The US Department of Transportation has named federal safety official Billy Nolen to serve as acting chief of the Federal Aviation Administration effective 1 April as FAA administrator Steve Dickson departs halfway through his five-year term that began in 2019. The DOT and the White House will continue to search for a full-time nominee to lead the FAA, which must be confirmed by the Senate. During this interim period, deputy administrator Bradley Mims will take an “expanded role” focusing on the agency’s workforce and US airports, the FAA states. Nolen joined the FAA in January as its associate administrator for aviation safety, prior to which he worked as a safety official at WestJet from 2020 to 2021; at Qantas from 2018 to 2019; and at trade group Airlines for America (A4A) from 2015 to 2018. He first joined the aviation business in 1989 as a pilot for American Airlines, earning type ratings on Boeing 757, 767 and McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft. Numerous challenges await Nolen and his full-time successor during this pivotal time for the FAA. The agency in 2021 recorded the worst year ever for unruly passenger behaviour and even violence against US flight crews, with 70% of those incidents resulting from arguments about mask mandates amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Outgoing FAA administrator Dickson imposed a “zero-tolerance” policy of seeking civil penalties or legal action against unruly passengers, and began sharing information with federal law enforcement about the most serious cases. These incidents continue to occur, however, as the FAA during 2022 has already recorded 961 reports of disruptive passengers. The US Senate confirmed Dickson as administrator in 2019 during its investigations into the certification of Boeing 737 Max aircraft, which he then certificated to return to service in November 2020. The confirmation process of a new administrator will likely include questions about the agency’s inspections and oversight of Boeing 787 widebodies and other aircraft. The implementation of new aviation safety rules also remains a challenge. Congressional hearings about the FAA’s oversight of Boeing and Max aircraft led to the passage of new aircraft certification laws at the end of 2020. The FAA in November 2021 said that it has up to 50 rules in development at various stages of the rulemaking process.

The Belgian Air Transport Association, representing Air Belgium, Brussels Airlines and TUI, has declared itself “extremely disappointed” by a government decision to impose an embarkation tax from 1 April. The measure, approved by parliament on 24 March, is being introduced on environmental grounds, and will mainly apply to services up to 500km from a Belgian airport, adding €10 ($11) per ticket. This will fall to €4 for services of over 500km but outside the EEA. and €2 within the EEA, according to a report in The Brussels Times. Belgium’s airlines had requested that the tax be imposed based on the date of reservation and not of the flight in order to avoid retroactively charging customers who have already paid for services from 1 April. They also claim the decision is “legally questionable” because it does not follow ICAO recommendations for an implementation timeline between the decision being finalised and coming into force, to allow for updating booking systems and informing passengers. “The decision taken yesterday represents an additional financial burden for the Belgian aviation sector of €5 million while the industry is trying to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, the most costly and impactful crisis in its history,” argues the BATA. “Besides, the tax has no positive effect on the environment, one of the key goals of the government next to the tax shift, as the money is not invested in environmental progress.” IATA has also raised concerns about the tax, complaining on 24 March that the lead time for its implementation “is a blow” to airlines and that it was being enacted as part of “ineffective greenwash”.

Chinese rescuers have retrieved the flight-data recorder of the China Eastern MU5735 jet crash on the sixth day of search and rescue efforts. Rescuers at about 09:20 on 27 March found what they described as a “second black box” buried 1.5m below the surface, situated about 40m away from what has been determined as the main point of impact, Zheng Xi, head of Guangxi Fire Rescue Corps told a press briefing held on 27 March afternoon. Mao Yanfeng, head of aircraft investigation of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) confirmed the metal cylindrical tank found was the flight-data recorder. He said the device, which records the aircraft’s altitude, speed, pitch angle, roll angle, heading, and vertical speed during flight, “can provide real and objective evidence for the analysis of the cause of the accident”. CAAC’s director of aviation safety Zhu Tao said the appearance of the flight-data recorder was “relatively intact”, but upon closer inspection, “other parts of the recorder were severely damaged”. The recorder has been sent to a laboratory for decoding. The discovery comes after rescuers on 26 March found the plane’s emergency locator transmitter, which was close to where the flight-data recorder was installed. The engine gearbox as well as parts of the main landing gear were found in the main crash site. Data from the flight-data recorder as well as the cockpit voice recorder recovered on 23 March will be crucial as investigators determine the main cause of the jet crash in southern China on 21 January. The CAAC has confirmed that none of the 123 passengers and nine crew members survived the crash. Rescuers have confirmed the identities of 120 victims through DNA testing.