Airline startup Norse Atlantictook delivery of the first of a fleet of Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner jets ahead of a planned beginning of transatlantic flights in spring 2022. The carrier, led by shipping entrepreneur Bjorn Tore Larsen, will continue to receive as many as 15 of the planes through April and they will be based in Oslo, Norse said Monday. The initial Dreamliner is leased from BOC Aviation Ltd.Norse opted to push back the start of operations by about three months last year due to prolonged travel bans to contain the coronavirus. Many of those -- including lucrative routes between the U.S. and Europe -- are now open, though the emergence of the highly transmissible omicron variant has raised fears of fresh restrictions. “We believe that transatlantic travel will resume with full force once the pandemic is behind us,” Larsen said. <br/>
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Japan low-cost carrier Peach Aviation has taken delivery of an Airbus A321LR, making it the first carrier in the country to operate the type. The aircraft arrived at Osaka’s Kansai International Airport on 19 December after a flight from Hamburg, says Peach. The aircraft is powered by a pair of CFM International Leap-1A engines. “Peach is already operating five new Airbus A320neo jets, which are as highly fuel-efficient as the A321LR,” says Peach CE Takeaki Mori. “By the end of 2025, we will switch our entire fleet over to the highly efficient and environmentally friendly A321LR and A320neo models, in order to make air transportation more sustainable.”<br/>
Jet Airways is planning to resume flight operations early next year, the Jalan Kalrock Consortium has said adding that they have petitioned the Mumbai Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to allow them to expedite their recapitalisation of the dormant carrier as per their plan, which was approved by the NCLT back in June. In a statement to the Indian press last week, the airline's new promoters asked the court to allow them to execute the plan as of December 22 and thus pay all stakeholders, including former employees and ticket claimants. They added that Jet was busy revalidating its existing Air Operator Permit (AOP) which was suspended back in 2019. The process with India's Directorate General for Civil Aviation (DGCA) began back in August this year, soon after the NCLT consented to the consortium's plan. As such, the pursuit of a renewed licence has been expedited in an effort to meet the early 2022 launch timeline. “We are in regular touch with the DGCA and the Ministry of Civil Aviation to have Jet’s AOP revalidated and we thank the authorities for their continued support. Jet Airways has an existing AOP valid until 2023, which was only suspended in 2019 due to the financial health of the company then, and the current process taken up is towards removing the said suspension, so the time required for getting the AOP revalidated will be substantially less in comparison to obtaining a fresh AOC by a new company," the Jalan Kalrock Consortium said.<br/>
Rex’s first Sydney to Brisbane flight has taken off, completing the airline’s long-awaited goal of servicing the lucrative ‘golden triangle’ of Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane. Rex flight ZL352 took off from Sydney Airport at 3:31pm local time after a 15-minute delay, and touched down in Brisbane just over one hour later, at 3:38pm Queensland time. The flight marks not only a new milestone for Rex, but comes just days after Queensland reopened its border to COVID hotspot states, including NSW, Victoria and the ACT, on 13 December. “This is a great way to end what has been an extraordinary year for both Rex and the whole aviation industry,” said Rex Deputy Chairman John Sharp. From today, Rex will run three services per weekday between the NSW and Queensland capitals, with two services per day on weekends. Rex Ambassador Kay Hull, the former federal member for Riverina who advocated to save what would soon become Regional Express Airlines after Ansett fell in 2001, was present on Monday to wave off the first Sydney-Brisbane flight.<br/>