Tag: Aviation

Why should you pay with Crypto instead of a bank transfer ?

Posted on | by Ammar Akkawi | Leave a Comment on Why should you pay with Crypto instead of a bank transfer ?

Crypto Aviation

As crypto currency becomes more mainstream, here’s why it is more convenient to pay with crypto currency instead of the old payment methods:

  • Pay Lower Fees :

 Merchants are responsible for paying transaction fees, as well as setup fees for many payment processors. Banks, for instance, charges close to $40 per wire transfer (and sometimes more). Crypto currencies charge much lower fees, if any. Some Bitcoin exchanges offer fees under 1%. Likewise, since PRFD serves customers overseas, crypto currencies can help you avoid international currency payment fees. This is because crypto currencies aren’t tied to a country of origin or national bank. As a result, businesses don’t wait for payments to clear a foreign bank or pay the costs.

  • Crypto currency payments are mobile

As with many online payment systems, Crypto Currency users can pay for their coins anywhere that they have Internet access. This means that you do not have to travel to a bank to issue a transfer. However, unlike online payments made with U.S. bank accounts or credit cards, personal information is not necessary to complete any transaction.

  • Accessibility

Because users are able to send and receive Crypto Currencies with only a smartphone or computer, Crypto Currencies is theoretically available to populations of users without access to traditional banking systems, credit cards, and other methods of payment.

  • Crypto Currency transactions are conducted on a peer-to-peer basis

The Crypto Currency payment system is purely peer to peer, meaning that users are able to send and receive payments to or from anyone on the network around the world. Unless they are sending or receiving Crypto Currency from a regulated exchange or institution, the parties to a transaction do not require approval from an external source or authority.

  • The Transfer is pretty fast

A Bitcoin transaction often goes through several confirmations on the block chain before it is fully cleared. That’s because there’s a risk that unconfirmed transactions could be reversed, or the crypto currency could be spent twice. A confirmation takes place whenever a new block is created. If you’re transferring a big amount of crypto currency to a company, some will require as many as six confirmations. How long would this transaction for the transfer take to confirm? About an hour.

Remember, each time you send a transaction, you are making a transfer (or transfers) and you need to wait until the transfer is “confirmed” by the miners.

For more articles on the aviation industry and beyond make sure to visit our Blog page.

women pushing an airplane women in the airlines industry

Thought of the Week: Gender Diversity in the Aviation Industry Is Vital to Its Development.

Posted on | by Reem Toubaji | Leave a Comment on Thought of the Week: Gender Diversity in the Aviation Industry Is Vital to Its Development.

Air transport is the backbone of many economies across Africa and is critical for the integration of the African continent. One of aviation’s greatest potential markets is Africa.

Africa has a young and rapidly urbanizing population of over 1.3 billion and aviation is the best, and sometimes the only, option for efficiently connecting this huge market. Therefore, stakeholders continue to put in place measures to primarily redefine and restart the travel industry. Subsequently, attainment of gender diversity and the development of skilled aviation professionals remains vital for sustainability. For this reason, the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) in partnership with Collins Aerospace staged a 2-day conference on 19-20 October to facilitate dialogue, share information, experiences and best practices to attain gender diversity and youth development in aviation.

The conference was held in virtual format under the theme: “Women and Youth Development in Aviation for a Sustainable Future”. It provided an ideal forum for air transport industry stakeholders to first take stock of the trends, second deliberate on feasible solutions to bridge the gender gap and third develop young aviation professionals for the sustainability of the air transport sector.

Gender diversity remains a work in progress; a lot needs to be done

The conference presentations revealed that women numbers are still low in STEM-related careers and women are underrepresented in leadership positions in aviation. In the world’s top 100 airlines, just 3% of airline CEOs and COOs and 8% of CFOs are women according to a study done by IATA. It is no surprise then, that gender diversity in aviation is a work in progress, with slow improvements witnessed in the last decade, a lot more needs to be done.

Mr Abdérahmane Berthé – AFRAA Secretary General, in his remarks stated: “The ICAO and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) underscore the importance of gender equity to spur economic growth and promote social development. There is need to make the aviation industry more gender balanced at the national, international and global levels. Investing in women and youth has a multiplier effect on productivity as well as sustainable growth. For this to happen, governments, companies, organizations and all development actors need to enter a meaningful process of concrete actions.”

“Regarding the subject of youth, the development of skilled professionals in the aviation and aerospace industry in Africa is critical as a large contingent of the current aviation professionals will retire and the aviation growth will require more qualified and competent professionals. The Continent needs to train, develop and groom youth to meet the African global needs of the aviation industry of tomorrow,” Mr Berthé added.

Call to action

Therefore, the forum articulated in regard to recommendations for action by the industry:

Actions for gender diversity

1. Training

i. Empowerment of women in aviation through training.
ii. Job and career fairs for women, youth and those with disabilities.
iii. Subsidies in training to facilitating access to learning and education
iv. Continuous learning and adoption of online training for skilling and re-skilling.

2. Collaboration across the industry

i. Call to all African airlines to sign up for the IATA 25by2025 initiative.
ii. Events and dialogue among stakeholders for collaborative measures on women empowerment in aviation.
3. Leadership and policy actions
i. Gender diversity commitment at Board and leadership level.
ii. Introduction and implementation of gender inclusivity programs.
iii. Deliberate policies on women empowerment at State level and at organization level.
iv. Enhancement of mentorship programs.

Actions for youth development

1. Financing

i. Creation of an African Air Transport Fund to invest in skill development of the next generation aviation professionals in Africa.
ii. Prioritization of aviation at government level and more support by governments to training initiatives.
iii. Enhance access to scholarship opportunities and adhere to transparent processes.

2. Training

i. Promotion of the Next Generation Aviation Professional (NGAP) program to blossom next generation aviation professionals,
ii. Tap into the Instructor Development Program for AFRAA Member Airlines (IDPA) for cost-effective training,
iii. Enhancement of mentorship by role models.
iv. Partnership drives/initiatives with schools.
v. Global entities to avail opportunities for youth development to African beneficiaries.

3. Communication

i. Communication and engagement of youth at early ages into aviation careers through outreach programs.
ii. Events and networking to share perspectives and deliberate on opportunities and actions.
4. Employment opportunities
i. Call to airlines and aviation organizations to facilitate students to obtain on the job experience.
ii. Call for apprenticeship programs by aviation entities and corporates to young aviation professionals.

The important conference brought together over 300 participants comprising of Travel and Tourism fraternity in Africa and across the globe.

For more articles on the aviation industry and beyond make sure to visit our Blog page.

ustainable fuel sticker on a jet

While we wait for Electric Planes, Sustainable Fuel may be the Answer for the Climate Crisis

Posted on | by Reem Toubaji | Leave a Comment on While we wait for Electric Planes, Sustainable Fuel may be the Answer for the Climate Crisis

More than 50 airlines including Delta, BP and Boeing, pledged on Wednesday to replace 10% of global jet fuel supply with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) by 2030.

It is one of the boldest commitments yet to tackle the environmental impact of air travel and will require an exponential increase in the production of SAF, which currently accounts for only 0.1% of jet fuel used in commercial aviation.

Produced mainly from recycled food and agricultural waste, such as used cooking oil, SAF is a type of biofuel that cuts greenhouse gas emissions by 80% compared to conventional jet fuel, and is viewed as critical to reducing aviation’s fast-rising carbon emissions.

Given that electric and hydrogen-powered planes won’t be available for at least another decade, even for short-haul flights, SAF “holds one of the most important keys to decarbonizing aviation,” said Matteo Mirolo, aviation policy officer at Transport & Environment, a green campaign group in Europe.

SAF currently costs between two and eight times more than its fossil fuel-based alternative. In 2019, fewer than 200,000 metric tons were produced globally — less than 0.1% of the roughly 300 million metric tons of jet fuel used by commercial airlines, according to a November 2020 report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and McKinsey, which has also signed up to the pledge as a business that relies on air travel.

The report found that if all publicly announced SAF projects are completed, volumes will reach just over 1% of expected global jet fuel demand in 2030 — a fraction of the target unveiled on Wednesday. “This is a fundamental step up in the industry,” said Anna Mascolo, president of Shell Aviation, which this week announced it would produce 2 million metric tons of SAF a year by 2025, or 10 times more than what was produced globally in 2019.

“We need to put more effort into decarbonizing the aviation sector,” Mascolo says, adding that “sustainability will have a price.” Who will pay is unclear. Germany’s Lufthansa says fewer than 1% of its passengers currently make use of an option to offset their CO2 emissions by paying more for their tickets to cover the extra cost of using SAF.

According to Mascolo, cargo operators, whose revenues are more resilient than passenger carriers, will play a key role in SAF investments, as will companies that want to offset emissions from business travel.

Workers refuel an Airbus A350 with sustainable aviation fuel at Roissy airport, north of Paris, on May 18, 2021.
Workers refuel an Airbus A350 with sustainable aviation fuel at Roissy airport, north of Paris, on May 18, 2021.

Fueling demand

“Carriers alone aren’t going to be able to carry the cost burden,” Uppink Calderwood said. “If they were to commit to purchasing the fuel they wouldn’t be able to sustain their business,” she added, saying that the purpose of the coalition is to distribute the risk and cost across the value chain.

A growing number of airlines around the world are already using SAF in their operations, but generally in small amounts blended with standard jet fuel. Over the past decade, SAF has been used on 360,000 commercial flights, the vast majority of which took place in the past five years, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Governments are also adopting policies to promote and even mandate the use of SAF, which experts say will be critical to boosting supply and demand. Norway and Sweden, for example, require that a minimum amount of aviation fuel sold in the countries must be SAF. SAF mandates have also been proposed in the United Kingdom and European

“In 2016 there were two countries that had a SAF policy, now there are 36 countries,” said Chris Goater, head of corporate communications at IATA. “More and more governments are starting to see the benefit of embracing SAF in different ways. Ultimately, that’s got to give momentum to some sort of global agreement,” he added.

 

A tanker truck fuels a plane with SAF produced by Finland's Neste at Helsinki Airport.
A tanker truck fuels a plane with SAF produced by Finland’s Neste at Helsinki Airport.

Decarbonizing aviation

The pandemic delivered a sharp cut to aviation’s carbon emissions in 2020, but the reduction promises to be temporary.

Global air traffic is expected to double to 8.2 billion passengers in 2037, according to IATA, which predicts that aviation’s 2019 emissions peak of around 900 million metric tons of CO2 will be exceeded within the next two to three years. At the same time, the window to cut the world’s reliance on fossil fuels and avoid catastrophic changes to the climate is closing rapidly.

While the aviation sector has not yet committed to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 — a goal that some experts say is necessary to align with the Paris climate goals — SAF will nonetheless be critical to helping the industry reach its existing goal of halving carbon emissions by 2050 relative to a 2005 baseline. That amounts to a threefold reduction on emissions in 2019.

“Aviation has a huge climate problem and if we don’t provide it with SAF, it’s not going to start solving its problem,” said Mirolo at Transport & Environment.

But not all SAF is created equal. There are multiple ways to produce the fuel, not all of which are considered sustainable. For example, reusable plastics and even some edible oils and sugars generate more CO2 than jet fuel over their lifecycle when burned. There are also concerns that fueling planes with edible material may increase demand for land, putting food security at risk while contributing to deforestation and therefore increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

“Sustainable aviation fuel can live up to its name only if the feedstock fulfills sustainability criteria,” according to the report by the WEF and McKinsey, which lists waste and residue oils, such as used cooking oil and animal fats, as among the more sustainable raw materials. Other sustainable raw materials include various agricultural and forestry residues and municipal solid waste, although the processes to turn them into SAF are more complex and the technology not yet available at scale.

By far the cleanest means of producing SAF is through combining green hydrogen with carbon dioxide captured directly from the atmosphere to produce synthetic fuel. This is sometimes called e-kerosene or power-to-liquid

But the technology to develop this is immature and it could take a decade before it is widely available, according to Sami Jauhiainen, vice president of business development at Finland’s Neste, currently the world’s largest SAF producer.

“We are actively looking at investment opportunities on the e-fuel side,” Jauhiainen says. He said that the challenge of decarbonizing aviation is such that a range of technologies and feedstocks need to be explored. “If you look at the urgency we are dealing with in tackling climate change, and the carbon budget we have available to meet a 1.5 degrees Celsius trajectory, we can’t wait to have e-fuels,” he added.