2026-09-23 · 12 storiesGenerated 3:01:08 AM
Around 650 Qantas Ground Services workers walked off the job on September 23 (Victoria) and 24 (rest of Australia), disrupting Qantas Freight and QantasLink at Sydney Airport, with mainline flights unaffected.
The FAA launched its SMART (Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectories) AI system, beginning in the Washington D.C. area, under a 12-year $875 million contract with Air Space Intelligence.
Icelandair planned to cancel all departures from Iceland on September 23 and 24 after the Flight Mechanics Association launched an indefinite strike, affecting both domestic and international services.
IATA's 2026 Cargo Experts Conference (CEC) opened September 23–24 in Budapest, Hungary, focusing on practical improvements to air cargo operations through global standards, technology, and data sharing.
A Houthi ballistic missile attack on September 19 ignited an Aramco fuel depot near King Khalid International Airport, with FlightRadar24 pushing RUH to a 5.0 maximum disruption index.
NATS released a preliminary report confirming a previously unknown millisecond-long software defect in its flight data system triggered nationwide UK airspace restrictions, cancelling over 2,000 flights.
Cathay Pacific and Google announced an expanded second phase of AI contrail avoidance trials across Asian and trans-Pacific routes, after Phase 1 showed an estimated 40% reduction in contrail warming impact across 80+ flights.
Riyadh Air launched 3x-weekly service to Manchester Airport in September, completing a trio of new routes this month including Bangkok and Manila, growing its total network to 14 destinations.
Spanish LCC Volotea expanded its Florence base with four new routes launching September 21–23, including Seville, Valencia, Strasbourg and Berlin, supported by a second based aircraft.
London Heathrow CEO Thomas Woldbye stated that over 40 incumbent and prospective airlines are seeking slots at the hub, with three-quarters of proposed new routes being vital long-haul links that cannot be accommodated without expansion.
The FAA announced 191 Airport Infrastructure Grant awards totalling $481 million, including $100 million for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, $32.5 million for Louisville, and $30.3 million for San Diego.
The two-day SAF Global Summit 2026 wrapped up in London on September 22–23, gathering over 1,000 executives to advance SAF policy, investment, and production scale-up under mandates including ReFuelEU and the UK SAF Mandate.
