🇨🇳 B-32RT, an Airbus A321-271neo, was delivered to Juneyao Air (HO) on Aug. 26.

🇩🇪 D-AIIE, an Airbus A320-251neo, was delivered to Lufthansa City (VL) on Aug. 25.

🇪🇹 ET-BCR, a Boeing 737 MAX 8, was delivered to Ethiopian Airlines (ET) on Aug. 25.

🇱🇺 LX-LBD, a Boeing 737 MAX 8, was delivered to Luxair (LG) on Aug. 25.

🇺🇸 N24568, an Airbus A321-271neo, was delivered to United Airlines on Aug. 25.

🇺🇸 N37473, a Boeing 737 MAX 9, was delivered to United Airlines on Aug. 25.

🇺🇸 N798CA, a Boeing 777-F, was delivered to National Airlines (N8) on Aug. 25.

🇺🇸 N9023R, a Boeing 737 MAX 8, was delivered to Southwest Airlines (WN) on Aug. 25.

🇺🇿 UK32127, an Airbus A321-271neo, was delivered to FLYONE Asia (FQ) on Aug. 25.

🇦🇺 VH-8VJ, a Boeing 737 MAX 8, was delivered to Virgin Australia (VA) on Aug. 25.

🇻🇳 VN-A910, an Airbus A320-251neo, was delivered to Sun PhuQuoc Airways (PQ) on Aug. 24.

🇻🇪 YV3591, a McDonnell Douglas MD-88, was delivered to Venezolana (AW) on Aug. 22.

After three months, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is already abandoning TSA Gold+, its recently announced effort to expand private-sector control of airport screening, after the program attracted commitments from only three airports. Tampa, Fla. (TPA), the largest of the three, has also reversed course and abandoned its plan to privatize passenger screening, meaning its checkpoints will continue to be staffed by federal TSA screeners. Gold+ will be replaced by an unspecified "evolved" version of the existing Screening Partnership Program (SPP) as part of Administrator David Cummins' new Horizon 25 Strategy, a broadly worded initiative promising to modernize checkpoints, improve the passenger experience, strengthen TSA PreCheck, accelerate technology acquisition and expand defenses against unmanned aircraft. TSA has provided few details about how the revised private-screening model will operate, what will distinguish it from the existing program used at 20 airports or what the change means for Charleston (CHS) and Des Moines (DSM), the other two airports that had agreed to pursue Gold+. The abrupt reversal, only months after Gold+ was introduced, leaves the agency's broader privatization plans largely intact but significantly less defined.

NIGEL’S TAKE: Any airport executive considering privatizing TSA screening now has another reason to be cautious. TSA Gold+ lasted only a few months before the agency abandoned it, raising an obvious question: How long will its vaguely defined replacement effort at privatization survive? There is also no guarantee that the leadership behind Horizon 25 will remain in place. Administrator David Cummins was confirmed to a five-year term in August 2026, but the Jan. 20, 2025, removal of former Administrator David Pekoske established that such terms are hardly ironclad. A new president could install a different administrator with a different vision in January 2029, potentially leaving airports to navigate yet another change in TSA policy.

16,748,061 passengers were screened at U.S. airports for the week ending August 22. Here are the Top 15 airports. Paid subscribers gain access to the entire data set covering nearly 430 U.S. airports.

A ground worker at Montreal Trudeau (YUL) died after being struck by a French Bee (BF) Airbus A350-900 (F-HREY) that was being pushed back Monday evening. The employee was transported to a hospital but later died from their injuries. The aircraft had been scheduled to depart for Paris Orly (ORY), although authorities have not identified the specific aircraft involved. French bee operates an all-Airbus A350 fleet. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is investigating the accident.

A 30-year-old woman was arrested at Palm Beach, Fla. (DJT) after allegedly passing through a restricted door, running across the ramp with a roller bag and continuing toward an active runway despite attempts by airport personnel to stop her. Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office deputies arrested the woman, identified as Summer Lezcano, before she reached the runway. Court records show that Lezcano had also been arrested just two days earlier after security officers allegedly discovered a firearm inside a black bag during X-ray screening at the Palm Beach County Courthouse. She faces charges including trespassing, obstruction and carrying a firearm in a prohibited location and has been released on bond.

German investigators believe as many as three drones may have been involved in a suspected attack near Leipzig/Halle Airport (LEJ) in early August. One drone carrying an explosive device containing suspected PETN and Semtex was found near Antonov Airlines aircraft in a secure cargo area, while a second may have struck a DHL freighter during a go-around, causing minor damage. A third drone was later recovered west of the airport with about 50 grams of suspected military-grade RDX. Authorities are investigating the incidents as a possible attack on critical transport infrastructure. A U.S. intelligence source told ABC News that the explosive-equipped drones discovered resembled devices commonly associated with Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency; Moscow of course denies any involvement.

Federal prosecutors have brought what is believed to be the first U.S. case involving a traveler accused of using a “duress” passcode to erase a phone during a border search. Samuel Tunick, a U.S. citizen returning through Atlanta (ATL) in January 2025, allegedly gave U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers a code that triggered the data-wiping feature of GrapheneOS, a privacy-focused Android operating system. He has been charged under a federal law prohibiting the destruction of property to prevent its seizure. Tunick’s attorneys are seeking to suppress the evidence, arguing that his detention and the warrantless seizure of his phone were unlawful and that officers used a search for child exploitation material as a pretext to investigate his association with an environmental protest movement. The case could test the extent of the government’s authority to search electronic devices at the border and whether travelers can be prosecuted for activating privacy protections during such a search.

Hainan Airlines (HU) reported a sharp improvement in first-half 2026 results, with net profit attributable to shareholders rising 374.4 percent to approximately $40.2 million as revenue increased over seven percent to $5.28 billion. Excluding nonrecurring items, the company recorded a $4.3 million profit, compared with a $7.8 million loss a year earlier, while operating cash flow grew 10.7 percent to approximately $927 million. Hainan achieved the improvement despite pressure from elevated fuel prices and geopolitical disruption, although the headline result masks a difficult second quarter in which the airline recorded an attributable loss of approximately $217 million.

Jin Air (LJ), Air Busan (BX) and Air Seoul (RS) have approved plans to merge on March 17, 2027, creating a combined carrier provisionally known as Unified Jin Air. Jin Air will be the surviving company and assume the other airlines' aircraft, employees, contracts, assets and liabilities. Subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals, the merged airline will operate 58 aircraft, making it South Korea's largest low-cost carrier by fleet size, with a network combining Jin Air's Seoul presence and Air Busan's strength in Busan and the wider Yeongnam region. The consolidation follows Korean Air's acquisition of Asiana Airlines (OZ) and will include the gradual integration of fleets, operating systems, maintenance, reservations and customer service.

UPDATE: Google’s proposed $10 million purchase of Spirit Airlines’ (NK) internal data has encountered two significant obstacles: opposition from the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA and a delay in securing bankruptcy-court approval. The union, which represents more than 5,500 now former. Spirit flight attendants, argues that the transaction does not adequately protect sensitive employee information contained in payroll files, tax forms, personnel records, emails and other documents, even if the material is removed before Google receives it. The objection prompted the court to postpone its approval hearing until Sept. 9. Google says an independent third party will remove personally identifiable information from the enormous dataset before it is used to improve products and train AI models, while unsuccessful bidder Mercor remains the designated backup buyer if the transaction fails to close.

Israir (6H) has received final Federal Aviation Administration authorization to operate scheduled passenger service between Israel and the United States, clearing the way for its planned Tel Aviv to New York route. Israir will operate its Airbus A330-200s on the route. Tickets are expected to go on sale soon, with service potentially beginning Oct. 19, although the airline has not identified which New York area airport it will use. Israir would join El Al (LY) and Arkia (IZ) in serving the market, while United Airlines and Delta Air Lines (DL) are scheduled to resume their own New York to Tel Aviv flights in September.

Tamil Nadu has abandoned its $2.86 billion plan for a second Chennai airport at Parandur after sustained opposition over the proposed 5,320-acre project’s effects on agricultural land, homes, water bodies and local livelihoods. The state will evaluate alternative sites while working with the Airports Authority of India to add a fifth terminal at Chennai (MAA), potentially raising annual terminal capacity to 55 million passengers. Scrapping Parandur resets a project that had already received government approval and begun land acquisition, while expansion at Chennai may provide only an interim solution because the existing airport also faces runway, apron, cargo and peak-hour operating constraints.

Belfast City (BHD) has begun the formal consultation process for changes that would permit scheduled flights one hour later each day, extending operating hours from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. by one hour to 10:30 p.m. The airport is also seeking to raise its annual aircraft movement cap from 48,000 to 61,000 under its Master Plan 2040. The proposals still require government approval, and the airport says the additional activity would remain within existing noise and environmental limits.

DID YOU KNOW? El Alto International Airport (LPB), which serves La Paz, Bolivia, sits 13,325 feet above sea level, making it the world’s highest international airport. The airport is located in the neighboring city of El Alto, nearly 1,200 feet above central La Paz. At that elevation, thinner air reduces engine thrust and aerodynamic lift, requiring aircraft to use more runway and sometimes accept payload restrictions. El Alto’s primary runway is approximately 13,100 feet long to help compensate for those demanding high-altitude operating conditions.

Qatar Airways Cargo (QR) is adding weekly Boeing 777 freighter service from Doha (DOH) to Helsinki (HEL), via Budapest (BUD) on Sep. 2.

An employee of a service provider working at Los Angeles and a fellow South Bay resident have been arrested and charged in a federal criminal complaint with possessing a bag containing approximately 11 kilograms (24.3 pounds) of fentanyl in an airport bathroom, where it was to be taken and transported on a Minnesota-bound flight, the Justice Department announced this week.

Miguel Angel Tuz-Noh, 24, of Lennox, who works at the airport, and Anthony Olvera, 23, also of Lennox, are charged with possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

Both defendants were arrested on August 19 and made their initial appearances on August 21 in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles. A federal magistrate judge ordered each of them released on $10,000 bond. Their arraignments are scheduled for Sep. 17.

According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, Tuz-Noh is an LAX employee whom law enforcement believes has ties to a drug trafficking organization. On August 19, law enforcement observed Tuz-Noh and Olvera attempt to exchange narcotics in a men’s bathroom at one of the airport’s terminals. 

Soon afterward, law enforcement detained both defendants and opened a duffle bag Olvera had carried. Inside the duffle bag were 10 brick-type packages containing a total of approximately 11 kilograms of fentanyl. Law enforcement believes Olvera had agreed to fly with the fentanyl to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

A criminal complaint contains merely allegations, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

If convicted, the defendants would each face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison and a statutory maximum sentence of life imprisonment.