The EU should set binding targets for airlines to use a share of green "e-kerosene" to reduce carbon emissions, Lufthansa and a group of environmental campaigners, fuel producers and airports said in a letter on Thursday. The EC will propose targets for airlines to use a minimum share of sustainable fuels on July 14. The Commission dropped earlier draft plans for airlines to reach a 5% share of low-carbon fuels in 2030, increasing to above 60% in 2050, as the targets were deemed too low. In the letter addressed to the bloc's climate and transport chiefs, Lufthansa, campaign group Transport and Environment and others call on Brussels to set an additional target for airlines to use 0.5% to 1% for e-kerosene produced from green hydrogen in 2027 and 2.5% in 2030. E-kerosene is jet fuel produced using renewable electricity. "The introduction of sustainable fuels and in particular e-kerosene will require careful consideration of measures to avoid competitive distortion to the disadvantage of European airlines," the letter said. If airlines fail to comply, the letter said the penalty should be a fee equivalent to at least the difference in price between green fuels and cheaper fossil fuel alternatives. That could help give investors certainty that there will be demand for such fuels, and encourage them to push money into scaling up e-kerosene production, it added. <br/>
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EgyptAir will begin flying between Cairo and Istanbul three times a day from July 2, 2021. The airline said it will operate 21 direct flights between the two cities each week using an Airbus A320 Neo aircraft with 16 seats in business class and 126 seats in economy class. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said a few days ago that there is still no date for the resumption of exploratory talks with Turkey over the restoration of ties between the two countries. Last March, Ankara began steps to restore relations with Egypt, and in May a Turkish delegation headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal made the first visit of its kind since 2013 to hold talks with Egyptian officials, including Deputy Foreign Minister Hamdi Sanad Loza. The increased connection is part of Egypt’s plan to revive its tourism sector after the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. <br/>
Air New Zealand’s passenger numbers skyrocketed 1158 per cent in May compared to the same period in 2020. But its total passenger volumes for year are 41 per cent down on 2020. In its monthly traffic update the national carrier said so far in 2021 it’s carried 7.8m passengers. This time last year it had carried 13m passengers, illustrating just how healthy the airline’s business was in the first two months of 2020, before the pandemic decimated the aviation industry. In May, the first full month of the trans-Tasman bubble being open, it carried 844,000 passengers, whereas in May last year it carried just 67,000 passengers. Meanwhile, Auckland International Airport said in a trading update it expected ongoing uncertainty around international travel to impact passenger numbers and related revenue for remainder of the calendar year. However, it did expect steady recovery from early 2022.<br/>