Island-hopping in Greece this summer just got a little easier. Hoper, the first helicopter airline in Greece offering scheduled flights, is now selling tickets to 11 destinations, including harder-to-reach spots like Antiparos, Folegandros, Ios, Kea, Patmos, Sifnos and Spetses. All connect to either Athens, Santorini, or Mykonos, which serve as the carrier’s hubs. Fares start at E160 ($172) per one-way ticket, but they will often climb higher due to demand. On the airline’s website, such a flight in August from Athens to the beautifully rugged island of Tinos currently costs €380 for a 42-minute helicopter journey. A ferry journey from Athens on the same date can take about four hours and cost E35. With few islands benefiting from international airport access, ferries are practically a requisite for exploring the country’s most scenic summer spots; most passengers embark via Athens’ main port, Piraeus. The main benefit to this alternative is the reduced transit time—the fastest ferry to Santorini from Athens takes more than four hours, versus one hour by chopper—nixing those days of a vacation itinerary that are spent solely on getting from one point to another. “We turn hours into minutes,” Demitris Memos, CEO of Hoper, said in a press release. “Travelers earn up to a full day of vacation.” Some luxury hotels such as the newly opened One&Only Kéa Island do offer helicopter transfers for their guests at an additional cost, and time-strapped travelers have always had the option of booking helicopters via private charters. Hoper’s flights, by contrast, are scheduled—not operated on demand—so they’re far less expensive. A private charter from Athens to Mykonos can run E2,775 for a single seat in high season. For a family of four flying with Hoper, it’s roughly E1,490 at similarly peak-demand times—a much better value.<br/>
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Istanbul airport chief executive Selahattin Bilgen is calling for greater industry co-operation to achieve more efficiency gains, as it continues participating in a programme aimed at introducing independent triple-runway operations at the airport. ”I’ve been trying to say co-operation is more important than competition in our sector,” he tells FlightGlobal, during an interview in London on 24 June. Bilgen, the airport’s former finance chief who took the helm of IGA Istanbul Airport in September last year, was speaking ahead of ACI Europe’s annual general meeting – which starts on 2 July in Istanbul. ”As a new board member of ACI Europe, I would be personally trying to support and push this idea further. It is more important to focus on this part than the competition between parties,” he says. ”As long as you are able to provide supply, filling the demand won’t be an issue. That’s why enhancing the efficiency and co-operation between the stakeholders is important in ACI, and also between IATA and ACI and Eurocontrol. “We really need to be more open to collaboration and co-operation, and there I personally believe ACI can have a facilitator role. I am talking about more data-sharing, more collaboration, more system integration – not only the airports, but the airlines and other stakeholders.”<br/>
Queenstown Airport is investing in new technology to mitigate the risk of runway overshoots as it prepares for more aircraft to descend on New Zealand’s notoriously difficult landing strip. The airfield said Wednesday it will begin installation of an Engineered Materials Arresting System at each end of its single runway later this year. EMAS uses energy-absorbing cellular cement blocks that are designed to crush under the weight of an aircraft, slowing it to a stop if it exceeds the landing tarmac. Queenstown ranks as one of the most difficult airports in the world to land at due to its short runway and swirling winds between the jagged mountains surrounding it. The South Island resort town, famous for adventure tourism, is nestled at the head of a lake and jetliners approach the airport either over the water or by descending down a narrow valley. The runway offers a 90-meter (295 feet) end safety area, which meets regulations for the aircraft that currently use it. Deploying the EMAS will effectively give it a 240-meter safety area, Acting CE Todd Grace said. “Runway overruns are rare, but the consequences can be catastrophic, so we want to do everything possible to mitigate that risk here,” he said. Queenstown will be the first airport in New Zealand or Australia to deploy the system, which has been developed by Runway Safe and is used in the US — including at John F. Kennedy International — as well as in the UK, Spain, Saudi Arabia and China, Grace said. So far, the EMAS beds have successfully stopped 22 aircraft with 100% success, he said.<br/>
Boeing's long-awaited announcement that it will buy back its struggling supplier, Spirit AeroSystems, now shifts the focus of investors to the planemaker's search for a new CEO. Boeing has been looking for a new head after Dave Calhoun said in March he would step down by year-end, in a broad management shakeup following a January mid-air panel blowout on a 737 MAX plane. Several potential candidates have emerged, including Patrick Shanahan, who has been running Spirit AeroSystems for the past nine months. Other candidates include Boeing's COO, Stephanie Pope, and current board chair Steve Mollenkopf. Regardless of who is named CEO, Shanahan, 62, is notable for his previous tenure at Boeing and current role as Spirit's CEO. An engineer by training, during his 31-year career at the planemaker he was known as "Mr. Fix-It" for his ability to turn around poorly performing programs. "It's very significant having Shanahan back into Boeing as an executive," said Bill George, former Medtronic CEO and executive fellow at Harvard Business School. "They need someone who understands the technology or aerospace technology." Shanahan took the reins at Spirit last October after his predecessor resigned following a series of mishaps at the supplier, which makes Boeing's 737 fuselages and other airframe components. After taking over, he vowed to stabilize operations and improve cash flow at Spirit. But the Jan. 5 mid-air panel blowout dealt a big blow to Shanahan's turnaround plans for Spirit. Federal investigators discovered that the panel was removed by Boeing workers to repair rivet damage present when the aircraft was delivered by Spirit last year.<br/>
Shell has paused the construction of one of Europe’s largest biofuel plants which was expected to convert waste into green jet fuel and biodiesel by the end of the decade. The oil company said on Tuesday it would “temporarily pause” work on one of its biggest energy transition projects to address the technical difficulties that have delayed its progress so far. Shell began constructing the plant, based in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, in 2021, and had initially expected to start producing up to 820,000 tonnes of biofuels a year in April, before this was pushed back to 2025. About half of the plant’s biofuels were to be used for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) made from waste cooking oil and animal fat. The fuel is seen by some as crucial if airlines are to cut their carbon emissions in line with global climate targets. The nascent industry has also attracted criticism from those who claim that SAF is not a realistic replacement for paraffin-based aviation fuels within the timescale needed to prevent rising carbon emissions from creating a climate catastrophe. “We’re taking the tough decision now to temporarily pause on-site construction,” a Shell spokesperson said. “This gives us the opportunity to take stock, complete engineering, optimise project sequencing and in doing so maintain capital discipline.” The spokesperson added: “Low-carbon fuels form a key part of Shell’s ambitions to provide affordable and sustainable products to our customers.” The aviation industry accounts for 3% of the world’s carbon emissions, and is seen as one of the most difficult forms of transportation to decarbonise. The decision to pause the work deals another blow to Shell’s biofuels plans after the company cancelled an SAF project at Singapore’s Bukom Island in March last year.<br/>
The Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC) launched the country's first technical centre for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) that focuses on standard setting and product research, a report published in the aviation regulator's news channel showed late on Tuesday. The new centre, based in the southwestern city of Chengdu, will take the lead in mapping out industry policy and setting up standards for products and quality control, according to two SAF industry executives with direct knowledge of the launch. China, the world's second-largest aviation market which consumes about 11% of the jet fuel used globally, is expected to unveil this year its policy on the use of SAF for 2030 that could spur billions of dollars of investment, Reuters reported in May. Despite a few test flights，China does not produce SAF commercially for domestic use. Biofuel firms are pouring more than $1b into building China's first plants to turn waste cooking oil into aviation fuel for export and meet domestic demand once Beijing mandates the fuel's use on airplanes to cut emissions. CAAC also aims to establish a Chinese certification system for sustainable fuel. The centre is setting up test facilities for new products, according to the report on the regulator's news site, which added that China's total aviation fuel consumption is likely to exceed 50m metric tons per year by 2030 and the use of SAF could reach 2.5m tons per year. SAF can be made from sustainably sourced renewable waste and residues such as used cooking oil and animal fat waste, or processed from renewable power-based hydrogen.<br/>