time.com
• Philip Wang
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are increasingly making arrests at U.S. airports and asking gate agents to assist in detaining passengers. Some airline workers are pushing back, highlighting uncertainty over when employees must cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are increasingly making arrests at U.S. airports and asking gate agents to assist in detaining passengers. Some airline workers are pushing back, highlighting uncertainty over when employees must cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
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A bankruptcy court has delayed approval of Google’s proposed $10 million purchase of Spirit Airlines’ deidentified corporate data, including emails, chats and internal documents, for AI training. Former flight attendants and their union argue the sale could expose employee records, while Google says identifying information will be removed; passenger and loyalty-program data are excluded.
Dovetail Electric Aviation says it is confident of agreeing the certification basis for its DovePower electric propulsion system with Europe’s civil aviation regulator by year-end. The developer’s outlook follows its first firm customer agreement and a battery industrialization pact, strengthening its path toward commercializing the powertrain.
Sri Lanka will participate in EHang’s fast-track program aimed at compressing the certification and adoption timeline for the Chinese eVTOL platform from years to months. The initiative adds a South Asian market to efforts focused on speeding regulatory approval and commercial deployment of advanced air mobility aircraft.
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Amazon plans to expand Prime Air to nearly 500 U.S. cities and towns by the end of 2026, bringing drone delivery to tens of millions of customers and suburban areas. The push comes as the FAA prepares a final rule for routine commercial beyond-visual-line-of-sight operations, while Uber partners with Zipline on a network targeting 1 million daily deliveries.
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JAL and ANA are coordinating timetables on a small domestic route under a Japanese regulatory framework opened in May, while Korean Air plans three weekly Seoul–Melbourne flights from Dec. 18, 2026, through March 14, 2027, using Boeing 787-9s and replacing Asiana’s former service.
The FAA is seeking industry input on an updated draft advisory circular covering flightdeck controls. Comments are due Sept. 24, giving operators, manufacturers and other stakeholders an opportunity to review and respond to the agency’s proposed guidance before it is finalized.
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A UK-led consortium will begin a 30-month trial in Shanwick oceanic airspace later this year, directing hundreds of commercial flights to make minor altitude or route adjustments to avoid climate-warming contrails. The operational evaluation will test whether airspace-scale rerouting can reduce aviation’s climate impact without disrupting traffic flows.
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