Diplomatic moves to ease transatlantic air travel could unleash fierce competition to entice passengers back into near-empty cabins at a time when tottering airlines can ill afford a price war in the world’s richest aviation market. Talks between Brussels and Washington on resuming mass travel for vaccinated tourists have raised hopes of a summer rebound - further buoyed by new EU reopening proposals. Airlines are desperate for good news after a year of COVID-19 lockdowns that pushed many to the brink of collapse, or into the arms of governments. The United States will reopen to Europeans in “a matter of the next two or three weeks”, Lufthansa CE Carsten Spohr predicted last week. But the German airline boss also cautioned against any race to the bottom on fares. “The North Atlantic is historically the most disciplined traffic region,” Spohr told investors. “I expect this discipline (to) prevail.”<br/>
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Members of a US House of Representatives subcommittee met on Tuesday with representatives from the biofuels and airline industries to discuss ways to expand production of low-carbon aviation fuel, the subcommittee chair told Reuters. The meeting is part of a broader push by lawmakers to advance climate and energy legislation amid calls by US President Joe Biden's administration to rapidly slash greenhouse gas emissions and decarbonize the US economy by 2050. The aviation subcommittee of the Democratic-led House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure met with low-carbon fuels provider World Energy, the Advanced Biofuels Association and Airlines for America, among others, two sources familiar with the meeting said. The biofuels industry group represents about 30 companies and the airlines industry group represents about 10 airlines and delivery companies. The virtual meeting was intended to brief subcommittee members about so-called sustainable aviation fuel, an alternative to traditional jet fuel that can be made using animal fat, used cooking oil and plant oils, Representative Rick Larsen, who chairs the subcommittee, said after the meeting. "There's not a lot of SAF (sustainable aviation fuel) being used right now relative to the US demand for aviation fuel writ large, but there's a lot coming online," Larsen said. "The biggest effort from a policy point of view is to include the aviation fuel in the blender's tax credit." The meeting focused on the need for consistent policy that would help expand the market, one of the two sources said.<br/>
Britain is set to announce the green list for countries that people can travel to on holiday shortly, and will have the right procedures in place to ensure travel can happen safely, said trade minister Liz Truss on Tuesday. Hopes that Britons will be able to travel to Europe rose on Monday after the EU recommended easing restrictions to allow in people who were fully vaccinated or from countries with a “good epidemiological situation”, boosting travel stocks. The British government said in mid-April it would announce which countries would be open for quarantine-free travel from England in early May, ahead of a plan to allow holidays again from May 17 at the earliest. “I don’t think it will be much longer before we make those announcements,” Truss said. Sources have suggested the list could be published on Friday, after local elections are held on Thursday. “People are looking to book a holiday but I would encourage people to wait until we make that announcement,” Truss added.<br/>
A strong recovery in the large Chinese domestic market was the key driver for an improved global airline passenger traffic performance in March, though RPKs still remain two-thirds below pre-crisis levels. IATA figures for March show total passenger traffic as measured in RPKs was down 67.2% on the same month in 2019. Whilst still sharply below pre-crisis levels, it did at least mark an improvement on February figures - for which passenger traffic was down three-quarters on 2019 levels. IATA chief economist Brian Pearce noted the improvement in March figures reflects a lift in Chinese domestic traffic after briefly faltering early this year amid a rise in coronavirus cases in the country. ”We saw in March a sharp rebound in domestic air travel,” says Pearce. ”Essentially… as case numbers of coronavirus have been kept contained after a rise in the early months of the year, we have seen a full rebound above fourth quarter levels and we are expecting to see further growth in that market. The Chinese market has fully recovered from that very sharp fall in January and February. The other big [domestic] market is the US, [which] because of the very fast rollout of the vaccine programme, is also set to get back to full recovery in the second half.”<br/>
'Forest protection' schemes used by airlines to allow carbon-neutral flying are flawed, according to a report by Greenpeace. The research suggested that the calculations used by Verra, a major US non-profit organisation, to work out carbon offsetting through some forest protection schemes can be erroneous. Carried out by Greenpeace and The Guardian, the report examined 10 forest protection schemes administered by Verra, which oversees the carbon credit standard VCS (Verified Carbon Standard). Verra strongly denies the claims. Forest protection schemes that rely on predictions of deforestation that would have occurred without the Verra scheme in place are often flawed, the report said. Greenpeace said this week: "Satellite analysis of tree cover loss in the projects’ reference regions, carried out by leading consultancy McKenzie Intelligence Services, found no evidence of deforestation in line with what had been predicted by the schemes... The offsetting market may not be fit for purpose because projects calculate their climate benefit using what some experts viewed as simplistic methodologies that fail to account for the impact of markets and governments on deforestation." Thales West, who has worked on similar schemes, told The Guardian that the methodologies “are not robust enough". West said: "There is room for projects to generate credits that have no impact on the climate whatsoever." Story has more.<br/>
While Air Lease executive chairman Steven Udvar-Hazy sees airlines giving greater attention to addressing environmental concerns in their fleet planning amid heightened pressure to tackle aviation’s climate impact, he does not believe it will change the useful life of aircraft. Udvar-Hazy says: ”We are definitely seeing a much greater environmental awareness in the fleet-planning process.” “There is a massive campaign against flying,” he says, but adds: ”I don’t know what alternatives we have, I don’t think we are going to go back and take the Queen Mary from London to New York on your next transatlantic crossing. I don’t think we are going to go back to horse and buggies. So I think commercial aviation is here to stay. But what we are seeing is governments, and semi-government agencies, are going to tax and punish airlines that operate aircraft that are not the most advanced in terms of environmental compatibility. I think there is going to be economic discrimination against the previous-generation aircraft.” Some of the strongest environmental pressure is evident in Europe and he highlights measures such as the French government’s moves to curb domestic flying in favour of high-speed rail, which formed part of the recent bail-out for Air France."<br/>
US air safety officials have asked Boeing to supply fresh analysis and documentation showing numerous 737 MAX subsystems would not be affected by electrical grounding issues first flagged in three areas of the jet in April, two people familiar with the matter said. The extra analysis injects new uncertainty over the timing of when Boeing's best-selling jetliner would be cleared to fly by the US FAA. The electrical problems have suspended nearly a quarter of its 737 MAX fleet. US airlines have said they expected Boeing to release the service bulletins as soon as this week that would allow them to make fixes and soon return the planes to service, but this latest issue will likely push that timelime back. “We continue to work closely with the FAA and our customers to address the ground path issue in affected 737s,” a Boeing spokeswoman said. Asked about the status of the planes, a FAA spokesman said "we are continuing to work with Boeing." <br/>
The FAA is requiring airlines perform checks to prevent storage-induced corrosion issues involving CFM International Leap-1B engines. The agency issued an airworthiness directive this week to address the concern, which it says can lead to degraded thrust. The order comes as airlines return 737 Max to service after storing the jets amid the 20-month grounding, and the pandemic. Europe’s regulator issued a related AD last month. The checks must be completed before each flight during the first 15h of power being applied to engines following prolonged storage. The order responds to reports from CFM of “multiple instances” of faults with the “pressure sub-system” (PSS) units in Leap-1Bs, which power Boeing 737 Max. “The manufacturer reported these faults have been occurring since October 2020 and are a result of pressure transducer corrosion following extended storage periods,” says the FAA’s AD. It cites “moisture ingress from long-term on-wing storage, coupled with certain manufacturing processes of the affected pressure transducers”.<br/>