Hundreds of ground handlers employed by Menzies Aviation at London Heathrow will go on strike for three days in mid-December in a dispute over pay, threatening to disrupt flights during the busy end-of-year holiday travel period. The Unite union, which represents the workers, says that 350 Menzies ground handlers plan to take strike action for a 72h period from 04:00 local time on 16 December. The union claims this will lead to delays and cancellations to flights departing from Heathrow Terminals 2, 3 and 4, and will particularly affect services operated by Air Canada, American Airlines, Swiss, TAP Portugal, Austrian, Qantas, EgyptAir, Aer Lingus and Finnair. However, Menzies says it expects the impact to be "minimal" if the strike goes ahead, but is hopeful a resolution can be reached before 16 December. "The previous strike, which involved about 250 of our 1,500 ground-handling workforce at Heathrow, had minimal impact on our operations with no flight cancellations attributable to Menzies and 97% of flights departing on time," says Menzies Aviation executive vice-president Europe Miguel Gomez Sjunnesson. He adds: "We remain committed to seeking a resolution on the pay talks in our ground-handling operations so our employees can receive their increase now, and hope to be able to reach an agreement which is workable for both the business and our employees during our meeting with unions on Tuesday." Heathrow says it is "aware" of the planned industrial action, adding: "We encourage airport partners who would be affected to continue with their contingency planning, and we will support them to minimise the impact on passengers, should the strike go ahead. "The airport said last month that it was ready for what it expects will be the busiest Christmas travel period for three years. Heathrow has not introduced the capacity cap it had in place during the summer, and says it has been "working with airports and ground handlers to prepare for the Christmas peak". The dispute is over a below-inflation pay increase offer which Unite says amounts to a real terms pay cut. It claims the offer is at odds with a 9.5% pay rise offered by Menzies to its cargo workers. "Heathrow passengers are facing disruption, delays and potentially cancellations in the lead-up to Christmas, but this dispute is entirely of Menzies' own making. The company has offered a fair pay rise to one group of workers but not to its ground handlers," says Unite regional officer Kevin Hall. "Menzies needs to stop prevaricating and making excuses. Instead, return to negotiations and make our workers a pay offer which meets their expectations."

France's plan to ban domestic flights on routes where an alternative rail journey of less than two-and-a-half hours exists has been deemed lawful by the European Commission. Plans to introduce the ban were initially announced by the French government early in the Covid-19 pandemic as a condition of its state support package for Air France-KLM. France said it wanted to limit domestic flights as a way of reducing the country's greenhouse-gas emissions. In a 1 December ruling on the proposed ban, the Commission concluded that the measure "complies with the conditions laid down" in Article 20(1) of Regulation No 1008/2008. The Commission says in the ruling that it had received two complaints – one from an airline and one from an airport – alleging that the proposed measure was incompatible with EU law. In its ruling, the Commission says that a review of the ban should be carried out in three years. It also notes that France has committed to submit an assessment of the measure two years after it has entered into force. "This review will take particular account of the effects of the measure on the environment, including climate change, and on the internal market for air services," says the ruling. The French government has welcomed the Commission's ruling. In a 2 December statement, French transport minister Clement Beaune says: "I welcome the Commission's decision, which will allow for the launch of new steps in the effective banning of flights when there is an alternative of less than 2h30 by train. It's a major step forward and I'm proud that France is a pioneer in this area."

Airbus and European nuclear research organisation CERN will explore how superconductor technology can increase the efficiency of electrical systems on future aircraft. The partnership will build on a demonstrator project by the airframer’s UpNext innovation subsidiary examining the feasibility of superconductors for full- and hybrid-electric aircraft. The aim of that project, dubbed ASCEND – short for advanced superconducting and cryogenic experimental powertrain demonstrator – is to determine how cryogenic temperatures required for handling liquid hydrogen could support the deployment of superconductors. UpNext chief executive Sandra Bour-Schaeffer highlights during Airbus’s sustainability summit on 1 December that very low temperatures can improve the performance of electrical equipment. At -190°C, she says, superconductors lose all electrical resistance and become therefore able to carry higher loads. A cable with 4cm diameter could thus conduct power in the MW range, she adds. “This could be a breakthrough in our industry,” she notes, given the potential weight savings that superconductors could deliver versus conventional cabling. Manufacturing of the ASCEND demonstrator has begun, with a plan to start trials at Airbus’s "E-Aircraft System House" test facility in Munich in mid-2023. CERN will build a second demonstrator called SCALE – superconductor for aviation with low emissions – for tests at CERN's facility outside Geneva. The demonstrator will consist of a DC cable with two current leads and a cryostat using a helium-based cooling system. The effort will focus on potential superconductor application in power distribution systems. Airbus expects the first results from the joint project to emerge in late 2023 Bour-Schaeffer believes the technology can be matured in time for potential application in power distribution systems on Airbus’s planned zero-emission aircraft, which is scheduled to enter service around 2035. The airframer plans to decide on a launch for its development in 2027-28. Superconductor technology for use in electric motors will not become available in that timeframe, Bour Schaeffer says. “Partnering with a leading research institute such as CERN, which brought the world some of the most important findings in fundamental physics, will help push the boundaries of research in clean aerospace as we work to make sustainable aviation a reality,” she states. CERN director of finance and human resources Raphael Bello describes the demonstrator project as “only a first step in our journey” with Airbus.