The burgeoning market for sustainable jet fuel will soon reach a milestone, with a plant capable of turning out for the first time a lower-emission fuel at the same price as fossil fuel-based options. But this price parity will only come as result of a $50m grant from Bill Gates-led Breakthrough Energy, alongside support from discounted loans and other financial subsidies. LanzaJet, the startup backed by Breakthrough, is building its first commercial plant in the US state of Georgia and expects to begin production next year. The facility will double the current US capacity for making sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF. While the global aviation sector is responsible for only about 3% of the gases that are warming the planet today, its emissions are rising fast. In a world that needs to reach net-zero emissions to avoid the worst effects of climate change, green solutions are desperately needed to meet the increasing demand for flying. SAF is one such solution. It is a broad label given to aviation-compliant fuel that’s made from more sustainable sources than traditional kerosene-based jet fuel, although so far SAF has been held back by limited supplies that are sold at much higher prices. LanzaJet’s technology takes ethanol from sources such as sugarcane in Brazil, waste gas in China or corn in the US and then chemically converts it into SAF and renewable diesel. Depending on the feedstock used to make the ethanol, LanzaJet says the greenhouse-gas emissions from its SAF could be as much as 85% lower than conventional fuel. Story has more.<br/>
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Auckland International Airport Thursday raised its profit forecast for fiscal 2023, helped by a better-than-expected rebound in the aviation market. High aircraft load factors and continued strength in forward international seat capacity are expected to fuel the ongoing recovery, New Zealand's biggest airport operator said. Earlier this year New Zealand reopened its borders and loosened restrictions that led to one of the fewest COVID-19 case loads in the world. The country welcomed hundreds of travelers from Australia in early April for the first time since mid-2021.<br/>
Boeing won support Wednesday from a Republican senator and a major customer in its bid to convince the US Congress to extend the deadline to win certification of two new 737 MAX variants. The US planemaker faces a late December deadline for the FAA to certify the MAX 7 and MAX 10. After that date, all planes must have modern cockpit alerting systems to be certified by the FAA, which would mean significant delays for the new MAX aircrafts' deployment, unless Congress grants a waiver to extend the deadline. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told Reuters he supports attaching a MAX deadline waiver to a spending bill or another measure before Congress. "We're going to fight as hard as we can to get Boeing the opportunity to prove that the plane works and it does work," Graham said on the sidelines of an event. The requirements were approved by Congress in late 2020 as part of FAA certification reforms after two fatal 737 MAX crashes killed 346 people and led to the bestselling plane's 20-month grounding. Earlier Wednesday, United Airlines CE Scott Kirby also backed the extension, saying it makes sense to have a common 737 alerting system. "It's a right safety outcome," Kirby told CNBC. "Changing the cockpit is a bad safety outcome." United in 2017 ordered 100 MAX 10s. Without an extension United would convert some orders to MAX 8 and 9s, Kirby said, "and we're going to buy more Airbus 321 airplanes," which would impact Boeing's US workers.<br/>
SpaceX rolled out aviation-specific Starlink satellite internet service on Tuesday, with Elon Musk’s company looking to expand further into the inflight WiFi market. The company is charging $150,000 for the hardware needed to connect a jet to Starlink, with monthly service costs between $12,500 a month and $25,000 a month. Deliveries to aviation customers are scheduled to “start in mid-2023,” the company said, and reservations require a $5,000 initial payment. SpaceX advertises “global coverage” through a flat-panel antenna that customers would install on top of an aircraft. SpaceX said it is seeking Federal Aviation Administration certificates for a variety of aircraft, most of which are typically owned and operated as private jets. As for the quality of the service, SpaceX says Starlink aviation customers can expect speeds up to 350 Megabits per second, “enabling all passengers to access streaming-capable internet at the same time.” “Passengers can engage in activities previously not functional in flight, including video calls, online gaming, virtual private networks and other high data rate activities,” SpaceX said on its Starlink website.<br/>