Hamad International Airport (DOH) in Doha has announced the commencement of daily flights between Tokyo and Doha by Japan Airlines. The inaugural flight, operated on March 31 with a Boeing 787-9 aircraft, marked the first flight to the Middle East by a Japanese airline – signifying a historic moment in the aviation industry. Sujata Suri, Senior Vice President of Finance and Procurement at Hamad International Airport, said: "We are thrilled to welcome Japan Airlines to the Middle East through its renowned hub in Doha. “The launch of Japan Airlines’ daily flights from Tokyo Haneda to Hamad International Airport is a landmark achievement and a testament to the flourishing partnership between both Qatar and Japan. Combining Japan Airlines’ latest launch with Qatar Airways’ recent resumption to Osaka, is projected to result in a 50% increase in weekly flight frequency between Qatar and Japan, which underscores Hamad International Airport’s commitment to advancing global travel and enhancing passenger experiences”.<br/>
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British Airways today resumed flights between London and Tel Aviv for the first time since the outbreak of the war, when it was among some 50 foreign carriers that canceled flights to and from Ben Gurion airport. British Airways joins a range of other airlines including Iberia, KLM, Air Canada, Air Seychelles, and Bulgaria Air, which will be renewing their Israel flights in April. The resumption of flights by British Airways will increase the range of flights available to tourists on the high-demand Tel Aviv-London route but it won't change the high fares prevailing in the market. In order for there to be genuine competition and lower the currently exorbitant flight fares, the return of British Airways is not sufficient. British Airways is offering almost identical fares to rival carriers. A return ticket from Tel Aviv to London in mid-May costs $435 in economy class without baggage. The cheapest El Al return ticket to London over the same period without baggage is $463. In addition to the high fares being charged by British Airways, the airline is resuming Israel flights in narrow-bodied aircraft, while before the war it was operating on the Israel route with wider-body planes and a greater choice of seats.<br/>
Australian airlines could be found to have misled consumers in the way they present their net zero goals and market offset options during flight bookings, climate advocates have claimed, after a landmark legal decision on aviation “greenwashing”. The warning from Climate Integrity, a new Australia-based advocacy group, follows a Dutch court late last month ruling that airline KLM misled customers with vague environmental claims, and that its affirmation to the goals of the Paris Agreement was “misleading and therefore unlawful”. The Dutch greenwashing decision found 15 of 19 of KLM’s claims about its environmental ambitions were misleading, including that marketing statements about offsetting flights and sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) painted “too rosy a picture” of the technologies’ feasibility. A billboard ad showing a child on a swing with the statement “join us in creating a more sustainable future” was also declared misleading because it failed to explain how it related to any environmental benefit. The impression was reinforced by the background of sky, mountain and water, the court said. Claire Snyder, the director of Climate Integrity, said “Australian airlines should be paying close attention” to that decision. “The ruling is a timely wake-up call to airlines with public net zero commitments, that they must put forward concrete and credible decarbonisation plans or face the legal risk of misleading consumers and investors,” Snyder said. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has recently declared a crack down on “greenwashing”, and Snyder pointed to an analysis her group conducted that found Qantas’s decarbonisation plans featured “a number of low integrity practices”. While Snyder commended Qantas as being an early mover to pledge support for the Paris Agreement goals, her group’s analysis has concluded the airline “has no comprehensive, full-costed or independently verified plan for reducing their emissions in line with a scientific pathway”.<br/>
Qantas has launched a landmark new direct flight between Australia and Papua New Guinea. The connection is the airline's first commercial passenger flight between Sydney and Port Moresby in more than five decades. Two return flights will operate each week on Boeing 737 aircraft. The flights add to Qantas' existing daily Brisbane to Port Moresby service. Qantas International CE Cam Wallace said the new route would help strengthen the ties between the two countries. "These flights will meet the growing demand from the business community for travel between Australia and Papua New Guinea," said Wallace. "Our new Sydney service will save customers at least three hours in travel time on return trip by avoiding a stopover in Brisbane." Qantas began services to Papua New Guinea in the 1940s with two light aircraft stationed in Lae for local operations.<br/>