Cathay Pacific is weighing whether to use a longer transatlantic route for its New York-Hong Kong service, rather than the current transpacific one. The airline says the transatlantic option relies on “strong seasonal tailwinds at this time of the year in order for flight to be between 16 and 17 hours”, and with these is “more favourable than the transpacific route”. However, Cathay adds that it is “monitoring the tailwinds situation on a daily basis as it is already tapering off”. The airline says the transatlantic route between New York JFK and Hong Kong International is just under 9,000nm (16,700km), and if adopted would be the first time Cathay flies over the Atlantic, Europe and Central Asia as a single sector. Schedules data indicates that Cathay’s four return flights scheduled on the Hong Kong-New York route in April will each cover approximately 13,000km. Cathay says the Airbus A350-1000s deployed on the route can “comfortably” operate a transatlantic routing in 16-17h “with similar fuel consumption to the transpacific flights”. Hong Kong is gearing up to lift restriction on flights from nine countries, including the USA, UK, Canada and Australia, from 1 April. In a 29 March travel advisory, Cathay says it is reviewing its April and May flight schedules in preparation, and has added more flights from Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, London Heathrow, Sydney and Tokyo Narita to its April schedule.

The European General Court has upheld the fines imposed on a number of airlines, including KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Air France-KLM, for taking part in a pricing cartel between December 1999 and February 2006. The court on 30 March dismissed the actions brought by Martinair Holland, KLM, Cargolux Airlines, Air France-KLM, Air France, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines and Singapore Airlines Cargo seeking annulment of the decision or a reduction of the amount of the fines imposed on them. However, it annulled the European Commission’s decision in part for Japan Airlines, Air Canada, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, SAS Cargo Group, Latam Airlines Group and Lan Cargo. The Commission in November 2010 had imposed a fine on these carriers in a total amount of €790 million for infringing certain provisions of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Agreement on the European Economic Area and the Agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on Air Transport. Lufthansa and two of its subsidiaries were granted immunity from fines. In December 2015, the court upheld actions brought by the carriers against the EU decision. However, the Commission fixed the defective statement of reasons identified by the court and re-issued the penalties in March 2017.

Airbus on 25 March conducted a test flight of an Airbus A380 quadjet with one engine powered by 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). MSN 1 was flown from Blagnac airport in Toulouse with one of its Trent 900 engine operating on 27t of unblended SAF, the European airframer says. This is the third Airbus aircraft type to fly on 100% SAF over the course of 12 months, following an A350 in March 2021 and an A319neo in October. The A380 used was recently assigned to be Airbus’s ZEROe Demonstrator, a flying testbed for future technologies intended to be instrumental in bringing the world’s first zero-emissions aircraft to market by 2035.
The SAF used was provided by Total Energies. It was produced from hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids at Normandy in France, and primarily consisted of used cooking oil and other waste fats. An A380 flight between Toulouse and Nice, scheduled for 29 March, is testing the use of SAF during take-off and landing. All Airbus aircraft are currently certificated to fly with up to a 50% blend of SAF mixed with kerosene, and the airframer aims to achieve certification of 100% SAF by the end of this decade.