general

AerCap, the world’s biggest aircraft leasing company, said it had lodged an insurance claim of $3.5b to cover the potential loss of its planes and engines that remain stuck in Russia, setting the stage for a protracted battle between the industry and insurers. The Dublin-based company had the largest exposure of any foreign lessor to Russia when western sanctions were introduced after its invasion of Ukraine. It said on Wednesday it had about $2.5b at risk and warned it expected to at least partially write down the value of its assets in the first quarter. The company has retrieved 22 of the 135 planes and three of 14 engines that had been placed with Russian carriers before the start of the war. The removals, along with cash from letters of credit with Russian customers, reduced its exposure from $3.1bn at the end of December, it said. Peter Juhas, CFO, said he expected lessors’ insurance claims over Russia to be “contested given the large sums [at stake] across the industry”. AerCap, however, intended to “vigorously pursue” all of its claims under its insurance policies, as well as “other legal remedies that may be available to us”, according to chief executive Aengus Kelly. Sanctions imposed on Russia triggered a global rush among overseas leasing groups to recover more than 500 aircraft, worth an estimated $10bn, that were stuck in the country. International lessors had until Monday to sever their ties with Russian carriers. Experts, however, had warned that the prospects of recovering the jets were slim after the Kremlin earlier this month moved to allow foreign planes to be re-registered in Russia. It means aviation insurers face record losses if the planes are not recovered through policies that cover owners for confiscation, experts have warned. But given the likely legal wrangle and loss limits written into policies, estimates range widely.<br/>

The US Commerce Department on Wednesday added 73 Boeing airplanes that are operated by Russia airlines and have recently flown to Russia to a list of aircraft believed to violate US export controls as part of the Biden administration’s sanctions over the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Earlier this month, the department named 100 airplanes including 99 Boeing aircraft operated by Russian passenger and cargo carriers including flag carrier Aeroflot, AirBridge Cargo, Utair, Nordwind, Azur Air and Aviastar-TU - as well as billionaire Roman Abramovich’s Gulfstream G650 - in a move that the department said would “effectively ground” the planes from traveling outside Russia. The department said it was removing 12 aircraft of the 100 initially named to allow them to return to owners in other countries. The 73 planes added on Wednesday include ones operated by Atran, Aeroflot units Pobeda and Rossiya, Alrosa, S7 Airlines , Pegas Fly and Royal Flight, as well as some additional Aeroflot and Utair planes. The department warned companies and other entities around the world that any refueling, maintenance, repair, or spare parts or services violate U.S. export controls and subject companies to US enforcement actions that could include “substantial jail time, fines, loss of export privileges, or other restrictions,” the department said. The United States, Canada and much of Europe have barred Russian planes from flying over their airspace, which has forced the cancellation of much of Russia’s international flights. Russia’s biggest cargo airline Volga-Dnepr Group, said on March 18 it suspended all flights using Boeing aircraft due to Western sanctions. Volga-Dnepr said it stopped operations of two of its subsidiaries - AirBridgeCargo and Atran.<br/>

Male-dominated culture, widespread sexual harassment and discrimination, financial barriers to career entry and lack of gender-specific support systems are main reasons women remain significantly underrepresented in aviation and aerospace. Those are the primary findings from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Women in Aviation Advisory Board (WIAAB) final report, published on 30 March. “Talent necessary to meet the current and growing demands of US aviation is falling woefully behind,” the 84-page report reads. “Further, to a great extent because of its shuttered culture, the US aviation industry has been largely unsuccessful in meaningfully attracting women. Those who do persist in aviation careers often are not granted similar opportunities, and leave in more-significant numbers. The under-representation of women in aviation impacts the industry’s advancement, effectiveness and safety.” WIAAB, which was established by Congress through the FAA’s 2018 funding bill, first met in 2020. It was tasked with analysing reasons for low female representation in the industry – less than 20% across most aviation careers – and with recommending how to raise that number. The starkest gender gaps are in senior leadership positions and among professional pilots and maintenance technicians. The two years’ work by 30 aviation professionals culminated in 55 proposals for the FAA, the US DOT, Congress and the industry at large.<br/>

A Boeing 747-8 freighter leased to Russia's AirBridgeCargo has flown to California from Hong Kong, according to FlightRadar24, after a U.S. judge signed an order allowing lessor BOC Aviation to repossess it. The order was unsealed and made public on Tuesday, court documents showed and the aircraft arrived in the United States on March 25, according to the flight tracking service. BOC Aviation and its lawyers declined to comment. Singapore-based BOC Aviation is one of many global aircraft lessors that had planes on lease to Russian airlines before sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine forced the cancellation of leases and insurance policies. More than 400 leased planes worth almost $10b remain in Russia despite a Monday deadline for contract cancellations, though the Interfax news agency last week reported that 78 had been seized abroad. BOC Aviation shares closed 4.4% higher on Wednesday, outpacing a 1.4% rise in the Hong Kong index. The lessor on March 10 said its 18 planes leased to Russian airlines had a book value of $935m and could be affected by insurance policy cancellations. In court documents filed on March 14, BOC Aviation sought orders for one of three 747-8 freighters on lease to AirBridgeCargo that was in Hong Kong to be repossessed and flown to the United States for storage. BOC Aviation said the aircraft was worth $148m and that AirBridgeCargo had breached leases for two other 747-8s when it flew the planes, which were in mainland China, back to Russia despite the lessor's explicit instructions to ground them on March 5 after insurance coverage was cancelled.<br/>

Aircraft operators will be permitted to reduce the amount of fuel they carry during flight operations, under new rules put forward by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. Carriage of fuel beyond that specifically required for the trip from origin to destination is governed by regulations over contingencies, such as air traffic control delays or the need to divert to an alternate airport. But there is a weight penalty for this contingency fuel which – even if the fuel is unused – ultimately results in a higher burn, and higher carbon dioxide emissions, for the trip. EASA’s measures, which comprise three different fuel schemes, will enter into effect on 30 October this year. They are intended to cut emissions by optimising the fuel on board without sacrificing safety levels. “More flexibility is given to commercial air transport operators through the introduction of the ‘fuel schemes’ concept,” says EASA in a formal decision notification. It adds that the amended rules will also clarify and simplify requirements for helicopter fuel planning.<br/>

After spending two years being socially distanced in his home country of South Korea, Kim Hoe-jun booked a last-minute flight to Hawaii, where he had enjoyed his honeymoon six years ago, giving in to his craving for overseas travel. "I bought the ticket just a week ago, but it was rather a no-brainer. It felt like I was making up for those two years not being able to go abroad often as I used to before COVID," he said, before boarding the plane from Incheon International Airport on Friday. Vaccinated and boosted, Kim and his wife are among South Koreans joining in a rush for "revenge travel" - a term that has been trending on social media as people scramble to book overseas trips that were delayed by coronavirus restrictions. The boom started after March 21 when South Korea lifted a seven-day mandatory quarantine for fully vaccinated travellers arriving from most countries. The restriction had been eased last year but was reimposed in December as the highly infectious Omicron variant spread. The country has largely scrapped its once-aggressive tracing and containment efforts despite a record COVID-19 wave, joining a growing list of Asian countries which have eased quarantine rules, including Singapore, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Koreans now appear more ready to travel. Polls showed people are less worried about the implications of catching the virus, and increasingly see its prevention as out of their hands. Sales of overseas flight tickets on 11st, an e-commerce unit of SK Telecom Co Ltd, South Korea's top mobile carrier, rose more than eight-fold compared with a year before between March 11, when the lifting of quarantine was announced, and March 27, the company said. Airlines and travel agencies have reported exploding demand for routes to Hawaii, Saipan and Guam, as well as some destinations in Europe and Southeast Asia where tourists submitting a vaccination certificate or negative test result are exempted from quarantine.<br/>

Changi Airport Terminal 2 will reopen in phases from this year, with the number of travellers passing through the airport expected to increase in the coming months. T2's upgrading had been going on for most of the last two years after it was closed in May 2020 owing to the low passenger numbers caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Transport Minister S. Iswaran said on Wednesday that Terminal 4, which has also been closed since May 2020, can be reopened at relatively short notice as well. But he noted that the reopening of terminals will have to depend on various other circumstances. "Opening up a terminal incurs significant overheads and in terms of manpower, everything, so it's not something where you can just open one gate or two gates at a time," said Iswaran, who was speaking to the media after a visit to the airport. "What we really need to do is make sure that we are now at the next quantum leap in the flow of passengers."<br/>

The number of workers in the air transport sector is now at about two-thirds to three-quarters of the level before the pandemic, said Transport Minister S. Iswaran on Wednesday. This is up from the lows during the pandemic, with some firms in the sector facing attrition rates as high as 50 per cent. The sector is now ramping up recruitment in preparation for more travellers from Friday (April 1), when Singapore's eased border rules kick in. Iswaran, who was speaking during a visit to Changi Airport, said: "It's a significant attrition we have had, and that is because it's an inevitable consequence of the circumstances that the aviation community was in because of the virus. But all the members of the aviation community are committed to making sure that they are gearing up ahead of demand." He said that firms are recruiting workers from Singapore, Malaysia and other countries. But he also cautioned that time is needed to train the workers, and to get returning workers familiar with the new work processes. The Government had announced last week that Singapore will allow all travellers who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 to enter the country without quarantine from Friday.<br/>

US delivery firm FedEx Corp's subsidiary, FedEx Express, will begin testing Elroy Air's Chaparral autonomous air cargo system next year, the companies said on Wednesday. Legacy aviation and automotive industry players including Boeing, Embraer, Airbus, United Airlines, Toyota Motor Corp and Stellantis are among the companies pouring money into the nascent electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. California Bay Area-based Elroy Air's Chaparral, launched in January, is an eVTOL aircraft that can lift 300 pounds to 500 pounds of cargo and deliver it by air up to 300 miles, the companies said.<br/>

Britain's John Menzies agreed to be acquired by Kuwaiti firm Agility for nearly $750m on Wednesday, in an effort to create an airport services giant as the aviation industry recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. Menzies shareholders will receive 608 pence in cash per share, which, according to the Edinburgh-based company, represented a premium of about 81% to the Feb. 8 closing price, the day before it received Agility's initial takeover approach. Menzies will be combined with National Aviation Services, a unit of Kuwait's Agility Public Warehousing. Agility currently holds a 19% stake in Menzies. The combined group is expected to be the world's largest airport services company by the number of countries it operates in and third largest by revenue, Menzies said. The agreement follows three earlier proposals from the Kuwaiti firm, all rejected by Menzies.<br/>