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Lufthansa repaid the last of its E9b bailout ahead of schedule, paving the way for the German government to sell its stake in the airline group for a significant profit. A recovery in international travel and successful refinancing measures allowed the airline to return the taxpayer cash, it said in a statement Friday. The state stands to net close to $1b in profit once it sells its 14% holding over the next two years. “It was good business for the treasury,” German finance minister Olaf Scholz said. “Smart politics pays off.” The outsize profit marks a victory for Scholz, who is poised to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor once coalition negotiations conclude. He and his deputies drove a hard bargain in negotiations with Lufthansa, mindful of bank bailouts during the financial crisis that shouldered taxpayers with heavy losses. For the airline, the repayment marks the latest step toward a return to normal after the coronavirus pandemic grounded much of its fleet and pushed it to the brink of bankruptcy in 2020. Lufthansa expects to restore 70% of its pre-pandemic capacity next year as the crisis wanes and intercontinental routes reopen. Still, the airline has borrowed heavily from private creditors to replace the aid. Its plan to secure pay cuts for its pilots has met with resistance from the powerful cockpit union. Lufthansa reduced its fleet and committed to investing less in new aircraft, moves that could leave its western European empire vulnerable to cash-rich discounters.<br/>

Airlines have long found innovative ways to charge passengers for services like seat selection, priority boarding, checked bags and even carry-ons. Lufthansa is taking it to the next level: the German airline group is working on a new rewards plan to coax customers into paying for its effort to clean up greenhouse-gas emissions, tapping into their desire to be seen as environmentally conscious. For a price, travelers will be able to demonstrate support for alternative jet fuels or carbon-offset purchases. The effectiveness of these measures has been challenged, but for now airlines have few other options to show passengers they’re trying to make a start on lowering carbon output. Lufthansa is considering everything from marking seats green to creating digital badges that can be shown on a phone. “We do think the eco-conscious traveler wants people to know that they’re an eco-conscious traveler,” Chief Customer Officer Christina Foerster said. “It needs to be chic to show off you’re flying green.” Airlines face a challenge in shifting onto travelers a bigger share of the potential $2 trillion industrywide cost of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050. Lufthansa and other carriers already offer customers ways to pay extra for emissions, but just 1% pitch in. Increasing the use of sustainable aviation fuels is likely to raise airline ticket prices, United CEO Scott Kirby said at the COP26 climate conference. “That’s the way it should be,” Kirby said. “Ticket prices should be a little higher to offset the impact on the environment.” While the fuel should eventually become cheaper, in the medium-term the cost will be high, he said. <br/>

Singapore Airlines has 79% of its fleet and the vast majority of pilots and cabin crew active so that it can quickly capitalise on any increase in demand, the airline's CE said Friday. "We have 92% of pilots and 86% of cabin crew now back with us," he told analysts and media. "At the level we are operating now, which is 37% of pre-Covid capacity, going up to 43% in December, we are quite comfortable with this return rate." The airline said on Thursday market conditions were improving after it reported a narrower Q2 loss due to cost-cutting efforts, record cargo revenue and an improvement in passenger numbers from a low base. Singapore has recently opened vaccinated travel lanes without quarantine with more than a dozen countries including Britain, the United States, Germany, Australia and South Korea.<br/>

Singapore has adjusted vaccination accreditation requirements for vaccinated travelers from the USA, following public feedback. Under the country’s Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) scheme, passengers vaccinated in the USA can now provide digital vaccination record from the state where they received their vaccination, or a physical vaccination document with a letter signed by the vaccination provider, says the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS). Previously, Singapore only accepted the Smart Health Card format for proof of vaccination in the USA. Only nine states and a select list of issuers can issue a Smart Health Card, although the scope of the format is growing. The VTL scheme is integral to Singapore’s efforts to re-boot air travel to the city state as the world emerges from the coronavirus pandemic. VTL passengers can skip quarantine when they arrive in Singapore. Goh Choon Phong, CE of Singapore Airlines, commented on the VTL programme during an analysts’ call on 12 November, following the carrier’s interim results. He compared it to previous initiatives that failed to re-boot traffic, such as attempts to open air bubbles and other travel lane arrangements. “None of them has really taken off in any significant manner, however they were very good initiatives to actually try all possibilities to increase and encourage travel,” he says. “VTL is really the one that has brought about a meaningful increase in traffic. And it shows how important it is to have a bilateral, quarantine-free travel arrangement for our travelers.” He says that bookings for travel from countries rise sharply as soon as VTLs become available.<br/>

Singapore plans to introduce a year-long pilot program in 2022 to use sustainable aviation fuel at its airport amid pledges by its top companies to cut carbon emissions. The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore will partner with Singapore Airlines and state investor Temasek Holdings Pte on the project, the agency said in a statement on Saturday. A request for proposals was made this week to invite select producers and fuel suppliers to provide plans to deliver blended sustainable aviation fuel to Changi Airport, according to the statement. The pilot program will provide insights into costs, potential pricing structures and will support future policy considerations, said Han Kok Juan, the authority’s director-general. “This pilot project will trial the production and deployment of low-carbon fuels, with potential outcomes that could put the aviation sector on a path towards net zero,” Frederick Teo, Temasek’s managing director of sustainable solutions, said in the statement. <br/>SIA has committed to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, while Temasek also pledged to have a net zero carbon emissions portfolio in the same timeframe. <br/>

Thai Airways International posted an operating loss of Bt21.5b ($658m) for the first nine months of 2021, an improvement on its operating loss of Bt34b for the first nine months of 2020. Operating revenues at Thai and its units fell 66.1% year on year to Bt15b, with passenger and excess baggage revenue diving 92.2% to Bt2.5b, according to the carrier’s nine-month result statement for the period to 30 September. It did not break out a quarterly figure for the July-September period. The only operating metric that saw an improvement was freight and mail revenue, which rose 10.9% to Bt6.4b. The improvement in Thai’s operating performance stemmed from its halving of total operating expenses to Bt36.5b. Despite the poor operating performance, the airline posted a net profit of Bt51b due mostly to a series of one-off items, including asset sales and a Bt60.7b gain from debt restructuring. Thai carried 820,000 passengers in the first nine months of 2021, down 83.8% from a year earlier. ASKs fell 70.7%, and RPKs fell 93.9%. Load factors fell 53.1 percentage points to 13.9%. On the cargo front, Thai’s freight yield shot up 81.2%, with freight load factors rising 43.5 percentage points to 99.7%. Still, overall cargo carried declined 44.7% to 83,000t, as the airline’s overall freight capacity declined 65.2%. Cash burn remains a challenge. In the first nine months of 2021, Thai had a negative operating cash outflow of Bt7.9b, even worse than Bt7.2b a year earlier.<br/>