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Croatia Airlines is to take six of its new Airbus A220s from US lessor Air Lease, including a pair of A220-100s. The airline is intending to modernise its fleet with up to 15 A220s, and placed a firm order with the manufacturer for six of the type, all the -300 variant, at the end of November last year. Air Lease states that it will supply another six, which it will deliver to the carrier over the course of 2024-25. It states that the twinjets – powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1500G engines – will be sourced from its order backlog with Airbus. Air Lease has ordered 68 A220-300 as well as seven of the smaller A220-100. Four of its -300s have been delivered. Croatia Airlines opted for the A220 having previously planned to renew its fleet with A320neos. Its order for four A320neos was removed from the airframer’s backlog when the A220s were listed.<br/>

Japan's two leading air carriers, All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines, have agreed to source sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from US producer Raven in deals involving Tokyo-based trading house Itochu. The airlines will buy SAF that Raven aims to produce commercially as early as 2025, using it on international flights. SAF is blended with conventional jet fuel, reducing CO2 emissions by 80% to 90% over its entire life cycle. The aviation industry aims to achieve net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. But SAF still represents only 0.03% of the aviation fuel consumed worldwide. Both Japanese airlines have signed memorandums of understanding, with details such as supply volumes and prices to be set later. Itochu, an investor in Raven, will procure and supply the fuel to the companies. Itochu took a stake in Raven in 2021. The Wyoming-based company produces fuel from methane gas generated by the fermentation of plant waste and municipal solid waste. It aims to produce the fuel in California in 2025 and expects to manufacture 200,000 tonnes a year in Europe and the US by 2034. The deals are the airlines latest move to secure SAF supplies. ANA and JAL also have procured sustainable aviation fuel through Itochu from Finnish company Neste, which produces it from waste cooking oil and other materials.<br/>

All Nippon Airways plans to offer its flight attendants the option of working two days a week, starting fiscal 2023, enabling them to pursue second jobs as the coronavirus pandemic has dented demand for air travel, company sources said Monday. The Japanese airline hopes the scheme -- previously limited to those who needed to take care of children or the elderly -- will also be used to learn new skills, potentially linking them to new endeavors for the company, according to the sources. It will be available to around 8,500 of its flight attendants who live in Japan. However, ANA plans to restrict the number of people utilizing the system to prevent it from impacting its operations. The employees will be asked to decide on the total days off they plan to take at the beginning of a fiscal year in April, allowing them more flexibility in scheduling shifts. They will additionally be able to request which routes they wish to primarily work on. ANA flight attendants are typically expected to work five-day weeks. But with COVID-19 denting demand for air travel, the airline has been allowing them to work fewer days.<br/>

EU antitrust regulators will decide by Feb. 17 whether to clear flag carrier Korean Air Lines’ planned takeover of rival Asiana Airlines, a European Commission filing showed on Monday. The deal announced in late 2020 would see Korean Air become the top shareholder of indebted Asiana in one of the first major aviation consolidations since the industry was hit by COVID-19. The EU competition enforcer can clear the deal with or without remedies, or it can open a full-scale investigation after the preliminary review if it has serious concerns. South Korea’s antitrust enforcer gave the green light last year on condition that Korean Air cedes slots and traffic rights for 26 international and 14 domestic routes in the next 10 years if a newly competing airline requests them. The UK competition watchdog said in November that it was looking at remedies offered by the airlines.<br/>

China’s three largest carriers reported a new low for their full-year passenger traffic, a reflection of the impact of country’s long-drawn ‘zero-Covid’ battles. Traffic data from the ‘Big Three’ – comprising Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines – show that in 2022, passenger numbers, capacity and traffic all fell significantly year on year, as well as against pre-pandemic levels. Throughout 2022, China battled multiple waves of coronavirus infections, which, coupled with its hardline zero-infection stance, heavily impacted overall travel demand. Beijing subsequently announced plans in late 2022 to drop most pandemic curbs by the new year, though the move led to to a spike in domestic infections. For the year to 31 December 2022, Air China carried around 38.6m passengers across its network, a 44% decrease year on year. Against pre-pandemic 2019, where Chinese operators benefited robust travel demand, Air China’s passenger numbers plunged about 66%. Traffic, measured in RPKs, fell 42% for the year, while capacity shrank about 37%. As at end-2022, the Beijing-based carrier only operated about 33% pre-pandemic capacity system-wide. Story has details of others. <br/>

A combined 2.7mi passengers flew on Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Scoot in December, marking an 11.7% month-on-month increase. Group passenger traffic and load factors remained robust across all route regions including East Asia, said SIA Group in a bourse filing on Monday. In Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan, the demand for air travel was boosted by the relaxation of travel restrictions. Group passenger capacity was 6.9% higher in December compared to the prior month, reaching 80% of pre-Covid levels. The group recorded its highest monthly passenger load factor in December, with PLF coming in 3.8 percentage points higher month on month at 89.7%. Year on year, PLF improved by 43.2 percentage points. SIA and Scoot posted record monthly PLFs of 89.1% and 91.6%, respectively. The group, however, experienced weaker cargo demand. Cargo operations had a load factor of 54.3%, 24.5 percentage points lower year on year. Loads fell by 18.9% from the year before, while capacity expanded by 17.7% as increased passenger services resulted in higher bellyhold capacity. Scoot resumed flights to Zhengzhou in December, while SIA restarted fortnightly passenger services from Singapore to Beijing on Dec 30. SIA Group’s passenger network covered 111 destinations in 36 countries and territories as at end-December. SIA served 76 destinations, while Scoot served 57 destinations. Loads fell by 18.9% from the year before, while capacity expanded by 17.7% as increased passenger services resulted in higher bellyhold capacity.<br/>

Air India is set to order around 500 planes as an airline industry recovery takes hold following the pandemic, one of the world's leading aircraft lessors said on Monday. "As a result of this recovery, there is now more momentum for large orders from airlines who have sort of sat back and watched the movie, and now they're seeing there's going to be a positive trend," Steven Udvar-Hazy, executive chairman of AirLease Corp (AL.N), told the Airline Economics conference. "We have this 500-aircraft order coming out of India, which is going to be about 400 narrow-body aircraft, probably a mix of (Airbus) A320neos, A321neos and (Boeing) 737 MAXs, and 100 wide-bodies which will include (Boeing) 787s, 777X, potentially some 777 freighters and (Airbus) A350s." The comments are the first public indication of the scale of the planned order after Reuters reported in December that Air India was close to ordering as many as 500 jets as it carves out a renaissance under the Tata Group conglomerate. Industry sources say finalising the proposed deal depends on ongoing negotiations with engine makers. Air India did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Airbus and Boeing had no immediate comment. "We do expect a number of airlines will place large orders and again most of these orders will be for replacement," Udvar-Hazy said.<br/>