Mexican low-cost airline Viva Aerobus has agreed to purchase 1m liters of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from Finland's Neste, the companies said on Monday. The fuel will be used on Viva Aerobus flights from Los Angeles to Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey, the companies said. The deal is "one of the most significant purchases (of SAF) from a Latin American airline," Neste US President Chris Cooper told Reuters. The contract's value was not disclosed. SAF is made from feedstocks such as animal waste and crop residues, and is more expensive than conventional fuel but considered key in reducing carbon emissions from air travel. Rival Aeromexico has flown a handful of flights using SAF, while another Mexican competitor, Volaris, has said it is exploring sustainable fuel options. "It's something we're actively working on," Volaris executive Dionisio Perez-Jacome told Reuters this month. Viva Aerobus and Neste said a blend using around 35% SAF mixed with conventional jet fuel would power the flights, which are expected to take off in the second half of the year.<br/>
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Following the 2019 approval of the merger of two airlines that serve Canada’s northern communities, First Air and Canadian North, the federal government on April 21, 2023, announced new terms and conditions of the merger. First Air and Canadian North — respectively owned by Makivik Corporation and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation — said the reason for the merger stemmed from “the highly inefficient status quo of two airlines operating overlapping flight schedules with aircraft capacity that has far exceeded demand on most routes.” The airlines noted that this led to “higher airfares and cargo rates,” and hindered any investments in improving their operations. When the airline merger was first approved, it was subject to terms and conditions that were intended to protect the public interest, as there were concerns about decreased competition and reduced air services in the communities in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories that relied on the airlines. Those terms and conditions included: No price increases for both passenger travel and cargo delivery beyond those related to operating costs; no reductions to the weekly schedule options on all routes of the airlines’ combined network; and access to northern infrastructure (facilities and equipment) for new airlines entering the market, among others. Story has more.<br/>
Budget carriers Norwegian and Wizz Air are each undertaking investments in sustainable fuel, through individual projects. Norwegian is embarking on a partnership with Norsk e-Fuel to build a full-scale sustainable fuel plant in Mosjoen. Under the agreement, which has yet to be finalised, the carrier aims for long-term offtake of the fuel and an equity stake in the company. The carrier plans to secure 20% of its sustainable fuel demand to 2030 through the partnership. It will invest NKr50m ($4.7m) to acquire the minority stake. CE Gier Karlsen says the pact is a “landmark agreement” and a “milestone” for aviation in the Nordic state. “Our sector contributes to great value creation, both socially and economically, and we commit to significantly reducing our climate impact as we take advantage of technological advances within aviation fuel,” he says. “E-fuels can become a gamechanger for aviation.” The Mosjoen plant will, under the plan, start producing e-fuel from around 2026. E-fuels are synthetic fuels produced with ‘green’ hydrogen, from sustainable electricity sources and captured carbon dioxide. “Ultimately, e-fuels will be able to compete with and replace fossil fuels, says Karlsen. “Time is crucial and we are very eager to get started.” Central European budget airline Wizz Air is also investing GBP5m ($6.2m) in a biofuel company, Firefly, in order to obtain sustainable fuel for its UK operation from 2028. The equity investment is the carrier’s first in sustainable fuel research. Wizz says the agreement will result in its UK operation being supplied with up to 525,000t of fuel over the course of 15 years. <br/>
A flydubai flight from Kathmandu to Dubai experienced a bird strike during takeoff but returned to the United Arab Emirates, the company said on Monday. "Our experienced flight crew followed standard operating procedure and continued the onward journey after determining that the engine was within normal operating parameters," a spokesperson for the UAE company said. Jagannath Niroula, spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, said in a statement to Reuters that an engine caught fire shortly after takeoff from Kathmandu. The fire on flydubai flight 576 was under control and the Boeing 737-800 plane had 167 passengers on board, the Civil Aviation Authority said. Flydubai said the aircraft landed normally in Dubai just after midnight local time and that further inspection would be conducted.<br/>
Central Airlines has filed an application with the US Department of Transportation to begin operating cargo and mail flights between China and the United States in November 2023. The airline says it initially wants to fly a B777-F between Shenzhen and an unspecified airport in the New York area six times a week. The service would be the privately owned airline's first scheduled services to North America. Central Airlines' single B777F primarily flies to Paris CDG and Riyadh, while its five B737-300(F)s and four B737-800(BCF)s service ports within China as well as around Asia. In its filing, Central Airlines says it intends to induct a second B777 in August this year. Beyond New York, the Central Airlines application states that it wants permission to operate flights from "a point or points in the People's Republic of China to any point or points in the United States open to scheduled international service." It says the application is fully consistent with the air services agreement China and the US that was signed in 1980. "Central Airlines’ proposed service would benefit shippers in both the United States and China by providing new scheduled service and would serve the public interest," the application reads.<br/>
One of the best-known names in global aviation is preparing to step back from the front lines. Tony Fernandes, the larger-than-life character credited with revolutionizing budget air travel in Asia, plans to focus more on areas such as health, education and private equity. The 58-year-old Malaysian would be moving on as the industry emerges from Covid. Like other carriers, AirAsia, the group Fernandes founded, was floored by the pandemic. It’s no longer quite the empire it once was, having closed down ventures in Japan and India, but still operates airlines out of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, and plans a Cambodia launch. “Good leadership is to know when to go,” Fernandes said in a recent interview in Singapore. “Aviation as my journey might be coming to an end. I’ve got to talk about succession planning. Exactly when I press the button, I don’t know, but I want to talk about it because I want to attract the right leaders.” Fernandes, who grew up in Malaysia and the UK, dived into airlines in his mid-thirties, buying AirAsia from a government-owned conglomerate in September 2001 for a solitary Malaysian ringgit, about 30 US cents at the time. After starting out with just two planes, AirAsia rebranded as a low-cost, no-frills carrier in January 2002, offering flights in Malaysia for as little as $3, and in some promotional cases even for free. By early 2004, it was flying from Kuala Lumpur to a handful of international destinations and soon established regional carriers like AirAsia Thailand. With the motto “Now Everyone Can Fly,” AirAsia’s red and white planes became a popular choice for jetting to places such as Bangkok, Singapore, Jakarta and Phnom Penh. The cheap tickets helped supercharge a boom in flying in the region, feeding the needs of a growing middle class wanting to travel and cutting out long boat journeys between thousands of islands. <br/>