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United is forming a coalition of companies willing to contribute funds to increase the use of sustainable aviation fuels, including a first group of 11 that will purchase 3.4m gallons this year. The airline also said Tuesday that it’ll invite travelers to donate money to buy sustainable fuels or to contribute toward research to increase the use of such fuels across the industry. Currently, United uses only about 1m gallons a year of sustainable aviation fuels, or SAF, mostly at its Los Angeles hub. Such fuels are typically produced from algae, wood chips, corn or sugar cane, grasses, food waste or from municipal trash or spent cooking oils. “There’s a long way to go to make SAF viable and economically possible and scalable to the point that it can make a real difference,” United CEO Scott Kirby said April 9 on a call with reporters. In 2016, United made a $30m equity investment in Fulcrum BioEnergy to help covert household trash into biofuels for United’s fleet. The airline will continue selling carbon offsets on its booking channels -- a climate-change tactic Kirby has repeatedly blasted as ineffective “greenwashing.” He said United is likely to end that practice.<br/>

Air Canada stock ended marginally lower in volatile trading on Tuesday on concerns that existing shareholdings would be diluted after the federal government took an equity stake in the carrier as part of C$5.9b ($4.7b) in aid. Analysts and investors said Air Canada’s decision to accept the bigger-than-expected aid package was the right decision for Canada’s largest carrier as it tries to cope with the crippling downturn in air travel caused by the coronavirus pandemic. “Definitely a positive development because it’s giving them access to a very attractively priced backstop credit facility at very reasonable terms,” said Catharine Sterritt, portfolio manager at CIBC Asset Management, a top shareholder. The deal announced on Monday gives Ottawa a roughly 6% stake in the airline at a discount of 14%, which prompted several analysts to cut their price targets.<br/>

Letko Brosseau & Associates, one of Air Canada’s largestshareholders, says the terms of the government’s rescue packageare fair and the airline’s stock could rise about 50% from current levelsonce the pandemic eases. Canada’s largest carrier reached a deal Monday with the federal government for loans and equity worth $5.9b. The company will get access to five new credit facilities; the state will buy an ownership stake of more than 5% and receive 14.6m warrants to buy more shares. “In spite of the dilution that we see, we still see a path for this company to be worth, at least, in excess of $40 when the COVID situation and the airline situation normalizes a bit more,” Paul Younes, an analyst at Montreal-based Letko, said in an interview on BNN Bloomberg Television. Air Canada was trading at $26.90 as of 3:51 p.m. in Toronto. Letko is Air Canada’s third-largest shareholder with about $690 million worth of stock, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Younes described it as “our firm’s most successful investment.”<br/>

Air Canada says it will begin to offer refunds to customers whose flights were cancelled or who did not use their non-refundable tickets due to the coronavirus crisis that has been dragging on for more than a year. The Montreal-based carrier says on 13 April that it has also revised its policies for future travel to be more accommodating to passengers whose plans change at short notice. “Air Canada will be offering refunds to all eligible customers whether they cancelled their ticket or if their flight was cancelled by the airline. Customers can now submit refund requests online or through their travel agent and we are committed to processing refunds as fast as possible,” says the airline’s CCO Lucie Guillemette. “In cases where a customer’s flight is cancelled or rescheduled by more than three hours, we will now offer all customers the choice of receiving a refund, an Air Canada travel voucher or the equivalent value in Aeroplan points with a 65% bonus,” she adds.<br/>