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The international aviation industry has failed to meet all but one of 50 of its own climate targets in the past two decades, environment campaigners say. A report commissioned by the climate charity Possible assessed every target set by the industry since 2000 and found that nearly all had been missed, revised or quietly ignored. The charity says the findings undermine a UK government plan to leave airlines to reduce their emissions through self-regulation. Leo Murray, Possible’s director of innovation, said: “This forensic investigation shows just how implausible and credulous the government’s jet-zero strategy is shaping up to be. How can we credibly expect this industry to overdeliver on emissions reduction when they’ve never met any of their previous climate targets? “It’s clear that we need to demand reduction via a frequent flyer levy, which would discourage the frequent flying by a small group of people which makes up the bulk of emissions from planes.” Air travel accounted for 2.1% of human-produced carbon dioxide emissions in 2019, equivalent to about 915m tonnes, according to the Air Transport Action Group. It is estimated that 15% of people take 70% of all flights, Possible says. The air targets report was written by researchers from the sustainability agency Green Gumption, who examined climate targets starting and finishing between 2000 and 2021, and assessed progress against some longer-term goals. Story has more.<br/>

The FAA said Tuesday it had shifted course on its approach to approving pilots of future electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL) but does not expect it would delay certification or operational approvals. The eVTOL aircraft have been touted as air taxis that could be the future of urban air mobility. The low-altitude urban air mobility aircraft has drawn a huge amount of interest around the world as numerous eVTOL companies have gone public. The FAA said in a statement it would pursue "a predictable framework that will better accommodate the need to train and certify the pilots who will operate these novel aircraft. "The flexibility, the FAA added, "will eliminate the need for special conditions and exemptions. The FAA said it was modifying its regulatory approach because regulations designed for traditional airplanes and helicopters "did not anticipate the need to train pilots to operate powered-lift, which take off in helicopter mode, transition into airplane mode for flying, and then transition back to helicopter mode for landing." Pete Bunce, who heads the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), said in an email the FAA decision is "in our minds detrimental to safety, and increases the workload on the FAA dramatically. This is bad policy for so many reasons." Many eVTOL startups are backed by major airlines or other large companies. Toyota Motor Corp has a stake in Joby Aviation (JOBY.N), Archer Aviation (ACHR.N) is backed by United Airlines (UAL.O) and Stellantis NV (STLA.MI), while Vertical Aerospace - a Bristol-UK-based manufacturer - is backed by investors such as American Airlines Group Inc (AAL.O) and Honeywell International Inc (HON.O).<br/>

Mexico's government said on Tuesday it would cap operations at Mexico City's main airport and begin moving dozens of flights to a newly built hub after a string of incidents fed concern about air safety at one of Latin America's busiest intersections. After meetings with airlines and aeronautical authorities, the government said it wanted to schedule more than 100 daily flights at the new Felipe Angeles International Airport north of the capital, which is so far running a fraction of that number. It said the first phase of that process would begin on Aug. 15, and the second, a month later. Furthermore, no new flights to the capital's existing Benito Juarez International Airport would be authorized from now on, and there would be no increase in operations beyond slots already assigned for the summer 2022 season, it added. Charter and national cargo flights will be immediately moved to the Felipe Angeles airport, the government said. Mexican airline Aeromexico said it plans to maintain its routes from the capital's main airport and increase flights to 30 a day in the Felipe Angeles hub by October. Also, companies with debts extending more than a year will have to cease operations in the capital's main airport. Air traffic safety has come under increased scrutiny since footage posted on social media showed a plane on Saturday coming in to land at the Benito Juarez airport just over another that was waiting to take off on the same runway. <br/>

Lessors with hundreds of jets stuck in Russia are preparing for what one said would be a "vigorous" pursuit of insurance claims while maintaining discreet contact with some customers after Moscow blocked the jets from leaving. The loss of over 400 leased planes worth almost $10b since Western countries sanctioned Russia has led to a string of lessors writing down hundreds of millions of dollars in recent weeks. But the lessors, speaking at a major industry conference in Dublin, said they may have to wait years to find out how much they will secure from unpredictable battles with insurers. In the meantime they face much higher insurance bills. "Practically speaking, I don't think anyone's expecting to get their planes back anytime soon ... mentally we're moving past it," said the head of US lessor Aircastle, which has booked $252m in impairment charges. "That doesn't mean our teams aren't still working and chasing, preparing for what we expect to be contested discussions with our insurance carriers," CEO Michael Inglese told the Airline Economics conference. Steven Udvar-Hazy, founder of Air Lease Corp, which has booked an impairment of $802.4m, said it was pursuing "vigorous" insurance claims. The largest claim has been made by AerCap, the world's biggest aircraft lessor, which has submitted a $3.5b insurance claim for more than 100 jets.<br/>

German airport operator Fraport said on Tuesday it seems the loss of Russian customers, who have been the most frequent travellers to destinations in Turkey and Bulgaria, would be compensated for by tourists from other European nations. “When we look at preliminary figures for Bulgaria in April, we have a recovery rate of 90% compared to 2019. So it seems the loss of Russians can be compensated by other European nations,” finance chief Matthias Zieschang said in a conference call. He added that some Russians were still coming even if the numbers would not add up to the 30m passengers including 11 million Russians and Ukrainians travelling to Antalya that it had originally expected. “So the reality will be in the middle. And as of today, I would say 24-25 million passengers will be welcomed at the Antalya Airport,” Zieschang said. <br/>

Germany’s largest airport operator Fraport said on Tuesday it expects to be able to compensate for rising inflation by passing costs to customers even as it sees higher consumer prices over the next couple of years. “We have this, so to say, perfect inflation protection as we collect share of the revenue realized in a shop. So whenever inflation drives revenues up, we also have higher proceeds,” finance chief Matthias Zieschang said in a conference call. “We have a strong focus on luxury goods where you currently can see even higher inflation rates. So it could be that on the retail side, we also can be an inflation winner,” Zieschang added. On the real estate rental side, Fraport’s newer contracts already include inflation indexation and it just needs to look to adjust the older ones as they need to be renewed, the CFO said.<br/>

London's Heathrow airport has said it will reopen Terminal 4 by July and is already recruiting up to 1,000 new security officers. Heathrow increased its 2022 passenger number forecast from 45.5 million to nearly 53m as it warned of “significant challenges” ahead. The London hub said outbound leisure travellers and people cashing in airline vouchers obtained for trips cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic are driving the recovery in demand. This 16% rise in expected travellers follows a “strong” April, with 5.1m people using the west London airport. In what it said was a “realistic assessment”, Heathrow expects passenger numbers to reach 65% of pre-pandemic levels this year. It still expects to remain lossmaking throughout this year. The airport cautioned that the war in Ukraine, higher fuel costs and cost of living squeeze “creates uncertainty going forward.”<br/>

Nigeria’s state energy company will sell aviation fuel to domestic airlines at a fixed price for three months after some companies threatened to ground their fleets. The Nigerian National Petroleum Co. agreed to supply the product to marketing firms nominated by the airlines at 480 naira ($1.15) a liter until August, Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the House of Representatives, told reporters on Monday, after a meeting in the National Assembly with the NNPC, central bank and aviation industry representatives. The meeting took place after the Airline Operators of Nigeria, a body representing the country’s larger domestic carriers, on May 8 agreed to halt plans to ground flights due to the high cost of aviation fuel, which it said was crippling their businesses and making them unprofitable, and hold talks with government. Despite being Africa’s largest producer of crude oil, the country currently has minimal available refining capacity, leaving it reliant on energy imports. The airlines said the cost of aviation fuel had more than tripled over the past four months to 700 naira per liter as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered massive disruptions to energy markets. A group for Nigeria’s biggest fuel marketing companies, however, have contested the airlines’ claims, saying that they have been selling the product for an average of 540 naira to 580 naira a liter in recent weeks. They in turn have been buying the fuel from the NNPC, even though the market is open to importers from the private sector, the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria said Monday.<br/>

Japan's government is arranging to double the cap on arrivals from overseas to 20,000 people per day in June, government sources said Wednesday. The relaxation of the cap is expected to go ahead following an examination of airport quarantine infrastructure and the coronavirus situation in the country after the Golden Week holidays, which ended Sunday. Additionally, the government is considering accepting tourists by trialing small-scale tours as soon as this month, with an eye to expanding the number of tourists in stages. Japan, which adopted the strictest pandemic border measures among Group of Seven nations, has been under pressure to reopen. In late April, private-sector members of a government panel on economic and fiscal policy called for relaxing the daily foreign arrival cap and easing additional immigration procedures. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said during his visit to London on Thursday that Japan will review its COVID-19 measures "in stages" after consulting with public health experts, and bring them on par with other G7 nations. The government closed Japan to all nonresident foreign visitors on Nov. 30 in response to the emergence of the highly contagious omicron variant. Since March 1, controls have been relaxed for entries of businesspeople, foreign students, technical intern trainees and others entering for nontourism purposes. The cap on arrivals per day was raised from 3,500 since November to 5,000 on March 1, 7,000 on March 14 and to the current 10,000 on April 10.<br/>

Boeing’s aircraft deliveries fell last month as handovers of its 787 Dreamliner planes remain paused after a series of manufacturing flaws. The company delivered 35 jets in April, down from 41 in March, bringing its total so far this year to 130. That trails rival Airbus’ 188 aircraft deliveries for the first four months of 2022. Boeing’s gross orders for April fell to 46 from 53 in March. Most of the new orders were for 737 Max planes. Customers of both major aircraft manufacturers have cited delays in getting new planes. “Both Airbus and Boeing are experiencing rising challenges in delivering aircraft on time, primarily due to supply chain and labor issues,” Air Lease CEO John Plueger said during an earnings call last Thursday.<br/>

Boeing said customers for its much delayed 777X jet are standing by orders for the wide-body model even after it was revealed that the program has slipped five years behind schedule. While Boeing has held talks to update buyers, feedback so far has stopped short of moves to walk away from the 777X, Darren Hulst, the manufacturer’s vice president for commercial marketing, said Tuesday. “Each one of our discussions with customers, obviously, is between us, but I haven’t heard of any specific desire to cancel,” Hulst said. That’s partly because many customers are buying the 777X in preparation for fleet-renewal programs that will become more pressing later in the decade, he said. Hulst, speaking after some jet lessors suggested the 777X’s future is in doubt after Boeing last month postponed deliveries to 2025, said the plane remains the best fit at the top end of the wide-body segment, competing with the Airbus SE A350, as the 747 and A380 jumbos end production. “I don’t think it has has a peer in terms of the size, in terms of the payload it can carry, and it’s going to be a perfect replacement for airplanes as big as the A380,” he said on the fringes of the Airline Economics Growth Frontiers conference in Dublin. Air Lease Corp. Chairman Steven Udvar-Hazy said Monday that issues with Boeing widebodies, including a production halt afflicting the smaller 787 Dreamliner, have become a major annoyance.<br/>

Brazil's Embraer is in talks with potential partners in India and elsewhere over proposals for a new turboprop aircraft, which it could launch in the middle of 2023, the planemaker's commercial chief said on Tuesday. Embraer is also in detailed talks with engine makers about the proposed new regional airplane, which would seek to penetrate a market dominated by Franco-Italian ATR, Embraer Commercial Aviation CE Arjan Meijer said. Embraer has been discussing returning to the turboprop sector since 2017 as it looks to expand its portfolio. It said in 2020 it could opt for a combination of industrial and financial backing, though some analysts expect a more traditional approach based on risk-sharing deals with suppliers. "We're powering on with that," Meijer said. "That's going to be a big decision we have to make. For the launch we are looking at mid-2023," he added. Such a plane could enter service in late 2027 or early 2028, he said. Embraer has issued a request for proposals to engine makers and expects to make a decision by the end of the year. The Brazilian planemaker earlier announced the first leasing customer, Nordic Aviation Capital, for a project to convert Embraer E-Jet airliners to freighters NAC and Embraer have reached an agreement on 10 aircraft with first aircraft in 2024.<br/>