A Texas-based public charter jet service is accusing American Airlines Group Inc. and Southwest Airlines Co. of pressuring federal regulators in an effort to undermine its business model, and is asking the flying public to fight back. JSX, a charter carrier headquartered in Dallas, said in an email to customers that the broad review of public charter safety standards by the Federal Aviation Administration was triggered “under pressure” from American, Southwest and their labor unions in an effort to stymie competition. Its message to customers to act “right now” generated nearly 38,000 comments on the docket for the FAA review, a JSX spokesperson said. Another 100,000 clicked on a link to send a support message to members of Congress. Among those supporting the effort: Airbnb Inc. co-founder Joe Gebbia, who posted on X that “JSX airline is under attack.” The push for changes “is not driven by a bona fide regulatory concern,” JSX CEO Alex Wilcox said Thursday in an interview. “This is pure back room politicking done by competitors out of complete self-interest.” Transportation Department and FAA regulators have declined to meet with JSX officials, he said. Southwest pushed back against JSX’s accusation, saying the carrier “supports the position of airline industry pilots, flight attendants and air traffic controllers who believe there needs to be one level of safety for anyone flying on a scheduled air carrier.” American had no immediate comment on the JSX concerns. In its email to passengers, JSX said its business model was at risk - and provided a link with prewritten text to lawmakers.<br/>
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US start-up carrier GlobalX will take delivery of its third Airbus A321F on 10 October and plans to soon add two passenger jets. The operating brand of Florida-based Global Crossing Airlines said on 5 October that its 11th A320 passenger aircraft will be delivered in late October, with another expected during the second week of November. Those deliveries would boost GlobalX’s fleet to 15 aircraft – 12 passenger jets and three freighters. Having recently secured $35m in financing to fund its fleet-growth plan through the end of 2024, the rapidly expanding start-up plans to operate a total of 18 aircraft by year’s end. However, CFO Ryan Goepel cautioned on 5 September that deliveries of the last two jets are “MRO-dependent”. The carrier is increasingly leaning on the ACMI (aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance) model as the backbone of its business, GlobalX says. During Q3, 70% of its block hours were operated on an ACMI basis, compared with 38% of block hours during the same quarter last year. During the summer travel season in the Northern Hemisphere, GlobalX flew on behalf of Wizz Air, Lynx Air, TUI, Caribbean Airlines and Canada Jetlines. GlobalX will release its Q3 finacial results during an earnings call on 8 November. <br/>
LATAM Airlines Group CE Roberto Alvo has warned that Latin America is making no progress on the development of a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) industry, putting at risk airlines’ ability to meet net-zero targets. Speaking on a panel of airline leaders at the IATA World Sustainability Symposium in Madrid on 3 October, Alvo concurred with peers that SAF is critical to the industry’s net-zero ambitions and that “today is not the time to think that this won’t happen”. But the situation in Latin America is stark, Alvo explains, with SAF production essentially non-existent, leaving the region “one step behind”. “Today there is not a single drop of SAF being produced in South America,” he says. LATAM Airlines has set its own target of 5% SAF usage by 2023, but this is “not because we know where this is going to come from – it’s just because we need to make sure that we can start this conversation”, Alvo says, adding that he does not think the airline “has the luxury” of failing to do so. “We needed a sign of demand, as the largest airline group in the region,” he states. That sign has so far been met with no response, and Alvo is reluctant to consider the imposition of formal mandates by governments and regulators until that changes. “Unfortunately at this point in time, we have no set of public policies to incentivise producers to start thinking about SAF,” he states. “Today, I don’t have any confidence that we will get even close to 5% [by 2030] with the current set of policies that we have.” In common with peers elsewhere around the world, he suggests that “clarity and certainty of investment” are crucial if fuel producers are to build SAF plants, arguing that it is important for policymakers to clarify the conditions under which the fuel can be produced. Speaking at the same event in Madrid, IATA DG Willie Walsh said that “whatever way you look at this, there will be a cost for the transition to net zero and ultimately that cost will be borne by consumers”.<br/>