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Major US airlines and aviation companies joined ethanol companies to send a letter to the Biden administration on Wednesday backing a regulatory change that would make it easier for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) made from corn-based ethanol to qualify for federal subsidies. The Inflation Reduction Act, President Joe Biden's signature climate law, requires SAF producers to use an emissions model developed by the International Civil Aviation Organization, or a "similar methodology", to show their fuel cuts emissions over gasoline by 50% to secure the subsidies. Airlines including Delta, JetBlue, and Southwest, and companies like GE Aerospace and Boeing, said in the letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen that the administration should allow the use of the Department of Energy's Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions and Energy Use in Technologies (GREET) model in addition to the one developed by ICAO, echoing a request from the ethanol industry. The ethanol industry believes the GREET model is more likely than the ICAO model to bear out the required climate benefits to secure IRA subsidies. Environmental groups argue, however, that the GREET model underestimates ethanol's emissions, particularly those associated with clearing land to grow the crops required to make ethanol. "With the right market signals, we can de-carbonize aviation and spur a new wave of US innovation and clean energy jobs. However, modeling uncertainty today is a multiyear development problem," said the letter, which was also signed by ethanol companies including Poet and Archer-Daniels-Midland Co.<br/>

America First Legal, a conservative group aligned with former President Donald Trump, is targeting three of the country’s biggest airlines as it ramps up its attacks on corporate diversity initiatives. American Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest are facing a civil rights complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that alleges their efforts to hire and promote more women and people of color amount to “illegal racial and sex discrimination.” “Major corporations think that it’s OK to have goals for the demographic makeup of their workforces, with no self-awareness of the illegal practices that they will undoubtedly take to achieve those goals,” Gene Hamilton, America First Legal’s general counsel and vice president, said in a statement Wednesday. “When you board a plane, the last thing you care about is the skin color of the pilot and crew on board.” AFL, led by former Trump adviser Stephen Miller, and Hamilton, a Justice Department official under that administration, ramped up its campaign against corporate diversity, equity and inclusion policies after the US Supreme Court’s decision to remove race as a factor in college admissions in June. It filed similar complaints against more than 20 companies, including Nordstrom Inc. and Salesforce Inc., and brought lawsuits against firms including Meta Platforms Inc., as it seeks to establish itself as a leader in the growing conservative movement to use the courts to kneecap employment diversity programs. As well as its complaint to the EEOC, AFL sent letters to the boards of American, United and Southwest claiming their programs are a “waste of corporate assets.” Each of the airlines has publicly disclosed their diversity in hiring programs. American in 2020 said it would enhance its recruitment of Black professionals, United said it prioritized interviewing diverse candidates, and Southwest said it increased its racial and gender diversity. AFL’s complaints don’t focus on any particular individual that has claimed harm from the programs. <br/>

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Wednesday temporarily militarized security at some of the country's most important ports and airports, as he seeks to tame rising crime after several deadly incidents in Rio de Janeiro state. Lula said soldiers will work with federal police officers to manage security operations at Latin America's largest port and airport: the port of Santos, in Sao Paulo, and its main airport Guarulhos. Soldiers will also be deployed to the port of Itaguai in Rio de Janeiro state and Rio's Galeao airport. Those ports and airports are key logistical hubs for booming cocaine exports to Europe, while also receiving contraband like high-caliber weapons that contribute to street violence. Lula added that the army and air force will strengthen the border with neighboring nations from where cocaine and weapons flow into Brazil, with a particular focus on the western states of Parana, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. The temporary measure, which will end in May 2024, comes amid a series of violent flare-ups across Brazil. The situation has got particularly bad in Rio de Janeiro, where powerful drug lords, violent vigilante mafias known as "militias" and deadly cops have contributed to a highly complex security dynamic that is feeding a perception Lula is soft on crime. "The situation in Rio de Janeiro has reached a very serious point," Lula said at a ceremony after signing the decree. "We took the decision for the federal government to participate actively in combating organized crime. Hopefully it works."<br/>

Russia’s aviation industry is facing heavy turbulence, as concerns for passenger safety mount in the face of poor maintenance, a lack of spare parts and regular breakdowns. The sector, heavily reliant on international suppliers, has been among the hardest hit by Western sanctions over Moscow’s assault on Ukraine. Cut off from Europe’s Airbus and US-based Boeing, Russian airlines are facing particular trouble securing and maintaining both physical parts and advanced software needed to keep planes in the air, experts say. “The conditions in which Russian airlines operate have certainly become much more difficult and the risks for the industry have obviously increased,” Oleg Panteleyev, director of AviaPort.ru, an agency specializing in the Russian aviation industry told AFP. Several recent incidents have highlighted the concerns. In August, passengers on a Red Wings flight were stuck in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg for 24 hours due to simultaneous “technical malfunctions” on the only two available aircraft. The company pointed to “external sanctions” and “restrictions on the supply of spare parts, which complicates aircraft maintenance” in a press release. The same month a Russian Pegas Fly plane was delayed in Thailand due to faults with its weather monitoring system. At the start of October, Flagcarrier Aeroflot suffered three technical failures to its planes in a single day.<br/>

Changes to Indian laws to exclude leased aircraft from assets that can be frozen during bankruptcy proceedings of an airline "would have to be considered" retrospectively, the country's aviation regulator said in a court filing on Wednesday. The clarification of India's recent amendment to its insolvency law potentially paves the way for lessors of bankrupt budget carrier Go First to take back their planes. Go First filed for bankruptcy in May but its lessors were blocked from repossessing planes due to a moratorium imposed by Indian courts. The world's second-largest lessor, SMBC Aviation Capital, warned the move would shake the industry's confidence at a time when India is acquiring hundreds of new jets. In a long awaited move, India amended its insolvency law in October, a decision aimed at shoring up the financing of its fast-growing airline industry by addressing discrepancies between global and local rules. The rule change was aimed at bringing India's laws in line with the Cape Town Convention, a treaty protecting the rights of foreign lessors, following the dispute over the bankruptcy of Go First.<br/>

Chiang Mai airport began around-the-clock services on Wednesday with a Thai VietJet flight that left for Osaka at 12.30am. The airport had previousy operated 18 hours a day, from 6am to midnight. The expanded service was marked by a ceremony at the airport late on Tuesday night attended by high-level government and airport officials. Flight VZ822 then took off at 12.30am, with scheduled touch down in Osaka, Japan, at 7.50am. In September Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin voiced support for AOT's plan for 24-hour service at the airport. AOT promised to coordinate flight schedules with airlines to minimise the impact on local residents.<br/>

Savior of many a cramped pair of legs, the jet stream is well known for lopping roughly an hour off long haul west-to-east flights. But it’s working especially hard for travelers in economy class right now, with the jet stream over the Atlantic so strong that flights heading from the US to Europe are reaching speeds equivalent to that of sound. Sound travels at about 761 mph or 1,100 feet per second in “sea level standard conditions,” according to NASA – a little over 661 knots. In the past 24 hours, passenger aircraft traveling east from the US across the Atlantic have reached up to 778 mph. That’s a little over 200 miles per hour faster than normal cruising speeds. But if you’re thinking these flight times are a match for the much-missed Concorde, whose sonic booms used to mark it breaking the sound barrier, it’s time to think again. There’s a difference between ground speed and speed in the air (indicated air speed, essentially the speed of the plane in relation to the air around it). These passenger flights, however speedy, didn’t break the sound barrier. But they did slash flight times. Emirates flight 222 from Dallas to Dubai arrived 57 minutes early on November 1, having reached a top speed of 675 knots, or 777 mph, off the coast of Newfoundland, according to flight tracking site Flightaware. American Airlines flight 106 from JFK to Heathrow arrived 54 minutes early on Wednesday morning, with a flight time of just six hours and seven minutes. It reached a top speed of 778 mph, or 676 knots, also just past Newfoundland. Meanwhile Delta flight 186 raced from Los Angeles to London with top speeds of 760mph, arriving half an hour early on November 1 at 1.08 p.m. A KLM cargo plane which took off nearly four hours late on November 1 was due to arrive just under two hours late, traveling from Miami to Amsterdam. Story has more.<br/>

The United States' goal of rapidly ramping up production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) may encounter strong headwinds as producers balk at the low margins for the biofuel and some airlines flag concerns over the costly switch, experts said. President Joe Biden, who has made tackling climate change a central pillar of his administration, launched a challenge in 2021 to supply at least 3b gallons of SAF annually by 2030, a steep jump from the current 15.8m gallons as per U.S. government data. U.S. production of SAF will be 2.1b gallons by 2030, S&P Global Commodity Insights has estimated, based on upcoming projects. "A lot of additional investment (is) needed to hit that (3b) target," said Wood Mackenzie analyst Gordon McManus. A lot is riding on SAF as the US Energy Department has said alternative sources, such as battery technologies and hydrogen, are not expected to contribute to substantially reducing aviation emissions until after 2050. Corey Lavinsky of S&P Global Commodity Insights said the goals were for domestic production and not consumption. "As things stand now, an airline may choose not to use SAF because it believes it's too expensive compared to traditional jet fuel. Mandating the use of SAF would eliminate that option," Lavinsky said. US jet fuel currently retails at around $2.85 per gallon while SAF prices are at $6.69 per gallon, as per data from commodities and energy pricing agency Argus Media.<br/>

Airbus is racing to meet strong global demand — with the aim of delivering 720 planes this year. But in the long run, it will have to fight for share because of a growing rivalry with China’s manufacturers. “We have a huge backlog, 8,000 airplanes at this point — and goes into the future,” said Airbus Americas Chairman and CEO Jeff Knittel. “Demand is exceptionally strong, both on single aisle and widebody.” Knittel — speaking at the Skift Aviation Forum in Fort Worth, Texas, on Wednesday — attributed the demand to industry growth and shorter replacement cycles for older aircraft. The Airbus Americas chairman said they’ve improved their delivery times for aircraft since the pandemic. They’ve also improved their supply chain partnerships. Sustainability, not faster travel, is being prioritized by Airbus. Knittel also doesn’t expect supersonic planes like the Concorde to “have a huge market.” “Our focus is sustainability,” said Knittel. “If you’re focused on sustainability, then having an airplane with fewer seats, flying faster, which is a big advantage, we’re going toward more an approach of density,” said Knittel. Airbus is putting its investment into building hydrogen-powered planes to achieve carbon neutrality. The aircraft company aims to have a hydrogen airplane in service by 2035. Airbus is investing in sustainable aviation fuel as it converts its fleets to hydrogen. “The key for us today is hydrogen,” he said. “We’re putting in a lot of effort and money into hydrogen.” <br/>