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AirBaltic: Air Baltic has announced that it is to terminate the Riga to Dublin route which operates four times weekly with Boeing 737-300/500s, with effect from the 31st of October citing a substantial drop in customer demand on the route. Aer Lingus and Ryanair will still operate on the route. It is a pity as AirBaltic is in the process of evaluating narrow bodies to renew its medium-haul fleet and replace its current six 737-500s, eight 737-300s and two 757-200s. However there is a need to strengthen its capital base before it can order the 20 or so new aircraft it believes are required, hence the need to look at all its routes. It is seeking to simplify and streamline its fleet to just two aircraft types, Dash 8-Q400s and 737NGs or A320s and this decision is becoming urgent owing to the high fuel prices. It has already begun replacing its Fokker 50s with Dash 8-Q400s. It currently has eight but wants about 20 Q400s by 2014-15. At present, all its 737s and 757s are on operating lease and in spite of the challenge in the financing of the new aircraft CEO Bertolt Flick stressed “We really need to make a decision this summer.” AirBaltic has also become the first airline in the world offering discounted tickets for passengers during the flight which will secure discounted future flights for loyal customers. Tickets purchased onboard can be used for the next flight, or given as a gift. The tickets will be on sale on all airBaltic flights with one-way fares starting at €30, including airport fees.

Lufthansa: On 15th July Lufthansa launched a six-month biofuel trial on its regular scheduled flights using an Airbus A321 (D-AIDG) with one of its engines running on a 50/50 mix of regular fuel and biosynthetic kerosene. The biofuel for jet engines has been approved by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). Since biokerosene has similar properties to those of conventional kerosene it can be used for all aircraft types without any need for modifications to the aircraft or its engines. During the six months test run period, the use of biofuel will reduce CO2 emissions by up to 1,500 tonnes. Lufthansa puts the total costs of conducting the biofuel project at about €6.6 million with funding of €2.5 million coming from the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. Implementation of new technologies has seen Lufthansa improve its fuel efficiency by over 30% since 1991 with average fuel consumption of 4.2 litres per 100 passenger-kilometres. Lufthansa is making every effort to bring its European network business back to profitability, according to its CEO Christoph Franz. He confirmed that Lufthansa had incurred a multi-million euro loss on its European routes in the first quarter. Measures have been taken such as reducing capacity by using smaller aircraft and 50-seat regional jets are now used on some European routes. Larger aircraft and the introduction of the new cabin on European routes has increased capacity in the first half 2011 as well as sales and the passenger numbers which rose by 14.8% to 31.2 million. Capacity was up by 14.5% and sales by 11.4%. Passenger load factor fell against the year-earlier level by 2.1% to 75.7%. Numbers increased in all traffic regions and most of all in Europe. Lufthansa has also announced a simplification of its baggage allowance policy with effect from 1st June. It is also applying the “piece concept” to their baggage policy rather than weight and it depends on class on travel. Economy passengers will be allowed one piece weighing up to 23 kg, business class will be allowed two bags with a combined weight of 64kg and first class can take up to three bags weighing 32kg each. Previously, economy passengers could only take 20kg of baggage, but there was no ‘one bag limit’.

Luxair: In 2010, Luxair suffered an operational loss of €11.1 million and without some action it was likely to face growing losses that will severely affect the results of the whole group who’s operating earnings for 2010 amounted to €1.8 million, compared to a loss of over €7 million in 2009. On 1st July, the Board of Directors gave a mandate to the management to examine options to limit the losses on the airline activity. It has decided to cancel services to Prague and Dublin as they didn’t reach break even. The two Embraer ERJ 135 will be put up for sale. While loads on Dublin-Luxemburg have been generally satisfactory the problem was with yields. Across its network, Luxair experienced a growth of 6.4% in passenger numbers, load factor increased from 58.7% to 60.5% but its per-unit income declined by 4%. Business class tickets continued to fall. Whereas in 2008, 30% of passengers flew business class, only 24% did so in 2009, and 22% in 2010.

Malév: Hungary's government will have to inject 18.5 billion forints (€68.47 million) into loss-making Malév in which it has a 95% stake by end-August to raise its equity according to local media citing the state National Asset Management company (MNV). The increase is necessary even after Malev's shareholder meeting at the end of June decided to raise its capital by 4.5 billion forints (€16.66 million), because the company still has negative equity to the tune of some 22.5 billion forints (€83.24 million). It will have to be increased by a total of 23 billion forints (€85.09 million) by 25th August under Hungarian legislation on corporations. Hungary's attempts at privatising the airline have been unsuccessful and last year it bought back all but a 5% stake from a group of investors including Russia's Vneshekonombank. Last December the European Union opened a formal investigation under EU state aid rules to examine a number of support measures, including several capital injections and shareholder loans,that the Hungarian authorities granted to Malév. In particular, the Commission had doubts that Malév would have been able to obtain financing from the market on the terms conceded by the Hungarian authorities.

Norwegian Air Shuttle: On 21st June, Norwegian Air Shuttle announced an order for 15 Next-Generation 737-800s at the international 2011 Paris Air Show. The order, valued at $1.2 billion (€847.67 million) at list prices, brings the total number of 737-800s Norwegian has ordered direct from Boeing to 78. Norwegian also has finalized its contract to purchase three Boeing 787 Dreamliners that the Oslo based operator announced in May. The three Rolls-Royce Trent 1000-powered Boeing 787-8s were aircraft that it already had on order. Two of the aircraft are expected to be delivered during the first half of 2013 and the third in early 2015. This will bring the total number of Boeing 787s Norwegian will operate to five including two to be leased from ILFC.

Omega Air: Omega Air Inc. has acquired three former Royal Australian Air Force Boeing 707-338Cs which were registered to them on 17th April. A20-623 c/n 19623 was registered N623RH, A20-624 c/n 19624 was registered N624RH and A20-629 c/n 19629 was registered N629RH. These aircraft can seat up to 152 passengers, carry 60 tonnes of cargo or as a tanker they can carry up to 43 tonnes of fuel. They join two others, Boeing 707-330CRE, N707HE, the Seven Q Seven/Pratt & Whitney engine test bed ex D-ABUO and Boeing 707-368C, N707MQ, which was converted to an aerial tanker and is based at San Antonio and is ex HZ-HM3. The other tanker, Boeing 707-321B, N707AR, the world’s first commercial tanker, was lost on 18th May. She first flew in 1999 and in 2000, the aircraft commenced U.S. Navy certification testing at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland. In 2001 it was certified to refuel every type, model, series tactical aircraft in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps inventory. In 2006, the second tanker N707MQ. entered service. In 2006, Omega began converting a former Japan Air Lines DC-10-40 aircraft to a KDC-10 configuration. This aircraft N974VV has also completed U.S. Navy certification. Another Douglas DC-10-40L, N852V became the demonstrator unit for the Global Airtanker program in 2004. Recently, Omega Aerial Refuelling Services, Inc. received a $31.5 million indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity contract modification, exercising an option for contractor owned and operated aircraft in support of the Commercial Air Services (CAS) Program. The company has also expanded its operations to support refuelling flights by the Canadian Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force and the RAF.

Scandinavian Airlines (SAS): On 20th June, the SAS Group placed an order for 30 Airbus A320neo with an option of an additional 11 Airbus A320neo. The aircraft will be delivered from the second half of 2016 with the final delivery during 2019. SAS has earlier announced that the fleet will be harmonized. As from 2015 SAS' short-and medium distance aircraft will consist of two aircraft types: Airbus A320 family at the base in Copenhagen and Boeing 737NG at the bases in Stockholm and Oslo. As part of the transition, all the MD80s in Copenhagen will be replaced by leased Airbus A320s and be completed by the end of 2014 which in turn will be replaced as from 2016 by the now 30 ordered Airbus A320neo. All the MD80s at the base in Stockholm will be replaced by leased Boeing 737NGs, which will be completed during 2013. Finally all the Boeing 737 Classics at the base in Oslo will be replaced by Boeing 737NGs and this will be completed by the end of 2014. SAS has chosen the CFM LEAP-X1A engine to power the A320neos.

Turkish Airlines (THY): Turkish Airlines has joined forces with Manchester United to launch a new inflight safety video featuring some of the club's superstar players such as Wayne Rooney, Darren Fletcher, Chris Smalling, Nani, Rafael and Fabio da Silva. It is aimed at making safety information more engaging for passengers. The video, which is being screened from June, follows Manchester United's involvement in the current Turkish Airlines television commercial and forms part of the airline's on-going sponsorship deal with the club. Meanwhile its chief executive Temel Kotil has called for Boeing to consider installing new engines on its 737 aircraft rather than waiting for a new aircraft design that won’t be ready until the end of the decade.