general

Asia-Pacific airlines in August carried just 4% of international passengers against pre-pandemic 2019, underscoring the “severe weakness” in the region’s travel market which remains “in stasis”. Data from the Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines (AAPA) for August shows that the industry body’s 40 member airlines carried just 1.35m international passengers. While this was a 96% plunge against 2019, it represented a 57% increase year on year. Capacity for the month was only about 14% pre-pandemic levels, though it was about 50% higher than the lower base of 2020. The dismal traffic result shows “the continued absence of a revival in demand, in stark contrast to the summer months prior to the onset of this global health crisis”, says the association. AAPA chief Subhas Menon notes that while other regions in the world are gradually recovering, Asia-Pacific travel remains “in stasis”, amid prolonged border control measures imposed. Still, Menon points to the ongoing vaccination drive across the region as a “positive step towards the resumption of air travel”, but warns that vaccination inequity “remains a major stumbling block”. <br/>

The government has announced that it will from Friday shorten the quarantine period from 14 to 10 days for most people fully inoculated against COVID-19 and in some cases allow them to immediately self-isolate at home, even when returning from locations with a high presence of coronavirus variants. “As the vaccination rate increases, the government will revise entry restrictions in phases. This will be the first revision we will make,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said Monday. The planned change will apply to those who present proof that they have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and are able to observe the shorter quarantine period at home or an accommodation of their choosing. The relaxed rules will only apply to people who have received one of the three COVID-19 vaccines that are authorized by the Japanese government: Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca. With the revision, Japan will begin to accept vaccine passports issued by about 50 countries and regions, along with those issued by Japanese municipalities. With the change, returnees will for the first time be able to use the vaccine passports that municipal governments have been issuing since late July.<br/>

Boeing showcased efforts to boost efficiency in its aircraft on Monday, a week after rival Airbus staged a similar conference, as global aviation faces growing political pressure to cut emissions and demands by environmental groups for curbs to air travel. The US planemaker is just one of many companies in the industry playing up its efforts to make its products more environmentally friendly, though there is debate over the speed at which new technology will be adopted. Boeing's event at its flight test hangar in Seattle was anchored by an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 flying demonstrator equipped with potential upgrades like a drag-reducing warning light and cabin sidewalls made from recycled carbon fiber. "Many of our improvements come with a lot of small things at once," Boeing Vice President of Product Development Mike Sinnett told Boeing employees, industry and government officials and media gathered inside the building. Aviation produces up to 3% of man-made CO2 emissions and 12% of CO2 from transport, the industry says. It has pledged to reduce net carbon emissions to 50% of 2005 levels by 2050. Europe's Airbus last year announced plans to develop a hydrogen-powered airplane from 2035. Boeing conversely has emphasized the expanded use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), which are made from feedstocks such as used cooking oil and animal fat, though it does not rule out generational technology leaps. "Focusing on SAF is really important because there are thousands of airplanes already flying. The airplanes that will go into service for the next ten years have already been designed and those engines have been certified," Sinnett told reporters later. "To have any meaningful impact we are going to have to ... expand the use of sustainable fuels," he said, calling hydrogen and other technologies "a longer-term play."<br/>

Rolls-Royce said it had agreed to sell its Spanish unit ITP Aero to a consortium led by Bain Capital Private Equity for E1.7b, helping the British engineering group hit its GBP2b target for disposals. The sale, announced on Monday, sent Rolls-Royce shares soaring 11% to 148 pence, their highest level since March 2020 in the early weeks of the pandemic, on the view that recovery of Britain’s most famous industrial name is underway. Last year Rolls-Royce was floored by the COVID-19 pandemic as its airline customers stopped flying, resulting in a perilous few months before the company raised more cash and secured huge loans. To repair its balance sheet, it announced a GBP2b disposal plan in August 2020, with ITP the biggest asset on the block. The sale announced on Monday will help boost investor confidence in the group’s recovery, and built on positive sentiment after Rolls beat competitor engine makers to win a contract to power the US Air Force’s B-52 bombers.<br/>

Embraer pitched its next-generation turboprop concept to regional airline executives during a 27 September event, saying such an aircraft could replace the hundreds of old 50-seat jets still operating in US fleets. The Brazilian airframe’s vice-president of aviation in the Americas Mark Neely made his comments during the Regional Airline Association’s annual meeting. Airline executives who also spoke at the event agreed they need a replacement aircraft, though they stopped short of saying Embraer’s turboprop will perfectly fit the bill. Neely describes Embraer’s turboprop concept as “a family of airplanes” that would carry 70 to 90 seats. But, he says, Embraer is considering offering a 50-seat variant. In August, Embraer unveiled what it called a “proposal” to develop a regional aircraft with two aft-mounted props. Neely says the design would have the same “cabin” as Embraer’s E-Jets. The airframer has still not officially launched the development programme. In June, Embraer Commercial Aviation CE Arjan Meijer said the airframer could launch the turboprop in 2022, with service entry in 2027 or 2028. Also speaking during the RAA’s event, Republic Airways CEO Bryan Bedford calls Embraer’s concept an “interesting opportunity”, noting that turboprops are typically more fuel efficient than jets. “The tradeoff, obviously, is speed” and the presence of “big propellers, which Americans seem to hate”, he says.<br/>