Another reason to hate flying

The annual meeting of the International Air Transport Association is a good place to take the temperature of the global aviation industry. At this year's conclave, in New Delhi, there was ample discussion of planes, parts and tariffs. But one offbeat idea from Turkey caught the eye of aviation reporter Leen Al-Rashdan. Plus: Resources to fight AIDS in South Africa are vanishing.

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As airlines squeeze ever more seats into their cabins, those narrow metal tubes can feel positively claustrophobic. So it's little wonder that travelers want to deplane as quickly as possible. For some, that means jumping up and fetching their bag from the overhead bin while the aircraft is still taxiing.

Don't try it in Turkey.

The country says it's planning to fine individuals who ignore flight attendants' instructions by leaving their seats too soon. "We take all these precautions, and one guy just gets up, starts walking before the aircraft stops," says Ahmet Bolat, chairman of Turkish Airlines, the nation's dominant carrier. "Before we were just depending on the understanding of the guy. Now it'll alleviate the burden on the cabin crew. It's law."

Stay seated, Turkish Airlines passengers, the plane hasn't reached the jetway yet. Photographer: Fatih Er/Anadolu/Getty Images

Over the past half-century, airlines and aviation regulators have piled rule upon rule to make flying safer. Gone are the days you could light up a cigarette anywhere on a plane, freely pack bottles of wine or whisky in your carry-on or wander into the cockpit for a chat with the pilot at 30,000 feet. The cost of ignoring flight attendants' orders can be a ban from that carrier or from flying at all and, in extreme cases, civil penalties and even criminal prosecution. But Turkey is the first to specifically threaten penalties for passengers who leave their seat early.

It's unclear how much a jumpy voyager might be fined or how strict airlines will be in enforcing the rule. The law went into effect in May, and Bolat says the airline and regulators are working out the procedures. But unruly travelers have been a growing problem in recent years, often making life hell for flight attendants and fellow passengers alike. The International Air Transport Association says misbehavior has jumped since the Covid-19 pandemic, with its most recent data showing passengers disrupted 1 in every 480 flights in 2023 versus 1 in 568 flights the year before.

Social media channels are full of videos of screaming, punching and cursing travelers, their antics filmed and posted by stunned onlookers. The new rule gives airlines another tool for controlling passengers: Instead of simply saying, "Please keep your belt on," Bolat says, flight attendants can now say, "'If you do it, you'll be fined.' This gives it more weight."

The issue of remaining strapped into your seat came into focus last year after a spurt of dangerous midflight tempests. A Singapore Airlines plane coming from London in May 2024 encountered turbulence so strong that one passenger died and scores were injured. Since then, some carriers have started keeping their "Fasten Seatbelt" signs illuminated throughout the entire flight, though so far none has threatened fines for disobedience.

Of course, many incidents of air passenger rage are fueled by alcohol, so Ryanair, the giant European low-cost carrier, has another idea: restrict the sale of booze at airports to keep travelers from getting wasted before they even board. The campaign has met resistance from airport watering holes, which fear losing business. Ryanair's boss, Michael O'Leary, has advocated a two-drink limit at bars in the terminal, with servers stamping boarding passes to keep partying passengers from doing a concourse pub crawl.

Of course, if passengers have a few drinks before boarding, they might sleep through the landing—and stay in their seats until the plane doors open.

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A Lifeline for HIV Patients Snaps

A third of Witkoppen's HIV funding comes from US sources. Photographer: Marc Shoul for Bloomberg Businessweek

For more than two decades, the US was the leader in global efforts to treat and prevent HIV infections. Washington funded lifesaving antiretroviral therapy for more than half of the estimated 40 million people living with HIV around the world, along with community counseling and technical assistance, largely through the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Pepfar), which since its inception in 2003 has distributed more than $120 billion in funds.

Programs in 50-plus countries are losing that vital American support as President Donald Trump's administration reviews and rolls back foreign aid. Among the biggest victims is South Africa, a country that remains the epicenter of the AIDS pandemic, with almost 8 million people—equal to 13% of the population—living with HIV. US federal funding for programs administered by the government and charitable organizations totaled about $440 million a year, according to South Africa's health ministry.

On a frosty morning in May, a line of patients has formed outside the Witkoppen Clinic, a nonprofit facility in northern Johannesburg that treats HIV. About 100 people had arrived before dawn, some having traveled from far-flung townships in crowded minibus taxis. The $8 fee to be seen is a cost they willingly shoulder to avoid government clinics, where medicines are often in short supply, but there's an abundance of social prejudice. More than half of those served at Witkoppen are foreigners in a nation where xenophobia is rife. "When I go to a government clinic, they chase us away," said Rhoda, a Malawian domestic worker waiting for care, who declined to give her last name. "It's because we are from outside."

Clinics in South Africa that serve marginalized groups—migrants, gay men and sex workers—are shutting down as funds dry up. Janice Kew and Antony Sguazzin talk with those affected: Cuts to US Aid Imperil the World's Largest HIV Treatment Program

A Warfare Revolution

$400

That's how little it costs Ukraine to build one of the drones it's using to attack sophisticated Russian equipment worth thousands of times more. Drones launched from trucks last weekend hit airfields as far from the front as Siberia, according to Ukrainian officials.

Tariff Warning

"Weakened economic prospects will be felt around the world, with almost no exception. Lower growth and less trade will hit incomes and slow job growth."

Alvaro Pereira

OECD chief economist

President Trump's combative trade policies have tipped the world economy into a downturn, with the US among the hardest hit, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Tuesday. It forecasts global economic growth to slow to 2.9% this year, with the US rate falling to 1.6%.