SAS launches Travel Pass Biofuel

SAS now offers a punch card, Travel Pass Biofuel, for corporate customers who regularly travel to the same destination and want fossil free fuel, covering their flights, included.

With Travel Pass Biofuel the customers get a discounted, prepaid punch card where 100% biofuel is always included, to reduce the environmental impact of their flights.

SAS has ambitious sustainability targets and is committed to increase the use of sustainable aviation fuels, such as biofuel, in our operations in order to lower the climate impact from traveling by air. We now welcome our customers on board the journey toward a more sustainable aviation by making it possible to buy Travel Pass Biofuel. This is perfect for customers who want to make their flying more sustainable, says Markus Ek, VP Global Sales, SAS.

SAS strives to be a leader in sustainable aviation and works hard to reduce CO2 emissions. SAS does this, for example, with modern and fuel-efficient aircraft and by using sustainable aviation fuels. SAS constantly strives to increase the supply and use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), such as biofuel, as these are the bridge on our journey toward net zero-emission aviation. The biofuel contributed by our customers is added to the biofuel SAS is already buying. In that way we can together make a faster progress towards a more sustainable future.

Facts about Travel Pass Biofuel
•   100% biofuel, corresponding to the full fuel use for your trips
•   A discounted alternative when traveling regularly to one destination
•   Prepaid tickets – No additional charges
•   All tickets are SAS Plus, and includes Fast Track, SAS Lounge, free seating, priority boarding, free WiFi onboard, checked-in baggage and meals onboard
•   Full flexibility with SAS Plus
•   Applies to Travel Pass prepaid, with 20, 40, 60, 100 and 200 punches – Valid for one year from the date of purchase

Facts about SAS and biofuel
•   Biofuel is a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) as defined in ICAO CORSIA Annex 16.
•   Biofuel emits up to 80% less climate-impacting CO2 compared to fossil fuels
•   SAS makes no profit on the purchase
•   The biofuel is added to the amount of biofuel that SAS is already committed to buying
•   Regulation allows blending in up to 50 percent biofuel with traditional jet fuel, in existing aircraft

Aeroméxico concludes its restructuring process, exits bankruptcy

AeroMexico has emerged from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization following a 21-month process. The reorganized company is now valued at $2.56 billion. Delta now owns 20% of the restructured company.

Grupo Aeroméxico issued this legal announcement:

Grupo Aeroméxico, S.A.B. de C.V., informs that, as disclosed in our prior relevant event of this date, (i) the resolutions adopted by the Shareholders Meetings of the Company held on January 14 and February 14, 2022 are now effective, (ii) Aeroméxico has consummated its Plan of Reorganization (and ancillary documents thereto) (jointly; and (iii) it has successfully concluded its financial restructuring process and emerged from its Chapter 11.

The delivery of the new listed and consolidated shares (reflecting the effects of the consolidation (reverse split) of shares), representing the new capital stock of the Company as of today, will be delivered, directly through the S.D Indeval, Institución para el Depósito de Valores, S.A. de C.V., or through the custodian broker S3 Caceis, in favor of the brokers and/or custodians of shareholders owning shares representing the new capital stock of Aeroméxico.

As set forth in the Plan of Reorganization, the equity value of the reorganized Company (“Plan Equity Value“) is approximately US$2,564′000,000.00 dollars, and the new outstanding listed shares are 136,423,959 (excluding treasury shares pending to be subscribed in the amount of 13,642,396). The authorized total amount of shares issued by the Company are 150,066,355 shares.

The theoretical value of the new shares is approximately of $389.0187 pesos per share (Plan value of the Company (US$2,564′000,000.00 dollars) divided by new subscribed shares (136,423,959), which results in approximately US$18.79 dollars per share converted at the official exchange rate ($20.7035 pesos per one dollar of the United States of America) published today by the Central Bank of Mexico in the Official Gazette of the Federation (Diario Oficial de la Federación)), which should start being reflected by the market.

The largest shareholders of the reorganized Company include funds managed by Apollo Global Management, Delta Air Lines, as well as existing and new Mexican investors that formed the group with voting control. The Baupost Group, Silver Point Capital, Oaktree Capital Management and other funds that were part of the ad hoc groups of creditors are also shareholders after investing approximately US$720 million in new capital. This is in addition to other amounts related to fees accrued on the “DIP Facility” and on the new equity contributions payable in new stock as provided in the Plan of Reorganization.

Additionally, key stakeholders are funding new exit debt of approximately US$762.5 million in the form of new U.S. dollar denominated Notes. As a result of the Plan and related transactions, the Company gained access to approximately US$1,500′000,000.00 dollars in new capital.

Pursuant to the resolution of the Shareholders Meetings, a new Board of Directors has been formed that is comprised of a majority of Mexican nationals and independent members in full compliance with Mexican foreign investment law and regulations, along with the continued participation of existing Mexican controlling investors, the Chairman of the Board, Javier Arrigunaga, and the CEO, Andres Conesa.

“Today is an incredibly exciting day for Aeroméxico and we are ready to soar to new heights as we emerge from Chapter 11. We look forward to starting a new chapter in our Company’s history, backed by a sound financial base, solid capital structure, and investors who have full confidence in our future. Thanks to the dedication of the entire talented Aeroméxico family, as well as the support, trust, and empathy of our customers, unions, authorities, suppliers, and business partners, we have successfully completed this process. As we move forward, we will not only continue to streamline our Company to become even more sustainable, resilient, and competitive, but we will also significantly expand our network and fleet – all while offering excellent service and maintaining our position as Mexico’s flagship airline“, said Mr. Conesa.

Throughout the restructuring process, Aeroméxico has worked to expand its operations sustainably, opening six new routes, restarting service on more than 30, and increasing its total seat offering by more than 320% compared to June 2020 figures. The Company currently flies 84 national and international routes, connecting bustling cities in Mexico, such as Guadalajara and Monterrey, to the European market through Madrid. In 2022, Aeroméxico plans to continue building on this momentum, including the restart of services to London.

Since 2021, Aeroméxico has received 31 airplanes and expects to receive 22 more over the course of 2022. At the end of this year, the Company expects to have a fleet of 145 aircraft with an average age of seven years.

Aeroméxico is planning to invest approximately US$5′000,000,000.00 dollars over the next five years in fleet and customer experience improvements allowing the Company to maintain its state-of-the-art service.

Aeroméxico will continue serving customers, honoring milestone program, restarting service on certain international routes and opening new routes, while continuing to comply with strict protocols to protect the health and safety of employees and customers. Aeroméxico continues operating in full observance of all applicable Mexican laws and requirements under public concessions granted by the Federal Government, controlled by Mexican investors.

The final Boeing 747-8F for UPS Airlines is rolled out of the paint shop

UPS Airlines made this announcement:

Our final Boeing Airplanes 747-8F, N633UP, has rolled out of paint.

Our last Queen of the Skies will soon enter service after completing a conformity check verification pending FAA approval.

Finnair awards a “North Pole” certificate to its March 9 Helsinki-Tokyo passengers

Finnair made this announcement:

Since Russia closed its airspace on February 28, we have had to find alternative routes for our Asian flights. If your flight is operated over the North Pole, we will reward you with a Northern route diploma, which was also handed out back in the 1980s.

On March 9, 2022, flight AY073 from Helsinki to Tokyo Narita departed at 17:30 local time. However, instead of heading east, the flight headed towards the North Pole. With this flight, Finnair resumed its service to Tokyo Narita, skirting around Russian airspace that closed on 28 February.

Back in 1983, Finnair was the first airline to fly non-stop from Europe to Japan, flying over the North Pole – so operating in the polar region is not new to Finnair. But after a break of almost 30 years, there were a lot of details that needed to be carefully planned.

“Well-planned is half done”, says Aleksi Kuosmanen, Finnair A350 captain and deputy fleet chief, who was one of the four pilots on the flight. “Hours and hours of careful planning preceded this flight, to ensure a smooth and safe journey.”

By coincidence, Aleksi was not the first pilot in his family to fly over the North Pole. His father, Ismo Kuosmanen was in the Flight Deck as part of Finnair’s first ever non-stop flight over the North Pole in 1983. “Flying over the North Pole is probably a part of every long-haul pilot’s bucket list, and for me this flight had an extra personal significance.”

^{The flight deck crew for the 9 March HEL-NRT flight: Captain Kari Holopainen (commander of the flight), captain Tuomas Kukkonen, captain Aleksi Kuosmanen and co-pilot Juha-Pekka Nykänen.}

Planning every step

The planning of the new routing was started by Riku Kohvakka and his colleagues in Finnair flight planning. Riku and the flight planning teams plan flight routes for all of Finnair’s services, using Lufthansa Systems’ Lido flight planning system.

“I started by closing Russia from the system so that the system can calculate the next best routes from Helsinki to Tokyo,” Riku says. “While airspace closures for various reasons are a part of the everyday life of flight planners, this change – closing the entire Russian airspace – was so exceptional, that the system actually needed some manual guidance in the form of alternative waypoints, to get started and create an alternative routing.”

The northern route to Japan goes from Finland to Norway over Svalbard and the North Pole towards Alaska and then across the sea to Japan.

Riku’s team calculated the basic data for the new routings: the flight time, payload, fuel consumption and navigation fees to arrive at the cost of the flight for Finnair’s traffic planning’s use. There was also detailed planning required for the terrain en-route. “We worked with the flight operations engineer to check if escape procedures and charts need to be updated for the crew when flying over high terrain,” Riku explain.

One of the technical requirements involved alternative airports en-route, should the flight need to divert. “There were airports along the polar route – in Scandinavia, Northern Canada, Alaska and Northern Japan – that we had not used before, so a lot of information gathering was done to ensure our defined alternative airports are feasible for use,” says Aleksi.

A350 is well suited for the polar route

Flying the polar route also meant extending the so-called ETOPS (Extended-range Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards) times, i.e. the maximum distance the route has to a suitable en-route alternate airport, if, for example, one aircraft engine experiences a technical fault.

“Our latest ten A350 aircraft are certified for ETOPS 300 minutes and adopting that required certain regulatory work and updating related maintenance procedures,” explains Aleksi.

Aleksi notes that the Airbus A350 is an excellent aircraft for the polar route. “The A350 is very resilient against cold air masses. For example, the fuel system is built in a way so that cold air masses rarely restrict our operations.”

Careful preparations also included documenting all the details that are needed for the pilots flying the new route. “We prepared a detailed route briefing document for the polar route, and my job on the first flight was to validate this document, so that all of our pilots know exactly what to expect,” Aleksi explains.

An uneventful flight, as planned

The planned flight time for the first HEL-NRT route was 12 hours 52 minutes, while the actual flight time was 12 hours 54 minutes – just two minutes longer. “With this kind of excellent flight planning, the actual flying was just like a regular day in the office,” says Aleksi.

Aleksi notes that actually flying over the North Pole was very uneventful. “The only noticeable difference was that the good old magnetic compass that we have in the flight deck went a bit haywire,” he says. The magnetic compass is for backup use only, and there are other navigation systems on the aircraft that maintain navigation accuracy also when flying over the North Pole.

Back in 1983, passengers on Finnair’s Tokyo flights received a certificate for flying over the North Pole. A certificate is available also now, along with some cute Moomin stickers.

Royal Flight Airlines also suspends operations

Another airline victim of Putin’s war against Ukraine:

Royal Flight Airlines suspended all operations outside of Russia on March 5 due to western sanctions due to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian airline issued this statement:

We regret to inform you that due to restrictive measures, introduced by the European Union, air transportation of passengers from Russia is stopped starting from 00:00 LT 05.03.22y.

Royal Flight Airlines continues the exportation of its tourists from foreign airports. We kindly ask the passengers to follow the changes in the time table and be in touch with the airline and tour operators for actual departure time clarification.

Top Copyright Photo: Royal Flight (Russia) Boeing 777-31H ER VQ-BGP (msn 32714) (Coraltravel) AYT (Ton Jochems). Image: 957077.

Royal Flight aircraft slide show:

Royal Flight aircraft photo gallery:

Airline casualties of Putin’s war: AirBridgeCargo and Atran

Volga-Dnepr Group, owned by Alexei Isaikin, has suspended flights of its two subsidiaries, AirBridgeCargo and Atran Cargo Airlines.

Flights were suspended due to sanctions by lessors and the Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority (BCAA) terminating the airworthiness certificates of the aircraft.

Air Canada welcomes the removal of pre-departure COVID-19 testing for fully vaccinated travelers Entering Canada

Air Canada welcomes the Government of Canada’sannouncement to remove pre-departure testing requirements as of April 1, 2022 for fully vaccinated travellers entering Canada.

Air Canada’s recovery remains strong and well underway. The airline has expanded its domestic, transborder, Europe and South Pacific international route networks, giving customers by far the widest choice of routings and destinations of any Canadian carrier this summer. Air Canada is offering new service on four transborder and three domestic routes, restoring 41 North American routes and will operate to 51 Canadian and 46 U.S. airports. Internationally, the airline is relaunching 33 routes to Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, including popular destinations such as Barcelona, Copenhagen, Madrid, Milan and Venice. Air Canada is also expanding its South Pacific network with the return of daily service to Sydney and resumption of services to both Brisbane and Auckland.

Lynx Air announces a major expansion from the Toronto area

Lynx Air, Canada’s new ultra-affordable airline, has today announced a major expansion out of the Toronto region, adding four new destinations and five new routes to its network, as it continues its mission to make air travel affordable for all. Canadians living in the Toronto region will have access to Lynx flights out of both Toronto Pearson Airport (Toronto Pearson) and John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport (Hamilton Airport), with six (6) destinations across the country to choose from: Halifax, St. John’s, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmontonand Vancouver.

To celebrate this significant commitment by Lynx to the Toronto region, the airline has launched a competition to win a free weekend getaway from Toronto to Halifax, Calgary, Edmonton or Vancouver. Each weekend getaway package includes two return Lynx flights, flying on the airline’s brand-new Boeing 737 aircraft, and a two-night hotel stay at one of the four destinations.

Today’s announcement includes the following new Lynx routes:

Toronto Pearson – Halifax: Three flights per week, commencing June 30, 2022, and increasing to five per week from July 30, 2022.
Toronto Pearson – St. John’s: Two flights per week, commencing June 28, 2022, and increasing to seven flights per week from July 28, 2022.
Toronto Pearson – Edmonton: Seven flights per week, commencing July 28, 2022.
Hamilton – Calgary: Two flights per week, commencing June 29, 2022, and increasing to four flights per week from July 29, 2022.
Hamilton – Halifax: Two flights per week, commencing June 29, 2022.

Lynx will also be increasing its frequencies between Toronto Pearson and Calgary from seven flights per week to twelve flights per week from June 28, 2022.

Brussels Airlines sees tourism revival during Easter holidays

Brussels Airlines notes a high demand for sunny destinations during the Easter holidays and expects this to only increase due to a large number of last-minute bookings. During the upcoming school holidays , the airline offers 80% of its European vacation offer compared to 2019. Across the total network, Brussels Airlines offers 75% of its 2019 capacity. It is also notable that Belgians are departing earlier and returning later than before.

Brussels Airlines is gearing up for a busy Easter vacation. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the focus is more than ever on leisure flights, as that segment rose sharply relative to business flights. The Belgian home carrier offers 85% of its 2019 leisure offer in Europe.

The most popular destinations during the Easter holidays are located in the South of Europe. The top 5 is headed by Malaga, followed by Rome, Lisbon and Madrid. New to the top 5 this year is Copenhagen.

On the Brussels Airlines intercontinental network, the more touristic destinations are doing well as well as the popular Kinshasa in the VFR (visit friends and relatives) segment. At the top of touristic intercontinental destinations is New York, followed by Dakar (Senegal), Douala (Cameroon) and Entebbe (Uganda). The airline will offer 82% of its 2019 long-haul capacity during the upcoming holidays.

15 destinations return to the Brussels Airlines network as of March 27: Washington in the United States and a host of popular leisure destinations in Europe, including Athens, Naples, Florence, Catania, Marrakesh, Palermo, Bari and Palma de Mallorca.

Brussels Airlines is still expecting a large number of last-minute reservations. As was the case for the carnival holidays, the airline estimates that two-thirds of passengers only book their trip in the last 6 weeks before departure. As a result, early deciders benefit from the cheapest fares relatively longer.

“In addition to the last-minute reservation trend that we have been noticing for two years, we also see that departing on Thursdays and returning on Mondays has become remarkably more popular. It seems that the “new way of working” as a result from the Pandemic has led to more flexibility for employees in managing their work-life balance”

Tom Maes, Head of Commercial Steering at Brussels Airlines

All fares at Brussels Airlines can still be rebooked, although the airline notices that there is less demand for this.

Towards the summer school holidays, Brussels Airlines also expects a high demand for leisure flights.

Top Copyright Photo: Brussels Airlines Airbus A319-111 OO-SSX (msn 2260) BLQ (Marco Finelli). Image: 957068.

Brussels Airlines aircraft slide show:

Brussels Airlines aircraft photo gallery:

KLM resumes flights to Bali

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, has resumed flights to Bali for the first time since April 2020. The first flight from Amsterdam, with a stop in Singapore arrived at Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport on 9^th March 2022.

KLM will operate two flights a week until mid-May and then plans to increase flights to three times weekly until end of September, subsequently increasing to five times weekly until end of October.

KLM’s first flight on March 9, 2022 was welcomed by KLM’s Country Manager for Indonesia, Mr. Jose Hartojo who said, “Being able to finally welcome our KLM flight again to the beautiful island of Bali and supporting the return of International tourism is a positive sign for travel. With the easing of quarantine measures we are hoping we can introduce more KLM flights soon.”

Before the COVID-19 pandemic until 2 April 2020 KLM flew daily between Amsterdam and Bali via Singapore.

From 28 March 2022, KLM flights between Denpasar and Singapore are designated Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) flights offering quarantine free travel to Singapore. Travelers must meet all Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) requirements.

Flight schedule between Denpasar-Bali and Amsterdam

Route	Period (2022)	Flight number	Day	Departure	Arrival
DPS-AMS	09 March to 23 March	KL836	Wed, Sat	20:55	08:15+1
	24 March to 16 May		Mon, Thu	20:35	07:50+1
	17 May to 04 Sep		Mon, Tue, Thu
	05 Sep to 28 Oct		Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri, Sun

AMS-DPS	09 Mar – 26 Mar	KL813/KL835	Tue, Fri	20:05	19:45
	27 Mar – 16 May	KL835	Wed, Sun	21:00	19:25
	17 May – 04 Sep	KL835	Mon, Wed, Sun
	05 Sep – 28 Oct	KL813/KL835	Mon, Wed, Thu, Sat, Sun

Flight Schedule between Denpasar–Bali and Singapore

Route	Period (2022)	Flight number	Day	Departure	Arrival
DPS-SIN VTL from 28 March 2022	09 March to 23 March	KL836	Wed, Sat	20:55	23:35
	24 March to 16 May		Mon, Thu	20:35	23:15
	17 May to 04 Sep		Mon, Tue, Thu
	05 Sep to 28 Oct		Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri, Sun

SIN-DPS	09 Mar – 26 Mar	KL813/KL835	Tue, Fri	17:00	19:45
	27 Mar – 16 May	KL835	Wed, Sun	16:50	19:25
	17 May – 04 Sep	KL835	Mon, Wed, Sun
	05 Sep – 28 Oct	KL813/KL835	Mon, Wed, Thu, Sat, Sun