unaligned

US carrier JetBlue Airways said Wednesday it would buy sustainable aviation fuel from bioenergy firm SG Preston for more than $1b and use it for flights from New York's airports. SG Preston will start delivering the fuel in 2023 over a 10-year period, the company said. JetBlue aims to convert 10% of total fuel usage to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) — made from feedstocks such as used cooking oil and animal fat — on a blended basis by the end of the decade. Airlines have been under pressure from environmental groups to lower their carbon footprint, with the Biden administration setting targets to boost SAF output and help the domestic aviation industry shift away from traditional fuels. JetBlue also said SAF will be blended with traditional jet fuel at an estimated 30% ratio, and will be used for its operations at John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport. <br/>

With pandemic living spurring pent-up demand for vacations, a new airline is focused on luring US leisure travelers to the Reno-Lake Tahoe area for weekend trips. ExpressJet Airlines, a former regional carrier that shut down last year, plans to begin service Oct. 24 under the name Aha!, shuttling passengers to Reno, Nevada, from eight western US markets. The moniker is derived from the company’s plans to sell “air, hotel, adventure” trips, bundling lodging and eventually other items such as rental cars, ski trips and excursions, said Subodh Karnik, chief executive officer of Atlanta-based ExpressJet. Aha will become the third US startup airline to begin flying this year. ExpressJet’s initial plan was to fly from what it considers “underserved” cities, but it changed to launching from a Reno base because of the shift in the US toward leisure travel. Business and long-distance international traffic remain subdued amid the continued spread of Covid-19. “Everybody’s pivoting toward so-called comfort vacations,” Karnik said. People are seeking short, two-to-five-day trips “because I’m sick of staying at home” amid the pandemic, he said.<br/>

Start-up long-haul operator Norse Atlantic Airways is seeking formal authorisation to operate transatlantic services to New York, Fort Lauderdale and Los Angeles in summer 2022. The carrier aims to conduct the flights from Oslo under the US-European ‘open skies’ agreement, and says it expects to receive an air operator’s certificate from Norwegian regulators in early November. Norse Atlantic will commence initial services with three Boeing 787s in a two-class configuration, it states in a filing to the US Department of Transportation. The airline plans to operate to New York’s Stewart airport and serve Los Angeles through California’s Ontario airport. “[We] will expand over time to other points in Europe to meet developing passenger demand and route expansion,” it says.<br/>

Ryanair on Wednesday said it would appeal a ruling by Europe's second-highest court rejecting its challenge against an EU order to repay millions of euros in illegal aid given by an Austrian airport. The Luxembourg-based General Court also dismissed a challenge by TUIfly on the same issue. The EC in its 2016 decision said certain airport services and marketing agreements between the operator of Klagenfurt airport in southern Austria and Ryanair, TUIfly and HLX - which was merged with Hapagfly in 2007 to create TUIfly - gave the carriers an unfair advantage. The EU competition watchdog said the lossmaking deals amounted to state aid for the airlines as they reduced their operating costs. It estimated the illegal aid to Ryanair at around E2m, to TUIfly at 1.1m and to HLX at 9.6m. Both Ryanair and TUIfly subsequently challenged the decisions.<br/>

Virgin Atlantic Airways has slowed plans for an initial public offering, opting to rebuild its business as travel curbs ease before making the case to investors in 2022, according to a person familiar with the plans. The surprise lifting of a US ban on European visitors last week is likely to spur demand, restoring vital North Atlantic passenger flows starting in November, said the person, who asked not to be named discussing private funding matters. Other options for boosting cash reserves remain under consideration, the person said. Virgin Atlantic, controlled by founder Richard Branson, was weighing a London listing as soon as this autumn, Bloomberg reported in August citing a person familiar with the matter. The delay could strengthen the British carrier’s hand in pricing a share sale. Airlines have cautiously begun to add flights between the U.S. and Europe, but Asia isn’t likely to open up to outsiders until early next year. The long-distance flights that Virgin Atlantic specializes in have lagged shorter routes in recovering from the travel slump triggered by the coronavirus pandemic early last year. A spokeswoman for Virgin Atlantic declined to comment. The airline is now working on plans to ramp up the schedule to the US.<br/>

HNA Group, a Chinese airline operator that ran into financial trouble after a global acquisition spree, has proposed a plan to settle $61b in debts owed to thousands of creditors by paying 40% of the total. The conglomerate warned in a statement Tuesday that it faces possible liquidation due to “mismanagement and investment disorder.” HNA Group said Friday its chairman and CEO were detained by police on suspicion of unspecified crimes. HNA Group, which operates Hainan Airlines and other carriers, bought hotels, a stake in Deutschebank AG and other assets abroad starting in 2014, financed by bank loans and bond sales. The company was struggling to pay its debts when last year’s global travel shutdown to fight the coronavirus devastated its aviation business. The government of the southern province of Hainan took control in February 2020. The repayment plan, released Tuesday by HNA’s publicly traded Hainan Airlines Holding Co. subsidiary, said an administrator has asked a court to confirm the company is obligated to pay 161.2b yuan ($25b), or about 40% of the 397.2b yuan ($61b) claimed by 4,915 creditors.<br/>

Nok Air has cleared a major hurdle in its business restructuring process, after Thailand’s Central Bankruptcy Court approved its rehabilitation plan. The move, which allows the carrier to execute plans to turn its business around, comes more than a month after the airline’s creditors accepted its rehabilitation plan, following a meeting held on 4 August. The Central Bankruptcy Court also appointed four rehabilitation plan administrators, including airline chief Wutthiphum Jurangkool, directors Tai Chong Yih and Chavalit Uttasart as well as independent director Prinya Waiwatana. The four, whose names were proposed in the rehabilitation plan, have been authorised by the court to “operate the business, manage the company’s assets and implement the plan”, says Nok. The embattled low-cost carrier filed for business rehabilitation in late-July 2020, after acknowledging the “adverse operating environment” during the coronavirus pandemic. Subsequently, the airline submitted its rehabilitation plan to the court in May, after securing two one-month extensions allowable. <br/>