Nigeria's biggest airline has resumed flights that stranded thousands of passengers across West Africa, saying it has resolved an insurance issue. Nigeria's aviation industry is in crisis amid a recession and increased aviation fuel prices. It has lost its position as West Africa's airline hub, to neighboring Ghana. Arik Air, which flies between 100 and 130 flights daily, canceled service Tuesday and Wednesday morning before resuming. Arik spokesman Adebanji Ola blamed delayed paperwork renewing an insurance policy. He denied reports that the airline owes millions of dollars for aviation fuel. Nigerians have suffered frequent flight delays and cancellations blamed on shortages of aviation fuel, which has doubled in price this year.<br/>
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A company partnered with Virgin Atlantic has created a green jet fuel made from waste industrial gases from steel mills. LanzaTech, based in Skokie, Illinois, produced 1,500 gallons of the fuel known as Lanzanol. It’s made from ethanol created through a fermentation process. It’s estimated to be 65 percent cleaner than conventional jet fuel, according to a statement on Virgin Atlantic’s website. “This is a real game changer for aviation and could significantly reduce the industry’s reliance on oil within our lifetime,” said Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group. “Virgin Atlantic was the first commercial airline to test a biofuel flight and continues to be a leader in sustainable aviation.” Aviation is one of the most polluting industries in the world. Low oil prices have largely deterred the development of alternative fuels, such as biofuels and carbon-based substitutes. Demand for cleaner fuels from airlines has dropped as the price of kerosene, which is burned in plane engines, has more than halved since June 2014. “Decarbonization of heavy industry and aviation will be difficult, which makes converting industrial waste gases into low-carbon jet fuel a fascinating prospect,” said James Beard, climate and aviation specialist at WWF in the UK. “All airlines should pursue the development of genuinely sustainable, low-carbon fuels that are certified to minimize indirect land use change.”<br/>
JetBlue Airways reported a 6.2% increase in traffic for August as revenue passenger miles rose to 4.21b. Load factor was 87.4%, up 0.4 percentage points from the same month last year on a 5.7% capacity increase. Separately, JetBlue announced that its chief financial officer Mark Powers will retire on November 1, 2016. He will remain an advisor to the company for a year.<br/>
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is in negotiations with Boeing to switch out five Boeing 777s from a 2012 order for eight 787-8s, PIA CEO Bernd Hildenbrand confirmed. “The 777s offer a bit too much capacity for our needs,” he said, adding negotiations are ongoing. “But Boeing has to confirm to us if the 787s are able to operate nonstop from Pakistan to Toronto.” PIA’s 777-200LRs currently operate more than 14 hours on nonstop flights from Karachi and Lahore to Toronto. Hildenbrand also said the Pakistan flag carrier is phasing out its last Airbus A310s. “We are looking for additional A319s and A321s to streamline load factors, but the market for these aircraft is quite empty,” he said. PIA’s domestic market share has increased from 40% to 56%. “There are 200m people living in Pakistan—a huge potential. The operations of two other Pakistani carriers are not as sustainable compared to ours.” In addition, PIA has to grow quickly to a certain size, so-called critical mass, to have a better position in the industry. “The plan is to operate about 60 aircraft in 2020; 100 aircraft by 2025,” he said. The airline currently operates 38 aircraft.<br/>