Emirates has made this announcement:

Emirates’ passengers bound for the US will soon be able to enjoy Wi-Fi, mobile service connectivity and Live TV broadcast, even when flying 40,000 feet over the North Pole and Arctic circle. Emirates has led the world with inflight connectivity, with every aircraft connected for Wi-Fi, voice and SMS services. However on its flights to the US, which often travel over the polar region, passengers can find themselves without connectivity for up to 4 hours. This is due to the fact that most satellites that connect aircraft are geostationary, located over the equator, and aircraft antennae cannot see the satellite when in the far north, due to the earth’s curvature. Emirates partner Inmarsat will soon solve this problem with the addition of two elliptical orbit satellites, thus providing coverage over the North Pole by 2022.

Source: World Airline News

American Airlines expects a negative impact of $185 million to its second quarter pre-tax income from cancellation of Boeing 737 Max flights. The Oneworld carrier scrapped 7,800 flights in the second quarter and has removed all 737 Max-operated flights from its schedule through 3 September. American had operated a fleet of 24 737 Max aircraft before US regulators grounded the aircraft on 13 March. It is not clear when the aircraft will be cleared to return to the skies. "That slowdown has significantly impacted the company’s operation and caused a significant number of flight cancellations and delays in the second quarter," says American in an investors update.

Source: FlightGlobal

Air France has issued this statement: Air France strongly disapproves the announcement of a proposal to introduce an eco-tax varying from 1.5 to 18 euros on tickets for all flights departing from France as from 2020. This new tax would significantly penalize Air France’s competitiveness, at a time where the company needs to strengthen its investment capacity to more rapidly reduce its environmental footprint, notably as part of its fleet renewal policy. France is one of the countries with the most heavily-taxed air transport industry in Europe. These taxes are in addition to the particularly high burden of employer payroll taxation on airlines, whereas Air France’s activity contributes 1.1% of French national GDP, generates more than 350,000 jobs and Air France is the leading private sector employer in the Paris region. This tax would represent an additional cost of over 60 million euros per year for the Air France group, i.e. the equivalent of the measures adopted during the French Air Transport Conference, aimed at strengthening the French flagship carrier’s competitiveness.

Source: World Airline News