Federal Communications Commission chair Jessica Rosenworcel said Thursday she is confident questions raised about the impact of planned use of spectrum for 5G wireless communications on aviation safety can be resolved. "You asked if I have confidence in our ability to resolve these issues with mitigation. The answer to that is yes," Rosenworcel said, adding "discussions are ongoing." Earlier this month, AT&T and Verizon Communications agreed to delay commercial launch of C-band wireless service until Jan. 5 after the FAA raised safety concerns. FAA chief Steve Dickson said Tuesday "we will figure this out" but said it is unclear what mitigations will be needed to address safety concerns. The FAA issued a Nov. 2 bulletin warning action may be needed to address potential interference caused by the 5G deployment with sensitive aircraft electronics like radio altimeters. People briefed on the matter said potential mitigation measures include small exclusion zones around airports, downward tilt of some antennas and reduced power levels to areas around airports to reduce the amount of skyward energy. More meetings are scheduled Friday as the White House, FAA, FCC and other US agencies try to resolve concerns. The goal is to reach agreement before Dec 5, officials said, which is roughly when the FAA would need to issue a formal directive to airlines on safety concerns without a new delay.<br/>
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US lawmakers are weighing a bill that would allow soybean oil-based jet fuel to qualify for an unprecedented tax credit, a win for biofuel producers and a blow to environmental groups that say crop-based materials undermine the benefits of making greener fuels. The White House has set ambitious targets to lower aviation emissions by 20% by 2030 and has touted sustainable aviation fuel, which is currently made in small quantities from used cooking oil and animal fat, as a means to hit those targets. While numerous industries are pursuing ways to decarbonize vehicle use, some modes of transport, like heavy trucking and aviation, are viewed as difficult to convert to electric power. Biofuel groups say it will be impossible to meet such targets without utilizing ethanol and soybean oil and want the current model for determining eligibility for the tax credit to be changed. Some environmental groups, however, argue that increased demand for crops causes land, including rain forests, to be cleared in the United States and abroad. Petroleum refiners have ramped up production of green fuels, supported by tax credits such as the biofuel blenders tax credit and various low-carbon fuel standards. An early version of the $1.75t Build Back Better bill currently being negotiated in Congress drew criticism from US farmers and the growing sustainable aviation fuel industry. They opposed a clause that said producers would have to demonstrate a carbon score at least 50% better than the fossil fuel alternative, based on a model developed by the ICAO.<br/>
Singapore is teaming up with Airbus to study the potential use of hydrogen in aircraft operations as part of a broad agreement on sustainable aviation, the city-state's aviation regulator said on Thursday. The agreement will include looking into demand and production supply of alternative aviation fuels as well as the economic conditions and regulatory environment to support a move to greener aviation. The first project is a technical feasibility study of an airport hydrogen hub and the infrastructure requirements to support future hydrogen-powered aircraft operations, due to begin in early 2022 and run for two years. This includes the production, storage and distribution of hydrogen, aircraft ground services, logistical equipment, and refuelling systems. Airbus has said it is hoping to bring a hydrogen plane to market by 2035, and has signed deals with airlines for similar studies. <br/>
Airbus kicked off the 2021 Dubai Air Show with a bang, landing massive deals from day one. The French aerospace manufacturer had amassed 408 announced orders and commitments by the end of the show’s fourth day, Wednesday, while its American counterpart Boeing trailed with 101. Airbus and Boeing are the world’s two largest aerospace companies by revenue. The order numbers so far from the first major air show since the Covid-19 pandemic began are a positive sign for aviation and travel, which suffered devastating losses for much of the last 18 months. “We view orders for new aircraft as positive for the recovery of the commercial aerospace industry,” Morgan Stanley said in a research note Wednesday. Airbus scored its first big win on day one of the air show, with an order for 255 of its narrow-body A321neo and A321XLR jets from American private equity firm Indigo Partners, which buys planes for low-cost carriers like Frontier, Wizz Air, Jetsmart and Volaris. It then notched a letter of intent from Air Lease Corp, set to be finalized in the coming months, for 111 aircraft across the Airbus product range: 55 A321neos, 25 A220-300s, 20 A321XLRs, seven A350F freighters and four A330neos. The deal from Indigo Partners, the first major aircraft order since the pandemic began, was a “very positive signal that we [are starting] to be on the front foot again,” Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said. Kuwaiti airline Jazeera Airways committed to 28 Airbus A321neos, and Nigeria’s Ibom Air committed to its first Airbus purchase with an order for 10 A220s.<br/>
A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected an environmental challenge to the FAA's approval of Amazon's new 600,000-square-foot cargo facility at southern California's San Bernardino International Airport. In a 2-1 decision, a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a consolidated petition for review by California's attorney general and green groups including the Sierra Club, which alleged the FAA botched an environmental impact study underlying its approval of the now operating Eastgate Air Cargo Facility. The majority's ruling drew a fierce dissent from U.S. Circuit Judge Johnnie Rawlinson, who wrote that the "case reeks of environmental racism," and questioned whether the outcome would have been different had the project been "sited anywhere near the wealthy enclave where the multibillionaire owner of Amazon resides." San Bernardino County, home to the facility, is "overwhelmingly" populated by people of color, Rawlinson wrote. In a concurrence, US Circuit Judge Patrick Bumatay noted that none of the petitioners had claimed in the case that "racial animus" or discrimination helped guide the FAA's 2019 decision. Bumatay called his colleague's assertions "unfair to the employees of the FAA... who stand accused of condoning racist actions without a chance to defend themselves." <br/>
The owners of an airport are to operate under a new trading name, saying they are "not just about planes in the sky". London Luton Airport Ltd has become Luton Rising to avoid confusion with London Luton Airport Operations Ltd, which runs the airport. Most of the rebrand work has been done in-house, costing about GBP10,000, a spokeswoman said. Luton Rising chairwoman, Cllr Javeria Hussain, said: "We are more than an airport." Luton Council is the sole shareholder of Luton Rising, with the day-to-day running of the airport carried out by a separate private consortium. Earlier this year, the council's executive committee agreed to a loan totalling GBP119m - plus a contingency of GBP20m - to help the airport recover from the pandemic. The authority confirmed that this took the total current package of loans to GBP507m.<br/>