Imagine hybrid electric aircraft ferrying travelers on hundreds of shorter routes across the US. That’s the vision behind the planned merger of Southern Airways Express and Surf Air Mobility. The deal, unveiled on May 18, will see the regional airline and electric aviation firm come together and go public under a $1.4b SPAC listing in the second half of the year. The deal is the first to bring together both sides of the equation — an airline and the technology developer — into one company amid the airline industry’s rush to decarbonize air travel. “It gives us what we need to be first out of the gate … I want to be the first airline that puts paying passengers on a hybrid electric airplane,” Southern Airways Express CEO Stan Little, and future president of the merged company, told Airline Weekly. The merger will provide Southern with the capital it needs for growth, including financing for the 100 Cessna Caravans on order from Textron that begin delivering at a rate of three per quarter from the fall. For Surf Air, the deal provides the company the “best possible advertisement for its hybrid electric technology,” said Little. The merger includes agreements with electric engine company AeroTEC and electric propulsion developer MagniX for hybrid electric powertrains that would power Southern’s Caravans. “We believe this sets us on a better, faster, and more certain path toward the future of green flying,” Surf Air CEO Sudhin Shahani and other executives said in a May 18 letter to staff on the merger. Story has more.<br/>
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A cargo plane was written off due to "extensive damage" after a hard landing at Exeter Airport, a report said. The Boeing 737-4Q8 was returning from East Midlands Airport with a pilot and co-pilot who were not injured. The plane was "beyond economical repair", a report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch said. West Atlantic, the plane's Swedish-based operator, said only the flight commander will be allowed to land at Exeter Airport until further notice. The AAIB confirmed the plane had been written off as it was deemed beyond repair and would no longer be in use after the land. The aircraft had a hard landing as a result of the plane's approach to the runway continuing after it became "unstable", the report said. "The commander may have given the co-pilot the benefit of doubt and believed she had the ability to correct an approach that became unstable in the final few hundred feet of the approach, it said. The co-pilot said she did not know what caused the hard landing but did not believe there was a technical issue. After the aircraft left the runway it was "listing to the left", the report said. "It was then that the crew realised there was something 'seriously wrong' with the aircraft," it added.<br/>
An airline in Saudi Arabia has completed the country's first flight with an all-female crew, officials said on Saturday, framing it as a milestone for women's empowerment in the conservative kingdom. The flight operated by flyadeal, budget subsidiary of flag carrier Saudia, was from the capital Riyadh to the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah on Thursday, flyadeal spokesman Emad Iskandarani said. The "majority" of the seven-member crew were Saudi women, including the first officer, but not the captain, who was a foreign woman, Iskandarani said. Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority, which confirmed flyadeal's announcement on Saturday, has touted expanding roles for women in the aviation sector in recent years. In 2019, the authority announced the first flight with a female Saudi co-pilot. Saudi officials are trying to engineer a rapid expansion of the aviation sector that would turn the kingdom into a global travel hub. Goals include more than tripling annual traffic to 330m passengers by the end of the decade, drawing US$100b in investments to the sector by 2030, establishing a new national flag carrier, constructing a new "mega airport" in Riyadh and moving up to five million tonnes of cargo each year. Yet industry analysts question whether Saudi-based airlines will be able to compete against established regional heavyweights such as Emirates and Qatar Airways.<br/>
El Al is urging pilots to ensure flight schedules are met, after multiple cancellations over a dispute with the company. El Al says it has contacted its pilots’ committee seeking “immediate” negotiations over the matter. The company says it has been forced to cancel services in recent days for “operational reasons”. El Al is facing the disruption just as the carrier is starting to emerge from the effects of the pandemic, which have resulted in heavy losses and difficult efforts to restructure the airline’s finances. It had recorded a surge in sales during the first quarter, as travel restrictions by governments were lifted, and the volume of operations improved. Over the course of this year, monthly sales rose from $85 million in January to $267 million in May. Sales for March and May exceeded the pre-crisis levels of 2019. The carrier still turned in losses of $66m for the period, but it believes it will move towards profitability by the end of 2023. But El Al says it does not expect to realise full production potential this year, and it is trying to avoid further risks to the operation from pilot action. While the pilots’ actions have been disrupting the recovery, trade union centre Histadrut has signed two agreements with other aviation workers at El Al, acknowledging their efforts to deal with a higher workload in the maintenance and administrative sectors.<br/>
India's Jet Airways said on Friday the country's aviation regulator has cleared it to resume operation of commercial flights. Once India's biggest private carrier, Jet stopped flying in April 2019 after running out of cash, owing billions to lenders and leaving thousands without jobs. Jet said the grant of an air operator certificate by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation "was the final step in a comprehensive regulatory and compliance process involving several procedural checks for the airline's operational readiness." The airline had said in June that the National Company Law Tribunal approved a resolution plan submitted by a consortium of London-based Kalrock Capital and UAE-based businessman Murari Lal Jalan.<br/>
Nok Air, the only commercial airline offering scheduled flights to the farthest southern district, is mulling whether to continue its Don Mueang-Betong operation after July due to financial losses on the route, says its chief executive officer, Wutthiphum Jurangkool. Nok Air says it has been in the red since launching its inaugural flight on April 29. The low-cost carrier expects that by July, losses could amount to 40 million baht despite a reported load factor of about 90%. Load factor refers to how many paying customers fill a flight. Nok Air operates three flights a week from the capital Bangkok to Yala's Betong district. According to the airline, expenses associated with the service to Betong were high and Nok Air has asked the government to subsidise the costs as well as lower service fees at the airports the airline uses. The airline is already partly subsidised by the government. At the same time, fuel costs have skyrocketed, adding to the expenses, especially along the Betong route with flights lasting one hour and 45 minutes. Nok Air said it has lost an opportunity to make a profit. "We'll need to decide whether to continue the Betong service," Wutthiphum said. He said flights to the district until July will cater to passengers on packaged tours. Figures show that more than 1,700 passengers have flown to Betong using Nok Air.<br/>
Australian low-cost startup Bonza is eyeing a September launch with three Boeing 737 Max 8s. According to CE Tim Jordan, two aircraft will arrive in July and one in August. The aircraft will be based at Sunshine Coast on the country’s eastern seaboard north of Brisbane. Initially, one of the three aircraft will serve as a spare. “[The spare aircraft] is a very significant commitment to the market,” says Jordan. “We’re trying to learn from previous experiences in the marketplace whereby you get one opportunity to create a good first impression, and we need to grab that with both hands.” The aircraft will come from the orderbook of Miami finance company 777 Partners, which owns a majority stake in Bonza. Overall, 777 Partners has announced orders for 68 737 Max jets, with four order announcements made over the course of 2021. The carrier aims to grow to eight aircraft in its first 12 months of operation. Fleet growth beyond this is, as Jordan puts it, somewhat “fluid”, as some aircraft may go to Canada’s Flair Airlines, in which 777 Partners owns a minority stake. Bonza is also in the process of hiring 200 crew members to serve aboard its first five jets. Bonza had intended to start earlier in 2022, but delays with the delivery of its 737 Max 8s pushed this back. Only now is it comfortable specifying a month for starting up. Jordan says that the 737 delivery delays stem from “supply chain” issues, and that Boeing has been very supportive of its efforts to get airborne. Another item of business is securing an Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) from Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).<br/>