Lessor Aircastle is set to repossess 10 jets from Avianca Brasil, the country’s No. 4 airline, after a bankruptcy hearing on Monday, a source familiar with the matter said, potentially disrupting flights for thousands of passengers. The 10 Airbus A320 planes represent more than 20% of Avianca Brasil’s current fleet, according to data provided by Brazil’s aviation regulator, raising doubts about the carrier’s ability to fly its full flight schedule if the aircraft are seized. And it could lose more planes in the future. Lessor GE Capital Aviation Services and an affiliate are seeking to repossess 12 Airbus A320s from Avianca Brasil, according to James Luton, a GE spokesman. When the airline filed for bankruptcy protections last month, the airline discussed the possible loss of 14 planes, which it said would affect 77,000 passengers over a three-week period. A representative for Avianca Brasil declined to comment. <br/>
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Singapore Airlines Sunday warned customers against falling victim to a website claiming to be from the airline and promising free air tickets. In a Facebook post, SIA said that the website would ask users for their personal data. “We have reported the site to be taken down and would like to advise customers to exercise discretion when revealing personal data to unverified sources,” the post said. “These websites, emails and calls should be verified if in doubt. Please send us details on our social media channels or via this link http://singaporeair.com/en_UK/feedback-enquiry/.” SIA also advised customers to be careful of social media posts and phishing websites that bear similarities to their official website.<br/>
Lisa Daniell is at the spearhead of Air New Zealand's war on plastic. The airline's sustainability head has the ambitious goal of eliminating 24m separate items of single-use plastic over this current year. During the past year the airline has removed single-use plastic straws, stir sticks, eye mask wrappers and plastic toothbrushes from lounges and onboard aircraft. Over a 12-month period this will see the airline reduce its plastic footprint by 260,000 plastic toothbrushes, 3000 straws, 7.1m stirrers and 260,000 eye mask wrappers. She says one of the biggest challenges is finding alternatives to plastic that are genuinely biodegradable or recyclable. And they have to be lightweight. "Biodegradable depends on the time frame," says Daniell. "And we need to be able to better define what compostable. We need certification and rules." The IATA estimated the airline industry generated 5.2m tonnes of inflight waste in 2016 and Air NZ last year launched Project Green, a programme to stop so much being dumped. Story has more details.<br/>