Airlines operating in France are gearing up for strike-related disruption as Norwegian Air Shuttle cabin crews plan to down tools from April 24 over pay and working conditions and the powerful French union the SNPL threatens a week-long walkout in May.

US Department of Transportation (DOT) secretary Elaine Chao told the families of those killed in the 2009 Colgan Air flight 3407 crash there would be no change to the 1,500-hr. pilot training requirement for first officers at scheduled air carriers.

Nine groups representing commercial and general aviation are calling on FAA not to follow through with a proposed pilot drug testing study, saying “deceptively and unknowingly” testing thousands of pilot urine samples does not comply with legal requirements and would “further erode the trust” between the pilot community and FAA aviation medical examiners (AMEs).

Representatives from nine civil aviation authorities—including the four major state-of-design agencies and China—have accepted invitations from the FAA to conduct a partial review of the Boeing 737 MAX certification, FAA announced April 19.

If the CEOs of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines get their way, US Congress will hold yet another set of hearings this year on the seemingly never-ending quarrel over the US Open Skies agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.