is showing an excellent performance in terms of both domestic and international passenger traffic. It is noteworthy that, for the first-time post-pandemic, Brazil exceeded domestic passenger figures with 7.3 million passengers (+3%). Meanwhile, Argentina and Chile continue to trend higher, outperforming their 2019 levels. Aviation has proven to be an essential service for the population. An evidence on this is that some of the countries with lower economic growth have been the ones with the highest passenger carried, such [...]

Source: ICAO The ICAO Global Aviation Gender Summit in Madrid resulted in a “Call to Action” that comprises several clear and actionable steps and strategies towards resolving the aviation sector’s very significant gender equality challenges. The Call to Action was presented by the President of the ICAO Council, Salvatore Sciacchitano. “Advancing gender equality in aviation is not only the right thing to do, but a necessary transformation for the future of our sector,” remarked Council President Sciacchitano. “The Call to Action this event has resulted in accordingly conveys a strong message of determination and urgency, and outlines an array of strategic action points.” Priorities included the development of better data, which was recognized as being key to strengthening strategic foresight to support the identification [...]

Source: IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Aviation Impact Accelerator(AIA), an international industry-academia partnership based at the University of Cambridge, announced a collaboration to accelerate the aviation sector's transition to net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050. The two organizations will assess the financial implications of reaching aviation's 2050 net-zero CO2 goal. Building upon existing work, this collaboration will support the development of scenario-based tools to help airlines analyze and evaluate different decarbonization pathways. The purpose of this collaboration is to support better-informed decisions by airlines and policy-makers in the transition to net zero. The collaboration will set a solid foundation for IATA and AIA to develop a wider, long-term partnership. AIA is an international group of experts drawing [...]

Source: TSA Passengers traveling with a firearm must properly pack it in checked baggage and declare to the airline Firearms are prohibited in carry-on bags, in the secure area of airports and on board aircraft The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) intercepted 3,251 firearms at airport security checkpoints during the first half of 2023, which ended June 30. The total represents an average 18 firearms per day at TSA checkpoints of which more than 92% were loaded. This is an increase from the first half of 2022 when Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) stopped 3,053 firearms at security checkpoints of which more than 86% were loaded. In the first five days of July, TSOs nationwide intercepted 90 additional firearms bringing the total through [...]