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United Airlines next month will begin using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at its Chicago O’Hare International Airport hub. The airline expects to receive 1 million gallons of SAF at O’Hare by the end of 2024, representing about 3% of its total fuel consumption at the airport. According to United, O’Hare is the first U.S. airport outside of California that will have a portion of its fuel supply be filled by SAF. The airline said the initiative is made possible by tax credits recently passed in the state of Illinois. “This is what happens when innovation, leadership and policy come together,” United President Brett Hart said in a statement. “While the market for SAF is still in its infancy, there is a huge opportunity today for airlines and policymakers to work together to support its continued growth – SAF at O’Hare was made possible thanks to Governor Pritzker and the Illinois Legislature passing tax incentives.” Globally, the aviation industry has committed to net zero carbon emissions by 2050, but there’s still a lot of work to be done to get there. United only gets a portion of its fuel from SAF at five airports worldwide, including Chicago. The others are Los Angeles, San Francisco, London and Amsterdam. <br/>

U.S. legacy carriers United Airlines and Delta Air said on Wednesday they will suspend their flights to Tel Aviv, Israel due to security concerns. "We continue to closely monitor the situation and will make decisions on resuming service with a focus on the safety of our customers and crews," United Airlines said. Delta Airlines also said it will pause flights between New York-JFK and Tel Aviv through Aug. 2.<br/>

Deutsche Lufthansa AG said it will embark on a savings program that includes phasing out about 50 older long-haul aircraft in the latter part of the decade as the German airline group struggles with overcapacity that’s weighing on ticket prices. The company will reduce fleet complexity by decommissioning its four-engine Airbus SE A340-300, A340-600 and Boeing Co. 747-400, as well as the smaller Airbus A330-200 by 2028, it said on Wednesday as it reported earnings. The company said it will also improve the network “in line with the stronger seasonalization of demand.” Lufthansa predicted that yields, a measure of ticket prices, will drop by a low single-digit percentage in the third quarter from last year, and that unit costs will rise by a similar magnitude. Capacity in the quarter will be about 96% of pre-crisis level and reach 92% for the year, the company said. Bookings until the end of October are up by more than 10%, Lufthansa said. Ticket prices have been under pressure particularly in Asia, where overcapacity has been most pronounced. The company cut its profit goal earlier this month, saying it’s struggling with higher unit costs and delayed aircraft, as well as the fallout from strikes earlier this year that deterred customers to book on the airline.<br/>

Lufthansa Group chief executive Carsten Spohr is still targeting completion of a deal to acquire a stake in Italian carrier ITA Airways before year-end. More than a year since Lufthansa first agreed terms on a deal to acquire a 41% stake in ITA – with an option to ultimately take full control of the airline – European Commission regulators in early July finally gave their conditional approval to the deal after Lufthansa and ITA committed to a number of remedy actions to satisfy the Commission’s competition concerns. Specifically, the agreed proposed remedies tackle concerns around the competitive impact on some short- and long-haul routes – most notably from Milan Linate – on some Italian routes to central Europe and on transatlantic flights where Lufthansa has a strong presence through its joint venture with Air Canada and United Airlines. The concessions focus on giving up assets, including slots at Linate, to rivals, alongside enabling those rivals to offer competitive onward connections. “We maintain our optimism that we can close in Q4,” Spohr said during a second quarter earnings call today, when asked about likely timeframes for completing a deal. He suggests it may take another one or two weeks ”more or less” to agree plans with the potential remedy takers, before it would then put the proposed remedy outcomes to the Commission for approval. Lufthansa is unable to begin integrating ITA into the group until final approval is given. “Everybody in the process, including the remedy takers, want to be fast,” notes Spohr.<br/>

Japan's main airlines, Japan Airlines (JAL) and ANA Holdings, reported increases in revenue for the quarter ended in June, but both saw reduced net profits due to higher maintenance and labor costs. JAL reported on Wednesday an 11% year-on-year increase to 424b yen ($2.8b) in the first three months of the financial year ending March 2025, while net profit was down 39% to 13.9b yen. ANA reported the highest revenue for the April-June quarter, with a 12% year-on-year increase to 516.7b yen. Net profit decreased by 19% to 24.7b yen. Rising demand from inbound tourism contributed to revenue growth. In June, Japan's visitor arrivals hit a record high of 3.13 million, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. Both airlines saw a large upturn in international passengers. JAL gained 13% growth in revenue from full-service international flights to 166.1 billion yen "due to strong inbound demand and a recovery in business demand from Japan to other countries," Mitsuko Tottori, the company's CEO, said at a news conference on Wednesday. A recovery in demand for Japanese business passengers "Demand for international flights is in line with expectations, and ticket prices continue to remain high," she said. The full-service international airline unit of ANA also grew 13% to 189.5b yen. Demand for North American routes was notably strong, particularly from business travelers out of Japan, according to Kimihiro Nakahori, ANA's chief financial officer. The company raised ticket prices on its North America routes.<br/>

Singapore Airlines Ltd. profit fell in the fiscal first quarter from an all-time high a year ago as higher costs and lower yields continued to eat into the carrier’s earnings. Net income for the three months ended June 30 decreased 38.4% to S$452m ($337m), the carrier said in a statement Wednesday. Revenue however rose 5.3% to S$4.7b thanks to a nearly 14% year-on-year rise in passengers during the period to 9.6m, and a boost from cargo. Non-fuel costs are just one of the things putting pressure on Singapore’s bottom line, rising 7.7% for the quarter, outpacing revenue growth. Jet fuel costs after hedging meanwhile increased 30.1% versus the same period of 2023, as increased flying and higher oil prices weighed on expenses. Singapore Air isn’t the only carrier witnessing something of a comedown after the heady days post Covid. Concerns about profitability have been echoed by carriers in Europe and the US as the aviation industry resets following a record run after the pandemic.<br/>