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To continue providing reliable global access and exceptional service to current NetJets Owners and their guests, NetJets has signed a new deal with Embraer for up to 250 Praetor 500 jet options, which includes a comprehensive services and support agreement.The deal is valued in excess of US $5 billion, with deliveries expected to begin in 2025, and will be NetJets’ first time offering the midsize Praetor 500 to customers. For over a decade, NetJets has operated Embraer’s Phenom 300 series—one of NetJets’ most requested aircraft.
The partnership between Embraer and NetJets began in 2010 when NetJets first signed a purchase agreement for 50 Phenom 300 aircraft, with up to 75 additional options. In 2021, after Embraer successfully delivered over 100 aircraft, the companies signed a continuing deal for up to 100 additional Phenom 300/E jets, in excess of $1.2 billion.
With this new agreement, NetJets signifies not only its commitment to creating an enhanced customer experience as the company is averaging over 1,200 worldwide flights per day but also its trust in Embraer’s industry-leading portfolio and top-ranked support to deliver the ultimate experience to NetJets customers.
“Since 2010, Embraer has enjoyed NetJets’ ongoing commitment to our industry-leading aircraft, which is a true testament to the value of our brand and our ability to deliver the ultimate experience in business aviation,” said Michael Amalfitano, President and CEO of Embraer Executive Jets. “Our strategic partnership has been an integral part of our business growth, with NetJets taking all aircraft delivery options that have been ordered with Embraer since inception. After building this successful foundation with the Phenom 300 series, it’s our pleasure to have now signed this monumental deal for the Praetor 500 midsize jet, and we look forward to an even more exciting future ahead.”
“We are eager to add the Embraer Praetor 500, one of today’s most state-of-the-art business jets, to our midsize fleet,” said Doug Henneberry, Executive Vice President of NetJets Aircraft Asset Management. “This historic fleet agreement is another way that we are growing our fleet for the benefit of our loyal customers. By adding up to 250 aircraft to our fleet, we will continue providing NetJets Owners with exceptional service and seamless access to all corners of the globe.” ADVERTISEMENTThe Praetor 500 is the world’s most disruptive and technologically advanced midsize business jet, boasting an impressive best-in-class range—enabling U.S. coast-to-coast capability—industry-leading speed, and unparalleled runway performance. In terms of technology, it’s the only aircraft in its category with full fly-by-wire flight controls.
Not only does the Praetor 500 offer exceptional performance but it also offers one of the most comfortable cabin experiences. It features the lowest cabin altitude in its class, as well as the tallest and widest cross section in the segment. Additionally, it offers a flat-floor cabin, stone flooring, a vacuum lavatory, and ample baggage space, including a fully enclosed internal baggage compartment.

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Wego, the largest online travel marketplace in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), has announced its partnership with flyadeal, the true low-cost airline in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and a subsidiary of Saudi Airlines Group, to offer its users the chance to directly book flights on flyadeal through its platform.
MENA is a key market for Wego, and always tops the searches from this region. flyadeal, one of the youngest and fastest growing low-cost airlines in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Middle East, continues its expansion to the region.
flyadeal currently operates scheduled flights to 17 domestic destinations across Saudi Arabia and six in Europe, Middle East and Africa. From June, the airline will triple its international footprint with 12 additional destinations in Europe and Middle East. These are Rhodes and Heraklion in Greece; Sarajevo (Bosnia); Larnaca (Cyprus), Tivat (Montenegro); Izmir, Antalya, Bodrum and Trabzon in Turkey; Baku (Azerbaijan); Tbilisi, (Georgia); and Sharm el Sheikh (Egypt).
The new partnership includes all flyadeal flights to Wego’s marketplace where users can book directly with the airline. Wego is looking to provide its users with a wider choice of airlines to book from, by adding such a renowned airline to its portfolio.
Con Korfiatis, flyadeal Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are delighted to partner with Wego, the biggest and renowned online travel marketplace in the MENA region. This collaboration will allow our customers to directly book flyadeal’s wide choice and growing number of flights through Wego’s platform, giving us the opportunity to distribute our products to a bigger audience, and showcase our competitive everyday fares. This partnership will further enhance our customers’ travel experience and help us to better serve them.”ADVERTISEMENTAdditionally, Wego’s users will benefit from flyadeal fares which will be promoted across all Wego’s marketing channels and will be able to search and book the most competitive deals online.
Ross Veitch, CEO and Co-founder of Wego, said: “As the largest online travel marketplace in MENA we are delighted to announce our partnership with flyadeal, the fastest growing airline in KSA. We look forward to offering flyadeal’s attractively priced fares to Wego’s audience both in The Kingdom and also across our regional points of sale as flyadeal opens new international routes.”
Around 10,000 monthly bookings for flyadeal have been conducted.
The top destinations searching for flights to Saudi were Egypt, India, Kuwait, UAE, Sudan, Oman, Turkey, Jordan, Morocco, and Qatar.
Wego data also shows that 79% of travelers are staying up to 3 days with the remaining percentage staying 12 days or more.
This collaboration ensures Wego users are always getting the most comprehensive selection of flight options possible across all its platforms.

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Boeing and Ryanair announced Europe’s leading low-cost airline has selected the largest 737 MAX model to power its future growth with an order for up to 300 airplanes. The purchase agreement is the biggest in Ryanair’s history and includes a firm order for 150 737-10 jets and options for 150 more.Ryanair has deployed a growing fleet of 737-8-200 airplanes to accelerate its post-pandemic recovery and meet strong travel demand. The 197-seat 737-8-200 model has helped the airline reduce fuel use and emissions by over 20% compared to the airplanes they are replacing. The new order adds the larger 737-10 variant, which offers Ryanair 228 seats and the best unit economics of any single-aisle airplane.
“Ryanair is pleased to sign this record aircraft order for up to 300 MAX 10s with our aircraft partner Boeing. These new, fuel efficient, greener technology aircraft offer 21% more seats, burn 20% less fuel and are 50% quieter than our B737-NGs,” said Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s Group CEO.
“We expect half of this order will replace older NGs while the remaining 150 aircraft will facilitate controlled, sustainable growth to just over 300m guests per annum by 2034.  This order, coupled with our remaining Gamechanger deliveries, will create 10,000 new jobs for highly paid aviation professionals over the next decade, and these jobs will be generated across all of Europe’s main economies where Ryanair is currently the No.1 or No.2 airline,” O’Leary said.
“In addition to delivering significant revenue and market growth opportunities across Europe, we expect these new larger more efficient aircraft to drive further unit cost savings, which will be passed on to passengers in lower air fares. The extra seats, lower fuel burn and more competitive aircraft pricing supported by our strong balance sheet, will widen the cost gap between Ryanair and competitor EU airlines for many years to come, making the Boeing MAX 10 the ideal growth aircraft order for Ryanair, our passengers, our people and our shareholders.”
“The Boeing-Ryanair partnership is one of the most productive in commercial aviation history, enabling both companies to succeed and expand affordable travel to hundreds of millions of people,” said Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun. “Nearly a quarter century after our companies signed our first direct airplane purchase, this landmark deal will further strengthen our partnership. We are committed to delivering for Ryanair and helping the airline group achieve its goals.”ADVERTISEMENTThis new order will be posted to Boeing’s Orders and Deliveries website once it is finalized.

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Coinciding with World Immunisation Week, Iberia and UNICEF Spain celebrate the strategic alliance that has brought them together for ten years to support regular vaccination programmes for vulnerable children.
A decade in which this alliance has made it possible to vaccinate more than one million children thanks to the support of the airline’s customers and employees.
During this time, the airline has been committed to vaccination as the most effective, economical, and straightforward way to save lives, supporting UNICEF in the national child immunisation programmes of Afghanistan, Angola, Chad, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Sudan, and Yemen.
In this way, the alliance contributes to the supply of routine vaccines that UNICEF administers regularly as part of extensive immunisation campaigns, as well as to the distribution of supplies to reinforce the cold chain so that the vaccines are stored properly. It also supports, for example, the training of health professionals and the launching of campaigns to promote the importance of vaccines, all leading to strengthening national health systems and guaranteeing the protection and survival of children against preventable diseases such as polio and measles.
In the most difficult moments of the pandemic, the alliance also supported COVAX, the global mechanism for the equitable distribution of vaccines against COVID-19, in which UNICEF played a key role. Thanks to donations from Iberia customers, UNICEF was able to supply 29,000 people in low- and low-middle-income countries with COVID-19 vaccines.ADVERTISEMENTLikewise, for the last two years the alliance has been active in a new area of collaboration that, beyond strategic financing, contributes and puts the knowledge and experience of Iberia’s logistics teams, fleet, and commercial routes at the service of children. And this is possible thanks to the addition of IAG Cargo to the alliance as logistics facilitator. Under this new collaboration framework, in November 2021 a shipment of humanitarian supplies was sent to Haiti following the earthquake that shook the southwest of the country.
“We must congratulate ourselves on the great impact that the Iberia-UNICEF Spain alliance has had every day for ten years. At a time when we are seeing the greatest setbacks in childhood vaccination worldwide in decades, it is essential to continue having the support of committed companies such as Iberia, which are evolving and providing more and more value for children. It is precisely this type of long-term alliances that guarantee systemic and lasting changes in the lives of the most vulnerable boys and girls”, said the president of UNICEF Spain, Gustavo Suárez Pertierra.
For his part, Javier Sánchez-Prieto, CEO of Iberia, said, “We are truly proud of our collaboration with UNICEF, and very grateful for both the work carried out by this organisation and the generous contributions of our customers. We hope that you will continue to support this project and that, together, we can contribute to providing better healthcare to more children around the world”.
Micro-Donations to Support Child Vaccination
Iberia was the first airline globally to activate the micro-donation system to support UNICEF with the online purchase of plane tickets. In this way, Iberia customers who buy a ticket through Iberia.com may support the work that UNICEF carries out with vaccination programmes for vulnerable children.
Donations (between €3 and €20) are made through the ticket reservation and payment platform developed by Amadeus within the framework of its global alliance with UNICEF. As of today, the funds mobilised among the airline’s passengers thanks to this agreement exceed €1.3 million.

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The decision by the Dutch government to limit the number of flights taking off and landing at Schiphol Airport will reduce the value of trade and tourist expenditure in the Netherlands by up to €13.6 billion, according to a new study by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).The report, commissioned by the Red Schiphol Campaign, predicts that the decision to reduce flight movements at the airport to 440,000 per year will lead to a 180,000 tonne drop in the amount of cargo handled at Schiphol compared to 2019 levels. This represents €11.5 billion worth of goods or about 11.4% of Schiphol’s usual cargo volume.
Under a worst-case scenario, Cebr suggests this figure could rise to 330,000 tonnes, or €21.3 billion worth of goods. This represents over a fifth (21.2%) of Schiphol’s 2019 cargo volume. The report also outlines that the flight cap could result in 1.3 million fewer tourists using Schiphol Airport each year – roughly equivalent to the total number of travellers who visited the Netherlands from Asia in 2019. According to Cebr, this reduction would be associated with a €2.2 billion drop in annual tourist expenditure.
George Chichester, campaign manager for the Red Schiphol Campaign, says this could have a disastrous impact on the Dutch economy.
“In 2019, Schiphol Airport was responsible for over 90% of the cargo coming into the Netherlands and 88% of all passengers flying into or out of the country. It is unlikely that other airports will be able to handle the extra passengers or cargo that will be uncatered for under the flight cap, meaning the value from these two revenue sources is essentially lost to the Dutch economy,” Chichester said.
In addition, Cebr estimates that the reduction in flights is associated with a reduction in Dutch economic activity supported by Schiphol Airport’s operations, amounting to a €205 million fall in Gross Value Added (GVA) and 599 fewer jobs supported throughout the airport and its supply chain. Much of this impact will be felt in the Noord-Holland region, which the report suggests will experience 94% of the impact on GVA.ADVERTISEMENTRowlando Morgan, Head of the Environment, Infrastructure and Local Growth team at Cebr, says that Schiphol’s current contribution to the national and local economy should not be understated. “This research shows that the decision will have significant adverse economic impacts on the consumers and businesses that rely on Schiphol Airport.”
The report also highlights that the flight cap could lead to higher ticket prices. For instance, evidence shows that constrained capacity at London Heathrow has been associated with a 17% premium on short-haul fares and a 25% premium on long-haul fares.
Chichester argues this will hit ordinary Dutch families particularly hard at a time when the cost of living is already very high.
“The government has already tripled the tax on plane tickets. If this flight cap goes ahead, the price of tickets will climb even higher and hard-working Dutch families will no longer be able to afford to go on holiday,” he said.
The Red Schiphol Campaign has been set up to bring together concerned Dutch citizens and businesses in opposition to what it calls the ‘440 decision’ to limit flight movements at Schiphol.
Marc Mabelis, a local politician and active supporter of the campaign, has voiced his concern over the government’s decision, stating that “In an open economy, logistics by air is very important via a strong network for passengers and cargo at Schiphol.”
Supporters are encouraged to sign the campaign’s petition – which is already at over 5,700 signatures – or email [email protected] to find out more ways to get involved.

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Help alliance, the aid organization of the Lufthansa Group, is further expanding its global commitment and is supporting a total of 8 new aid projects this year.For the first time, projects in Namibia, Syria and the Dominican Republic will be supported. In total, help alliance is now active in 28 countries with 52 projects and is making an important contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the United Nations.
Among the new projects are three initiatives that were developed in close cooperation with the Lufthansa Group airlines Eurowings Discover and Edelweiss Air. “The involvement of the airlines through their own aid projects strengthens the sense of community of the entire Group and shows that there is great motivation to work across the board for disadvantaged children and young people,” says Andrea Pernkopf, Managing Director of help alliance.
In addition to its long-term projects, help alliance is also stepping up its emergency relief in crisis areas such as Ukraine or the earthquake-stricken regions of Turkey and Syria. With needs-oriented emergency aid and reconstruction measures, the organization supports the affected people quickly and effectively.
“As an aid organization of the Lufthansa Group, we are proud to further expand our project portfolio and to support people in need. Our work contributes to promoting high-quality education (SDG 4) and decent work and economic growth (SDG 8) in accordance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in countries of the Global South, but also in Europe,” emphasizes Pernkopf.
As usual, the projects of help alliance are proposed by employees of the Lufthansa Group and supervised on a voluntary basis. Since its foundation in 1999, the aid organization has been working for sustainable social development in the project countries and is committed to helping disadvantaged children and young people worldwide.ADVERTISEMENTFor detailed information about the 8 new help alliance projects, visit http://www.helpalliance.org, including:
Arusha, Tanzania: School of the Future.In the project region, many children live in difficult and poverty-stricken circumstances. To help these children and at the same time to develop the community, an innovative school center is to be built with a special focus on sustainability, environmental protection and integration.
Masaka, Uganda: Entrepreneurship ProgramTo counteract the difficult labor market situation in Uganda, teachers are being trained at 12 secondary schools to introduce young people to entrepreneurship, develop product ideas with them and support them in setting up their own businesses.
Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic: Lilis SchoolIn 1992, Florencia “Dona Lili” Bonilla founded the Colegio Enriquillo in a poor suburb of Puerto Plata with the aim of providing the children living there with access to a high-quality education that would pave the way to a university degree. The school building, which had fallen into disrepair, is now to be rebuilt.
Katutura, Namibia: Afternoon careThe construction of new premises, the provision of school materials and school meals for disadvantaged children will relieve the burden on teachers and parents and create an improved learning environment for all students.
Costa Maya, Mexico: Plastic collectorsOver the past 20 years, coastal pollution in southern Mexico has increased dramatically. Plastic waste washes up on the beaches every day, severely affecting flora and fauna. Local fishermen are to be motivated to collect old plastic from the seas. This is then recycled and reused as new plastic material. For this social and environmentally friendly approach, the project partner Tide Ocean 2022 was awarded the Swiss Ethics Award.

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Scotland’s largest airline easyJet has expanded its popular Twilight Bag Drop service to Edinburgh airport. Available for the first time today, the free service provides customers on early morning flights with the option to drop their bags off the evening before, saving time for their journey through the airport on their day of travel by skipping bag drop and heading straight to security. It is expected to be especially popular with thousands of families who are travelling with easyJet for their Easter holidays next month.
The service will be available to all customers on early morning flights departing before 1200 at Edinburgh, which represents around 40% of all flights departing from the airport, and bags can be dropped between 1600 and 2100 the day before they fly.
Customers will now be able to simply drop their bags off the evening before their flight during quieter times and to make it easier, just one family member or one customer on the booking is able to drop the bags off for the whole group if they wish.
Ali Gayward, easyJet’s UK Country Manager, commented:
“We are always looking for ways to make travel even easier for our customers, so we are really pleased to be introducing our free Twilight Bag Drop service at Edinburgh from today. We know the service is already very popular with our customers flying from London Gatwick, Bristol and Manchester and by introducing this in time for Easter, thousands of families set to fly with us on their holidays from Scotland can now benefit by dropping their bags with us at airport the night before, for a quicker and easier journey.”ADVERTISEMENTAdam Wilson, Chief Operating Officer at Edinburgh Airport said:
“Providing options for passengers is a key strand to our overall offering to make the journey through the airport as smooth and efficient as possible – that’s a view shared by our partners at easyJet and it’s been great to work closely with them to bring the Twilight service into operation.
“We know a lot of customers will welcome the ability to check-in bags the night before their flight, meaning they can arrive at the airport in the morning, head straight to security and start their trip that little bit quicker.”
easyJet now offers Twilight bag drop services to its customers across four of its key UK airports:  London Gatwick, Bristol, Manchester, and now Edinburgh.
To find out more visit www.easyjet.com/en/help/baggage/cabin-bag-and-hold-luggage.

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This week the A321XLR development flight-test aircraft (“FT3”, MSN11080) dedicated to the cabin returned from its four-day cold-weather ground testing at Iqaluit in northern CanadaA few weeks earlier, one of the other A321XLR test aircraft (“FT2”, MSN11058) made a similar visit to Iqaluit. On that initial occasion the mission was to test the operation of the hydraulics and other systems at extreme cold temperatures – after an overnight soak at minus 40 degrees Centigrade.
Ground testing the water and waste system“The objective of this most recent cold-weather campaign was to validate the aircraft operation in cold weather for ground operations,” says Tuan Do, Lead Flight Test Engineer.
He notes: “This time around we tested the cabin water and waste system – which required the temperatures inside the unheated cabin to ‘soak’ at below -15 degrees Centigrade overnight. To this end, several cold soaks were conducted over successive nights with the doors left open, while the outside temperature was around minus 20 degrees Centigrade.
In each case different heating and insulation configurations were applied for subsequent comparative analysis by the engineering department.”
As part of this, a new ‘cold weather option’ available for A321XLR operators, was tested in real conditions for the first time – it adds heaters to ensure the system doesn’t freeze-up overnight. The tests also validated the ‘standard aircraft’ configuration – ie. without the optional package activated – and a weight-saving opportunity configuration, with less insulation.ADVERTISEMENTOf course, every airliner cruises at high altitudes where the outside temperatures are much lower. However, inside the cabin the water and waste systems operate in above zero temperatures. This is why ground testing (in a completely powered-down state) is specifically called for – so that the ambient environment inside the cabin and below the passenger deck, where many systems are located, can cold-soak at sub-zero temperatures.

Hydraulics, oil and electrical system testing at -40 degrees Centigrade“During our first five-day visit to Iqaluit a month ago, when we powered-up the aircraft in the morning, we would ‘wake-up’ the hydraulics, electrics, and other systems and see how long it took to operate the aircraft and get it ready for taxiing and takeoff.”
“There were also some flights to validate the landing gear operation in very cold temperatures. Notably, the A321XLR features an uprated landing gear – to support the higher maximum take-off weight of the aircraft (whose MTOW is 101 metric tonnes, vs 97 tonnes for the A321LR). Consequently, the shock-absorbers on this new variant are designed to handle higher loads compared with those on the other A320 Family members.
The test objective was to check the ‘weight-on-wheels’ signal, so the aircraft knows when the main landing gear shock absorbers are compressed or extended.
“There are many systems on the aircraft which depend on the weight on wheels signals to tell them whether the aircraft is in flight or on ground. So during our first visit to Iqaluit we verified how the weight-on-wheels function is affected by the physical changes in the main landing gear, and how shock absorber stiffness is affected by cold temperatures,” recalls Tuan.
Another design feature of the -XLR related to hydraulics which needed to be evaluated in the cold environment were new hydraulic lines which pass through Rear Centre Tank, located aft of the Landing Gear bay. “Our design office colleagues wanted us to check that the routing of the pipes did not significantly affect the hydraulic temperatures and operations after warm-up of the aircraft,” notes Tuan.
Other cold weather challenges, applicable for any aircraft, include ensuring that hatches don’t freeze shut, or that the systems in general don’t freeze up – not only the water pipes, oil and hydraulics systems, but also the electrical system, especially batteries. “Batteries don’t hold as much charge or provide as much power output when they are at low temperatures. Meanwhile, oil and hydraulics become very viscous at very low temperatures which makes it hard to move flight control surfaces around and drive pumps etc. So you need to heat the aircraft up and its pipework to be able to operate the aircraft,” explains Tuan

Human challengesThe challenges behind the cold weather campaign also include human ones,” he notes. “We have maintenance and ground support teams who need to prepare and configure the aircraft, and check everything outside. They need to have the right clothes and equipment compatible with operations outside. But even with those provisions, the wind-chill factor is so strong in Iqaluit that it’s difficult. You can only work for a limited time outside, so we have shifts to ensure that nobody stays outside for too long.”
On-site Airbus for its part, had brought a team of more than 30 people. These included: six flight crew – pilots, flight test engineers, and a test-flight engineer; a cabin specialist engineer; a maintenance team – comprising mechanical specialists, electrical specialists, quality inspectors; instrumentation specialists; systems design specialists; technical photographers; as well as an operations colleague to oversee the logistics for the overall journey.
The human challenges are not simply on-site in Iqaluit, rather, they begin much earlier. The flight-test engineers will have agreed the test requirements with the design engineers’ office several months in advance, and from that will have prepared the campaign mission plan together with the mission flight-crew and ‘test-flight’ engineer colleagues. Together they determine how they need to configure the aircraft inside and out, when to start taxiing and then take-off, and what the ambient and systems temperature conditions should be etc. They will sequence all the testing and planning of the campaign, and of course, ensure that the whole mission is conducted safely.

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