Dutch airline KLM has warned that government plans to limit aircraft movements at Amsterdam Schiphol on noise and carbon grounds threatens its ability to act as a viable hub airport. In a move that appears to have blindsided KLM, the Dutch government in recent days announced that it would set an upper limit of 440,000 aircraft movements at Schiphol from November, against a previous projection of 540,000. The current limit is 500,000 . "I want to offer certainty and perspective to both the aviation sector and local residents," infrastructure minister Mark Harbers told ABC News. "This decision forms the basis for a new equilibrium. Unfortunately, it contains a difficult message for the aviation sector, which is still fully recovering from the drastic consequences of the corona pandemic." KLM complains that the plans were announced without prior discussion or consultation, and that a lack of certainty surrounding access at Schiphol threatens its own long-term investment programme in new aircraft. Furthermore, the airline argues, it threatens Schiphol's position as a major hub and gateway to Europe. "The KLM network depends on the number of destinations we serve coupled with the flight frequencies we operate," it adds. "This is because KLM and its partner airlines offer logical connections between destinations through a hub-and-spoke system operating out of Schiphol. Each flight that is cancelled has consequences for passengers arriving for connecting flights." The airline says that operating fewer flights means offering fewer connections, reducing the profitability of all routes. In turn, this will hit frequencies, eroding Schiphol's hub function. "If KLM is compelled to relinquish slots, it will have to say goodbye to its smaller aircraft to subsequently focus on 'more significant' European traffic flows operating its bigger aircraft at a lower frequency," it continues. "Other destinations will then disappear from the network. KLM's intricately connected network – currently serving 170 destinations – will then no longer be tenable. And this outcome will take shape quickly." The airline observes that demand for flights remains strong and that travellers clearly wish to travel to locations that are not easily accessible by train or car. A reduction in flying would therefore result in travellers using less efficient methods of transport, which would not benefit the environment. There is a risk that limiting movements at Schiphol will result in international companies avoiding the Netherlands while traffic flows are simply rerouted elsewhere, KLM suggests. Likewise, Schiphol airport believes the plans "now lead to great uncertainty, and much remains unclear". Committing itself to further consultation on a detailed plan for capacity at the airport, it adds: "We see that major risks are being taken with regard to the quality of the network."

Qatar Airways has signed a codeshare agreement with South Africa's Airlink, following the collapse earlier this month of the Middle Eastern carrier's previous codeshare partner in the country, Comair. Oneworld member Qatar Airways says the codeshare agreement covers 45 destinations in 13 countries and increases its footprint in Southern Africa through improved access to destinations including Port Elizabeth, Hoedspruit, Skukuza and George in South Africa as well as cities in Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. A codeshare deal with Dubai-based Emirates was struck by Airlink earlier this month. Its chief executive Rodger Foster said in a LinkedIn post on 9 June that other local airlines would quickly fill the gap left by Comair, which is being liquidated after failing to secure enough capital to enable it to restart flights. Airlink's codeshare with Qatar Airways will begin on 6 July, subject to regulatory approval. Qatar Airways operates 21 weekly flights from Doha to Johannesburg, where Airlink is based, as well as 10 to Cape Town and four to Durban. "We have boosted our presence in the African market by adding eight new destinations since the start of the pandemic and fostering partnerships such as this dynamic agreement with Airlink, which will greatly enhance our offering to our customers and support travel and trade," states Qatar Airways Group chief executive Akbar Al Baker.

Airbus and Siemens are partnering with energy companies Sasol and Uniper to establish a sustainable aviation fuel plant in Hamburg, Germany. Operations at the facility are scheduled to start in 2026, and in its initial configuration it will have capacity to supply 10,000t of power-to-liquid (PtL) kerosene per annum, says the local industrial cluster Hamburg Aviation. It adds that the production volume equates to a fifth of the power-to-liquid SAF required under the first stage of a German government plan to gradually mandate SAF blends from 2026. Emirates has indicated interest in using SAF from the plant. Vice-president of international, government and environment affairs Will Lofberg states that the airline is "strongly supportive of this initiative to develop environmentally and economically sustainable power-to-liquid fuel", adding: "The launch of the 'Green Fuels Hamburg' project is a major milestone towards scaling up the production of this type of sustainable aviation fuel." The government of Hamburg – one of Germany's 16 federated states – is supporting the project. The city's airport operator and technical university are additional partners in the effort. The facility will include an electrolysis plant to produce green hydrogen with electricity from offshore wind power. Hydrogen will subsequently be converted with carbon dioxide to synthetic SAF via the Fischer-Tropsch process, Hamburg Aviation says. Citing the importance of hydrogen as future aviation fuel alongside SAF, the head of Airbus's local plant Andre Walter states that the new SAF facility will make "an important contribution to the ramp-up of PtL production in Germany, and could become a technology export hit". He adds that most flights of the airframer's Beluga transport from its Finkenwerder site are being operated with a 18% blended SAF. Hamburg's senator for economic affairs and innovation Michael Westhagemann states: "The market ramp-up of hydrogen is one of the most important projects in northern German economic and energy policy, and is of immense importance for the whole of Germany." On 22 June, South Africa's Sasol and the German airframer Deutsche Aircraft disclosed a memorandum of understanding to joint forces in advancing technology for hydrogen-based PtL production of SAF. Deutsche Aircraft is developing an updated, stretched version of the Dornier 328 turboprop.