The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said it is banning U.S. carriers from operating in the airspace over Iraq, Iran, the Gulf of Oman and the waters between Iran and Saudi Arabia after Iran launched a missile attack on U.S.-led forces in Iraq. Several foreign airlines said they would now avoid flying over the affected areas. Tehran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles from Iranian territory against at least two Iraqi military bases hosting U.S.-led coalition personnel, the U.S. military said on Tuesday night. The FAA said it issued the airspace ban "due to heightened military activities and increased political tensions in the Middle East, which present an inadvertent risk to U.S. civil aviation operations." Several non-U.S. airlines had flights over parts of Iraq and Iran at the time, according to FlightRadar24 data. They are not directly affected by the FAA ban, but foreign carriers and their national regulators typically consider U.S. advice carefully when deciding where to fly. Before the latest guidance, the FAA had already prohibited U.S. carriers from flying below 26,000 feet over Iraq and from flying over an area of Iranian airspace above the Gulf and Gulf of Oman since Iran shot down a high-altitude U.S. drone last June. Carriers are increasingly taking steps to limit threats to their planes after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down in 2014 by a missile over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. Re-routing around conflict airspace adds to flight times and burns extra fuel. Korean Air Lines Co Ltd and Thai Airways said they had been avoiding Iranian and Iraqi airspace before the attack on U.S. troops. Transport Canada said it was in close contact with the FAA about the situation in the Middle East and that Air Canada was altering its routes.

Source: The Telegraph

American Airlines is adding at least $30 million of its compensation from Boeing for the grounding of its 737 Max aircraft to its employees' 2019 profit-sharing programme. The Dallas/Fort Worth-based airline did not disclose the total amount of the 6 January settlement with Boeing for financial damages related to the grounding of its Max jets, but it did state that the profit-sharing award is based on American's estimate of projected full-year 2019 financial damages for the Max grounding. The 2019 profit-sharing outlay will commence incremental distribution in March 2020. "We are proud to take the step of including this compensation in our 2019 profit-sharing program, even though the compensation will be received over several years," American chief executive Doug Parker states. American does not expect the compensation from Boeing to have any "material impact" on its fourth-quarter earnings. American has 24 Max jets in storage and 76 on order, Cirium fleets data shows. The airline had 16 remaining Max jets to be delivered in 2019 (12 are already built) and is scheduled to take 10 Max 8s in 2020, another 10 in 2021 and 40 Max 8 deliveries in 2024 or beyond. The airline has removed the Max from its schedule through 6 April. Speaking at a Wings Club luncheon in New York 14 November, American Airlines president Robert Isom said: "We have to get those aircraft back – when they’re safe. When we do that it will really put us on a path to producing a lot of free cash flow." At the time American estimated a $540 million full-year 2019 loss due to the grounding. The airline is continuing its conversations with Boeing about future financial damages from the ongoing grounding of its Max aircraft. Portions of any compensation from Boeing will likewise be shared with American employees.

Source: Cirium

Chinese carriers are launching new Japanese services from various cities in China. Nagoya Chubu Centrair International airport says low-cost carrier Urumqi Air began flying into the city on 30 December 2019 with Boeing 737-800s, operating the Urumqi-Wuhan-Nagoya and Urumqi-Jinan-Nagoya services. Cirium schedules data shows that Urumqi Air competes with China Southern on the Wuhan-Nagoya sector, and with Shandong Airlines on the Jinan-Nagoya route. This month, compatriots Air China and China Eastern are launching new flights to Tokyo Narita International airport, while China Southern will resume the Guangzhou-Tokyo Narita route after a four-year suspension. Notably, China Eastern is be the sole operator on the Yantai-Tokyo Narita route it launched this month, the data shows. Furthermore, All Nippon Airways (ANA) flies from Tokyo Narita to Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Wuhan and Qingdao, where its daily flights dominates the market over the Chinese carriers.

Source: Cirium