UK long-haul carrier Virgin Atlantic has agreed to take 2.5 million liters (660,000 gal.) of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from Neste, marking the airline’s first commercial SAF commitment.
Korean Air has gained clearance from Singapore for its proposed takeover of fellow Korean airline Asiana, although the deal still requires approvals from regulatory authorities in other countries.
Sun Country Airlines is extolling the benefits of its new pilot contract, which it said will help improve hiring and retention efforts amid an industry-wide shortage of pilots.
Irish lessor Avolon returned to profit in 2021, while San Francisco-headquartered BBAM has raised a further $1.5 billion in funding and SMBC Aviation Capital has agreed to introduce ACMI-provider SmartLynx Airlines to Boeing 737 MAX operations.
LCC Air Arabia hopes to have its joint venture (JV) carriers in Armenia and Pakistan flying by mid-year and has now allocated aircraft to the two new airlines.
Germany’s antitrust authority Bundeskartellamt has raised serious concerns over Lufthansa’s decision to terminate a long-standing special pro-rate agreement with leisure carrier Condor in a preliminary decision that will likely lead it to force continuation of the arrangement.
The Biden administration has made its distaste for airline consolidation well-known, but even its own Department of Justice will be hard-pressed to reject the recently proposed merger between Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines.
The merger would create the largest ULCC in the Americas through a combined fleet that could inch close to 500 Airbus narrowbodies during the next five years.
Strain on regional airline networks caused in part by rising demand for pilots may lead to discussions on revisiting the 1,500-hr. rule, SkyWest President and CEO Chip Childs said.
Wizz Air has fallen foul of a Danish pension fund on ESG grounds as AkademikerPension says it will sell its stake in the ULCC, which is accused of discouraging staff from joining unions.
To celebrate the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, Xiamen Air mounted what it calls its first carbon neutral flight on its Xiamen to Beijing service.
U.S. regional operator SkyWest is cutting planned block hours for 2022 as continuing staffing challenges, including unexpected higher levels of captain attrition, are creating a drag on its operations.
French regional carrier Amelia Airlines has signed a letter of intent (LOI) with California-based Universal Hydrogen to convert three of its aircraft to hydrogen fuel cell powerplants.
Icelandair’s remaining 13 Boeing 757-200/300s will be replaced in the second half of this decade and the all-Boeing operator is preparing to enter discussions with OEMs on its future aircraft options.
