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Federal investigators are seeking more information about an incident in which a United Airlines plane dropped to within about 800 feet (250m) of the ocean surface after taking off from Hawaii. United says the pilots are getting additional training. The Boeing 777 dropped more than 1,400 feet (470 meters) before climbing again, according to data from tracking service Flightradar24. The plane then continued on to San Francisco. No injuries were reported. A spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board said Monday that the investigative agency is still seeking information about the Dec. 18 incident, which only recently came to public attention after a report in The Air Current, an aviation-industry publication. The FAA, which oversees airlines, said the United crew reported the incident under a voluntary safety-reporting program. The FAA said it reviewed the incident “and took appropriate action” without providing further details. United said it worked with the FAA and the pilots’ union on an investigation that led to additional training for the two pilots, which is still going on. The airline did not explain why the pilots chose to continue the long, overwater flight to San Francisco instead of returning to Kahului Airport on the island of Maui.<br/>

Airlines have long charged customers more for on-board food, extra baggage and superior legroom. Deutsche Lufthansa AG now wants customers to pay for reducing the environmental impact of flying. Europe’s biggest airline will offer an option of so-called Green Fares to travelers from Wednesday, adding a surcharge to purchase sustainable aviation fuels and carbon offsets. The move marks the latest attempt by a European airline to soothe concerns over the environmental impact of flying, the most-carbon intensive form of travel. “People don’t just want to fly and discover the world - they also want to protect it at the same time,” Lufthansa executive board member for sustainability Christina Foerster said. The new tickets will allow customers to offset their flight emissions with 20% so-called sustainable aviation fuels and 80% in contributions to climate protection projects, Lufthansa said. While the carrier didn’t say how much the new fares would cost but adding the offsets increased the price of a one-way economy fare from London to Frankfurt this week by around 7% to €230 ($245). The surcharge paid by the passenger wouldn’t be used for buying fuel for the selected flight itself, but would be fed in to Lufthansa’s fueling purchase system. Airlines face a challenge charging travelers a bigger share of the potential $2t cost to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. Lufthansa and other carriers already offer customers ways to pay extra for emissions, but that’s only a fraction of the spending. <br/>

German rail operator Deutsche Bahn saw demand for connections between its trains and flights operated by Lufthansa increase 25 percent last year. The increase comes after the railroad and airline expanded their partnership, including more direct trains to the Frankfurt airport, in 2021. “Where aviation and rail cooperate, we record double-digit growth rates,” said Michael Peterson, the head of Deutsche Bahn’s long-distance rail division that includes high-speed ICE trains, on Monday. “Our expanded feeder services to the largest German airport in Frankfurt am Main are part of this success.” While Deutsche Bahn did not release passenger numbers, it said demand for these joint air-rail itineraries — or travelers who book both a flight and train connection on a single ticket — fully recovered from the pandemic by October 2021, and then grew in 2022. The data does not include travelers who bought flight and train tickets separately. Lufthansa has previously said that it sold roughly 575,000 joint air-rail tickets with Deutsche Bahn in 2019. Increasing the use of rail and ground transport over flights is a big push in Europe’s efforts to cut carbon emissions. France has banned short flights on routes where trains can make the journey in two-and-a-half-hours or less, while airlines and rail operators in Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland have all unveiled expanded partnerships in recent years. Deutsche Bahn, which has partnered with Lufthansa since the 1980s, even plans to join the global airline confab, Star Alliance, as its first intermodal partner. However, major challenges remain, many related to the passenger experience and physical infrastructure. <br/>

Air India has resumed non-stops services between Mumbai and New York John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport, as reports suggest a major order is pending. The JFK service was stopped in early 2019, and its resumption on a daily basis gives Air India three non-stop routes to the USA from Mumbai, says the carrier. Air India also operates non-stop from Mumbai to Newark and San Francisco. The service will be operated with Boeing 777-200LRs. Overall, Air India now has 47 non-stops per week to the USA, including services from Delhi to Chicago, New York, Newark, and Washington DC. In addition to Mumbai, San Francisco is also served from Delhi and Bengaluru. “A key element of Air India’s Vihaan.AI transformation is considerably improving connectivity between India’s major cities and major global destinations,” says chief executive Campbell Wilson. “Adding this new service from Mumbai to New York JFK, following December’s launch of non-stop flights from Mumbai to San Francisco, affirms our commitment to develop a major international hub in India’s commercial capital. With the opening of this route, Air India will offer 47 nonstop flights available each week between India and the United States, with a further 14 serving Canada every week.” Separately, recent media reports have suggested that Air India is on the verge of placing a major order with Airbus and Boeing. In January, Wilson himself said that the airline was finalising a “historic” order. Reuters recently reported that the order comprises 210 A320neos and 40 A350s, in addition to 190 737 Max jets, 20 787s, and 10 777Xs. If an order is indeed imminent, it is possible that it could be announced at the Aero India Airshow, which is taking place in Bengaluru this week.<br/>

Boeing is intensifying investment in India to support airlines and streamline logistics, as the US planemaker gears up for a giant plane order from Air India widely expected to be announced soon. The US manufacturer will invest 2b rupees ($24m) in a logistics park and separately set up a support center for airlines near New Delhi, Boeing India President Salil Gupta said in an interview on Monday at the Aero India show in Bangalore. Initially, the logistics center will cater to airlines locally and later support Boeing’s larger network of customers in the region. The support center, with dozens of employees, will run technical workshops to boost aircraft performance and work with carriers alongside regulators on airworthiness and air traffic management. “India is one of the most competitive aviation and airline markets in the world and we want to ensure that our airline customers here have the latest methodologies, technical capabilities to be able to compete not just within India but globally because many of them will be competing with the international markets,” Gupta said. The world’s fastest-growing aviation market will require stronger service network, with Boeing estimating the Indian commercial fleet could nearly quadruple by 2041 from 2019. The planemaker has secured about 290 possible orders from Air India, with 190 737 Max aircraft and the option for 50 more, as well as 20 787 Dreamliners and the same number as a possible top-up, alongside 10 777x aircraft, Bloomberg News reported last week.<br/>

Air New Zealand said it intends to resume flight services from mid-afternoon on Tuesday, after a total of 592 flights had been impacted by cyclone Gabrielle. Air New Zealand said it intends to start with resuming turboprop operations, but warned that strong high winds may pose some challenges. In a separate statement the airline said it has canceled all domestic flights in and out of Auckland for the remainder of Tuesday. "The strength and direction of winds at Auckland Airport are making it challenging to service aircraft, and it would be unsafe for our people to continue to operate in these conditions," Air NZ said. Cyclone Gabrielle is the second significant weather event to hit Auckland and the upper North Island in just a few weeks. Last month Auckland and surrounding areas were hit by record rainfall that sparked floods and killed four people.<br/>