AirHelp’s shocking figures predict more than 28million UK travellers will face flight disruption this year.

The two-week Easter holiday is expected to be worst affected, with speculation there will be almost 10,000 UK flight disruptions.

In summer, it is believed to rise to more than 32,000.

It suggests over 250,000 UK flight departures could be disrupted because of this.

Therefore, the firm states those eligible to claim compensation for delayed and cancelled flights is predicted to surpass 11 million globally – the highest figure ever reported.

The Manitoba government announced Thursday it’s formed an agreement with the Exchange Income Corporation to provide air travel for judges, sheriffs and accused.

The terms of this contract are for five years, for $4.2 million per year, a savings from the previous contract of $1.3 million annually.

Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler says this agreement will ensure public safety and more timely court hearings.

“Our government is committed to public safety above all and this agreement ensures that safer service is accomplished at a lower cost for Manitobans,” he said in a news release Thursday. “This agreement will also reduce the number of occasions where court is rescheduled or cancelled in northern parts of our province, so the criminal justice system is administered in a timely fashion.”

Under the previous system, Schuler says these services were fulfilled by private carriers 97 per cent of the time. The province was paying rates determined by carriers with no cost certainty on a given flight.

Flights were rescheduled or cancelled with little notice or explanation, delaying the justice system and courts, he added.

One court delay in the northern region of Manitoba costs approximately $10,000 and extended delays can lead to cases being thrown out of court, Schuler says.

Exchange Income Corporation has resources across the province including hangars and aircraft operating under carriers such as Bearskin Lake Air Service, Calm Air, Custom Helicopters, Keewatin Air, and Perimeter Aviation. It’s a Winnipeg-based company.

By Alexandra Petri

The Washington Post

On Thursday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, and Sen. Ed “Waxman-Markey” Markey, D-Massachusetts, released their Green New Deal framework, policies to combat climate change over the next 10 years. Among the details of the proposal that have been causing some indignation — along with the proposal that everyone be given a family-sustaining job (Everyone is a lot of people!) and farting cows be eliminated (That is like saying, “Death to all cows!”) — is the vision that high-speed trains be developed to the point that air travel is no longer necessary.

Well, let us address airplane travel. How are we to deny Americans this unparalleled experience? First there is the arrival at the airport, a metallic-and-white palace of pleasures that would make Kubla Khan swoon. There you may buy a T-shirt that bears the name of the place you are, a piece of information known only to the place’s visitors, and a picture of a local product (“Nobody Visits Ohio Just Once,” “Wisconsin Was Formerly Known to Have Cows Before the Green New Deal,” “I Bet I’ve Been to Illinois, Huh,” “Don’t Tell Ma What’s in Michigan,” “Keep Indianapolis at Least Superficially Normal”).

You wait in a line where you must show someone a picture of yourself, and also your phone, and then you experience some interactive theater as a fun lagniappe with your ticket price. You and your fellow travelers enter a world of collaborative make-believe where you pretend that removing your laptop from your bag and isolating your liquids in small containers is contributing to America’s safety. It’s like Sleep No More, kind of!

You then strike a fun pose while a machine takes what the airplane employees claim is a picture of you. On this picture, something that is obviously your wristwatch lights up as a little green dot, so you are treated to a firm arm massage from someone looking at you as though you are suspicious (probably some people are really into that) before you can retrieve your shoes and go about your business. This, of course, assumes you are playing on the “Easy” setting as a white lady.

After you get to the gate (like hell, airports are replete with gates), you board the plane.

Perhaps the best part is when you go up in the plane and the plane bounces a little bit, just to help you feel alive. No, I think it is when the flight attendant rushes up the aisle and you see all the flight attendants muttering together in low, urgent tones. No, it is when the in-flight announcement system seems to turn on, then turns off, and then you hear a series of ominous dings.

We can certainly agree that this is the best part of air travel, because you will hear there is “slight chop,” and then for the next hour to two hours, you get to think about your mortality, something we too seldom do in this society. You get to make all kinds of silent promises and vows. Maybe you can even think about greenhouse gases — the plane emits a lot of them — but then the plane bounces again and you are comforted by the thought that you will not have to deal with the ramifications of that because you are going to perish right here, your in-flight magazine open on your lap to a crossword someone else began to fill out incorrectly, in pen. You get to think about everything in your life you regret, and then someone brings you a pretzel.

And then you land, if you are lucky! Even if you aren’t lucky, I suppose, you land. Then you know the unspeakable joy of retrieving your baggage from a wild merry-go-round full of other bags meticulously designed to resemble yours as much as possible to sow confusion. This keeps you mentally sharp!

We cannot deny Americans this rare occasion to drink tomato juice while regretting everything they have done in the past, is the point.

To those of you who still shun planes, have fun whizzing splendidly across the nation in the hideous luxury of a train, fidgeting in a surpassingly comfortable chair as cows (pending approval), fields and all the glories of the continental United States slide by, forced to weep with emotion at the sheer beauty of its whistle and the majesty of its motion.

The time I spent on the Amtrak Residency for Writers (a real thing), zipping along the exquisite coast of California and winding through the plains of Montana as I consumed three round meals a day then retired to my Superliner Roomette was one of the greatest tribulations of my life. I do not envy you one bit. No one should.

Follow Alexandra Petri on Twitter @petridishes.

Last week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-CortezAlexandria Ocasio-CortezDem lawmaker rips opposition to Amazon going into New York: ‘Now we’re protesting jobs’ Reporter says majority appears to favor progressive tax plans Trump tweets video mocking Dems not cheering during State of the Union MORE (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed MarkeyEdward (Ed) John MarkeyGreen New Deal Resolution invites big picture governing We can have a Green New Deal, and air travel too 2020 Dem slams Green New Deal: As realistic as Trump’s claim that Mexico will pay for wall MORE (D-Mass.) introduced their resolution laying out the principles and rationale for a Green New Deal. As I’ve argued before, this is an overdue step to reorient our economy away from mining our children’s wealth and towards delivering true economic prosperity across the country.

Unsurprisingly, the same opponents who have fought change for the last 30 years seized on some communication missteps within a convoluted FAQ; once again, trying to characterize the transition away from wealth-destroying fossil fuels as the end of the world. Unfortunately, that has left us with a silly argument that the left wants to eliminate air travel.

As someone who’s been working on climate-friendly technologies for almost two decades, as committee staff in Congress and later in the major clean energy RD program of the Department of Energy (DOE), I can say it’s entirely possible for airplanes to fly without fossil fuels. In fact, we can make a carbon-neutral transportation system that not only protects our future but makes our lives better today.

Obviously, the Green New Deal resolution itself does not ban air travel. What it does is tip to many of the policies that are key to repairing our creaky transportation system. Yes, we can save a lot of time, extra flight miles and congestion by replacing short trips between hub cities like Boston and New York with electrified high-speed rail.

In fact, I suspect this was actually what one of the garbled FAQs about “eliminating stops” was aimed at. Not only does this eliminate emissions from a lot of inefficient flights (takeoffs are particularly energy intensive), but it speeds up air travel across the board, as well as potentially restoring regular service to now underserved cities that have lost out in recent years.

It’s also possible to improve shorter, specialty flights, such as to small regional airports, with hybrid electric planes. But batteries have to get much cheaper and much, much lighter before that will be more than a niche solution. The fact is, the energy density of liquid fuels is very difficult to match, which leads us to the most important and likeliest way to decarbonize aviation: Jet fuels derived from biomass.

The idea for renewable jet fuel has been an active area of research for the DOE. Last year yielded some of the most promising results so far, as DOE research partner LanzaTech provided their ethanol-derived jet fuel for a 747 test flight across the Atlantic. This fuel starts from ethanol, which can come from waste industrial gas or from carbon-removing biomass, which is then converted into a drop-in jet fuel. 

Their cleaner burning fuel is currently certified to be blended up to 50 percent with existing jet fuel and can dramatically cut fossil carbon emissions in today’s aircraft without any further advances. But, there’s no technological barrier to getting to 100 percent. We already produce 15 billion gallons of ethanol in the United States, so with a committed research and policy push (unfortunately happening much more in Europe than in the U.S. at the moment) it is easy to see how we can keep our current aviation system without adding any more fossil carbon to the atmosphere.

This, and the related technologies for renewable fuel replacements for long-haul trucking and international shipping, were all shown as viable in a multi-lab study from DOE a few years ago. In their scenarios, renewable biofuels played an enormous role providing fuels beyond consumer vehicles — making our farmers key players in restoring our natural wealth while cleaning and protecting our air. Thus, delivering the inclusive prosperity — with a big role for rural America — demanded by the Green New Deal and voters.

LanzaTech and others see the technology roadmap ahead. The question we need to ask ourselves is if we want them to do this work in the U.S. or let it move overseas where people are more seriously committed. In the end, this is what a Green New Deal is actually about. It’s about America doing what we all like to think it has always done — facing up to a real threat and leading the charge to address it. We have the technology, we just need the politicians to roll up their sleeves and get busy.

Like FDR’s New Deal, the Green New Deal is not policy, or even a collection of policies, it’s a commitment to sustained action and a framework for making sure the benefits of the clean energy transition come to every corner of the Country. No mangled FAQs or misspoken summaries will change this basic premise — because the alternative, continuing to let fossil fuel barons feather their nests with wealth stolen from our children — is unacceptable.

Mike Carr is executive director of New Energy America. He previously served as principal deputy assistant secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and as senior counsel on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

This week in air travel news, a number of airlines have made major onboard product announcements. 

This week United Airlines announced plans to add more than 1,600 United Polaris and United First seats to nearly 250 international and domestic aircraft, as well as to introduce the two-cabin, 50-seat Bombardier CRJ 550 aircraft to its fleet. 

United said that, over the course of the next several weeks, it would begin introducing the first of its 21 reconfigured Boeing 767-300ER aircraft with 16 additional United Polaris business seats in the premium cabin, bringing the total cabin seat count to 46 and representing a more than 50 percent increase in all-aisle-access seating. The newly reconfigured 767s will also have 22 United Premium Plus seats, 47 Economy Plus seats and 52 Economy seats. The first reconfigured 767 will operate between Newark and London. 

Starting early next year, United said it will add four United First seats to its fleet of nearly 100 Airbus A320 aircraft, increasing the total count from 12 to 16. The reconfigured aircraft will also feature 39 Economy Plus seats and 95 Economy seats. United expects to complete the reconfiguration of the Airbus A320 and A319s by the middle of next year.

Finally, by the end of this year, United says it expects to introduce 50 new 50-seat Bombardier CRJ 550 aircraft, which will offer customers more legroom and storage capacity, as well as the first first-class seating on a 50-seat aircraft. 

Also this week Air France released a first look at its new long-haul cabins, which will exclusively be available onboard its Airbus A330s. The new cabins will have a new Business Class seat that can convert into a lie-flat bed, as well as extra-wide HD touchscreens and a redesigned self-service bar. Premium Economy seats will also be upgraded with additional space, including a 130 degree seat recline in a fixed shell, lumbar support adapted to different body shapes, more storage space and a wider footrest. Economy seats will receive more space between the armrests, reinforced ergonomic foam and a larger tray table and touchscreen. 

The first flight equipped with these new cabins connecting Paris-Charles de Gaulle to Accra (Ghana) took off on February 3, 2019. All told, 15 aircraft will be redesigned by 2020. 

At New York’s LaGuardia Airport, this week Delta’s first A220 took flight. The new aircraft takes advantage of advanced technology and composite materials designed to deliver considerable improvements in fuel efficiency, and it is the airline’s latest investment in a fleet modernization program that aims to replace 20 percent of older, less-efficient aircraft by 2020.

Finally, in airport news, this week American Airlines and British Airways announced future plans to co-locate their operations in New York’s JFK Airport Terminal 8. American and British Airways will invest $344 million in Terminal 8 over the next three years to prepare for the co-location in 2022, with British Airways moving from its current operation in Terminal 7. 

This $344 million investment in Terminal 8 will include improvements in the overall customer experience, including the addition of five widebody gates and four adjacent widebody hard stands, enhanced baggage systems, new lounges, premium check-in space and upgraded concessions and retail options.

The two airlines said that the co-location will allow them to offer better service between New York and London and beyond, with customers arriving in New York being able to more conveniently connect onto other American Airlines flights and customers departing New York will gain the flexibility of 14 daily flights to London all departing from the same terminal.

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