British Airways has been fined $1.1 million by the US Department for Transportation over a failure to provide passengers with timely refunds for cancelled flights amid the pandemic. The DoT's Office of Aviation Consumer Protection (OACP) says that since 1 March 2020 over 1,200 customers have complained to it about BA's conduct regarding refunds. Among several practices that it criticised, the OACP found that BA's website instructed customers to contact the airline by phone to "discuss refund options", which was effectively impossible because the carrier had "failed to maintain adequate functionality of its customer-service phonelines". IAG-owned BA allowed consumers to request refunds by email, Facebook or Twitter, but this was not advertised. "In addition, OACP's investigation revealed that, from March to November 2020, British Airways' website contained contradictory and false information regarding refund options for impacted consumers," says the office. "Specifically, following flight cancellations and schedule changes, consumers that logged into the airline's Manage My Booking webpage would see a conspicuous 'Cancel and refund flight(s)' blue button that linked to an online form. However, consumers could not request a refund by completing this form," notes the OACP. "We find British Airways' practices and misrepresentations to be deceptive because consumers were led to an online option for requesting and accepting vouchers when they were trying to obtain refunds," the office concludes. "The information was misleading to consumers acting reasonably under the circumstances and was material to consumers."
BA says its actions should be looked at in the context of the pandemic, which not only resulted in the cancellation of thousands of flights but led to the closure of call centres. "During this period, we acted lawfully at all times and offered customers the flexibility of rebooking travel on different dates, or claiming a refund if their flights were cancelled," says the airline, noting that it has issued 5 million refunds since the start of the pandemic.

Boeing is now producing four of its 787s per month and plans to reach five per month by the end of this year, the company confirms. A Reuters article published on 30 May cited Lane Ballard, Boeing's vice-president and general manager for the 787 programme, as saying that the Arlington, Virginia headquartered company had increased production of its 787 from three to four aircraft per month. "As we have said, our plan is for 787 production to reach five airplanes per month by the end of this year," Boeing says. "We are currently producing four 787s per month." In April, Boeing said it was producing three 787s per month and planned to increase this to five in late 2023 and 10 in 2025/26. Boeing's rate increase is backed by improved regulatory certainty from the US Federal Aviation Administration, which on 13 March cleared the airframer to resume deliveries of 787s. The FAA must still issue airworthiness certificates for each 787 prior to shipment, as it has done since Boeing resumed deliveries of the type in 2022 after a 10-month hiatus due to production issues.

Upcoming military exercises scheduled to take place in Germany are “causing considerable aviation concern” given their potential impact on slots and schedules, according to IATA. The Air Defender exercises that are due to take place on 12-22 June will “very likely” require take-off and landing slots to be retimed as the exercises require the closure of sections of airspace, the association said in a report at its AGM taking place in Istanbul. Carriers have been working with the European Commission and network managers to develop mitigation plans for the exercises and are seeking “flexibility” from regulators. “Unfortunately, in some instances, this flexibility may not be enough, or not be granted at all,” IATA says. Part of this is the request for extended airport operating hours, especially at curfew airports. IATA is also asking the European Commission to call on national authorities to “align their approaches” over whether the delays will constitute an “extraordinary circumstance”, which would mean that passengers are eligible to claim compensation for delays under EU 261. “We do not want different authorities to take decisions and enforce penalties for delays resulting from this exercise. And it’s vital we avoid the precedent that airspace closures are not considered an extraordinary event,” it states.