Leading airlines attacked Eu plans to impose a region-wide kerosene tax as part of a sweeping new environmental strategy, saying investment in sustainable fuels and electric planes would be more effective in reducing carbon emissions. Chiefs of four of the region’s five biggest carriers raised their concerns with EU Transport Commissioner Adina-Ioana Valean in Brussels Tuesday, with Ryanair Holdings Plc’s Michael O’Leary leading criticism of measures set to be unveiled in the so-called Green Deal package this week. Higher duties will do nothing for the environment while reaping “untold economic damage,” O’Leary said, describing the policy as a government tax grab “dreamt up here in Brussels or designed by cyclists in Holland.” He spoke after meeting with Valean as chairman of the Airlines for Europe lobby group alongside the heads of Lufthansa, IAG and EasyJet. Airlines are pushing back against the kerosene levy as the EU moves to overhaul energy-taxation laws unchanged since 2003 as part of a commitment to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions to net zero by mid-century. Aviation finds itself in the firing line as the auto industry and other sectors make strides toward slashing CO2 output, and with many fuels long subject to taxes. A4E said in a statement that an incentive-based system coupled with increased investment in sustainable fuels would be a more positive way forward, together with an acceleration of the Single European Sky project, which it estimates would by itself cuts carbon emissions by 10%.<br/>
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Starting Tuesday, it will be even harder for Americans to visit Cuba as a Trump administration mandate to US airlines to cut flights to nine destinations on the island takes effect. Only US flights to Cuba's capital Havana won't be canceled. The measure, which was announced in October, adds to an increasing list of punishing sanctions meted out to Cuba. The Trump administration has called on the Cuban government to hold multi-party elections, stop harassing political opponents and end support to the Maduro regime in Venezuela. US officials say they are cancelling the flights to deprive the Cuban military, which oversees much of the island's tourism industry, of badly needed income. Still, the measure will largely impact Cuban-Americans who take the direct flights to visit family on the island, often over the holidays. The administration has tightened restrictions on Americans traveling to the island, banned US cruise ships from visiting, opened the way for people who lost property after the Cuban revolution to sue foreign companies in US courts for using those assets, and sanctioned ships bringing oil from socialist ally Venezuela to Cuba.<br/>
Airlines are looking forward to another big Christmas and New Year's season, with 3% more people flying in the US than during last year's holiday stretch. The trade group Airlines for America said Tuesday that 47.5m people are expected to fly over an 18-day period from Dec. 19 through Jan. 5. The busiest days are forecast to be the Friday and Saturday before Christmas and the Thursday and Friday after Christmas, which falls on a Wednesday this year. The trade group expects the lightest days to be Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve. If the forecast is right, that means another 72,000 passengers a day on average. The trade group said airlines have scheduled 884 more flights with 88,000 more seats on the average day, compared with the same period last year. The group's chief economist, John Heimlich, said the projected increase was due to a healthy economy and affordable flights. Government data shows that average fares this year are up slightly over 2018, but are lower than previous years this decade, after adjusting for inflation.<br/>
Twelve state-owned Indian banks are petitioning for ex-billionaire Vijay Mallya to be declared bankrupt over GBP1.15b in unpaid debts. The banks and an asset restructuring company, led by the State Bank of India, have taken the tycoon to a London court in what lawyers have described as “the end of the road” in their long-running battle. Mallya hasn’t paid anything toward the debt, the banks’ lawyers told the court Tuesday. It comes as Mallya, who founded the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines, faces extradition to his home country of India to face fraud charges. He was granted permission to appeal the decision, which will be heard in February. The bankruptcy petition was brought in the UK because Mallya has lived there for around 20 years and owns a number of assets in the country, lawyer Marcia Shekerdemian told the court. The petition for bankruptcy should be dismissed because the banks are pursuing the same debt through the Indian courts on a diametrically opposite basis, Mallya’s lawyer Philip Marshall said in written submissions. <br/>
Boeing's grounded 737 Max got a boost from two orders in November, but the American aircraft company continues to trail Europe's Airbus in both orders and deliveries of airline planes. Boeing disclosed Tuesday that it received 11 net orders in November — 63 new orders but 52 cancellations. Turkey's SunExpress ordered 10 Max jets, and an unidentified buyer took 20. However, 10 other Max orders were canceled or switched to other Boeing planes, the company said. Orders for the Max vanished for several months after the plane was grounded in March following two crashes that killed 346 people. Boeing is behind schedule in completing changes to software and computers that it hopes will convince regulators to let the plane fly again. The Chicago-based company delivered 24 planes in November, down from 79 a year earlier, when half the planes it shipped were Max jets. Boeing halted Max deliveries after the grounding, cutting off a vital source of cash flow. By contrast, Airbus reported last week that it took 222 new orders — 120 in one deal with Air Arabia — and delivered 77 commercial planes in November. Boeing could deliver fewer than half the planes it shipped in 2018. Through November, it recorded 345 deliveries this year, far behind the pace of last year, when it finished with 806 deliveries.<br/>
The world's first fully electric commercial aircraft took its inaugural test flight on Tuesday, taking off from the Canadian city of Vancouver and offering hope that airlines may one day end their polluting emissions. "This proves that commercial aviation in all-electric form can work," said Roei Ganzarski, CE of Seattle-based engineering firm magniX. The company designed the plane's motor and worked in partnership with Harbour Air, which ferries half a million passengers a year between Vancouver, Whistler ski resort and nearby islands and coastal communities. Ganzarski said the technology would mean significant cost savings for airlines -- not to mention zero emissions. "This signifies the start of the electric aviation age," he said. Civil aviation is one of the fastest growing sources of carbon emissions as people increasingly take to the skies and new technologies have been slow to get off the ground. At 285 grammes of CO2 emitted per kilometre travelled by each passenger, airline industry emissions far exceed those from all other modes of transport, according to the European Environment Agency. The emissions contribute to global warming and climate change, which scientists say will unleash ever harsher droughts, superstorms, and sea-level rise. <br/>