Recently in Airlines Category

In discussing the inclusion of airlines in the EU Emissions Trading System, which started January 1, here are a few numbers to consider:

Two significant events this summer should help boost commercial production of bio-based jet fuel: the approval of a new fuel standard and the recent completion of a successful first trans-Atlantic flight.

In July, international standards developer ASTM gave a final nod to a new jet standard for hydroprocessed renewable jet fuel. The standard backs the use of up to a 50% blend of petroleum-based jet and biomass-based jet from feedstocks such as camelina, jatropha or algae. Hydroprocessed biojet goes through virtually the same process petroleum refineries use, creating a drop-in form of fuel that Honeywell UOP used recently in a flight from New Jersey to France for the Paris Air Show.

When it touched down at Paris-Le Bourget Airport early June 18, the Gulfstream G450 business jet became the first aircraft to fly from North America to Europe on biofuel, according to Honeywell.

Rekoske, vice president and general manager of renewable energy for Honeywell UOP, took time out from his schedule to answer a few questions via email:

Michael Baer is the managing director of fuel administration for US Airways, and he had a few interesting observations Monday about the question of hedging the company's exposure to the price of jet fuel.

Baer was part of a panel I chaired at the Platts' Oil Trading and Risk Management forum held in Houston today, September 13. Most of the day was focused on the impact of the Dodd-Frank banking regulatory legislation; the term "we just don't know yet" was heard frequently.

Almost a month has passed since an Icelandic volcano with a name that doesn't exactly trip off the tongue wreaked havoc on European air travel, but the International Energy Agency has only now released its estimate of how much jet fuel was reduced by as a result of the hundreds of planes left on the ground -- 1.2 million b/d, or 20% of the world's total consumption.

These days hardly a week seems to pass without some airline, somewhere running a successful test on using biofuel as jet fuel. Yet whenever the world's fuel experts roll up their sleeves to and dig into the latest issues in fuel supply -- as they did last week in Los Angeles at a fuel forum organized by the International Air Transport Association -- the conversation on biofuels quickly turns sour. The merest whiff of the stuff could ground a plane at an airport near you. What could possibly explain this schizophrenia, and how to bridge the gap?

Earlier this month the UK government found itself stuck in an almost unprecedented perfect storm. Faced by a monstrous ash cloud spewing forth from an Icelandic volcano, which had already shut down much of Northwest Europe's airspace during a key vacation period, and with an increasingly tight-looking general election just weeks away, Downing Street fell back on an old fashioned response. It sent the fleet in.

In a very modern parallel of the British Army's evacuation from Dunkirk in 1940, three Royal Naval warships would, so the government announced, be dispatched to ports in France and Spain to round up sun-burnt and frazzled Brits and cart them home.

The global prognosis for the airline industry is grim. The International Air Transport Association has forecast a $5.6 billion global net loss for 2010, coming right after a forecasted $11 billion loss in 2009.

On Monday, December 7, 2009, world leaders will gather in Copenhagen to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference. High on the agenda is likely to be the role of aviation in global warming. At a time when most industries are facing strict controls over their emissions, aviation enjoys the rare privilege of being virtually without any kind of emission regulation.

The industry has already mounted a great show of committing itself to cutting emissions and improving the efficiency of aircraft, something it has seen notable success in, but the nature of modern flying realistically provides very little scope for any further significant impact on its oil demand or consumption.

The Indian airline industry received yet another blow September 8, when about 360 Jet Airways pilots went on an illegal strike in Mumbai to protest the dismissal of two union employees in August.

It might be ok for the Indian government to bail out loss-ridden national carrier Air India, but it is preposterous that private airlines in which the government has no stake should scream "me too."

India's airline industry has totted up losses of about $2 billion in the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2009 of which Air India accounts for more than half. Of course, private airlines account for the rest of the losses.