Emirates President Tim Clark called for the airline industry to “do better” and put more money towards the development of sustainable aviation fuels as part of the global push to decarbonize commercial aviation. “If we rely on government, if we rely on other entities to do things, we may be waiting a long time,” Clark said at the IATA Annual General Meeting in Istanbul Tuesday. “We can’t wait that long. We’ve got to do better than that.” Sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, represents the biggest lever toward meeting the airline industry’s goal of net-zero carbon emissions by the middle of the century. The fuels, which must generate at least half as many lifecycle emissions as their fossil fuel counterparts, are often made from things like trash or biomass. They are to drive 65% of the reductions with the balance coming from new technology — like electric or hydrogen aircraft — carbon capture, and efficiency improvements. The problem is SAF production stood at just roughly 79m gallons last year, or “virtually nothing” in the words of IATA Chief Economist Marie Owens Thomsen. “There is not enough supply of SAF in the world today,” ANA President and CEO Shinichi Inoue said in Istanbul. The lack of supply, and seemingly insatiable demand from airlines, drives the 4-5 times price premium that carriers pay for SAF over standard jet fuel.<br/>
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The Pakistani government plans to divide PIA - Pakistan International Airlines into two entities, one administrative and the other operational, in an effort to ease the severe financial condition of the state-owned carrier, the country’s transport minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said at a news conference in Lahore on June 4. PIA cannot continue in its current form and changes are needed to improve its operations, he said. He did not elaborate on which parts of the company would be placed where, or whether the proposed move was an extension of earlier plans to restructure the heavily loss-making airline or to sell segments of the carrier. However, he did speak about the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, New York, which closed in October 2020 following huge losses and is owned by the airline through its investment arm PIA-Investment Limited. The hotel has been given on lease for three years to the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, he announced. “The Roosevelt Hotel is an asset of Pakistan in America. We have given it and its 1,250 rooms on lease for a period of three years, and Pakistan will earn US$220m through this lease. We have now utilised this precious asset to generate money,” he said, as quoted by the news channel ARY News and other outlets.<br/>
Air Premia plans to drum up capital with two rights offerings this year and double the size of its widebody fleet by 2025, its CE Yoo Myung-Seop has told the Korea Economic Daily (Hankyung) in an interview. The company then aims to go public by 2026 to further fund growth to 20 aircraft by 2030, he added. Yoo took over as CEO in November 2021 after working for 26 years at Korean Air and for six years at the country’s biggest budget carrier by fleet size, Jeju Air, mainly focusing on sales and marketing. “Through two paid-in capital increases this year we will increase the number of large aircraft to nine by 2025. We plan to list on the stock market in three years and operate a total of 20 units by 2030,” he told the newspaper on June 4. Air Premia currently operates four active B787-9s and took delivery of its fifth of the type in late May. It deploys them on six long-haul routes with a total of 25 weekly frequencies, linking Seoul with Los Angeles International, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, Tokyo Narita, Ho Chi Minh City, Oslo Gardermoen, and since May 22, Newark, according to ch-aviation capacities data. Frankfurt International will start on June 27, and it has also scheduled charter flights this summer to Barcelona El Prat and Dhaka.<br/>
At least four new airlines are preparing to enter the Thai aviation industry, expecting to capitalize on rising demand from a tourism sector that has been booming since the lifting of COVID-related restrictions. Their debuts are expected to stir up competition in the kingdom's aviation market, adding further challenges to industry players already struggling with higher oil prices and other operating costs. Really Cool Airlines is expected to be the first to start operations, starting in December with Airbus A330 and A350 aircraft. It is now in the process of obtaining an air operation license. Patee Sarasin, a former CEO of budget airline Nok Air, owns 51% of Really Cool Airlines. Patee in 2017 stepped down as Nok Air's CEO after helming the company for about 14 years. He had been under mounting pressure at the cash-strapped carrier. Landarch Airlines is expected to start in Q1 2024 with 12-seat propeller planes, targeting clients flying between major cities and beach towns in the south. P80 Air, which is 99% owned by Thoresen Thai Agencies, a leading shipping operator, plans to launch with Boeing 737-800s, focusing on routes to several cities in China. Siam Seaplane plans to operate eight-seaters on routes to famous beach towns such as Hua Hin, Pattaya and southern islands. "This year would be a golden period for the aviation business to rebound after being hit by the pandemic over the past two years," said an analyst at Krungsri Research, adding that around 93% of the demand for air transportation is from tourism. Before the pandemic, Thailand welcomed more than 80m tourists and business travelers in 2019. The number dropped to only 20m in 2021 due to restrictions on air travel worldwide. Thai Airways, Thailand's national carrier, had already been struggling to survive long before the pandemic, due largely to higher costs and inefficient business plans that caused accumulative losses starting in 2013. The pandemic worsened its performance and forced it to undergo bankruptcy court-supervised restructuring in 2020.<br/>
Budget carrier AirAsia has announced that it will be flying from Penang to Hong Kong starting Aug 10, 2023. This route marks the airline’s seventh direct international route from Penang and is set to further boost regional inbound tourism to the state, bolstering an already thriving state tourism industry. AirAsia said the three weekly flights would add to a total of 217 flights weekly from Penang to both domestic and international destinations. AirAsia Malaysia CEO Riad Asmat said the carrier was excited to reconnect Penang to Hong Kong after launching it for the first time in 2009 where they established Penang as a hub at the same time. “We are also thrilled to be the only low-cost carrier connecting both islands directly, providing more value and greater accessibility to our guests. This is an exciting historical route for AirAsia and we anticipate a remarkable response from both leisure and business travellers alike. AirAsia Group has the largest international connectivity from Penang with a market share of 40%. This expansion not only strengthens AirAsia's foothold beyond Asean but also reinforces our commitment to fostering economic growth through tourism. We look forward to working closely with the state government to support the tourism industry and stimulate air travel to the Pearl of the Orient,” he said.<br/>