EU lawmakers approved Wednesday new rules requiring airlines to use more sustainable fuels across the bloc in a bid to help decarbonize the sector. Under the new standards adopted during a European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg, France, 2% of jet fuel must be sustainable as of 2025, with this share increasing every five years to reach 70% by 2050. The Parliament said that sustainable fuels will include “synthetic fuels, certain biofuels produced from agricultural or forestry residues, algae, bio-waste, used cooking oil or certain animal fats.” Recycled jet fuels produced from waste gases and waste plastic, as well as renewable hydrogen, will be considered green, while food crop-based fuels and fuels derived from palm and soy materials won’t. The aviation sector accounts for 13.9% of transportation emissions in the EU, making it the second biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the sector after road transport, the European Commission said. If global aviation were a country, it would rank in the top 10 emitters. The legislation is part of the EU ’s “Fit for 55” package, which sets a goal of cutting emissions of the gases that cause global warming by at least 55% by 2030. The EU has also set a goal of reaching climate neutrality by 2050. It says it needs to cut transport emissions by 90% compared to 1990 levels to achieve this.<br/>
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An airport's plan to increase its flight limit by 40% is a "slap in the face" for the Earth's climate, environmental campaigners have said. Farnborough Airport aims to move from up to 50,000 flights a year to 70,000. The Hampshire airfield, which mainly serves private jets, said it needed to expand to meet demand by the year 2040. However, aviation campaign group Safe Landing said "polluting private jets catering to a handful of wealthy super-emitters" should be curtailed. The group said the airport should move its business towards "more sustainable low-carbon flying for the masses", involving cleaner fuels and larger planes. Rushmoor Borough Council, which has previously declared a climate emergency, said it expected to receive the airport's planning application towards the end of the year. Alton Climate Action Network said private jets produced more greenhouse gas emissions than any other mode of transport. In a submission to the airport's forthcoming public consultation, the charity said: "On average, at Farnborough Airport, there are only 2.5 passengers per plane and 40% of aircraft fly empty." Councillor Jules Crossley, who represents Friends of the Earth on the Farnborough Aerodrome Consultative Committee, said there should be no expansion until technology improves. She said: "In 10 to 15 years, we will have noiseless and emission-free aircraft and then we can fly as much as we want." She said the airport's plans would make a "huge difference" to residents who are already "flown over constantly".<br/>
Incheon International Airport Corp., the operator of Incheon International Airport, seeks to recover the rate of Chinese air passengers to 90% of pre-pandemic levels by 2024. "The airport is seeing a continuous recovery in travel demands, reaching a total of 35m international passengers by August, which is a 73.3% recovery from the pre-COVID levels … With China's lifting of group tour bans in August, we expect to see further recovery in inbound tourism," Kim Chang-kyu, executive director of IIAC's Public Relations Group, said during a media briefing in Incheon. The outlook comes as the airport saw a mere 23% post-pandemic recovery in the number of passengers from China, which took the airport's largest portion of 19.1% before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019. The figure is significantly lower than those of the Americas (99%), Japan (85%) and Southeast Asia (83%), Kim said. As Chinese demand for travel to Korea grows, that of neighboring Japan is stagnating following growing negative sentiment over the release of radioactive wastewater from Fukushima's crippled nuclear power plant. IIAC thus plans to target marketing activities to those aged in their 20s and 30s, which account for the largest portion of Chinese tourists visiting Korea. The IIAC plans to collaborate with regional tourism organizations to invite Chinese passengers to K-pop concerts in September and run promotional events on social media in association with airlines, duty-free stores and China's online travel agencies to attract young travelers. In November, the company will also participate in China International Travel Mart (CITM), which is China's largest tourism exhibition in the city of Kunming jointly organized by its Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Civil Aviation Administration. The airport will also welcome Chinese travelers with messages on digital signboards and carousels at arrival halls and offer welcome gifts at an event booth jointly operated with the Visit Korea Committee during the upcoming holiday season at the end of September.<br/>
Five potential bidders are considering participating in the public bidding for the rehabilitation of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). In a Viber message on Wednesday, the Department of Transportation (DoTr) said that as of Sept. 13, the upgrade of NAIA has attracted five companies. The DoTr identified these companies as San Miguel Corp., India’s GMR group, the Manila International Airport Consortium (MIAC), Spark 888 Management, Inc., and the Asian Airport Consortium. MIAC consists of Aboitiz InfraCapital, Inc., AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp., Alliance Global-Infracorp Development, Inc., Filinvest Development Corp., JG Summit Infrastructure Holdings Corp., and US-based Global Infrastructure Partners. In August, the government invited bidders for the P170.6b public-private partnership to modernize and operate the country’s airport. The contract term for the project is 15 years and is extendable by another 10 years. The rehabilitation project targets to increase the airport’s annual passenger capacity to at least 62m from 35m. <br/>
Airbus has embarked on a 10-day flight-test campaign using a single A321XLR prototype as part of the variant’s development programme. The aircraft being used is MSN11080 (F-WWAB), powered by CFM International Leap-1A engines, which first flew in October last year. It took off from Toulouse at around 09:35 on 13 September, operating initially across Spain, Portugal, the Mediterranean Sea and Italy. Airbus says the aircraft will perform 100h of flights, with no system power-down, intended to demonstrate technical reliability and maturity under “varying climatic conditions” and durations. “[These are] typical of what airlines might fly when the aircraft enters into service,” it adds. MSN11080 is the third of the three A321XLR prototypes manufactured for the certification effort, and is fitted with a full cabin interior. Airbus’s lead flight-test engineer for the exercise, Jim Fawcett, says the 100h of flying will be a subset of the 150h of representative routine operations required by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. “We’re looking to go somewhere a bit warm, and a bit cold – to different airfields in terms of their infrastructure, location, weather and runway altitudes,” he says. “If we can tick all of those boxes as well, then it makes it a much more representative demonstration.” Airbus is co-operating with an airline, with operational cabin crew and pilots participating alongside the airframer’s own test personnel. Some 30 individuals – a mix of Airbus volunteers and airline employees – will act as a representative group of passengers. Flights to be conducted during the maturity exercise will include transatlantic service to a US airport, and an operation in the vicinity of the North Pole. <br/>