Normalisation of diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates opens the possibility of flights between the two countries – although a timeframe has yet to emerge and other complexities remain unresolved. The UAE and Israeli governments have jointly stated that tourism and “direct flights” will be among the subjects covered by bilateral agreements to be signed over the next few weeks and months. But even with a political agreement, organising air connections between Abu Dhabi or Dubai and the main Israeli airport at Tel Aviv remains potentially complex. The airports are some 2,000km apart but while Emirates and Etihad Airways would, in theory, be able to operate services through the Bahrain, Baghdad or Jeddah flight information regions without hindrance, El Al remains restricted in its freedom to transit Arab airspace. This is particularly critical in the case of the vast Jeddah FIR, encompassing Saudi Arabian airspace, the size of which serves as a barrier to efficient flightpaths between Israel and several Asian destinations. Without Saudi transit, El Al flights to the UAE would need to fly a lengthy detour south along the Red Sea, doubling the distance. The transit of Saudi airspace became a high-profile issue more than two years ago when Air India started operating to Tel Aviv from Delhi along a route which took it through the Jeddah FIR – provoking the ire of El Al, which complained about the distortion of competition given that the Israeli carrier was forced to operate a longer route. No details have been disclosed by the Israeli or UAE governments as to the conditions which might apply to commercial flights between the two countries, which carriers might be permitted to serve such routes, and how the services would operate. Emirates and Etihad Airways each currently skirt Israeli airspace while conducting services such as those from Beirut, in order to avoid the risks of operating through Syrian airspace. Royal Jordanian routinely operates through Israeli airspace to Amman. The Israeli and Jordanian government signed a peace treaty in 1994.

Source: Cirium

Finnish renewable fuels producer Neste has begun supplying three of the USA’s largest airlines with sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) for flights from San Francisco International airport. Alaska Airlines, American Airlines and JetBlue Airways have begun using the low-carbon gas, made from 100% renewable waste and residue sources, in the past few weeks, Helsinki-based Neste says on 13 August. The collaboration between San Francisco airport, several airlines and the fuel supplier began in 2018, when the planning for delivery of the biofuel commenced. The sustainable aviation fuel, the company adds, can be used as a “drop-in fuel with existing aircraft engines and airport infrastructure, requiring no extra investment”. It has a carbon footprint up to 80% smaller compared with traditional fossil fuels usually used for jet engines. “Once Neste’s SAF enters SFO’s fuel consortium storage, it is available to the commercial, cargo or business aviation entities that operate at the airport,” Neste says. The company adds that its global SAF capacity is currently 100,000 tonnes (220 million pounds) or 129 million litres (34 million USgal), and it is working towards being able to produce 1.5 million tonnes or 1.9 billion litres per year by 2023. In January, New York-based JetBlue pledged to offset all of its emissions from domestic flights beginning in July 2020, becoming the first major US airline to do so in an effort to reduce its carbon footprint from flight operations. “As an industry, we’re working together to limit our contributions to climate change,” says Joanna Geraghty, president and chief operating officer at JetBlue. The airline “remains focused on long-term environmental opportunities, particularly lessening our largest impact – carbon emissions from flying.” Alaska has been experimenting with sustainable fuels for the past ten years, the airline says, and it remains “a key part of [Alaska’s] strategy to reduce carbon emissions”. The aviation industry, which, prior to the coronavirus pandemic, accounted for about 3% of global man-made CO2 emissions, has committed to sustainability goals under an ICAO-led framework called the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation. That effort calls for the airline industry to cap carbon output at 2020 levels and to cut emissions to half of 2005 levels by 2050.

Source: Cirium

Boeing’s 737 Max backlog declined nearly 20% in the first seven months of 2020, with the company stripping more than 850 jets from its books due to order cancellations and accounting adjustments. The tally includes recently released data from July and comes as Boeing tackles the dual challenges of the 737 Max grounding and the airline industry downturn. Despite those pressures, however, Boeing says its backlog remains strong.And aerospace analyst Michel Merluzeau suspects the Max will have a strong future, assuming the aircraft safety returns to service. Boeing has predicted that the US Federal Aviation Administration will certificate the aircraft in time to allow Boeing to resume deliveries in the fourth quarter. Chicago-based Boeing says that in July customers cancelled another 43 737 Max orders. Those bring to 416 the number of Max orders cancelled since the start of the year, according to data from Boeing. Lessors have accounted for the majority of the 416 Max cancellations so far in 2020. They nixed at least 289 Max orders, or about 70% of the total, figures show. Those lessors include companies like AerCap, Air Lease, Avolon and GECAS. Airlines have cancelled at least 71 of the jets – or 17% – while the remaining 56 cancellations come from unnamed customers and include Boeing Business Jet variants of Max. Additionally, Boeing says that in July it stripped nine 737 Max from its backlog to comply with its ASC606 accounting guidelines. In the period from January through July, Boeing has removed 448 Max orders from its backlog to comply with those guidelines. The airframer still holds contracts to sell those jets but has less certainty about the likelihood that the sales will close. The combined changes, plus nine 737NG deliveries this year, left Boeing’s Max backlog at 3,543 jets at the end of July, down 19% from 4,398 jets at the end of 2019, data shows. But analyst Merluzeau, who works at consultancy AIR, can envision airlines placing additional Max orders once the industry recovers, and he suspects Boeing may have success selling cargo or military variants of the jet.Merluzeau estimates that the Max grounding and the industry downturn each account for about half the Max’s backlog tumble. He also views the pandemic as impacting Boeing and Airbus about equally. In the first six months of 2020, customers cancelled 66 Airbus jets, according to Cirium fleets data.

Source: Cirium