The Federal Aviation Administration will soon require aircraft manufacturers to fully consider how various cockpit warnings might affect the ability of pilots to properly respond to failures. The requirements are laid out in a US funding law that seeks to address many concerns brought forth by two Boeing 737 Max crashes. The law requires the FAA to adopt, within one year, a recommendation from the National Transportation Safety Board that applies to “system safety assessments”. Those assessments are part of a process through which aircraft manufacturers, when designing and certificating aircraft, assign risk levels to various system failures. The risk levels are based on assumptions about how pilots will respond to failures. Within one year, the FAA must require that manufacturers’ safety assessments “consider the effect of all possible flight deck alerts and indications on pilot recognition and response”, the law says. That provision applies specifically to safety assessments that address instances when pilots must take “immediate and appropriate… corrective actions” in response to “uncommanded flight control inputs”. The law also requires that manufacturers take steps to ensure their designs are safe even when pilots respond to failures in unanticipated ways. Additionally, within two years, new aircraft types must have improved flight crew alerting systems. Specifically, aircraft will need an alerting system that “displays and differentiates among warnings, cautions and advisories, and includes functions to assist the flight crew in prioritising corrective actions and responding to systems failures”. The measures seek to address ongoing concerns that pilots can become overwhelmed by, and struggle to properly respond to, failures of advanced aircraft systems. The NTSB’s report into the two Max crashes notes that Boeing’s safety assessments for that jet “did not evaluate all the potential alerts and indications that could accompany a failure” of the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS). “The assumptions that Boeing used in its functional hazard assessment of uncommanded MCAS function for the 737 Max did not adequately consider and account for the impact that multiple flight deck alerts and indications could have on pilots’ responses to the hazard,” the NTSB concluded. Boeing declines to comment about the aircraft certification provisions in the law, signed on 27 December by President Donald Trump. “The FAA is reviewing the certification language that was included in the funding bill and will work to implement the changes as directed by Congress,” the agency says.

European air traffic will this year reach only 51% of 2019's levels, with the pace of recovery accelerating from summer onwards, air traffic manager Eurocontrol has predicted. In a research paper released at the start of the year, Eurocontrol also estimates that traffic levels will be 50-60% down during the "first months" of 2021, and warns that a complete recovery is unlikely until 2026. This assumes a progressive vaccine deployment across Europe that fails to provide full coverage and eradicate Covid-19. Under such a scenario, traffic would in 2022 reach 72% of 2019's levels by mid-year. Even in Eurocontrol's most optimistic scenario, traffic does not regain 2019's levels until 2024. "Substantial failures will occur in 2021, highlighting the need for financial support to the entire industry," argues Eurocontrol. "In 2020, the vast majority of state support was allocated to airlines, typically legacy/scheduled carriers; State support is needed to support the wider aviation value chain, especially the airport community." Eurocontrol is also calling for greater clarity on slot exemptions, as well as progress on the Single European Sky. Looking back over 2020, it notes that the coronavirus crisis has cut 1.7 billion from European passenger numbers, leading to €56.2 billion ($69.1 billion) in net losses for airlines, airports and air navigation service providers. Intra-European traffic was down 54%, while traffic between Europe and the rest of the world fell 59%. "Major reductions in the number of flights were exacerbated by extremely low load factors," notes Eurocontrol. "Those flights that did take place in 2020 were typically at best half full." It cites data showing European airline load factors remaining constant at around 50%-60% since early summer, having recovered from a low point of around 27% in April.

China Airlines will phase out the last of its passenger Boeing 747-400s by early 2021, becoming the latest carrier in the region to retire the type, which it has operated for more than 30 years. The airline disclosed its move through an announcement for a 747 farewell event, to be held on 6 February, which will see a 747-400 (registered B-18215) perform a "flight to nowhere" towards Mt Fuji in Japan, before returning to Taipei. The carrier has four passenger 747-400s currently in storage. China Airlines also has 18 747-400Fs in operation, with a further two freighters in storage. China Airlines did not disclose an exact date for the retirement of its 747s. The announcement also marks the end of more than 45 years of 747 passenger operations for China Airlines. It took delivery of its 747, a -100, in 1975, which it operated until 1983. In 1977, the carrier added its first 747SP, operating up to four examples, before retiring the aircraft in 2000. China Airlines received its first and only 747-200B Combi in 1978, and took delivery of its first 747-200B a year later. It phased out the Combi aircraft in 1992, and retired the -200Bs by 2002. China Airlines' 747 fleet, 1975-2021. The carrier took delivery of its first 747-400 in 1990, going on to operate up to 15 examples in 2007. B-18215, which will operate the farewell flight, was the last-ever 747-400 to be produced by Boeing, in 2005. While the carrier's 747-400Fs are still in operation, they will be replaced in the longer term by a fleet of 777Fs. China Airlines is the latest airline to bid its 747 fleet farewell, amid the spectre of the coronavirus pandemic. In March 2020, Dutch carrier KLM announced the imminent retirement of the type, followed by Australia’s Qantas in June, and British Airways in July. Virgin Atlantic withdrew its final Boeing 747-400 in December.