Emirates has joined the International Air Transport Association's 'Turbulence Aware Platform'. The Dubai-based carrier says it will be the first airline to integrate the platform within Lufthansa Systems' mobile navigation solution Lido mPilot. It adds that bringing these platforms together offers a wealth of data, combined with new technologies that make up-to-the-minute, accurate turbulence information and forecasts available for pilots. Emirates has equipped more than 140 aircraft with the required onboard software to automatically share turbulence reports with all airlines contributing data to the platform. It notes that all new aircraft joining its fleet over next few years, such as the Airbus A350 and Boeing 777-8, 777-9 and 787, will be enabled to participate in the programme. "Mitigating the adverse effects of turbulence is an industrywide challenge and obtaining accurate and live data is key in this endeavour," states IATA's senior vice-president of commercial products and services Frederic Leger. "The co-operation between IATA Turbulence Aware, Emirates and Lufthansa Systems will further improve the quality and quantity of real-time data made available to the industry, allowing for smoother and safer air travel for all."

Solomon Airlines plans to operate a weekly service between Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands and Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea from 1 July. The carrier says that it will double the frequency on the Honiara-Port Moresby route by adding a second weekly service starting 4 October. Effective 19 June, Solomon Airlines will enhance its service between the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Zealand by operating two weekly flights on the Honiara-Port Vila-Auckland route with plans to further increase the frequency to three weekly flights on the same route from 4 October. Additionally, on 4 October, the carrier will start an Airbus A320 service connecting Brisbane with Munda and Honiara.

Ryanair has lost an appeal against an earlier ruling that backed the European Commission’s decision to approve Covid-era state assistance to Finnair. The ruling by the EU court of Justice relates to a May 2020 decision by Finland to provide a state guarantee that assisted Finnair in receiving a €600 million ($649 million) to cover its working capital needs. That was approved by the European Commission in May 2020, which, it says, took into account for the liquidity shortage facing Finnair at the time and its importance to the country’s economy, concluding that the decision was in line with the EU’s internal market rules on state aid. Ryanair unsuccessfully challenged this decision at the EU General Court in June 2020, arguing that it infringed the EU’s own rules for aid. As part of the latest appeal, Ryanair argued that the court “erred in law and manifestly distorted the facts” when it agreed that the issue presented a “serious disturbance” to the Finnish economy, also saying that the Commission should have weighed up the negative effects of granting the aid. Ryanair also argued other points of law, including claiming that the earlier ruling had not properly accounted for non-discrimination of nationality. However, the Court of Justice did not find that the General Court had erred in its previous findings and rejected Ryanair’s claims that the Commission should have examined the negative impacts of the decision or that the court had distorted certain evidence in its earlier ruling, as well as other points. The appeal was therefore rejected “in its entirety,” with Ryanair ordered to pay its own costs and that of the Commission.