American Airlines said Thursday it will resume sales of alcoholic beverages on domestic and short-haul international flights next month, a plan it delayed almost a year ago because of a surge in unruly passengers and attacks on crew members. Airlines stopped selling alcohol and paused food sales and service in March 2020, when the pandemic started and travel demand plunged. Carriers have been steadily bringing back many of those services over the past year as travelers returned in droves. American is the last major US carrier to bring back sales of beer, wine and spirits, which it will sell in its domestic coach cabins starting April 18, the date the current federal mask mandate expires. It isn’t clear whether the Biden administration will extend or end the requirement. Southwest restarted alcohol sales last month. Drinking and disputes over the mask mandate have contributed to unruly behavior on flights, flight attendant unions have said. Sales will be available on American flights longer than 250 miles. Alcoholic beverages are complimentary on American’s long-haul international flights and in first class, as it is on other major airlines. <br/>
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Finnair has launched a new initiative to encourage passengers to seamlessly offset their flight emissions with a service that combines Sustainable Aviation Fuel and trusted climate projects. Finnair is now inviting its passengers to offset their flight emissions with a service that combines Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and trusted climate projects. The initiative, which has gone live, allows Finnair customers to calculate their flights’ emissions and seamlessly offset their journey by choosing a mix of the two. Customers can easily access this new platform, powered by Chooose, via finnair.com, where the pricing varies depending on how the contribution is shared between SAF and offsetting projects selected by the airline. Eveliina Huurre, Finnair SVP Sustainability commented: “Both Finnair and our customers are keen to reduce the CO2 footprint of air travel and we want to offer our customers a simple and transparent way to do this. “Our service combines two important tools, offsets and SAF, which both are needed to reach carbon neutrality in aviation.” The high price and limited availability of SAF still presents challenges for increasing its usage in commercial aviation, therefore stimulating demand and supply is important to drive down its price and increase its availability. <br/>
Iberia-owner IAG has struck a deal to provide a E100m, seven-year unsecured loan to Globalia which could be turned into a 20% equity holding in its Air Europa airline, it said on Thursday. Iberia had agreed to buy Air Europa in 2019 but terminated the deal in December 2021, when IAG said it would seek alternative structures for a tie up. IAG said on Thursday that subject to regulatory approvals from syndicated banks, it could convert the loan into an up to 20% equity stake in Air Europa. “This agreement will give us time to evaluate with exclusivity alternative structures that may be of interest toboth companies and offer significant benefits for their customers, employees and shareholders,” IAG CEO Luis Gallego said.<br/>