Wizz Air and Airbus are collaborating to explore the potential of operating hydrogen-powered aircraft. The two parties have signed a memorandum of understanding under which Wizz will identify both the operational and infrastructure opportunities and the challenges presented by the technology, says the airline. It expects the study to yield "a much deeper understanding of how operating a zero-emission hydrogen aircraft could positively impact the airline's future business model". A focus of research will be the impact of hydrogen aircraft on Wizz's fleet, network, scheduling, ground bases and airports, taking into account specific aircraft characteristics such as achievable range and refuelling time. Additionally, the airline and Airbus intend to study "evolution of the global hydrogen ecosystem from the perspectives of society, regulation, energy pricing and hydrogen infrastructure". Citing the airline's central objective "to make travel affordable for all", Wizz chief people and ESG officer Johan Eidhagen states: "We believe that growth and sustainability are not mutually exclusive, with leading-edge new technology paving the way to more sustainable air travel. This momentous agreement with Airbus will advance sustainable aviation across the globe through development of ultra-efficient operations and business models of the future." Wizz notes that its backlog with Airbus spans orders and purchase rights for more than 400 narrowbodies. Fleet data shows the airline has a total 154 Airbus narrowbodies – including six listed as being in storage – plus a single A330 Freighter that is operated on behalf of the Hungarian government. Airbus vice-president zero-emission aircraft Glenn Llewellyn says that collaboration with airlines is central to the airframer's planned development of a hydrogen-powered passenger aircraft for service entry in 2035. "Understanding airline fleet and network performance enables us to better define the architectural characteristics for a future ZEROe aircraft as well as the impact on airports, ground support and route network," he adds. The airframer is collaborating with a number of airlines and other partners for the programme, including Air New Zealand, Delta Air Lines, EasyJet and Korean Air.

The Hong Kong government has agreed to extend the drawdown period of a HK$7.8 billion ($1 billion) loan facility for Cathay Pacific by a further 12 months. The drawdown period of the facility is now valid until 8 June 2023, the Hong Kong-based carrier says. "Despite the difficult operational environment, we have not had to draw down the facility over the past 12 months," Chief executive officer Augustus Tang says. "The further extension of the drawdown period is greatly appreciated and will provide us with flexibility to manage our liquidity position." The bridge loan facility was provided to Cathay Pacific as part of the HK$39 billion recapitalisation announced on 9 June 2020 "to help the airline maintain its competitiveness and operations amid the industry-wide downturn due to Covid-19", it adds. The airline says its liquidity remains at a "healthy" level, at HK$30.3 billion as of the end of 2021, compared to HK$28.6 billion at the end of 2020. Following the recent adjustments to the government’s travel restrictions and quarantine requirements, Cathay says it is progressively adding back capacity and expects this to have a positive impact on its business. It also aims to reduce operating cash burn to less than HK$500 million per month for the next few months.

Many of Europe's air navigation services providers will have insufficient capacity to cope with surging numbers of fights through the early parts of the peak summer season, air traffic manager Eurocontrol has warned. The organisation says in a 3 June update that that many ANSPs across the continent "need to review their plans as the capacity provided would not be sufficient to cope with the traffic demand". It highlights area control centres in Prague, Reims, Karlsruhe, Athens, Budapest, Skopje and Munich as lacking the ability to meet expected demand from flight activity through June and the first half of July. In addition, Eurocontrol is concerned that some ANSPs risk creating delays for en-route services such as overflights because of a lack of capacity, naming Marseille, Athinai, Macedonia, Budapest, Skopje, Barcelona, and Malmo. Others risk becoming saturated by flight activity, including Vienna, Reims, Macedonia, Lisbon and Zurich. ANSPs are advised to plan for a 10% buffer in the forecast traffic demand to avoid sudden capacity problems. Likewise, the coming six weeks are likely to be "extremely challenging" for the continent's airports, notes Eurocontrol, "with very high passenger demand putting strains of some of those airports' resources. Some airports will have inadequate resources if there is any level of network disruption. Whilst trying their best to process the passengers through the terminal facilities, it is not always possible to achieve on-time departures thereby potentially creating general network instability." The warnings about the sector's ability to deal with forecast flight activity come on the back of steadily rising air passenger capacity forecasts. Eurocontrol now believes that peak traffic will rise to around 32,000 flights per day on Fridays through June, rising above 33,000 on Fridays in July. The overall number of flights being operated is set to rise from around 86% of 2019 levels currently to 89% over the coming six weeks.