Aviation Daily Roundup: June 27, 2022

Frontier Airlines has sent an open letter to Spirit Airlines shareholders urging them to approve its recently enhanced merger offer, as the bidding war with JetBlue Airways heats up ahead of a crucial stockholder vote June 30. Frontier and Spirit announced an updated merger agreement following the stock market close on June 24, a move made in response to JetBlue’s revised proposal on June 20. Credit: Airbus

Lithuanian wet-lease specialist GetJet Airlines has taken delivery of its first Boeing 737-800, which is scheduled to be joined by a further four by year-end. “The aircraft, bearing the Lithuanian registration LY-UNO, is the only Boeing 737 of its type to be operated by any carrier within the Baltic countries,” GetJet Airlines said June 27. Credit: GetJet Airlines

Boeing may still be at least two years away from launching its next all-new commercial airliner, but the manufacturer is on the hunt for thousands of new engineers and machinists as it looks to ramp-up 737 MAX production, complete certification of the 737-7, -10 and 777-9, and start development of the 777-8F freighter. The urgency of the recruitment drive has been exacerbated by several factors. On top of the production increase, Boeing is seeking hundreds more staff to handle the heavier workload of regulatory-related tasks needed for its civil certification processes in the wake of the 2018-2019 737 MAX accidents. Credit: Boeing

Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) believes its potential joint venture (JV) with Singapore Airlines (SIA) can help it tap the booming Indian market, says Jun Miyagawa, ANA EVP for alliance and international affairs. Miyagawa told Aviation Daily that the India market is within the JVs scope. He says ANA has focused on the strong China-U.S. transit market over the last 20 years, but that has since disappeared following Beijing’s protracted border closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: Boeing

The European Parliament’s Transport Committee has approved legislation that includes a more ambitious sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) mandate than one originally proposed by the European Commission’s (EC) “Fit for 55” climate package. Europe’s airlines responded to the June 27 vote by urging the mandated volumes of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) should be kept reasonable because of their high cost. Credit: Alamy

The almost weekly announcements by airlines to purchase or invest in the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) reflect the industry’s commitment to achieving its goal of net zero emissions by 2050. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has estimated that airlines worldwide have entered into roughly $17 billion of forward purchasing agreements for SAF. Credit: United Airlines

U.S. lessor Azorra has acquired an additional four Embraer E190s and seven E195s that were previously owned by Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC). On June 27, Azorra announced purchase agreements for the 11 Embraer E-Jets, which will be leased to four airlines: Aeromexico, Air Europa, Kenya Airways and Portugalia Airlines (PGA). Credit: Azorra Aviation

General Electric, accelerating a planned leadership change at its GE Aviation unit, says Chairman and CEO Larry Culp will assume the CEO role of the expanding division. The move, announced June 27 and effective immediately, formalizes a change GE says would be made as part of the company’s planned split into separate entities focusing on aviation, healthcare and energy. Credit: General Electric