New York LaGuardia airport's new terminal B arrivals and departures hall will begin accommodating passengers on 13 June, just in time for the modest rise in traffic US carriers are now seeing as states in the USA continue their staggered reopenings after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. The US Transportation Security Administration reports that 338,382 passengers cleared its checkpoints on 9 June - down about 85% compared with the same weekday a year ago. On the second Tuesday in May (12 May), 163,205 passengers cleared TSA checkpoints, compared to 2.2 million passengers a year ago on the same weekday. American Airlines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Air Canada operate gates in LaGuardia's terminal B. The first new gates and concourse of LaGuardia's terminal C opened on 29 October 2019. Terminal B's first new gates and concourse were unveiled in December 2018. A new arrivals and departures hall at terminal C will open in 2022 with the phased opening of three additional concourses. Terminal B is also scheduled for completion in 2022. The terminals are part of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's $8 billion ongoing reconstruction of LaGuardia, which began following New York governor Andrew Cuomo's 2016 unveiling of his plan to rebuild the airport.

Source: Cirium

Stephen Hillier has received parliamentary approval to become the new chair of the UK Civil Aviation Authority, with one of the former Royal Air Force chief of the air staff’s first tasks to be helping to steer its departure from European Union Aviation Safety Agency control. The CAA on 7 May named Hillier as its preferred candidate to succeed Deirdre Hutton. His selection was endorsed on 9 June by the House of Commons’ cross-party transport committee. Speaking to committee members on 5 June, Hillier had outlined his ambitions for the UK aviation regulator in a post-EASA era, and detailed the sector’s challenge in recovering from a coronavirus-driven collapse in demand for air travel. “My task is to make sure that we continue in the CAA to be a world-class regulator,” he says. “What is going to be the biggest challenge is the amount of change that we are now facing. “In addition to the safety functions, we have a clear role to look after consumers in every respect,” he says. “People are also interested in how we take responsibility for our regulation back from EASA and looking at how we recover in an environmentally sustainable way.” Hillier identifies his first priority was continuing the CAA’s primary duty: “to protect the safety of those who fly and those who are on the ground underneath platforms that are flying”. Secondly, he identifies the need – as exposed during the coronavirus crisis – to “generate greater resilience in the aviation sector” to cope with such shocks. “We need to deal with rapidly changing technology and the increasing exploitation of unmanned systems, drones and the space environment,” he says. “We need to deal with rising consumer expectations. I need to make sure that the CAA has the capabilities, the agility and the adaptability to be able to function in that environment.” Pointing to the UK regulator’s long contribution of knowledge and expertise to EASA – an organisation that it will leave before the end of 2020 ­– he notes: “It is not as if we are starting from a blank sheet of paper. The sheet of paper has EASA written on it at the moment. We are working from that as our baseline, and then on what we need to do to take our national responsibilities, and still have relationships with EASA, ICAO and the like.” Hillier points to his “lifelong experience of working in aviation in highly regulated environments and leading at a strategic level in complex and demanding positions”, including being chief of the air staff for a three-year period concluding in July 2019. Having first gained a private pilot’s licence at the age of 17, his career in the RAF included being a pilot on Panavia Tornado GR1/4 strike aircraft and air officer commanding the service’s 2 Group organisation. The latter post included having responsibility for the operation and safety of its air transport, tanker, and intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance aircraft fleets. Hillier’s appointment awaits final confirmation by UK transport secretary Grant Shapps.

Source: Cirium

The union representing US flight attendants has called on Congress to extend government financial assistance for airlines through the end of the year. The payroll support program, part of the CARES Act passed by Congress in March, designed to help airlines manage through the coronavirus crisis, runs out on 30 September. In return for $25 billion in government support, airlines agreed to maintain a network of skeleton service and pledged no involuntary layoffs or furloughs until that date. But the Association of Flight Attendants says this is not enough time for the airlines to get back on stable financial footing following the pandemic. The union has asked for Congress to extend the programme through the end of 2020 in order to avoid mass layoffs at the end of September if passenger demand does not return. “The programme is set to expire on September 30 and the time to prepare for October 1 is now,” Susannah Carr, a United Airlines flight attendant and union representative, tells a hearing of the US House of Representatives’ Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on 9 June. “When CARES was written it was expected the industry would be closer to full recovery by the fall. It is clear now, that will not happen. At a minimum, Congress should extend the program through the New Year,” Carr says. So far, about 40,000 flight attendants across the US, or 35% of the country’s flight attendant workforce have taken voluntary leave offered by their airlines, she adds. Major US airlines are still running significantly reduced operations, though many have said they have seen a small uptick in bookings as lockdowns and shelter-in-place orders across the country are being eased. But United has told employees that it will likely only need about 15% of its flight attendant workforce for the month of June. It is unclear when and how travel demand will return, making it almost impossible for airlines to plan beyond a few weeks out. United received about $5 billion of government payroll aid. Airline trade industry group Airlines for America (A4A) and pilots’ union Air Line Pilots’ Association, International (ALPA) did not respond to requests for comment on the testimony. Safey issues and protection from the virus remain important issues in travelers’ decision-making process of whether they will return to the air and if so, when. The flight attendants’ union also says airlines are not doing enough to inspire passengers’ confidence to return to air travel. Calling the coronavirus pandemic “the biggest crisis aviation has ever faced” Carr says that “a hodge-podge of individual voluntarily-adopted measures” by airlines have put workers and passengers at risk of becoming sick. She encouraged Congress to pass emergency safety and health rules that would mandate airlines abide by “enforceable, mandatory, national standards” including additional cleaning protocols, social distancing measures and requiring all passengers to wear face coverings. “It is clear to anyone working a flight that the current environment of inconsistent and voluntary airline policies is not working as it should,” Carr says. “These airline policies and practices are poorly communicated to crew and passengers alike, leaving flight attendants to risk our health and safety while attempting to manage the otherwise avoidable conflicts that result,” she adds.

Source: Cirium