The oneworld® Alliance airline has supported the World Economic Forum Clean Skies for Tomorrow Coalition’s 10 percent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) by 2030 ambition, further signaling the importance of sustainability to oneworld.

oneworld is the first global airline alliance to commit to net zero emissions by 2050 and is among the 60 signatories that have backed the coalition’s ambition statement.

It says the alliance and its member airlines are strongly committed to playing an active role in the global pathway for SAF technologies to reach 10 percent of global aviation fuel supply by 2030.

The alliance’s support of the coalition’s ambition statement came shortly after the global alliance unveiled its initial carbon roadmap on August 31, charting the path to its net zero emissions target.

SAF technologies, as the most feasible option to reduce aviation emissions in the near term, will be a key contributor in the alliance’s journey to be more sustainable it said.

Advancing the use of SAF recognized by ICAO-approved schemes will be a focus for the alliance, which is committed to being an advocate of industry action to decarbonize aviation.

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oneworld said that its sustainability efforts are spearheaded by the alliance’s Environment and Sustainability Board, chaired by IAG Head of Sustainability Jonathon Counsell, and with representation from all member airlines.

oneworld Governing Board Chairman and Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive H.E. Mr Akbar Al Baker said: “As the leading airline alliance at the forefront of environmental sustainability, oneworld is proud to support the World Economic Forum in its ambition statement for sustainable aviation fuel.

“We are committed to working with our partners to play a role in this important journey and call on all stakeholders for their active support towards the usage of SAF that is available at commercial scale, affordable, and certified under the schemes recognized by ICAO and other relevant authorities,” Mr Al Baker said.

oneworld CEO Rob Gurney said: “Sustainability is at the core of oneworld’s priorities and our backing of this important ambition statement today further underlines our commitment. Expanding the use of SAF will be crucial in decarbonizing aviation in the near term but we recognize no airline can do it alone.

“We believe that our support of the coalition’s statement will create further momentum for the industry’s efforts in sustainability and hope it will galvanize others to take action.”

oneworld brings together 14 airlines – Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Jordanian, S7 Airlines, and SriLankan Airlines, and more than 20 of their affiliates.

Airbus has announced plans for a new CityAirbus at the company’s first Airbus Summit on “Pioneering Sustainable Aerospace” as the emerging Urban Air Mobility (UAM) market begins to firm up.

Ushering in the next generation of CityAirbus, the fully electric vehicle is equipped with fixed wings, a V-shaped tail, and eight electrically powered propellers as part of its uniquely designed distributed propulsion system.

It is designed to carry up to four passengers in a zero-emissions flight in multiple applications.

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Bruno Even, Airbus Helicopters chief executive said “we are on a quest to co-create an entirely new market that sustainably integrates urban air mobility into the cities while addressing environmental and social concerns.

“‘Airbus is convinced that the real challenges are as much about urban integration, public acceptance, and automated air traffic management, as about vehicle technology and business models. We build on all of the capabilities to deliver a safe, sustainable, and fully integrated service to society.”

CityAirbus is being developed to fly with an 80 km range and to reach a cruise speed of 120 km/h, making it suited for operations in major cities for a variety of missions.

Sound levels are a key factor for an urban mission and the CityAirbus’ sound levels are very low and below 65 dB(A) during fly-over and below 70 dB(A) during landing.

Airbus says it is optimized for hover and cruise efficiency, while not requiring moving surfaces or tilting parts during the transition.

The Vahana and CityAirbus demonstrators have jointly conducted 242 flight and ground tests and have flown around 1,000 km in total. Airbus has used extensive subscale flight testing and wind tunnel campaigns and has leveraged its computing and modeling power.

CityAirbus NextGen is in a detailed design phase right now and the prototype’s first flight is planned for 2023.

“We have learned a lot from the test campaigns with our two demonstrators, CityAirbus and Vahana”, said Even.

“The CityAirbus NextGen combines the best from both worlds with the new architecture striking the right balance between hover and forward flight. The prototype is paving the way for certification expected around 2025.”

New travel corridors are offering hope to Singapore Airlines that meaningful passenger numbers are not far away.

The so-called Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) concept introduced so far for Brunei (inbound to Singapore) and Germany (both ways) on September 8 seem to work, albeit on a small scale.

“Borders have not reopened in a meaningful way across the world,” says Lee Lik  Hsin, SIA’s EVP Commercial in a recent interview with Airlineratings.com in Singapore.

“As an airline with only international routes like ourselves, we are one of the most hit with load factors still below 20 percent and our passenger carriage still only at 4 percent of what it used to be.”

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Changi Airport numbers reflect those numbers expecting just 3 percent of its 2019 passengers for this year. While the last full pre-pandemic year was a record one with 68 million passengers, in 2021 Changi struggles to get past the two-million-mark.

In the first two weeks, of the VLTs 900 travelers had entered Singapore under the new scheme and only one positive Covid case was detected during the mandatory PCR tests on arrival. In total 2,500 people have so far applied to enter Singapore via the VTL.

According to Singapore’s transport minister S. Iswaran there will be more countries covered by a VTL “in the coming weeks and months”, not specifying when or which countries might be included.

One candidate is neighboring Malaysia, as many economic activities in Singapore such as harbor operations depend on labor from Malaysia usually commuting in to work.

More VTLs will be a shot in the arm for Singapore Airlines.

“Our shareholder Temasek has supported us tremendously which gives us the funding to be able to continue on, even though the passenger side of the business continues to be very, very low,” says Lee.

“I think we are definitely able to ride through this crisis and also continue on with a decent network of international flights, and in that, we are among the top three leading carriers in the world in the resumption of international capacities.”

While Singapore Airlines offers only a third of its usual capacity, the airline is able to provide most of the transfer connections that existed pre-Covid.

But Lee talks about possibilities of returning the iconic A380 into service, all twelve remaining aircraft have been or will be refurbished with the newest cabin product.

“The A380 is still a very important part of our fleet, we don’t know when they will come back.”

“Things move relatively quickly in terms of who is opening up, and not just between Singapore and other countries, but also on routes like Singapore via Taipei to Los Angeles that we recently restarted. That is the kind of opportunities we are looking for, and wherever the A380 is appropriate we might deploy it.”

During the pandemic, Singapore Airlines underwent a transformation process.

“We took a hard look at what we need to do in terms of our cost, and from the start of Covid to now we had significant improvements in our cash burn,” said Lee.

“It is still significant, but we have gone from burning over S$300m (A$306m) a month to about S$100-150m a month now.”

Some major decisions were taken in fleet planning. “We reviewed our older Boeing 777 classics and Airbus A330s and decided they aren’t going to fly again in our fleet, while we are moving to a new generation of A350s and 787s altogether,” said Lee.

This year will 19 new aircraft joining the fleet, 15 of them A350s and 787s.

“I think we will be able to deploy most of the incoming aircraft we will receive in the current year,” insists Lee. For the first time since retiring its last Boeing 757 in 1990, Singapore Airlines recently re-introduced 737 narrowbody aircraft into its mainline fleet.

Qatar Airways has joined the Global Coalition for Sustainable Aviation of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), becoming the first airline in the Middle East to sign up.

The ICAO Global Coalition promotes sustainable international aviation, acting as a forum through which stakeholders can develop new ideas and accelerate innovative solutions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the source.

It also aims to provide input into the development and implementation of a basket of measures and the exploration of a long-term environmental objective related to international aviation.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: “It is innovation that will drive the industry forward for a sustainable future. I strongly believe that the ICAO Global Coalition for Sustainable Aviation will allow industry-leading partners to pursue collaborative creation and drive innovation together.

“Qatar Airways is looking forward to being a strategic collaborator in the coalition. We expect to work together with other members in developing ideas and strategies to facilitate a further acceleration of innovative green technologies, taking us a step closer towards net-zero emissions.”

The coalition includes stakeholders working on a broad array of topics related to sustainable aviation, including sustainable aviation fuels, infrastructure, operations, and technology, and it looks for trendsetters when identifying new potential members.

Its focus areas include raising awareness of the continuing progress made towards in-sector CO₂ emissions reduction from international aviation, building on existing leaderships and champions, as well as strengthening current partnerships and innovations.

Qatar Airways will be able to share its past and ongoing measures and initiatives to tackle CO₂ emissions, and provide valuable insights to all stakeholders, in order to contribute to the work led by ICAO. At the same time, we hope to inspire other industry partners to take a participative role towards our shared climate change goals.

Emirates has begun a worldwide campaign to recruit 3,000 cabin crew and 500 airport services employees to join its Dubai hub over the next six months to support a ramp-up in operations.

The airline says these roles are Dubai-based positions and frontline customer-facing roles, and candidates interested in joining Emirates as cabin crew or as an airport services agent can find out more about the job requirements and submit their application on www.emiratesgroupcareers.com.

Emirates is gradually restoring its network operations in line with the easing of travel restrictions around the world, and over the past months, and it has been recalling pilots, cabin crew, and other operational employees who were stood down when the pandemic forced a drastic reduction in flights last year.

The airline currently flies to over 120 cities, representing 90 percent of its pre-pandemic network, and it plans to restore 70 percent of its capacity by the end of the year, including bringing back more of its iconic A380 aircraft into active service.

The rapid vaccination roll-out in the United Arab Emirates and clear pandemic protocols have enabled Dubai to quickly and safely re-open to international tourism and business activities since July 2020.