Air Canada is among 10 major airlines forming a new non-profit industry group aimed at decarbonizing air travel. The Aviation Climate Taskforce (ACT) says its goal is to support "critical medium-term solutions." Those are said to include synthetic fuel and direct air capture. The group says it eventually intends to support sustainable fuel and hydrogen-powered technology. Canada's largest carrier joins Air France-KLM, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue, Lufthansa, Southwest, United, and Virgin Atlantic as founding members of ACT. Boston Consulting Group, known for its life-like robots, is also a founding member. According to ACT, aviation contributes around two to three per cent on average of global carbon dioxide emissions annually. The group says that could rise to 20 per cent by 2050 if no action is taken. "Combating global warming requires a global response, and we are pleased to be the first Canadian airline to join the Aviation Climate Taskforce," Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau said Thursday. "We will work with other global carriers and invest in emerging technologies to advance the decarbonization of our sector and build a long-term, sustainable aviation industry." The pledge to support emissions-cutting technology comes days ahead of a major global meeting on climate change. The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, is set to begin on Oct. 31.<br/>
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The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has reaffirmed that it will complete its reviews of two pending mega deals ― Korean Air's takeover of Asiana Airlines and Hyundai Heavy Industries' (HHI) acquisition of Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) ― by the end of this year. The commitment, made by FTC Chairperson Joh Sung-wook during a media briefing, Wednesday, is seen as a bid to highlight its central role and urge antitrust regulators of the involved countries to act correspondingly to finalize the two deals that have been delayed longer than expected. The FTC's approval in these two pending deals is a prerequisite for relevant ministries and state-run institutions here to proceed with mergers that are anticipated to reshape related industries in and outside of Korea. "We'll work cooperate with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport regarding the Korean Air-Asiana Airlines takeover so that we can have our review ready for approval by the end of the year," Cho said. She noted the FTC and the ministry signed a memorandum of understanding, Monday, for cooperation in the "speedy review of the deal and measures to prevent a possible monopoly that could be caused through the deal." The $1.6b takeover of financially-troubled Asiana Airlines by Korean Air will give birth to one of the world's 10 biggest airlines. The sensitive nature of the deal was behind the postponement of the antitrust review after Korean Air announced the takeover plan in November 2020. Korean Air's acquisition of Asiana Airlines is mandated to receive approval from a total of nine antitrust authorities around the world. Three have given the green light so far ― Turkey, Taiwan and Thailand ― while six others ― Korea, the United States, the European Union, China, Japan and Vietnam ― have not made decisions yet.<br/>
Air New Zealand say it is looking at introducing vaccine certificates for domestic flights, but is hamstrung by delays in the Government’s roll-out. The airline’s CE, Greg Foran, said the certificates could help to manage the risk of Covid-19. ”Asking domestic travellers to be vaccinated is something we’ve been looking at but haven’t made any decisions on,” Foran said. “Until the Government's digital proof of vaccination is available for use later in the year, there isn't a way for customers to show they are vaccinated. But we’re continuing to closely monitor the risk.” Government officials had signalled vaccine certificates would be available from the end of November – but no date has been set.<br/>