United Airlines is in talks to buy around 200 single-aisle jets in a multibillion-dollar revamp set to benefit both Boeing and Airbus, industry sources said. If confirmed, the deal could include over 100 of Boeing’s 737 Max 8 and several dozen larger Airbus A321neo jets, the sources said, asking not to be identified. The carrier is looking to upgrade its fleet at a time when travel is surging in the United States, according to Bloomberg News, which first reported the Boeing negotiations. That portion of the order could include 150 Max aircraft, it said. “We do not currently have a deal in place with Boeing or Airbus to purchase new aircraft and do not comment on speculative aircraft orders,” United spokesperson Luke Punzenberger said in response to the earlier report. In March, United ordered 25 new Boeing 737 Max aircraft, as it prepares to replace aging jets and meet post-pandemic demand growth. A deal split between the 168-seat Boeing 737 Max 8 and the roughly 200-seat A321neo would deliver a broad boost to the aerospace sector as it clambers out of the Covid-19 crisis. It would bolster Boeing’s main cash cow, the Max 8, after a safety grounding while reinforcing a trend towards Airbus at the higher end of the busy single-aisle segment that threatens to alter the product line-up in their transatlantic duopoly.<br/>
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United has formed an investment company called United Airlines Ventures, through which the carrier intends to invest in emerging clean-energy technologies. The airline will use its new “corporate venture fund”, which will have a $200m budget, to advance “sustainable concepts” that will help it reach a goal of making its operation carbon neutral by 2050, it said on 10 June. In addition, the fund will invest in “developments and innovative technologies that are expected to create value for customers and United’s operation”, it adds. “Through United Airlines Ventures, United will continue to forge a new path by accelerating the growth of small- to medium-sized companies with strong potential.” United’s vice-president of corporate development and investor relations Michael Leskinen will be president of United Ventures. The effort mirrors similar funds established by other airlines, such as the JetBlue Technology Ventures arm of JetBlue Airways. Companies view venture funds, being distinct from larger, more bureaucratic parents, as means of more effectively investing in new technologies.<br/>
Supersonic jets do not have a place in the future, Willie Walsh, the former boss of British Airways, said, adding that he would not buy them if he still ran an airline as he dismissed a plan by United to bring them back. Supersonic passenger travel died out with the retirement of Concorde in 2003, but United said earlier in June it agreed to buy 15 ultra-fast jets from Boom Supersonic. “We’ll watch with interest but no, I wouldn’t be buying it,” Walsh told an airlines conference on Thursday. “I’m not convinced that supersonic transport is the right move going forward.” Walsh, who is now director general of global airlines body IATA, took the helm at BA a year before Concorde was grounded. “I have the nice position of having seen what the profitability of Concorde was before I joined British Airways.... It wasn’t a profitable operation,” he said.<br/>
South Africa’s government is set to announce that it has found a strategic equity partner for state-owned carrier South African Airways, according to three people familiar with the matter. Details of the announcement are expected on Friday morning, the people said, declining to be identified because the information isn’t yet public. Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan was scheduled to brief the media on the matter Thursday, before postponing to the following day. The expected announcement comes about six weeks after the airline emerged from lengthy bankruptcy proceedings, having reduced its workforce by almost 80% and cut liabilities. The next challenge is to resume international flights, though South Africa remains cut off from much of the world due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.<br/>
Air New Zealand has extended its agreement with the Australian government to operate flights to Norfolk Island until the end of August 2023. It comes after Qantas mounted a direct challenge to the Kiwi flag carrier by launching flights between the resort and Sydney and Brisbane earlier this year. That was for a period of three months beginning in March, and it’s not known yet whether Qantas’ service will be extended. Air New Zealand COO, Carrie Hurihanganui, said the airline will establish a temporary pilot and cabin crew base in Brisbane until 30 November to ensure potential disruptions to the travel bubble don’t affect the service. “Prior to the trans-Tasman bubble opening, crew operating domestic flights in Australia were required to have been in Australia for 14 days or have arrived in Australia on a quarantine-free flight,” said Hurihanganui. “This unfortunately resulted in us having to suspend services between Norfolk Island and mainland Australia in February. Having crew based in Australi"a will ensure we avoid disruption should the Australian border close again.<br/>