German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has agreed with the aviation industry and regional authorities on a roadmap for the development and use of "green" aviation fuel, a government paper seen on Thursday showed. The aim is to ensure at least 200,000 tonnes of the synthetic fuel is used per year from 2030, equivalent to about one third of the current fuel requirements of air traffic within Germany. The idea is to produce synthetic "Power to Liquid" (PtL), whereby kerosene is generated using renewable energies, hydrogen and CO2. The transport and environment ministries will work on ways to ramp up fuel production on an industrial scale. A binding minimum quota on the fuel and a purchase obligation are designed to guarantee that demand is created despite higher costs. The plan is due to be signed on Friday by government and industry representatives and fuel manufacturers.<br/>
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South Korea’s air traffic volume at local airports in April doubled from a year-ago period to top 30,000 for the first time in 14 months, although still halved against pre-pandemic levels. According to Air Portal run by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Wednesday, the nation’s air traffic reached 31,927 carriers, up 14.3% from the previous month and 98.8% against a year ago. This is the first time that air traffic exceeded 30,000 since the first wave of the pandemic hit the country in February last year. Traffic in domestic airspace was congested, with domestic flight passengers hitting 2.95 million, close to the record high of 3.03m in October 2019. It may swell to over 3m in May as the country celebrates public holidays like Children’s day and Buddha’s Birthday. Jeju Air operated 3,678 domestic flights, the highest among local airlines, followed by Jin Air with 3,513 flights. Jeju Air also carried the most domestic passengers of about 610,000.<br/>
New Zealand will suspend the trans-Tasman bubble to NSW for two days starting on Friday. The country’s COVID response minister, Chris Hipkins, said it wasn’t a decision taken lightly, and New Zealand could lift the temporary ban early depending on how the situation plays out. “We will keep that under constant review during that time,” said Hipkins. “Obviously if more information comes to light during that time that gives us more confidence, we could lift that restriction earlier and reserve the ability to do that. We indicated when we opened up the trans-Tasman travel bubble that we would continue to be cautious.” The ‘pause’ will affect at least six flights from Sydney to Auckland, including Qantas flight QF143, due to depart at 9am tomorrow. It follows NSW recording two community cases of COVID over the last two days. The cases have been serologically linked to a case at the border, raising hopes the infection hasn’t spread too far.<br/>
Australia's international borders might not fully reopen until the middle or second half of 2022, Trade Minister Dan Tehan said on Friday, in a blow to airlines and the tourism sector. Tehan said "the best guess would be in the middle to the second half of next year, but as we've seen throughout this pandemic things can change." Tehan said he hoped more travel bubbles could be opened similar to the one between Australia and New Zealand.<br/>
Airbus expects China to become a legitimate rival in global planemaking by the end of the decade, upending the long-standing duopoly between the European company and US rival Boeing. China has long been a big customer for both manufacturers, accounting for a fifth of Airbus deliveries last year. The country is finally close to success in its long-delayed attempt to build a challenger to the firms’ narrowbody models, with the first C919 single-aisle jet set to be delivered by the end of the year. Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said Thursday it’s hard to predict how quickly China will be able to establish itself as a credible player, but over time Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China, or Comac, is likely to take a share of the market. “It will start slowly, reaching at the beginning probably only the Chinese airlines, but we believe it will progressively become a decent player,” Faury said. “We will go from a duopoly to a triopoly on the single aisle probably by the end of the decade.”<br/>
North American airline pilot association ALPA International is expressing concern that there is no formal process to warn commercial crews of the increasing risks posed by space debris re-entering the atmosphere. It has issued its own caution over the uncontrolled re-entry of a large booster stage of the Chinese Long March 5B launch vehicle carrying part of the Tianhe space station. The launch took place on 29 April but the precise time and location of the booster re-entry is unknown. US-based non-profit organisation Aerospace Corporation, which specialises in space-related research support, estimates the re-entry at 02:34UTC on 9 May – but this is still subject to a 21h window in each direction. The pilot association points out that the Long March 5B booster, at 21t empty, is seven times more massive than a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket section which experienced uncontrolled re-entry in late March – during which several parts including pressure tanks survived and struck the ground. ALPA says the Chinese booster presents a “commensurate increase” in debris hazard. “Despite this hazard to people, structures, and aircraft, no US government agency is responsible for providing notification to the public,” it states. “There does not appear to be any process to notify pilots – for example, via NOTAM – of the debris hazard using the most updated information.”<br/>
Bombardier said Thursday it expects improved revenue this year from business aircraft activities over 2020 as the vaccination rollout in the United States, the world’s largest market for corporate aircraft, boosts traffic. CE Éric Martel told analysts that aircraft pricing would be in line with what was expected or even slightly better. A rebound in US business aviation traffic to pre-pandemic levels is expected to bolster higher-margin aftermarket services as planes fly more. Bombardier reported a 43% increase in quarterly adjusted profit and used less free cash, helped by a recovery in business aviation, as rising COVID-19 vaccinations encourage travel. The company pre-flagged earnings on Monday while disclosing it was seeking bondholders’ consent to amend terms on eight bond issues. The move followed claims by a bondholder that recent sales of non-core assets breached the terms of certain notes. Martel told reporters "we feel pretty good about the preliminary discussions" with the bondholders, adding the results of the vote will come out next Tuesday. Bombardier also disclosed that the UnS has joined an ongoing investigation into its sales of jets to Garuda Indonesia a decade ago.<br/>