Southwest Airlines is teaming up with biofuels company LanzaJet Inc. as part of a launch of a renewable fuel arm, boosting the carrier’s effort to secure cleaner jet fuel made from corn crops and other materials. Southwest Airlines Renewable Ventures will focus on finding affordable sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF. The portfolio includes a $30m investment in LanzaJet, a sustainable fuels producer that last month unveiled the world’s first SAF commercial plant that will use ethanol as its ingredient. Pressure for US airlines to cut greenhouse-gas emissions is rapidly increasing, including from the White House. That’s creating a flurry of alliances between aviation and agriculture. Biofuel producers are looking to expand into new markets and take advantage of government incentives for cleaner-burning fuel, while US farmers are hoping to gain from future demand for SAF, which can be made a variety of ways, including corn ethanol. Carbon dioxide emissions from aviation, an industry difficult to electrify, are expected to surge by 94% from pre-pandemic levels, exceeding 2 gigatons by mid-century, according to BloombergNEF. “We continue to march toward our goal of net zero by 2050,” Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said in a statement.<br/>
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Low-cost US carrier Allegiant expects fewer aircraft deliveries from Boeing this year, its president told Reuters, as the planemaker grapples with the fallout of a frightening incident last month when a cabin panel tore off of a 737 MAX 9 jet mid-flight. The Las Vegas-based airline was scheduled to receive 24 MAX planes in 2024, but Allegiant President Greg Anderson said it is working on the assumption that it will receive closer to 12 aircraft this year. "We are in regular dialogue with Boeing on this," he said in an interview on Tuesday. "We can manage through it as long as we have an orderly delivery cadence from Boeing." The planemaker has scrambled to explain and strengthen safety procedures since the Jan. 5 incident. Its production rate has been capped by regulators and closely scrutinized by lawmakers and customers. That has had a ripple effect on the industry, as several air carriers have said they are considering adjusting schedules or keeping older planes in service longer. In 2022, Allegiant placed an order for 50 of Boeing's best-selling single-aisle 737 MAX planes, rejecting offers from traditional supplier Airbus. It was scheduled to take delivery of 10 of the jets in 2023, 24 in 2024, and 16 in 2025. Allegiant has traditionally relied on less expensive second-hand planes. With the introduction of MAX planes, it expected to launch new routes and reduce operating costs.<br/>
The CEO of Flair Airlines is denying that Canada’s airline regulations hurt low-cost carriers after its biggest competitor cited legal hurdles for its sudden closure. Stephen Jones said every airline in the world faces regulations before taking the skies and Canada is no different. “Canada deserves low-cost fares the same way another country does and Canada should get them and Flair’s here to deliver them,” he told BNN Bloomberg in a television interview on Wednesday. “Every country, every market has its nuances, Canada has some, it does have high structural costs in airports and fees, but that doesn’t mean it can’t have a healthy and vibrant ultra-low-cost carrier segment.” Jones’ comments come a week after Lynx Air, a fellow Canadian low-cost carrier, abruptly ceased operations, citing inflation, fuel costs, exchange rates and regulatory costs among the reasons for its closure. Jones said he was “sad” to hear of Lynx’s end. “They were a strong competitor, we competed a lot with them, but they had the same purpose, the same goal, the same vision as we do, which is delivering affordable airfares for Canadians,” he said. Jones did say that airport fees in Canada are high – upwards of $60 per passenger at certain airports – but said Flair does not intend to leave the market. “Business is good,” he said. “If you could take November and February out of the calendar, life would be much better because these are low-travel months, but we’re starting to look into the summer now and the summer’s starting to look really good.”<br/>
Wizz Air Holdings expects a “couple of percentage point increase” in capacity this summer with short-term aircraft leases and new plane deliveries as the carrier looks to safeguard its network amid the grounding of some of its fleet due to engine issues. The Budapest, Hungary-based discount carrier estimates capacity limitations due to its Pratt & Whitney turbines will take about 18 months to work through, CEO Jozsef Varadi told Bloomberg in an interview on Wednesday. Wizz also plans to reduce frequencies instead of routes, he said. Wizz is under pressure from larger rival Ryanair Holdings Plc which is looking to double down in the Hungarian carrier’s home markets of central and eastern Europe. Varadi brushed off the Ryanair threat, saying that its issues were temporary and Wizz would ramp up capacity once it received overhauled engines in 2025. While Ryanair has warned of rising prices amid tight capacity, Wizz doesn’t plan to follow suit. “You can’t be the fastest growing airline in Europe if you just increase prices because then you’re killing demand,” Varadi said. <br/>
A passenger who lost his dispute with Ryanair after being charged £165 to check in at the airport has said he does not regret taking on the airline. "I was so mad at the time, I had to try something. It ruined a couple of days of my holiday," dad-of-two Damien Lloyd told the BBC. Ryanair said Lloyd had "unchecked" his family and charged him to check in again, which he disputed. But an independent ombudsman ruled in favour of the airline. AviationADR, an independent airline dispute resolution scheme, at the end of last year said that Ryanair had "adhered to their own Terms and Conditions". "The airline has provided evidence that despite the passenger checking in online on 21st June, they also checked out on 22nd July. This is the reasons why the printed boarding passes were invalid and a new check in was required," it continued. Lloyd said he did not regret going through the dispute resolution service, despite Ryanair being "really rude". He said the airline "didn't want to know and that made me more angry". AviationADR said the determination was not binding and that Lloyd has the option to continue the complaint through the courts. "That's me forking out money for a case then, I'll just leave it," Lloyd added. Health and safety manager Lloyd had booked a 10-day family holiday to Gran Canaria in July. The 50-year-old from Neath says he has never had a problem with Ryanair before and was "in total shock" when his, his wife's and his daughter's boarding passes did not scan. A Ryanair employee at the check-in desk was equally confused, but as it was an early morning flight, they could not phone Ryanair's customer service to investigate the problem as it was not yet open. The family was given a choice - either wait for customer service to open and miss their flights, or pay for new passes - which they did. Lloyd said he was told he could "claim the money back," but when he requested a refund, Ryanair rejected the claim, before being told he had unchecked the day before his flight. Story has more.<br/>
Scandinavian budget carrier Norwegian is to start rolling out a refreshed version of its corporate logo, for the first time since the airline emerged more than two decades ago. Norwegian says the new visual identity has a “richer” colour and updated typography. It says it will begin adopting the updated logo from March, initially on its digital channels, before broadening it to airports, offices, and its aircraft fleet. The airline uses Boeing 737s including the Max version. While the carrier’s logo and brand are “very well known”, says Norwegian executive vice-president for market and customer service Christoffer Sundby, a “modernisation is in order” given that it has remained unchanged since 2002. Norwegian says there is a need to align the visual scheme to current marketing requirements, as well as show the company’s “brand personality” more clearly.<br/>
AirAsia is set to list its brand management unit on the Nasdaq after finalizing a SPAC merger, as it bets on the appeal of franchise and licensing opportunities to a US audience that does not yet widely know the budget airline. Tony Fernandes, AirAsia founder and CEO of Malaysia-based Capital A Bhd. — which owns the short-haul airline and related units including the brand business — told CNBC this week that he would seek to raise awareness of the potential in Southeast Asia’s nearly 700m-strong population and beyond. “We picked America because Americans understand branding better than the markets in Southeast Asia,” Fernandes said, acknowledging that the AirAsia brand itself is not well known in the U.S. “It’s my job to get investors excited about the growth potential of our brand … and also being in a very exciting part of the world, with geopolitics, ASEAN has received much more attention.” Brand licensing opportunities could include hotels, mobile services and airlines in markets such as South Asia and Africa where AirAsia does not have subsidiaries, Fernandes said. The deal values the new company, Capital A International, at $1.15b, according to a release Wednesday. The business will also look at acquisitions and licensing its 14 other brands. In 2001, Fernandes bought the then-failing carrier AirAsia from the Malaysian government for 1 Malaysian ringgit (roughly 20 cents) and 40m ringgit in debt. The low-cost airline has grown to a fleet of more than 240 aircraft currently.<br/>