Aviation Daily Roundup: July 17, 2023

Q2 RPKs for the leading Chinese carriers show passenger travel is firmly on the increase in the region, with results approaching 2019 levels.

South Korean air taxi startup Plana Aero has agreed to sell 30 of its six-passenger hybrid electric-vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) air taxis to domestic regional startup Hi-Air, representing the third sale to date for the regional air mobility platform. 

Ireland-headquartered aviation-services firm Avia Solutions Group (ASG) has acquired UK-based Synergy Aviation, which it plans to transform into a Boeing 737 wet-lease provider called Ascend Airways.

U.S. startup Alder Fuels has begun the demonstration-scale production of renewable crude oil at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado. 

Aircastle plans to use recently announced funding to both stabilize the business and steadily grow its recently shrinking aircraft portfolio, company executives said.

A project to lay the foundations for a network of routes flown by small hydrogen-powered aircraft connecting rural airports in the Baltic Sea region has been given the green light. 

Seeing a risk of an exceeded night flight cap at Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport, the French authority for airport nuisance control is calling for more judicial proceedings against those carriers that do not comply with the night curfew. 

Asiana’s pilots are stepping up their industrial action with plans for a strike following a long-running standoff with the South Korean airline regarding a new contract proposal.

The Comac C919 appears to have a relatively low aircraft utilization rate at China Eastern Airlines, clocking just over 250 hr. of commercial operation from May 28-July 12.