US aviation regulators are forecasting nearly 313,000 flights over the seven-day Memorial Day holiday period, up 4.5% from 2022 and just below 2019 pre-pandemic levels. The FAA said the traditional seven-day kickoff to the busy US summer travel season will surpass the 299,500 flights flown in the same period in 2022 but will not match the 321,000 flights in the same period in 2019. On Wednesday, Delta estimated it will fly 2.8m passengers for the upcoming Memorial Day holiday period, up 17% from 2022. On Tuesday, United Airlines said it was planning for its busiest Memorial Day holiday in more than a decade, forecasting nearly 2.9m passengers between May 25 and May 30. American Airlines said it will fly 26,637 flights over the Memorial Day period and carry 2.9m passengers. Last year, airlines had a rough Memorial Day weekend compounded by bad weather, cancelling more than 2,500 flights over a four-day period. The FAA in March agreed to requests by Delta and United to temporarily return up to 10% of slots and flight timings this summer at congested New York area airports and Washington National, citing air traffic controller shortages. Some airlines are operating larger planes to compensate for fewer flights, a move that the FAA said gives airlines "the ability to reduce operations during the peak summer travel period, which are likely to be exacerbated by the effects of Air Traffic Controller staffing shortfalls." The FAA said its staffing at the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control remain below targets. Last summer, there were 41,498 flights from New York airports where air traffic control staffing was a contributing factor in delays.<br/>
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Boeing said on Wednesday it is rolling out a data modeling tool aimed at helping airlines and policymakers determine the quickest, most efficient path to reducing aviation emissions to zero by 2050. The tool, known as Cascade, allows users to adjust different variables – such as the use of sustainable fuels or electric propulsion, the replacement of older-model aircraft, operational improvements and other advanced technologies – to better understand how those factors could result in decreases to carbon emissions over time. Boeing unveiled a beta version of Cascade in July 2022 but it was not publicly available. Over the past year, the model has been improved so that users can project data out to 2050 instead of visualizing only a single point in time, the company said. Boeing officials believe it will take a "collection" of technology or process changes to move the needle on emissions, Boeing Chief Sustainability Officer Chris Raymond said on Wednesday during an event hosted by the US planemaker and attended by airline and government officials. But Raymond added that sustainable aviation fuel provides the most immediate pathway for the aviation sector to cut its carbon footprint, as it can immediately be used by airlines while advances in electric or hydrogen-powered aircraft may not be mature enough to meaningfully reduce emissions ahead of 2050. The public launch of Cascade comes just days after US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg met with counterparts from Canada, the United Kingdom and Singapore at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to discuss investments in sustainable aviation fuel. On Tuesday, Reuters reported that European Union countries are set to finalize SAF targets for airports despite some pushback from airlines.<br/>
A group of countries including France has delayed at the eleventh hour the approval of new EU renewable energy targets, according to diplomatic sources familiar with the matter. Diplomats from EU countries had been scheduled to approve the law on Wednesday after negotiators from EU countries and the European Parliament agreed what was supposed to be a final deal on it earlier this year. The law would raise the EU’s share of renewable energy in its overall consumption to at least 42.5% by 2030. The countries’ review of the final draft on Wednesday was meant to be a formality. But countries including France, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic signalled this week that they would either oppose the law, or did not make clear their support for it, the sources said. A French official said the country was concerned the rules would make it impossible to count low-carbon hydrogen produced from nuclear electricity towards the targets to use renewable fuels in industry. The objecting countries together have enough votes to block the law - forcing Sweden, which holds the EU’s rotating, to delay the discussion. Negotiations on the renewables law were tense earlier this year as pro-nuclear countries wanted nuclear-based hydrogen to be included. Nuclear energy does not produce planet-heating CO2 emissions and those countries say the EU should better support its contribution to climate goals. Countries including Denmark and Austria disagreed, arguing the targets’ purpose was to drive the major expansion needed of renewable energy sources like wind and solar. Diplomats said some countries had other concerns - including that the targets were simply too high, or over how the text handles ammonia, used as a fertilizer, and largely produced from natural gas-based hydrogen.<br/>
Two German unions and an aviation security association negotiating on behalf of 25,000 workers have reached an agreement on pay and management allowances, capping off a series of strikes in Germany amid a cost of living crisis. The BDLS aviation security association said on Wednesday that the agreement with the Verdi and German Civil Service Federation (dbb) unions included additional pay for night shifts, Sundays and public holidays, as well as new allowances for executives. "The agreement poses major challenges for the employers' side and will not be easy to implement in economic terms," the association said in a statement. High inflation in Europe's largest economy has prompted a wave of strikes in recent months as workers demand higher pay to offset the rising cost of living. In April, strikes by aviation security workers at four German airports caused disruptions for tens of thousands of travellers.<br/>
To many, Thomas Flohr is a genius who took one look at the private jet industry and thought he could do better. A self-described “asset finance guy”, he started as a first-time jet owner trying to “sweat the asset” and VistaJet was born. Nineteen years later, with hundreds of aircraft, the 63-year-old is an aviation superstar taking on the market leader, Berkshire Hathaway’s NetJets, through audacious dealmaking and bold investment. The question mark hanging over the Swiss entrepreneur’s strategy is whether Vista can turn a profit and support the debt he used to build it. Net losses amounted to $436mn over the past four years, according to company disclosures to bond investors. Total debt more than doubled last year to $4.4b as Vista’s fleet increased by half to 360 jets, helped by the acquisitions of Air Hamburg, Europe’s largest charter operator, and US-based Jet Edge. It has also spent billions of dollars on top-of-the-line planes from Bombardier, deliveries that were essential to the Canadian manufacturer through years of government-backed restructuring. Vista’s pitch to customers of its so-called Jet Card is a superior experience, without the inconvenience or expense of maintaining a luxury asset that spends most of its life on the ground. “We’re able to sell a guaranteed-availability model,” Flohr told the Financial Times at his Mayfair sales office, adding that the 365-days-a-year coverage “is better than aircraft ownership”. Vista’s fleet is scattered around the globe like an elite taxi service ready to pick up the next fare. With as little as 24 hours’ notice, customers can travel in one of the Dubai-based company’s 18 Bombardier Global 7500s, the world’s fastest business jet able to fly nonstop from Hong Kong to New York. Subscription sales have supported cash flows. At the end of 2022, customers had paid a total of $831m up front for hours yet to be flown, but Vista had only $134m cash left in the bank, according to company disclosures. Story has more.<br/>
Pilots of FedEx Corp's air delivery unit on Wednesday voted "overwhelmingly" in favor of a strike if needed, the Air Line Pilots Association said as it enters the final stages of a contract negotiation with the company. With aviators in short supply and air travel demand booming, pilots are enjoying enhanced bargaining power, encouraging them to push for better contracts with airlines and parcel firms. More than 97% of the union members took part in the vote and 99% of them authorized union leaders to call a strike, if needed, by the pilots of FedEx Express. "We are still in productive negotiations with our pilots under the supervision of a government-appointed mediator and will return to the bargaining table next week," FedEx said. The union said the industry standard for pilot pay has significantly increased with agreements ratified over the past few months. Delta had in December raised the bar by offering a 34% cumulative pay increase. "The ball is in the management's court, and it's time for the company to get serious at the bargaining table and invest in our pilots," said Chris Norman, chair of the FedEx ALPA master executive council. Pilots' union at Southwest too had recently backed a strike mandate ahead of the busy summer travel season. Under the US law, pilots cannot walk off the job until the National Mediation Board grants them permission. The board must first decide that additional mediation efforts would not be productive and offer the parties an opportunity to arbitrate.<br/>