Air Transport

Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.

French airlines are criticizing an aviation agreement between the European Union and Qatar, saying it will intensify competitive pressure for airlines still struggling with the impact of the COVID-19 crisis.

Intra-African growth is expected to be the strongest category for African airlines, at around 6.5% per year, considerably above the global growth rate in air transport of 4%.

For years, there has been talk about the need for African partnerships. Could recent glimmers of action bode well for the future?

An Ariane 5 heavy launcher is to send the SES-17 satellite into orbit during the night of Oct. 22-23 local time at Arianespace’s Kourou, French Guiana, spaceport, as Thales seeks to capture half of the crucial North American inflight connectivity market.

The network additions will increase the carrier’s network from the Idaho capital to 15 destinations.

The former Aeromexico chief commercial officer will manage Delta’s partnerships with Air France, KLM and Virgin Atlantic.

The SkyTeam partners have been given the go-ahead to expand an agreement that has been in place for the past three years.

Although the recovery in Latin America from the COVID-19 pandemic may lag other areas of the world, there’s no shortage of ambition among the region’s startup airlines.

IATA confronts the big issues as industry reunites.

Financial losses across the world’s airlines are expected to total $201 billion for the pandemic-struck years of 2020-2022, IATA said during a

Lockdowns and restrictions on personal travel are not natural human states. That is why jail sentences are a punishment for those who do wrong. The

US airlines expand employee vaccine mandates.

TSA says it screened 1,446,353 pax on October 19, which was down about 31% from same weekday in 2019, October 22.

UNITED AIRLINES says it resumed service on 23 domestic routes and 13 international routes during 3Q21; although it projects 4Q21 capacity to be down

SINGAPORE AIRLINES plans December 1 to resume three-times-weekly Singapore-Manchester-Houston (A350-900).

LUFTHANSA announced its first 787-9 (for delivery in 2022) will be named Berlin; it plans to receive five 787-9s in 2022.

XCELLE AMERICAS was jointly formed by Triumph Group and AFI KLM E&M to overhaul 787, 737 MAX, A320neo and A350 nacelles at Triumph's repair facility

JAPAN AIRLINES agreed to purchase or lease up to 100 Vertical VA-X4s from Avolon to create eVTOL ride sharing business.

AMEDEO signed LOI to purchase 200 19-seat Electric Regional Aircraft (ERAs) from AURA AERO, France.

TALON 1 ACQUISITION (SPAC formed by AVi8 Air Capital) filed for $200m IPO comprising 20m shares at $10 each.

FRANKFURT AIRPORT handled 3.09m pax in September, down 54% vs Sept 2019; cargo rose 7.7% to 188,177 tonnes.

The Machinists union in Wichita is pushing back on a government mandate requiring employees of government contractors to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as Textron Aviation and Spirit AeroSystems work to comply.

FRANKFURT AIRPORT handled 3.09m pax in September, down 54% vs Sept 2019; cargo rose 7.7% to 188,177 tonnes.

LONDON HEATHROW handled 2.57m pax in September, down 62% vs Sept 2019; aircraft movements fell 45% to 21,248.