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The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up a case about whether California wage law applies to Delta flight attendants who are based in the state but spend most of their time in the air, though it could address the issue in a separate pending case. The court denied Delta's petition for review of a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that said state employment laws are not displaced by federal airline regulations because they only have an incidental impact on airline operations. The plaintiffs in the case claim Delta failed to pay them in a timely manner and omitted information from paystubs that is required by California law. Delta and other airlines and trade groups have argued that having to comply with state laws will create a costly regulatory patchwork that could disrupt air travel. The Supreme Court still may soon take up the issue. In November, the court asked the U.S. Department of Justice to weigh in on a similar case involving Virgin America Inc flight attendants, signaling its interest in hearing the case. Virgin is backed in its case by trade groups including the US Chamber of Commerce and 19 Republican-led states. <br/>

Deltahas hired a JetBlue executive who played a key role in the development of an alliance with American Airlines Group that has taken aim at rivals in the northeastern US. Scott Laurence will join Delta as vice president of network planning on Jan. 18, the Atlanta-based carrier said in a statement Monday. Laurence spent nearly 14 years at JetBlue, last serving as the airline’s head of revenue and planning. Laurence led JetBlue’s efforts to develop the American marketing alliance in the hopes that together they could compete more effectively against Delta and United Airlines Holdings Inc. by coordinating flights and sharing revenue mainly among Boston and New York City’s three primary airports. The venture has been challenged in a US Justice Department lawsuit claiming it’s anti-competitive and a de-facto merger. At Delta, Laurence will work to strengthen the carrier’s global network and joint-venture partnerships, the carrier said. Laurence previously worked in revenue management and network strategy at United.<br/>

Air France-KLM will apply a surcharge to its tickets prices to help fund the extra cost of using sustainable aviation fuel, going beyond voluntary measures that have so far prevailed in the industry. The move will add between E1 and E12 (NZ$1.67-$20) to the cost of a flight depending on the distance travelled and the class, according to a statement on Monday, the first day the extra charges will apply. "In the absence of industrial production, the cost of using sustainable aviation fuels is four to eight times higher than that of fossil fuels," Air France-KLM said, adding that the fee will apply to flights at both its French and Dutch arms. Airlines are turning to SAF to shrink their carbon footprints in the decade or more before hybrid, electric and hydrogen-powered jetliners become widely available. At the same time the fuel, which requires feedstocks such as algae and cooking oil or synthetic processing methods, remains in short supply. Air France-KLM will apply a surcharge to its tickets prices to help fund the extra cost of using sustainable aviation fuel.<br/>

China Airlines has disclosed record cargo revenues for 2021, as it doubles down on what it calls a “cargo-centric business model”. For the full year, the Taiwanese carrier says cargo revenue surpassed NT$100b ($3.6b), the highest in its 62 years of operations. China Airlines also states that freighter revenue in December hit a single-month high of more than NT$15.4b. While it has yet to disclose its full-year earnings, the uptick in cargo takings is expected to help offset a collapse in passenger travel revenue amid the pandemic, and provide a lift to the carrier’s profitability. China Airlines’ cargo unit operates a fleet of 21 dedicated freighters, comprising 18 Boeing 747-400Fs, as well as three 777 freighters. The carrier mounted around 540 cargo flights a month, averaging around 120 flights weekly. It adds: “The integration of passenger and freighter capacity along with continued optimisation of schedules and connections meant that over a hundred passenger and freighter charter flights were dispatched in a given month.” China Airlines, along with compatriot EVA Air, swung back to profitability in the third quarter of 2021, amid a steady rise in revenue. In previous quarters, both carriers have pointed to a strong cargo performance as a key factor in boosting their earnings.<br/>

Creditors of struggling airline Garuda Indonesia have submitted about 198t rupiah ($13.8b) in claims as part of a debt restructuring, according to court-appointed administrators. The administrators for the flag carrier received claims from more than 470 creditors by the end of a Jan. 5 deadline, Martin Patrick Nagel and Jandri Siadari, members of the team of administrators, wrote in replies to questions from Bloomberg. They will now verify the provisional claims and decide on Jan. 19 what amount are valid and can be included in the restructuring process. Garuda has taken steps to try to buy more time. The company is seeking to extend the maturity of its dollar sukuk -- Islamic debt securities -- by 10 years. Currently they are set to mature next year. In a sign of market concerns regarding the airline’s recovery prospects, the indicated price of the sukuk recently fell to record lows under 23 cents on the dollar. The airline is a major employer and a vital mode of transport for Indonesia, made up of 17,000 islands over an area spanning the distance from New York to London. The state-owned airline was already struggling to stay profitable even before the pandemic brought travel to a standstill. The company entered a court-supervised debt restructuring process after a Jakarta court accepted a petition filed against it in December. <br/>