passengers

India wants to build a mammoth airport for 120 million passengers a year. The problem is that it accumulates years of delays

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India is building one of the most ambitious airport infrastructures on the continent. The Noida International Airport, built in Jewar, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, has the potential to become one of the largest hubs in Asia with a planned maximum capacity of between 60 and 120 million passengers per year. We tell you all the details of this mammoth project. A project with decades of history behind it. The idea of ​​building a large airport in this area has been brewing for years. The original proposal dates back to 2001, when the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Rajnath Singh, proposed an aeronautical hub geared towards Taj Mahal tourism. After years of political changes, disputes over the location and administrative stoppages, the project was relaunched in 2014. The central government gave its final approval in 2015, and in November 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the first phase. Who builds it and how. The development is carried out by Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL) under a public-private partnership model. In 2019, Flughafen Zürich AG, the operating company of Zurich Airport, won the tender to build and manage it for 40 years. Civil construction was awarded in 2022 to Tata Projects Limited, with a stated target of net zero emissions. What will be there when it opens. The first phase includes a terminal (T1) with capacity for 12 million passengers per year and a 3,900-meter runway, already operational. The basic infrastructure is practically ready: control tower, baggage management systems, ten boarding bridges and security services. According to account The Sun, the interior design opts for an open-plan aesthetic with an undulating roof that imitates the flow of a river, large air-conditioned waiting areas, self-check-in kiosks, prayer rooms and children’s areas. There will also be a central area open to the outside with vegetation and shade. A phased deployment until 2050. The airport will grow in four phases. To the first terminal and initial runway, three more terminals and up to six runways in total will be added progressively, reaching a combined capacity of between 60 and 120 million passengers per year by 2050, according to the data collected by The Times India. That would put him in the same league as the Beijing Daxing International Airport either the one in dubai. Its great advantage: the Taj Mahal within reach. Agra, home to the Taj Mahal and which receives up to eight million visitors a year, is now almost four hours’ drive from New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. With the new airport, that trip would be reduced to just over two hours. The project is also designed as an alternative to the overcrowded Indira Gandhi, the main hub of the Delhi metropolitan area. Beyond the passengers. The airport also aspires to become an important cargo node for northern India, relying on its proximity to the Delhi-Mumbai Express Corridor and Dedicated Freight Corridors, as point the Time Out medium. The airlines that have already committed. IndiGo and Akasa Air have confirmed operations at the airport, mainly on domestic routes. Among the destinations mentioned are Bombay, Hyderabad and Calcutta. International routes, including possible connections to Zurich or Dubai, are still pending confirmation. Delays, the big problem. The opening was initially planned for 2022, then for September 2024, and later there was talk of October 30 of that year. The works continue and given the history of delays, there is no choice but to wait for a definitive opening date, which should be shortly. Images | Noida International Airport In Xataka | A megastructure was built 1,700 years ago for eternity: today it continues to dominate Sri Lanka

A Chinese station has trained its employees to save 2 seconds on their task. Now they have 30,000 more passengers

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Think of an activity that you repeat daily. Think about how much time it takes you and what it would mean to spend two seconds less. What would you do with that time? That is what the workers and technicians at the Guangzhou South Train Station (China) have asked themselves. And the result has been spectacular: 48 more trains in motion and 30,000 more passengers on the tracks. 2 seconds. It is the time that the Chinese workers and technicians employed at the Guangzhou South Train Station (China) had in mind. It was the great objective. For more than a month, they have all been working with one goal in mind: reducing the time it takes to clean and prepare trains passing through the station by two seconds. Zhong Miao, comprehensive control service officer of Guangzhou South Railway Station, explains to the Chinese media that after a month and a half they managed to reduce the time of this task from 58 to 56 seconds. The final intention, of course, was for the train to be stopped for less time. The result. With the changes introduced, station operators were able to make way for 48 more trains in a single day. The two seconds that may seem insignificant allowed the number of passengers to increase by more than 30,000 people. To achieve this, they point out in the local mediathe operators worked with an enormous amount of data collected through numerous cameras. This station alone has a control room with 208 screens. With them they analyzed how much time passengers spent at the station and it has been possible to reduce the travel time of travelers by 17% compared to the figure collected three years ago. Guangzhou South Railway Station. For a train, two seconds was nothing short of marginal. For a station where more than half a million people pass through every day, it’s a whole world. And the new way of acting has been launched taking advantage of the Spring Festival, days in which the routes multiply taking advantage of the Chinese New Year. If the forecasts are met, on average, 530,000 passengers on Chinese high-speed trains will pass through this station every day. It is estimated that a new record was broken in October of last year when the million passengers passed through the station. It is not even the busiest station in China, its 28 platforms do not represent any record either. But to give us an idea of ​​the hustle and bustle that goes on inside, On February 13, 1,200 trains were operated in a single day as a result of the movements of the aforementioned Spring Festival. To give us an idea, during travel peaks such as Easter, 270 trains pass through Atochain which high speed is added but also long and medium distance. The longest high-speed line in the world. The station is located at a key point, near Shenzhen and Hong Kong and serves as a transit station for all travelers arriving from Southeast China to large cities such as Chongqing, Beijing or Shanghai, with which the station is connected. In fact, the Guangzhou-Beijing line is one of the crown jewels of Chinese railway service. And it is that since 2012 it is the longest high-speed line in the worldwith 2,298 kilometers. During its inauguration, it was hoped that the train would take less than eight hours to cross a distance comparable to traveling from Algeciras to Amsterdam. Today, This journey can be completed in 7 hours and 17 minutes. if you take the fastest bullet train. Photo | Tauno Tohk and Yang In Xataka | China has not only created the most extensive high-speed network in the world: it wants to operate it at 1,000 km/h and has taken a new step

A Canadian low-cost airline is already experimenting with ultra-narrow seats for its passengers

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“Basically, it’s inhumane to make someone travel like that.” The words are from Amanda Schmidt, an ordinary citizen living (or surviving) another day in the experience of flying. Their complaints could have gone unnoticed, they could have fallen on deaf ears. But he uploaded a video to TikTok. The video went viral and now an airline has had to back down. The video. A man, a woman and a daughter recording. “It should be illegal.” “What happens in case of an accident?” “I’m getting claustrophobic just watching this.” “Don’t worry, they haven’t made you pay to recline the seat yet.” These are comments that accompany the video uploaded by Schmidt to TikTok and one of them points in the right direction as we will see later. In the video you can see two elderly people with serious problems traveling comfortably in their seats. Although the feeling is that the video is recorded with the wide angle of the camera, the image itself already produces a certain amount of stress, with the man putting his legs under the front seat. Click on the image to go to the original video “It’s inhuman”. Once the video went viral, the company has had to give explanations. In statements by the author to C.B.S. He argued a truism that WestJet, the Canadian company on which the people in the video travel, seems to have forgotten: “if they are selling a seat for a human, a human should be able to enter.” The video records what WestJet called “densified seating” (something like “densified” seats in a literal translation into Spanish). The company has tried to increase the number of seats on its planes by reducing legroom and front seatback. Now they confirm that they will reverse what they have called “ultra slim line” seats. “It’s in our DNA”. That is the response from Alexis von Hoensbroech, CEO of the company, who assured that it is essential for them to test new products in a statement made public by the company. These products were, in this case, increasing the seats available in the cabin at the expense of greater passenger comfort. WestJet has assured that it had a program open to reconfigure its cabins and increase the number of passengers but that the final implementation was pending the rejection or support it received from passengers. They assure that in December the possibility of canceling the project was already studied and that with the feedback received, the final decision was going to be made in mid-February. Now they confirm that they will return to the initial configuration. Recliners. Among the comments on the video, one of the TikTok users pointed out that WestJet still “did not charge for reclining the seat.” The mention was not accidental and this possibility had been talked about for a few months. In October We learned the company had a plan: If you want a reclining seat, pay more. To announce this measure, the company noted that it had created a new class of ticket called “extended comfort”, a category immediately above the basic fare that would allow the seat to be reclined. Passengers who did not opt ​​for it or one of the premium services would travel the entire time with their backs completely straight. The decision raised eyebrows among users and experts such as John Gradek, professor of aeronautical management at McGill University in Montreal, who pointed out CBC that “the imagination of airline marketing managers never ceases to amaze me,” making it clear that the measure was nothing more than a new attempt to raise more money. More and more passengers. For years, the only certainty is that low-cost airlines have been working to put more passengers on their planes. In his usual controversial tone, Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair, He claimed he could deploy planes to travel standing up in a week. And if it was profitable They would not hesitate to find a way to achieve it. Beyond O’Leary’s bravado, the truth is that there are companies that have been working on solutions that aim for this very thing for years, presenting at aeronautical fairs “seats” to travel completely vertical and barely supported on a kind of stools. An idea that fortunately has not finished curdling very good reviews they have received from the airlines low cost. Photo | Dillon Wolf and Kiya Golara In Xataka | Ryanair and the rest of the low-cost airlines have been charging for your carry-on suitcase for years. The European Union is tired of it

Despite its fear, it is moving more passengers than ever

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Ryanair and AENA spent 2025 sending each other errands. The airline claims that the airport manager imposes abusive rates on its customers due to a lack of competition. The second defends itself by ensuring that where it is needed it offers substantial price reductions. Be that as it may, the truth is that the airline that moves the most passengers in our country made a decisive snip at its offer in Spain. Surprisingly, Aena and Ryanair moved more passengers in 2025 than ever. The conflict. It exploded in February 2025. A little less than a year ago, Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair, recorded a video in which he called Pablo Bustinduy, Minister of Consumer Affairs, a “clown.” The reason is that the Government defended that the company must allow access to its planes with larger suitcases and I tried to fine them for it. It was the most striking and extravagant image but the embryo of it had to be found first. Assuring that Aena, the manager of Spanish airports, imposes abusive rates on airlines, in January Ryanair already indicated that it was going to drastically reduce its operations in our country. Specifically, it aimed to eliminate 800,000 places at regional airports. The consequences have been especially serious at airports that were more dependent on the airline. Jerez has decreased its traffic by 7% but in Valladolid the situation has been much more serious, with drops of more than 60% and causing layoffs in auxiliary travel services, such as the cafeteria. The company, in addition, continues to threaten to deepen its withdrawal. A surprising fact. And despite everything, Ryanair and Aena rise. The manager of Spanish airports has published the data relative to the traffic volume of 2025. And with them has come the surprise. That is to say, our country continues to add people to the plane and those people choose, for the most part, the Irish company to make their trips. 19% of all passengers who boarded a plane in our country at some point did so on board one of Michael O’Leary’s company planes. Rates as an excuse. Although O’Leary has defended that his fear of regional airports is directly related to Aena’s airport taxes, the truth is that the company has closed ranks around the airports where it accumulates a greater volume of passengers and has greater room to grow. This winter the company has added 100,000 places in an increase that, above all, has gone to Malaga, Alicante and Valencia. That is, attractive tourist destinations due to their mild temperatures, especially for those arriving from beyond our borders. Setting the shot. As we said, it is no coincidence that Ryanair has increased operations at these airports. And the volume of passengers in any of them has skyrocketed in the last two years. Malaga: Passenger growth of 11.5% in 2024 and 7.4% in 2025. Of these, international passengers increased by 13% in 2024 and 7.8% in 2025. Alicante: Passenger growth of 16.8% in 2024 and 8.5% in 2025. Of these, international passengers increased by 16.8% in 2024 and 10.6% in 2025. Valencia: Growth of 8.7% in passengers in 2024 and 9.5% in 2025. Of these, international passengers increased by 11.3% in 2024 and 12.9% in 2025. Not only Spain. These movements in which Ryanair has been regrouping at the airports with the highest volume of traffic They are not exclusive to Spain either.: Germany: has reduced 800,000 seats. France: has reduced 725,000 seats. Estonia: has reduced 110,000 seats. Latvia: has reduced 160,000 seats. empty seats. In this European reorganization, the high prices that the company has to pay to airport managers have been pointed out on numerous occasions. These costs, however, are only one more value to take into account when it comes to calculating and making profits from the flights because a part of the company lives by selling itself to the highest bidder. And if Ryanair has maintained international flights from cities like Vigo, it has been because has been playing with hidden subsidies in the form of advertising contracts. These same agreements are the ones that now allow new routes to Morocco with planes that are half full. Photo | Lucas da Costa e Silva In Xataka | The big secret of Ryanair’s success is that it doesn’t make money for flying: it does so by squeezing you out of everything else.

Ouigo has left 15,000 passengers stranded in Andalusia. Immediately afterwards, Renfe has put more trains at 7 euros

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From one day to the next and without giving too many explanations, Ouigo has canceled its services in Andalusia until next January 22. The French company leaves some 15,000 travelers on the ground who have to make ends meet to cover the Madrid-Seville or Madrid-Málaga that they already had planned. And Renfe is taking advantage of it. What has happened? About 15,000 passengers affected for the cancellation of eight daily services from Friday to Monday and six daily services from Tuesday to Thursday on those same routes until January 22 “for operational reasons.” These are all the explanations that Ouigo has given for paralyzing its services in the south of Spain. The French company has given these reasons to newspapers such as The Country either The World because it has not even published a statement with a press release or made public any type of text on social networks that communicates the massive cancellations for two weeks. The last tweet mentions the current offers. Since then, silence. And now? The customer has two options, as the company has communicated to passengers who have already purchased a ticket for the next ten days: Change travel date Cancel the trip at no cost Refund of the ticket price in a voucher that can reach 200% of the original ticket price On the rebound. The new situation has been taken advantage of by Renfe. The company has announced that it is activating two new daily services between Madrid and Seville with AVLO trains. The first of them leaves Madrid at 12:00 and returns from Seville at 5:17 p.m. The company has also indicated that the new trains are also available within the active offers of trains at seven euros. Renfe has also taken the opportunity to remind users that train companies have the obligation to propose an alternative means of transport. in less than 100 minutes since the cancellation occurs. If not, the customer has the right to a refund of the ticket price free of charge. The refund, they remember in the OCUmust be delivered in the same payment method and the acceptance of a voucher to travel on another occasion must always be voluntary. a stick. Although Renfe has arranged two special services on the Madrid-Seville, it seems clear that the new schedules cannot take on the volume of cancellations produced with the Ouigo trains, but it does serve Renfe for two things. The first is to receive unexpected income on the line. The second is that it allows them to send a message. And remembering the railway regulations is enough for Renfe to send a stick to Ouigo just when the controversy over compensation in case of delay is flying over the national panorama. It must be remembered that Renfe is obliged to refund, from January 1, 2026, 100% of the ticket if trains are delayed more than 30 minutes. A measure that the Government wants to avoid understanding that it is discriminatory for the public company compared to the competition. And Ouigo and Iryo benefit since what was approved by the Congress of Deputies only affects Renfe. Both the French and the Italian companies only return 100% of the ticket when delays exceed 90 minutes, a decision that Renfe continues to apply into 2026 since the State’s attorney has concluded with a report that the obligation is not such as of January 1 despite the change in regulations and that it is necessary to change the Railway Sector Regulation. as reported by the Ministry of Transport. The case has already occurred. Renfe also knows what it is talking about. And last summer, the fires in Zamora and León cut off the train service between Galicia and Madrid. Then Renfe was committed to returning the price total of the ticket, just as happens with Ouigo, but FACUA defended that the company was obliged to provide an alternative land service and that this was not being complied with. The railway company defended itself by saying that it was unthinkable to transfer the volume of passengers from the train to a bus service. Photo | Xataka In Xataka | Renfe has had a more dangerous rival than Ouigo: comply with its own schedules

Ouigo cancels services between Madrid, Seville and Malaga, with thousands of passengers affected

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Maybe you already had the ticket purchased and your suitcase half packed, or maybe you had taken advantage of one of the recent Pink Days by Ouigo to move between Madrid, Seville or Malaga at a particularly low price. Everything seemed to fall into place until, upon reviewing the trip or receiving a notification, the plan began to go awry without much visible explanation. Traveling at high speed is usually synonymous with predictability, but these days it has become a source of uncertainty for thousands of people. Ouigo has canceled several of its high-speed services during this month of January in the Madrid-Seville and Madrid-Málaga corridors, a decision that the company itself attributes to “operational reasons.” as explained to newspapers such as El País and the world. The cut affects eight daily services from Friday to Monday and six daily services from Tuesday to Thursday on those same routes. The problems would last until January 22, with an estimate of about 15,000 passengers affected. Ouigo’s message to those affected. According to the information provided by the company itself, affected passengers have been informed of the cancellations in advance and have received direct communications about the available options. In these notices, Ouigo proposes two main alternatives: change the ticket for free to another available service or cancel the trip. The company maintains that this decision has been made to guarantee the quality of service during the period affected by operational problems. Those who decide not to relocate their trip and opt for cancellation may also qualify for financial compensation. The amount of this compensation varies depending on the moment in which the cancellation was notified and is between 200% and 50% of the ticket price. The company defends that this scheme aims to cushion the impact of cancellations on travelers. In this framework, Ouigo adds that these compensations “go beyond what is legally required.” What the OCU says. In a statementthe OCU emphasizes that the refund of the ticket must be made by the same means of payment used in the purchase and that accepting a voucher is not mandatory, but a voluntary option. Furthermore, it points out that in certain cases those affected can claim additional compensation for the damages suffered, such as accommodation expenses already paid, lost reservations or tickets to shows that could not be attended, as long as they can prove it with documentation. If the traveler considers that the solution offered is not sufficient, the OCU reminds that there are formal mechanisms to complain to Ouigo. The organization explains that you can submit a complaint form directly on the company’s website, in addition to contacting its customer service by telephone. Specifically, Ouigo provides a toll-free number, +34 900 759 781, and another with a local rate, +34 911 674 583. Ouigo takes it away from you and Renfe gives it to you? Renfe moved quickly on two fronts that were very visible to the traveler. On the one hand, activated special AVLO trains in the Southern corridor to absorb part of the demand, with two additional services between Madrid and Seville, one at 12:00 p.m. and another at 5:17 p.m., both with tickets from 7 euros. On the other hand, he did not waste time telling it on social networks, where he launched direct messages to warn of those alternatives. The company has also indicated that it will reinforce the capacity of its trains if demand demands it in the coming days. Renfe messages in X No statement on Ouigo networks. Beyond the notifications received by those affected, there is a simple check that allows us to better understand the scope of the situation. When reviewing Ouigo’s website During the purchasing process, there is a lower supply of daily services on the Madrid-Seville and Madrid-Málaga corridors, especially on the dates affected by the cuts. On the other hand, according to our review, we have not located specific communications about these cancellations on the website or social networks of Ouigo in Spain (x, Facebook, instagram). What to do if I am one of those affected. The first thing is to check if we have received a cancellation notification and check exactly what affects our trip. From there, it is time to decide between a free ticket change or cancellation and confirm what compensation corresponds to each case. If the cancellation has generated other expenses, it is advisable to gather all the documentation as soon as possible to be able to make a claim and, if we need to travel on those dates, there is no choice but to check what alternatives are still available in the affected corridor. Images | OUIGO In Xataka | I have tried to buy one of the 7 euro Renfe tickets. And Renfe has done Renfe’s

In the middle of the ocean, 250 passengers on a plane learned that one of them was a stowaway. One shaped like a rat

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There are few things that can surprise you when you fly at 10,000 meters high in the middle of the ocean. The problem (the big problem) is that when something surprises you in that context, it is not usually a pleasant surprise. And much less if what surprises you is a rat. Can you imagine the feeling? We assume that something similar is what the 250 passengers They were flying from Amsterdam to Aruba, a small island in the Caribbean. The return trip, which passed through the nearby island of Bonaire, had to be suspended by the company itself, forcing passengers to wait one more night until the return plane was ready. A rat at 10,000 meters high By the time the plane wanted to arrive in Aruba, each and every one of the passengers on the KLM plane that was making the journey had already found out what was happening. Among his dreams of paradisiacal beaches and days of relaxation, the image of a rat had slipped in. Specifically, the rat shown by the videos recorded by the passengers themselvesmoving between the curtains that separate the seating categories or the overhead compartments, as can be seen in the images of the Dutch media Of Telegraaf. Click on the image to go to the Instagram post Evidently, the Dutch media has echoed the matter. According to RTL“the passengers remained calm and the crew did not lose sight of the animal at any time.” In Dutch News They point out that it took KLM 36 hours to hunt the animal after it was first seen. And that was the main problem why the return flight was cancelled. Once the rat was caught, the company had to leave more than 250 passengers on the ground in order to carry out a thorough cleaning and disinfect the entire interior of the plane. Asked if passengers traveling on board can request some type of compensation, experts pointed out Telegraaf which was complicated since it was an exceptional situation and they would have to prove that the airline was the real culprit for the entry of the rat. They explain that they could request a compensation economic if the study of the facts shows that the rat sneaked onto the plane into the compartments in which the catering is transported, but they affirm that it is complicated that this could have happened like this. Photo | Florian van Duyn and Nikolett Emmert In Xataka | In 2019, Iberia lost a dog before flying. Now the European Justice says that it is worth the same as a suitcase

In January a SpaceX rocket exploded. Today we know the danger that an Iberia plane was in with 450 passengers in the air

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On January 16, while air traffic in the Caribbean continued its usual routine, three commercial airliners were thrust into a situation that until recently belonged more to science fiction than civil aviation: passing through a possible cloud of rocket debris in mid-flight. Iberia under a space rain. It was a JetBlue plane heading to San Juan, another Iberia plane and a private jet that ended up declaring fuel emergencies and crossing a temporary exclusion zone hastily activated after the Starship explosion from SpaceX a few minutes after taking off. Altogether, about 450 people were traveling on those planes, which ultimately landed without incident, but internal documents of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reveal that the real risk was much higher than what was publicly known at that time. When the protocol is behind. The Starship explosion caused almost 50 minutes a rain of incandescent fragments over large areas of the Caribbean, a scenario in which the impact of a single piece of debris against an airplane could have had catastrophic consequences. However, the warning chain did not work as planned: SpaceX did not immediately report the failure through the official hotline, and some controllers learned of the incident because the pilots themselves they started reporting “intense fire and fragments” visible from the cabin. The exclusion zones were activated late and, furthermore, only covered US airspace with radar, leaving out pockets of international space where, in theory, flying could continue despite the risk. The result was a extreme workload for controllers and situations of added danger, such as excessive proximity between aircraft that forced intervention to avoid a collision. Impossible decisions at 10,000 meters. In the air, theory became a practical dilemma. The pilots were raised a choice that no manual comfortably contemplates: deviate and take risks to run out of fuel over the ocean or continue through an area where space debris could fall. In at least two cases, the only way out was declare emergency to be able to land. Iberia later maintained that its plane crossed the area when debris was no longer falling, and JetBlue assured that its flights avoided the points where debris was detected, but FAA records describe a tense situation in which decisions were made with incomplete information and under extreme pressure. A structural problem. The incident set off alarms both in the airline industry and in the US Government itself, not only because of what happened in January, but because of what comes next. The FAA plans to go from a historical average of about two dozen launches and reentries annually to managing between 200 and 400 every year for the foreseeable future. A good part of this increase goes through Starship, the most powerful system ever developed, with more than 120 meters high and trajectories that, in future missions, will fly over busy air routes in the North Atlantic, Florida or Mexico. The industry’s own history reminds us that the development of new rockets involves failures: approximately one third of launchers active since 2000 failed on their first flight. Half review. After the explosion January, the FAA convened a panel of experts to review protocols for failed launch debris, an initiative that took on even more urgency after another Starship that exploded in March. That second incident was managed better from the aerial point of view, closing loopholes in exclusion zones and avoiding fuel emergencies, and the panel came to identify high risks for aviation safety, such as forced diversions or overloading of controllers. However, in August the agency suspended unexpectedly that internal review, claiming that many recommendations were already being implemented and that the issue would be addressed at another regulatory level, a decision that surprised even some group participants. The defense of SpaceX. SpaceX responded calling the published information misleading and reiterating that public safety is always its priority, ensuring that no plane was really in danger. Your address insist in which the collaboration with the FAA is close and proposes solutions such as real-time monitoring of vehicles and possible debris, so that a problematic launch can be managed almost like a meteorological phenomenon. Meanwhile, the company has moved forward with new evidence of Starship, some longer before disintegrating and others staying within the planned profile, and preparing an even more powerful version for next year. As recognized Its CEO, Elon Musk, is a radical design that will likely have “growing pains.” A warning from heaven. What happened in January was not only a specific scarebut an early warning of a problem that is barely starts to take shape: the increasingly closer coexistence between commercial aviation and a rapidly accelerating space industry. The night when pilots tthey had to choose between the fuel and a rain of space debris showed that current protocols are not fully prepared for this new scenario. The challenge is no longer just to launch bigger rockets more often, but to ensure that the price of that progress is not paid at 10,000 meters above sea level, with hundreds of passengers trapped between the sky and the sea. Image | Adam Moreira (AEMoreira042281), NARA In Xataka | China is launching more rockets into space than ever before. And the reason is very simple: not to depend on Starlink In Xataka | Google doesn’t have rockets, but it is going to install data centers in space. SpaceX and Blue Origin rub their hands

Airlines have invested millions in entertainment. Passengers use it to see an plane icon slowly moving

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In an episode of the mythical Seinfeld seriesElaine is exasperating from her boyfriend Puddy, who passes a whole flight looking fixed to the seat back. That image, a custom joke of the nineties, today makes sense again with a technological nuance: and we do not look at the vacuum, but yes – and I include myself – we can get hypnotized with a point on the screen, the flight map. Of rarity to viral tendency. It is not an isolated mania. In a report by The Washington Post They have portrayed the phenomenon Through the story of Nicole Sunderland, creator of content that divides her time between Washington DC and Phoenix. Sunderland admits that on a 14 -hour flight Catar keeps the map on “all the time”, although the flight assistants try to turn it off. His custom went viral in Tiktok along with dozens of passenger videos They presumed to “endure” without films, without music and without wifi, looking only at the progression of the plane on the digital globe. Others, like Manu, seminated, turned the practice into a public hobbie: while the screens showed the screens showed films and series, she recorded the route map For social networks. The map as king content. Beyond the meme, the numbers suggest that this obsession has mass backup. FlightPath3D, leading flight maps provider in more than 90 airlines, states that 68% of passengers Open the map at some point and that 20% sees it exclusively. On average, users spend 52 minutes in front of the map on backup screens and 18 minutes on synchronized mobile devices. In total, about 400 million passengers used the product last year. The airlines themselves reinforce the idea. Last year, Delta Air Lines launched a new flight map designed for people with low vision. In the statementthe company was categorical: the map is its number one content in Delta Studio, ahead of films, series and games. According to their figures, 45% of customers interact with it on each flight. Also, media specialized in aviation, as paxex.aerothey emphasize that the map is “the most popular content of the IFE (entertainment on board) for a reason”, and that the airlines already experiment with integrating it into other formats: from a persistent side tape on the screen to brief overlays at the end of a movie. Why hook so much? Testimonies point to several keys. For some, the map is a control instrument in the midst of aerial uncertainty: Sunderland, for example, monitors it especially during turbulence to check altitude and speed. For others, it is a light meditation form: seeing slowly advance the plane icon produces calm in an environment saturated with stimuli. “There are map fans,” says Duncan Jackson, president of FlightPath3D. “They love to see where they are, how much is missing, observe the progress of the flight plan. For some it is almost meditative,” duck. An academic study of the University of Lund (Sweden), made in collaboration with Etihad Airwaysreinforces the explanation from the design perspective. In interaction tests with 3D maps prototypes, passengers valued more those interfaces that offered clear signs of navigation and sensation of control, and reported greater orientation with three -dimensional views. Even the choice of command influenced: some users developed better with gyroscope than with tactile controls. In other words: the map experience responds to deep psychological and cognitive needs. Simple map to travel assistant. The fascination is not limited to the luminous point that advances on an ocean. The industry is expanding the concept. FlightPath3D has transformed The map on an interactive platform: now shows previous views of destinations, animated global routes, children’s maps with animals, tourist suggestions and even Uber prices to reach the center once landed. In addition, Cathay Pacific He launched in 2024 “My Journey”an experience that combines an animated journey of the journey with information on services on board and points of interest. For its part, Panasonic Avionics has developed ARCthat integrates data on different plane screens so that the progress of the flight accompanies the passenger even when watching a movie. And in the field of accessibility, Delta has marked a milestone With its high contrast map, extended iconography and suitable palettes for Daltonics, which in the future will incorporate voice narrative with real -time updates. What began as a simple line chart in the eighties has become a sophisticated product that aspires to be inclusive, personalized and profitable for airlines. An obsession with future. The attractiveness of the map is not a passenger fashion. It is explained by the combination of three tendencies: the search for calm in overloaded environments of stimuli, the desire for spatial control and orientation, and the technological evolution of the product itself. In times of excess options – hundred hours of cinema and television in each seat – the map offers something more basic and powerful: the certainty of knowing where we are. As the Washington Post points outfor some travelers looking at the map is as necessary as tieding your belt. And as Delta acknowledgesit is already the star content of your digital offer. Puddy may seem eccentric in Seinfeld, but three decades later, it turns out that he simply advanced to the trend. Image | Freepik Xataka | Ryanair is abandoning small airports in France. There is an unexpected beneficiary: a Spanish airline

240,000 less passengers and 70% less in one of them

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He threatened and fulfilled. The regional airports of Spain are living the first summer since Ryanair announced their march from a good handful of them. And they have evidently felt a good number of passengers with a total sum of 240,000 travelers less in the months of April, May, June and July. These are the figures. 240,000 passengers less. It is the total number of travelers who have left the airports in which Ryanair has reduced the number of its operations Or, directly, they have closed them completely. It is, therefore, 6.6% less passengers in these airfields. The figures, of course, are varied depending on the location. Especially if we take into account that in some Ryanair airports it barely reduced its operations about 5% but in others it went completely. This is its airport impact to airport. Asturias. Asturias airport is one of those who has not felt Ryanair’s march. According to AENA’s data (All those who appear here are yours), the airfield has increased the number of travelers between April and July of this year by 2.3%. In total, in those four months 743,454 travelers accumulated, for the 726,728 of the previous year. Of course, Asturias was one of the airports less affected by the company’s departure because, as we see, it already had a good traveler base and also the Irish withdrew routes that led to 11% less travel volume. Jerez de la Frontera. In Jerez, Ryanair completely closed its operations and that has been significantly noticed between April and July. Last year, Jerez touched the 400,000 travelers but this year it has remained slightly below 364,000. This has meant a 8.4%drop. The impact, above all, has been felt in national connections. Facing outside, in fact, Jerez de la Frontera has received more travelersincreasing by 1.8% compared to the previous year. However, collapse in national traffic has reached 17.1%. Santiago de Compostela. Although the reduction of Ryanair’s operations was 28% in the case of Santiago de Compostela, the fall in the number of travelers has been important in an airfield where connections both inside and outside Spain are important due to the amount of Tourism that attracts the Camino de Santiago. The airport moved 1.48 million passengers between April and July and was in full growth (almost 10% more than in the same period of 2023). This years has remained slightly below 1.24 million passengers (with Holy Week also in April instead of March, as in 2024) which represents a fall of 16.5%. And the fall in international flights exceeds 26%. Santander. Another of the airports where the company’s march has barely felt. Of course, its dependence is great since it has barely reduced its operations by 5% but the Irish offer, right now, More than half of the flights that are operated in the airfield. The fall, therefore, has been minimal (0.5%) but the health of Santander airport He was previously committed. In 2024 he touched the 422,000 passengers (about 2,000 passengers more than this year) between April and July but the fall compared to 2023 was 11.6%. It is possible that Holy Week in April this year has helped make up the results. Valladolid. Without a doubt, the most affected airport. Next to Jerez de la Frontera, Valladolid the other airport in which Ryanair closed operations completely. This has left the aerodrome wounded and all the services that meet in it, Like the cafeteria. The problem for Valladolid airport is that its attractiveness for international tourism is lower than Jerez and its train connection with Madrid is good. That has made him lose 68.2% of passengers. The fall is so pronounced that the volume of national passengers has fallen by 79%. In the four months mentioned, the airport only moved 23,933 people, for the 75,173 travelers of the previous year. Saragossa. Another of the airports where Ryanair’s impact has not been felt very strongly. The airfield lost 20% of the Irish traffic with their march but the total volume of passengers has increased by some more travelers. In total, the 264,000 passenger barrier has been exceeded, with a growth of more than 5%. In this growth, the new routes or the increase in frequency in those operated by Vueling and volotea. In fact, the growth of national trips has grown by 13.9% although the total volume remains below internationals. Here, Wizz Air has opened a route with Rome and Air Horizont has launched a package called “Escapadas”less frequently but with a good handful of destinations. Vigo. The big exception. Ryanair’s departure reduced the company’s operations by 61%. However, it is one of those cases in which the percentages deceive because their presence at the airport was not as important as in many others mentioned in this list. That has implied that, although the Irish have reduced operations (With threat of sanction through)Vigo’s airport is the one that has grown the most from this list. In total they moved 379,578 travelers, for the 320,719 of the previous year. A rise of 18.2%. In this growth, international flights have helped with a 53.8% growth and almost 18,500 passengers for the 12,022 of the previous year. But, especially for the increase in national flights. There has been just over 308,000 passengers to 378,170 travelers. In recent months, Binter has increased its flights to the Canary Islands. Key months. The election of the months of April, May, June and July is not accidental. For airlines, The summer season begins with Holy Weekaware that good weather increases trips. This season, in fact, remains until October. At the moment, the results of Ryanair’s march have been disparate but they have already made it clear that in the global computation we can expect a reduction in the volume of passengers. It remains to be seen, once October arrived, how long the expected fall is. Photo | Wolfgang Weiser In Xataka | Ryanair’s biggest problem is not going to be with hand luggage: it will be the strike of those who have … Read more

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