Nervousness and uncertainty about the global economy and intense competition are giving leaders of Asia-Pacific carriers cause for concern even though the region is maintaining a fast-growth track in terms of passengers carried.

Facilitators of an Asia-Pacific initiative that brings together turboprop aircraft operators in the region to share safety issues and best practices hope to bring in more airline and manufacturer participants in 2017.

Mexico City-based ultra low-cost carrier (ULCC) Volaris has begun selling tickets for its Costa Rica subsidiary, the airline told ATW’s sister publication Aviation Daily during the annual Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA) Airline Leaders Forum in Mexico City.

Seattle-based Alaska Airlines made the first commercial flight utilizing alternate jet fuel made from forest residuals—the limbs and branches that remain after a forest harvest—on Nov. 14, with Alaska Airlines Flight 4, a Boeing 737-800 bound for Washington Reagan National Airport carrying 163 passengers.

Initial Wall Street reactions to the US presidential election results do not necessarily signal long-term effects, Air Lease Corp. (ALC) CEO John Plueger said at the annual Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA) Airline Leaders Forum in Mexico City.

Lufthansa Group subsidiary Austrian Airlines will recruit 100 new pilots without flight experience in 2017, and will train them in the European Flight Academy.

Chicago-based United Airlines has opened automated security screening lanes at its hub at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.

Some $3.8 billion of airlines’ funds remain trapped in Venezuela, which risks losing all air service to the country, IATA DG and CEO Alexandre de Juniac warned.