Air Transport

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that passenger traffic fell in February 2021, both compared to pre-COVID levels (February 2019) and compared to the immediate month prior (January 2021).

IATA has urged South Africa to start planning for the safe resumption of international air travel to help repair its decimated business and leisure tourism industry.

The next five years could see a perfect storm of conditions driving demand for new narrowbodies, thanks to oil and related factors.

The A350 will replace an A340-600 previously used to measure trace elements and greenhouse gases in the tropopause.

United Airlines is planning to reopen its flight academy this year, part of a new goal to train 5,000 new pilots by 2030.

France plans to help Réunion-based Air Austral survive the COVID-19 crisis by providing a €30 million ($35 million) state-guaranteed loan.

A recent Oliver Wyman projection that U.S. domestic air traffic could be back up to 2019 levels by early 2022 seems to align with data points coming out of the aftermarket side, suggesting aircraft operators believe they will need lift sooner rather than later.

UNITED AIRLINES purchased two more ex-easyJet A319-100s (2605/2646) with CFM56s from Aircastle.

FLYBOSNIA leased V2500-powered A320-200 (661) from Onur Air, Turkey in preparation for restart in mid-2021.

AERCAP completed 70 aircraft transactions (60 lease agreements/one purchase/nine sales) in 1Q21 vs 53 (28 lease agreements/seven purchases/18 sales)

A Swiss research project has been launched with the goal of developing a synthetic kerosene produced from carbon dioxide (CO2) and renewable hydrogen that can directly replace fossil jet fuel without requiring changes to aircraft and engines.

AIR FRANCE-KLM expects 1Q21 operating loss of €1.3b and negatvie EBITDA of €750m, better than budgeted assumptions.

DFW says it is planning to reach 80% of pre-pandemic traffic during summer 2021 and make a full traffic recovery by 1Q22.

UPS FLIGHT FORWARD announced plans to purchase 10 eVTOL aircraft from Beta Technologies (BETA) for delivery starting in 2024 in deal that includes

UPS announced on April 7 that it plans to purchase up to 150 Beta Technologies’ Alia electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft to augment package deliveries in small and midsize markets.

Airport authorities, air traffic control (ATC) providers and any others in the air transport supply chain that try to exploit the current weakness of airlines will be strongly opposed, IATA’s new director general and CEO warned.

Talks between Italy and the European Commission (EC) over bankrupt airline Alitalia have reached a sticking point.

The latest global airline industry numbers show a diverging business, with air cargo demand growing while passenger traffic declines.

JET NORDIC GROUP acquired NOVAIR, Sweden (two A321neos) from tour operators Apollo and Der Tourisitik, and plans to combine airline with Jettime

CARGO AIRCRAFT MANAGEMENT commenced add-on offering of $150m in senior notes; it also increased its revolving credit facility from $600m to $1b using

As a second wave of coronavirus infections rages in Brazil, its largest domestic airline GOL continues to brace for weakened demand.

RYANAIR expects to report a pre-exceptional net loss of €800m-€850m net loss for year ended March 31 (FY21) vs previously guided range of €850m-€950m

IATA reports global pax traffic dropped 74.7% in February (vs Feb 2019) on 63.1% lower capacity; cargo traffic increased 9%.

AVOLON completed 31 lease transactions in 1Q21 (vs 39 in 1Q20), delivered eight new aircraft (vs 29), and transitioned three to follow-on lessees (vs

Ryanair warned that its current fiscal year’s traffic levels will be toward the lower end of its previous guidance because of travel restrictions and slow vaccine rollouts in Europe.