The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued new security requirements for the 38 countries participating in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) Dec. 15, including requiring VWP countries to systematically screen travelers crossing their respective borders against US counterterrorism information.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) is investigating the crash of a West Wind Aviation ATR 42 regional turboprop shortly after takeoff from Fond-du-Lac, Saskatchewan.

Irish LCC Ryanair has agreed to recognize pilot unions in Ireland, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal, bowing to pressure and changing its long-standing policy of negotiating directly with internal employee committees.

Russia and Egypt plan to re-establish flights between the countries next year after signing a new protocol specializing in aviation security measures, which becomes effective in 30 days.

IATA has certified UK-based global distribution system (GDS) travel commerce provider Travelport as a New Distribution Capability (NDC) Level 3 aggregator, linking the UK-based GDS provider with IATA’s NDC initiative to create an XML-based data transmission industry standard for communications between airlines and travel agents.

Despite a renewed campaign against the hub Gulf carriers, the three US major airlines ended the year with essentially nothing gained.

The US Department of Transportation (DOT) is opening a new frequency allocation proceeding to assign six daily roundtrip slots between the US and Havana, Cuba.

SuperJet International (SJI) has named Stewart Cordner as SVP-commercial.