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One of the world’s largest insurers Zurich has pledged to slash emissions from air travel, the latest big global employer to seize on working practices introduced during the pandemic to cut its carbon footprint. The Swiss company said Tuesday that from next year it would cut emissions generated from flights for employees to 70% below pre-pandemic levels, one of a number of changes designed to help the group meet an existing goal of halving its greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. Zurich, which has its headquarters in the Swiss city and employs 55,000 people in more than 200 countries, said it would achieve the target by holding fewer internal meetings that involved travel, and continue to do more customer and investor meetings using video conference technology. “The experience of the global pandemic has shown us a pathway to improving many aspects of our daily and working lives, and there’s no going back,” CE Mario Greco said. The move by Zurich comes as airlines anxiously await the return of lucrative business travel. The pandemic has forced companies to overhaul how they do business, replacing face-to-face meetings with digital communication and cutting travel budgets. Some airline executives such as Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary are expecting a full recovery, while others such as Shai Weiss, Virgin Atlantic’s CE, are braced for a 20% reduction in the coming years. Several large European companies have said they will reduce business travel. The UK’s Lloyds Banking Group has pledged to keep carbon dioxide emissions from travel to under than 50% of 2019 levels, while Dutch bank ABN Amro is aiming to halve its air travel compared with 2017 over the next five years. Consultancies Deloitte and PwC, and consumer group Nestle, have also pledged to reduce travel.<br/>

International flights to Kabul airport may not restart unless the Taliban agrees to allow international security firms to operate inside the terminal building, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday. Turkey has sent a civil aviation team along with Qatar to reinstall critical equipment to operate the Hamid Karzai Airport but wants the Taliban to permit a private company to secure the terminal from the inside, Cavusoglu said. “The Taliban may provide security outside of the airport but there is a need to establish security inside the airport that the international community can trust,” Cavusoglu told NTV television in an interview, adding that a security firm backed by one or two states may shoulder that responsibility. “Otherwise, insurance companies may not agree to start flights even if airlines want to do it.” The resumption of international flights and allowing safe passage to Afghans who wish to leave the country are crucial to the Taliban’s efforts to win international legitimacy. Turkey is keen to help Afghanistan restart operations to gain a foothold in Taliban-led Afghanistan. <br/>

Russian and Iranian authorities have signed a memorandum of understanding on airworthiness matters, intended to ease export of aircraft. The agreement builds on airworthiness consultations held in June which included the participation of Russian Helicopters’ national engineering centre for Mil and Kamov. These talks focused on co-operation over aviation equipment certification with a view to strengthening civil aviation ties, says Russian federal air transport regulator Rosaviatsia. Rosaviatsia states that the new memorandum is intended to create “favourable conditions” for approving standard designs of Russian civil aviation equipment exported to Iran.<br/>

A Delaware judge ruled on Tuesday that Boeing's board of directors must face a lawsuit from shareholders over two fatal 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people in less than six months. Vice Chancellor Morgan Zurn ruled Boeing stockholders may pursue some claims against the board, but dismissed others. Zurn's ruling in the Court of Chancery said the first of the two fatal 737 MAX crashes was a "red flag" about a key safety system known as MCAS "that the board should have heeded but instead ignored." Boeing said late Tuesday it was "disappointed in the court's decision to allow the plaintiffs' case to proceed past this preliminary stage of litigation. We will review the opinion closely over the coming days as we consider next steps." The US FAA lifted a flight ban on the 737 MAX in November after a 20-month review following the fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019. In January, Boeing was charged by the Justice Department with 737 MAX fraud conspiracy and agreed to a deferred prosecution agreement and settlement worth more than $2.5b.<br/>

Airbus delivered 40 jets in August to bring supplies of its new jets to 384 since the start of the year, remaining broadly on course to meet an annual goal of 600 deliveries that would preserve its crown as no.1 aircraft manufacturer. The European planemaker also sold 269 planes in the first eight months of the year, or 132 after cancellations, company data showed on Tuesday. Fresh sales included 28 narrowbody jets to Latam Airlines, though South America’s largest carrier simultaneously cancelled an order for two A350-1000 wide-body jets. On deliveries, which drive most aerospace revenues, Airbus remains well ahead of rival Boeing which is gradually clearing a backlog of undelivered jets following the almost two-year safety grounding of its 737 MAX. However, after a lull caused by the MAX crisis and then the industry-wide impact of Covid-19, Boeing remains ahead in the number of new orders as US carriers renew their fleets. As of the end of July, Boeing had sold 630 planes or 270 after adjusting for actual and possible cancellations. Orders included more than 524 Boeing 737 MAX by the end of July, compared to Airbus’s Jan-August tally of 234 A320-family jets.<br/>

Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) expects its third runway to be ready for use in 2022, about six years after construction began, with the project completed on schedule. The announcement on 7 September comes as HKIA operator Airport Authority Hong Kong marks the completion of runway pavement works, calling it a “major milestone” in the Three-Runway System (3RS) mega-airport expansion project. Construction for the 3RS — also comprising terminal expansion works, as well as new people mover and baggage handling systems and other infrastructural works —began in 2016. As part of expansion works, developers have had to reclaim more than 650 hectares of land north of the existing HKIA facility. While the new 3,800m runway will be the first to be operational, other elements of the 3RS will be ready by 2024. The expansion brings HKIA’s capacity up to around 120m passengers and 10m tonnes of freight annually. Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam, speaking on 7 September at HKIA, says the 3RS will“generate direct, indirect and induced contributions of about 5% of the gross domestic product of Hong Kong by 2030”. <br/>