International Airlines Group, the owner of British Airways, has returned to annual profit for the first time since the start of the pandemic but warned a surge in demand for flying could lead to more disruption at Heathrow airport. IAG on Friday put two years and €10bn of losses behind it as the group reported an operating profit of E1.3b for 2022, following a E2.8b loss in 2021. The Anglo-Spanish company, which is also home to carriers including Iberia and Aer Lingus, forecast profits this year will climb to between E1.8b and E2.3b. But IAG CE Luis Gallego warned the travel recovery could be marred by more disruption at London’s Heathrow airport this summer. “We are worried about Heathrow. We have very strong demand and we hope that Heathrow is going to put in the resources necessary for the capacity we are going to fly,” he said. Gallego and BA boss Sean Doyle said they were concerned that Heathrow’s passenger forecasts could underestimate demand this summer, and called on all companies working at the airport to ensure they were properly resourced. No senior aviation bosses anticipate disruption on the scale seen last year, but there are worries about resourcing at peak periods in hub airports. Heathrow CE John Holland-Kaye has said he expects to avoid major disruption, and that staff numbers across the airport will be above 2019 levels by the peak of the summer. IAG is the latest leading global airline to enjoy a notable revival in its fortunes, as consumers’ appetite for travel rebounds following the end of most of the restrictions introduced to control the Covid-19 pandemic. Like many of its rivals, Gallego said IAG had reported “robust” bookings for travel this year, while business travel was “steadily improving”. But Gallego added that he “remained conscious of global macroeconomic uncertainties”.<br/>
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It was meant to be a two-hour domestic flight for 335 passengers on a Japan Airlines (JAL) plane. But their journey from Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport became a 16-hour ordeal after the plane was turned away by Fukuoka International Airport for missing its landing time by 10 minutes. Tokyo and Fukuoka are on opposite sides of the country and are more than 885km apart. On Feb 19, Flight JL 331 was scheduled to leave at 6.30pm local time from Tokyo and land at its destination at 8.30pm on the same day. The plane took off at 8.18pm, according to Flightradar24. However, some news outlets such as the BBC and Bloomberg reported that the aircraft was delayed for 90 minutes due to a plane switch. Local paper The Asahi Shimbun said JAL is investigating why the take-off was delayed. The plane was minutes away from landing at Fukuoka airport when it was turned away for missing the airport’s 10pm cut-off time. Planes are prohibited from landing after 10pm due to noise concerns for residents living in the area, The Asahi Shimbun reported, which quoted Fukuoka airport officials. On that morning, strong winds at Haneda airport resulted in other flights being delayed. Flight data also showed that other flights were allowed to land past the cut-off time, said the BBC. JL 331 was the only flight that was rejected at Fukuoka, Bloomberg reported. Planes might be allowed to land after 10pm when the delay is unavoidable, such as due to bad weather or congestion on runways, said the officials. However, they did not regard JL 331’s flight delay as unavoidable, The Asahi Shimbun reported. The BBC reported that the plane had to circle in the air until it found an airport that allowed it to land. Story has more.<br/>
Airbus SE and Qantas Airways Ltd plan to announce the first investment from a $200 million fund to develop a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) industry in Australia within about a month, an Airbus executive said on Monday. The companies established the fund last year after Qantas set a target of using 10% SAF in its fuel mix by 2030 and placed a multibillion-dollar order for Airbus narrowbody and widebody planes. Australia lacks an SAF industry, meaning Qantas' purchases of the fuel are made at overseas airports. Stephen Forshaw, Airbus' chief representative for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, said the manufacturer and Qantas were meeting weekly to discuss $1m-plus investments in early stage SAF projects in Australia. "The first investment has been made but not fully closed yet," he said in an interview ahead of the Australia International Airshow, which begins on Tuesday. "We've both agreed to it, and I think we'll make some announcements probably in the next month or so around the completion of that." Qantas declined to comment. Forshaw said most of the investments being considered involved seed funding, where the partners might take a minority equity stake. "Some of them may be even earlier than Series A. What it may do is provide us with the opportunity or right of first refusal to go in at Series A or Series B or beyond," he said. "And then the pace will determine whether we want to do that or whether we see it is time to open it up to other investors." He declined to say what type of project was planned for the first investment but said that in the longer term, Australia had lots of potential to use solar power for projects that would help meet demand given limited feedstock available from sources like oils and fats.<br/>
Qantas has revealed designs of first- and business-class cabins for its “Project Sunrise” — direct services from Sydney to New York and London that will be the world’s longest non-stop flights. The airline announced its plans for the flights in 2017. They were put on hold in 2020 in response to the pandemic, but in May 2022 Qantas confirmed its order for 12 Airbus A350-1000 aircraft to operate the route, with chief executive Alan Joyce calling the plan “the final fix for the tyranny of distance that has traditionally challenged travel to Australia”. The first flights are now scheduled for late 2025. The services, due to take between 19 and 20 hours, will carry a maximum of 238 passengers, rather than the 300-plus that is typical for the aircraft type. Qantas’s A350-1000s will have 52 seats in business class, six in first, 40 in premium economy and just 140 in economy. The first-class “suites” have been designed like “a mini boutique hotel room”, says the airline, and will feature a fixed bed besides a separate reclining chair, a wardrobe, 32in television and dining table for two. Business seats will have a two-metre-long flat bed, leather ottoman and dining table, and there will be free WiFi throughout the plane. Details of a “wellbeing zone” for all passengers have yet to be announced, but on a trial flight from New York to Sydney carried out on a Boeing 787-9 in 2019, passengers were encouraged to do onboard exercises — including dancing the Macarena. At about 11,000 miles for the Sydney-London flight, and 10,000 miles for Sydney-New York, the routes will pip the current longest flights: Singapore Airlines’ service between New York and Singapore (at about 9,500 miles and just under 19 hours) and Qantas’s own Perth to London flights (about 9,000 miles and 17 and a half hours). <br/>