Aviation Daily Roundup: May 25, 2022

Air France To Unveil New Premium Cabin In Winter 2023

Air France is working on new designs for its long-haul La Première cabin to be launched during the winter 2023/2024 season, building on its recent long-haul business cabin upgrade. La Première suites are currently available on some of Air France’s Boeing 777-300s, serving North America, South America, Africa and the Middle East. The product was first introduced in 2014. Credit: Air France

Iceland’s PLAY Halts Orlando Plans Due To Fuel Costs

High fuel prices have forced Icelandic carrier PLAY to readjust its network and fleet plans for the summer 2022 season. The airline has canceled the launch of a route from its Reykjavik Keflavik (KEF) base to Orlando (MCO), which was due to operate three times per week from Sept. 30. The airline has also opted against leasing an Airbus A321LR aircraft as previously planned. Credit: PLAY

Alaska Airlines Pilots Vote To Authorize Strike

Pilots at Alaska Airlines have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, as contract negotiations with management fail to make meaningful progress. The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which represents Seattle-based Alaska’s roughly 3,100 pilots, said that 99% of ballots cast during the May 25 vote were in favor of authorizing a strike. The union said that 96% of the carrier’s pilots participated in the vote. Credit: Alaska Airlines

SAF Is This Decade’s Premier Enabler Of Emissions Reduction, American Exec Says

For the aviation sector, the 2020s are the decade of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in terms of near-term carbon emissions reduction, but airlines today can get only a tiny fraction of the SAF they need. According to American Airlines head of Environment, Social and Government (ESG) Jill Blickstein, SAF and new-generation, more fuel-efficient aircraft will be the main levers in achieving the aviation industry’s goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050, to which American and other IATA-member airlines are committed. Credit: Thomas Jackson / Getty Images

Daily Memo: Delta’s Boarding Pay Policy Will Inevitably Spread Through The Industry

Delta Air Lines broke ranks with its peers when it announced plans to become the first U.S. carrier to begin paying flight attendants during the passenger boarding process. The policy change, announced in an employee memo in late April, has industry-watchers wondering when—not if—other U.S. carriers will follow suit and amend their own cabin crew boarding pay policies. Credit: Delta Air Lines

Spirit Airlines Says U.S. Entry Test Rules Curbing International Demand

Spirit Airlines believes some pent-up demand exists in its international markets due to the U.S. inbound testing requirements for COVID-19. The Florida-based ULCC operates to Latin America and the Caribbean, and presently those markets account for roughly 20% of Spirit’s network, said the company’s chief commercial officer Matt Klein during the 2022 CAPA Americas Aviation and LCCs conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Credit: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Frontier CEO: JetBlue-Spirit Merger Would Raise Fares, Cut Destinations

A merger of U.S. ULCCs Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines would create more low fares for more people to more places, while a merger of Spirit and JetBlue Airlines would create the opposite, Frontier President and CEO Barry Biffle said. Speaking at the CAPA 2022 Aviation America Aviation and LCCs Summit in Puerto Rico May 25, Biffle stressed the similarities across Denver-based Frontier and Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Spirit. Credit: Pixel Power / Alamy Stock Photo

Flyadeal Plans Continued Expansion With New Narrowbody Order

Saudi LCC flyadeal is considering an order for up to 50 new narrowbodies as it continues to grow. Speaking following his appearance at the Global Aerospace Summit in Abu Dhabi May 25, flyadeal CEO Con Korfiatis told Aviation Daily that the LCC’s capacity was already above that of 2019 and that it was continuing to expand. Credit: Alan Dron

EAN Boosts North Sea Inflight Connectivity

Inmarsat and Deutsche Telekom have formed a partnership with offshore communications specialist Tampnet that will improve European Aviation Network (EAN) inflight connectivity on high-density Northern European routes. Tampnet owns and operates a high-capacity communication network, serving more than 350 sea-based platforms, including oil and gas rigs. Credit: Inmarsat and Deutsche Telekom

Lufthansa Group Confirms ITA Airways Bid

Lufthansa Group is in the running for a stake in ITA Airways after confirming it made a bid in conjunction with shipping group MSC. Italian media also reported that a consortium made up of Air France-KLM, Delta Air Lines and U.S. fund Certares have also bid. The deadline for making an offer expired May 23. Credit: Airbus

KLM Faces Legal Challenge Over Eco-Advertising

Dutch eco-lobby group Fossielvrij NL is threatening to take KLM to court, after publicly challenging the Dutch carrier’s sustainability advertising as “dangerous deception” during an Air France-KLM shareholders’ meeting in Paris. Fossielvrij NL campaigner Marianna van der Stel lodged the challenge during the Q&A session of the May 24 in-person meeting, calling on KLM CEO Pieter Elbers to account for his airline’s “Fly Responsibly” advertising campaign. Credit: KLM

Beluga Rides On New Air Freight Demand

The Singapore military has contracted Airbus to deliver its new batch of H225M helicopters from France, ferried on the company’s BelugaST transporter. The ferry flight, although not a first in Asia, is a signal that the aviation market is facing a certain lack of oversized cargo capacity, especially after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Ukraine is home to Antonov and Russia to Volga Dnepr. Credit: Airbus

German Project Aims To Improve SAF Production

South African energy company Sasol and German research center HZB plan to lead a three-year project to develop next-generation catalysts to improve the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) using the Fischer-Tropsch process. The Care-O-Sene project (for Catalyst Research for Sustainable Kerosene) is co-funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and Sasol. Invented in Germany in 1925 to convert coal into liquid fuels, and further developed by Sasol, the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process is finding renewed application in producing renewable fuels from green hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Credit: Sasol

Thai AirAsia To Raise $58M To Strengthen Financials

Thai AirAsia is planning to raise THB2 billion ($58 million) via debentures to institutional investors and “high net worth individuals” in a bid to stabilize the airline’s balance sheets. The LCC said the fund will support the airline’s recovery plans and initiate further growth on key domestic and international routes, as the Kingdom further opens its borders and relaxes pandemic-related restrictions. The exercise will commence June 27 to 29. Credit: Thai AirAsia

Jetstar Outlines Timetable For A321LR Deliveries

Australia’s Jetstar Airways is preparing to receive its first Airbus A321LR, which will also mark the start of A320neo-family deliveries for the airline. Jetstar said its initial A321LR is due to arrive in Melbourne “in the coming months.” The LCC has 18 A321LRs scheduled for delivery. After the first aircraft, a further eight are due to be delivered between August 2022 and May 2023. The remainder are set to arrive by mid-2024. Credit: Jetstar

Air France to unveil new premium cabin in winter 2023, Iceland’s PLAY halts Orlando plans due to fuel costs and more. Take a look at the daily roundup of air transport news.

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