Comair has arranged for South African Airways Technical to take over the line-maintenance of its aircraft from Lufthansa Technik. The airline says the move follows a recent review of Lufthansa Technik by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA). Although Lufthansa Technik passed the routine SACAA audit in February, the unscheduled review “made a number of findings which need to be addressed within 24 hours or the approved maintenance organisation licence is suspended”, Comair says. The airline currently uses both SAA Technical and Lufthansa Technik to maintain its aircraft. Comair’s chief executive Glenn Orsmond states: “Our priority at the moment is to restore a full, reliable flight schedule for our customers to ensure they can book and fly with confidence, which is why, in these extraordinary circumstances, we acted as soon as we were informed that the suspension was a possibility.”

The number of passenger services operating to and from Russia has continued to decline as Western sanctions close off the country’s connectivity. Data shows that flight hours on departing services from Russia fell to a low of 2,643 on 21 March, the lowest since the crisis in Ukraine erupted, and the weakest since 16 February 2021, when travel was effectively shut down because of Covid-19. Stripping out the data for domestic flights, the data shows an even greater decline in activity in the country, to just 230 flight hours on 14 March, although it has bumped up very marginally since then. On only one occasion since June 2020 were there fewer flight hours from the country. The data also shows that 31 passenger airlines have operated services from Russia internationally since 15 March, with the top 10 being Ural Airlines, Uzbekistan Airways, Turkish Airlines, Belavia, Flydubai, Aeroflot, Kyrgyzstan-based Avia Traffic, Emirates, Air Serbia, and Somon Air and Utair at joint ninth. The majority of the remaining airlines have operated just a handful of services from the country in the past two weeks. The data tallies with announcements from a number of airlines that for insurance- or leasing-related reasons they have been forced to abandon services to Russia, even if their home countries have not joined Western sanctions. Speaking on 15 March, Peter Foster, chief executive of Kazakhstan’s national airline Air Astana, noted that it had ceased flying to or over Russia because insurance had been withdrawn. Previously, Russia accounted for around 9% of its network. Likewise, Turkish low-cost carrier Pegasus, which previously flew to six destinations in Russia – a large source market for Turkish tourism arrivals – would cease flying to the country until at least 10 April. “In accordance with the European Union Regulation No 2022/328, sanctions and restrictions are implemented related to insurance/reinsurance, leasing, operations and maintenance services on flights to and from Russian Federation,” it stated. Even services to countries allied with Russia, such as China, have been hit. In recent weeks only one daily service – operated by Air China – has taken place between the two countries, down from around four per day in the first two months of the year, across a variety of carriers. Meanwhile, Russian airlines risk having their aircraft impounded abroad because of the sanctions regime, and 78 aircraft have been seized, according to Moscow-based Interfax.

Six Oneworld members have jointly committed to purchasing up to 200 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel per year from US company Gevo. Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Japan Airlines and Qatar Airways expect to use the SAF for operations in California for five years from 2027, says Oneworld. In November 2021, nine members of the alliance jointly signed a tentative SAF agreement with another US company, Aemetis, through which they intend to purchase more than 350 million gallons of waste-wood-based fuel to power operations from San Francisco. “Five months ago, we committed as an alliance to a target of 10% sustainable aviation fuel by 2030,” Oneworld’s chief executive Rob Gurney states. “Today’s announcement of a second major sustainable aviation fuel offtake among member airlines builds further upon that commitment, while demonstrating the value that can be delivered when our member airlines work together.”Patrick Gruber, chief executive of Colorado-based renewable fuels producer Gevo, adds: “Eliminating fossil-based emissions from the lifecycle of jet fuel is our mission. Net-zero SAF is what we all want. I’m pleased that Oneworld is on board.”
Gevo expects to use inedible corn products to produce its SAF at three facilities under development in the US Midwest. In December 2019, Delta Air Lines made a commitment with Gevo to buy 10 million gallons of biofuel annually.