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Pilots at Panama's Copa Airlines (CPA.N) called off a planned strike Thursday morning after reaching a deal with the company aimed at recovering purchasing power, the Panamanian Commercial Aviators Union (UNPAC) said. The pilots union last month said it would launch the strike on Feb. 2 after an impasse, despite talks that had begun in October over new contracts. The group said the deal, reached hours before the pilots were slated to walk out, includes benefits and other measures that will allow pilots to recoup purchasing power losses sustained during the pandemic. Panama's labor ministry mediated talks between the airline and the union, and said the agreement "promotes the peaceful labor climate the country needs for its economic recovery." UNPAC's negotiating committee in a statement called the talks "complex." It said the deal offered "a fair and sustainable collective agreement with better working and salary conditions," including benefits for pregnant pilots and pay hikes for Sunday and holiday shifts.<br/>

Lufthansa and VARO Energy have signed a memorandum of understanding on the production and supply of sustainable aviation fuel, Germany's flagship carrier said in a statement on Thursday. Under the agreement, VARO is to supply the Lufthansa Group with large volumes of fuel produced without the use of fossil energy sources from as early as 2026, the airline added. In September, Lufthansa signed another deal to secure sustainable aviation fuel from Austria's OMV last September, extending to 2030.<br/>

With fewer business travelers in the skies, Lufthansa is now allowing passengers to bid for an upgraded seat during a live auction. The German airline is testing its “Bidboost” initiative on international flights to begin with, between Newark, JFK and Miami airports in the U.S. to Munch and Frankfurt in Germany. It works by the passenger telling Lufthansa what he or she is willing to pay, right up until boarding begins. It differs from similar schemes like Plusgrade which offers bids during the reservation window until three days before departure. It has tapped startup SeatBoost to power the auctions, which claims airlines can’t lose because the bidding process closes just before the departure. The argument is that any sales are extra ancillary revenue compared to letting the plane take off with the seat empty. “Our pricing often starts at 50% of the airline’s upgrade rate. It’s really aggressively priced, because it’s going to go for zero,” said CEO Kevin Stamler. It’s the first major airline deal for SeatBoost since it began with TAP Air Portugal. A partnership struck in December 2019 generated $1.5m in its first 90 days, the company said, before the pandemic struck. Prior to that it worked with Virgin America in 2016.<br/>

Turkish Airlines has signalled its intent to add two ultra-high-density Boeing 777-300ERs to its fleet as part of a wet-lease deal with codeshare partner IndiGo. IndiGo began services with a wet-leased Turkish Airlines 777-300ER – featuring a standard cabin – on 1 February, marking the Indian low-cost carrier’s first foray into widebody operations. The wet-lease deal will last for one year, with the first aircraft operating on the Istanbul-Delhi route that both carriers already serve. The initial airframe – TC-LKA – is a 12-year-old General Electric GE90-powered example that was originally operated by Kenya Airways but transferred to Turkish Airlines in 2016 through lessor CDB Aviation. It features 28 business-class and 372 economy-class seats. But Turkish Airlines says that aircraft will later be replaced by one of two ultra-high-density 777-300ERs that will be joining its fleet. They will feature seven seats in business class and 524 in the economy cabin. The second ultra-high-density 777-300ER will operate the Istanbul-Mumbai route for IndiGo, as part of the same wet-lease deal. According to Cirium fleets data, only four 777-300ERs exist with that ultra-high-density configuration. All of them are in storage, having previously flown for Russian carrier Azur Air and its sister company Azur Air Ukraine. Two are owned by Aercap, one by Air Lease and one by Castlelake. Turkish Airlines has not confirmed from where it will source the aircraft.<br/>

Zagreb Airport is estimating an increase in passenger numbers throughout 2023, noting its traffic figures are already growing above the European industry average. The forecast comes despite the airport still lacking a single new route announcement for 2023. However, this is expected to change in the coming period. Furthermore, frequencies on several existing routes will be strengthened this summer, with Finnair resuming seasonal flights from Helsinki in April, boosting its presence by operating for the entire summer, while Lufthansa will add an additional daily service from Munich for a total of two daily flights from March 26. The German carrier will also boost capacity to the Croatian capital from both Munich and Frankfurt. Greece’s Aegean Airlines will add a third weekly rotation from Athens to Zagreb starting mid-June, up from two last summer. The carrier has also tentatively upgraded the service to year-round flights, although this is subject to change. Qatar Airways plans to increase its frequencies from Doha to daily from late March, while El Al’s leisure brand Sun d’Ór will maintain two weekly services instead of one, with the additional rotation to be introduced from late April. Furthermore, Ryanair plans to run services to all destinations within in its Zagreb network, in contrast to last summer, when it faced significant operational issues, forcing it to suspend a select number of routes and decrease frequencies on others. Croatia Airlines does not plan to introduce new destinations from its Zagreb hub this summer for a third year in a row, despite being the airport’s biggest customer The airline has opted instead to roll out new seasonal flights from the country’s coastal airports. “The business relationship we have with Zagreb Airport, our home airport, reflects our traffic volume, and related commercial conditions”, the Croatian carrier said recently. <br/>

Japan's two biggest airlines expect to benefit unequally from the country's recovery in domestic travel, though both have high hopes for the return of Chinese tourists. ANA Holdings, the country's largest airline by revenue, raised its earnings forecast for the year through March to 1.71t yen ($13.2b) in revenue and 60b yen in net profit, compared with the 1.7t yen and 40b yen it had previously forecast. "The largest cause of our good performance is the robust recovery of travel demand," Kimihiro Nakahori, chief financial officer of ANA, told reporters on Thursday, after it reported its Q3 results. The airline was buoyed by government-led domestic travel subsidy campaigns that began in October and January and by the resumption of visa-free entry for foreign travelers in October. In the nine months through December, its domestic and international flight sales jumped 89.9% and 501.9% on the year, respectively. "Our focus had been on managing costs, but we are starting to think about how we can expand our top line from now on," Nakahori said. "We will pursue further recovery." Japan Airlines, on the other hand, revised down its full-year earnings forecast on the same day. JAL now expects its revenue for this fiscal year to hit 1.35t yen and net profit to be 25b yen, compared with the previous forecast of 1.4t yen and 45b yen. JAL said lower-than-expected performance in the domestic flight segment was a major cause for the revision. Its sales in that segment for April-December were up around 93% on the year. "We feel sorry [for the revision]," said Hideki Kikuyama, representative director at JAL. Domestic bookings for January and February were around 20% lower than the company had expected. The number of passengers is expected to return to 95% of JAL's forecast in March, he added.<br/>