Southwest Airlines expects aircraft deliveries from Boeing this year to come in at only about half of the airline's estimate in March of 46, putting further pressure on the US budget carrier's growth plans, three people familiar with the matter said. Boeing's overall deliveries fell by half in March as 737 MAX production slumped on increased quality checks and regulatory audits as it grapples with a safety crisis sparked by a January mid-air cabin panel blowout on an Alaska Air flight. The jetmaker's woes have rippled throughout the industry, but Southwest, which operates an all-Boeing fleet, is one of the hardest-hit. The Dallas-based airline has already warned of a reduction in full-year capacity due to lack of aircraft. It has stopped hiring pilots and is spending more to repair older planes even as it seeks to rein in costs. Southwest originally planned on receiving 85 Boeing MAX jets this year. That estimate has already been slashed twice. It now expects only about 20 deliveries this year, compared with 46 estimated last month, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, adding that the number could change. The airline received just five aircraft from Boeing in Q1, down from 29 a year ago, according to the planemaker's delivery data. In a statement to Reuters, Southwest said it remains in close contact with Boeing as the manufacturer continues to refine its delivery schedule. Boeing was not immediately available for comment.<br/>
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Heathrow has called on the government to scrap a new GBP10 charge for overseas travellers using UK airports to connect to other flights, warning that it puts UK airports at a competitive disadvantage compared with other European rivals. The government introduced the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) in November for Qatari nationals travelling to the UK from Qatar, with a wider rollout for other countries throughout 2024. The ETA is largely based on the US Electronic System for Travel Authorization (Esta) system, and requires travellers to apply to enter the country before departing and pay a GBP10 fee. This applies not only to direct flights from the country but also for those who are using UK airports for more than two hours to connect to other flights. Heathrow said while it supported the overall rationale behind the ETA, transiting passengers needed to be exempted as this was hitting passenger numbers. The airport pointed to the impact it had on travellers from Qatar – it said there had been 19,000 fewer transit passengers coming through the airport in the first four months of ETA rules applying. It added that each month recorded the lowest proportion of transiting passengers from the country for 10 years. The update said: “This is a huge blow to UK competitiveness as many long-haul routes, which are highly important to the UK’s economy, exports and wider connectivity, rely on transit passengers. With more connecting passengers expected to choose other hubs as the scheme expands, minsters need to take action to remove this measure.” Heathrow recorded its busiest Easter weekend this year, with 936,000 passengers using the airport across the bank holiday period. This contributed to 7m people travelling through the London hub in March, the highest ever for that month. The CE, Thomas Woldbye, said: “The government needs to exempt airside transit passengers from the ETA scheme to avoid encouraging passengers to spend and do business elsewhere. We need to level the playing field, so the UK aviation industry continues to be world class.”<br/>
Aircraft could one day take off on fuel made from human waste under plans revealed by Wizz Air and the British sustainable aviation company Firefly to build a commercial refinery in Essex. Firefly, based in Bristol, said it had developed a process to convert treated sewage into sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF. The low-cost airline Wizz said it was investing by placing an order – potentially worth hundreds of millions of pounds – for up to 525,000 tonnes of Firefly’s waste-based fuel over the next 15 years. Firefly has now signed agreements with industrial partners for a pilot refinery in Harwich that would take “biosolids” from Anglian Water and turn it into aircraft fuel. Airlines will have to ensure that a minimum proportion of fuel burned is certified sustainable in the coming decade, with the EU mandating at least 20% SAF by 2035, and the UK expected soon to announce a mandatory 10% by 2030. There are various ways of making SAF but most are much more expensive than normal kerosene jet fuel, with a limited supply of waste feedstocks such as used cooking oil. Firefly’s COO, Paul Hilditch, said converted sewage should be cheaper and more abundant, providing up to 5% of airlines’ fuel needs in the UK. The process uses biosolids, the water industry term for the final product in the treatment process. “It’s crumbly – like compost or wet chocolate cake,” he said. “There’s millions of tonnes of the stuff. And it has no intrinsic value.” The company has produced small test quantities of SAF that he said were “chemically indistinguishable” from jet fuel, with a residue that can be used as a soil enhancer. The fuel is still in a regulatory testing process, and Firefly is still to secure the investment it needs to build a full-scale factory. However, its CE, James Hygate, said it was confident it could be delivering commercial supplies of SAF by 2028-29. He said the first facility in Harwich would serve London airports and there was potential for two more in the UK. “We’re turning sewage into jet fuel and I can’t think of many things that are cooler than that,” he commented.<br/>
Vietnam’s new-age carrier Vietjet celebrated the 10th anniversary of its first flight to China (2014-2024) and announced a direct route between HCM City and China’s Xi'an at a policy and law forum held in Shanghai city on Wednesday. National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong Dình Hue, who is paying an official visit to China, and other leaders of the two countries attended the event. Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang congratulated Vietjet on its operational achievements, and noted his belief that the carrier will launch more flights between the two countries, thus helping promote the bilateral trade and mutual understanding and support, and deepen the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. After two routes to Shanghai and Chengdu, Vietjet will open a direct route between HCM City and Xi'an from April 29, becoming the airline flying directly from Vietnam to the ancient capital of Xi'an. With four return flights per week, the new route will help shorten the distance and travel time between the two destinations.<br/>