Daily Podcast: A Small Amount of Sustainable Aviation Fuel

Today’s edition of Skift’s daily podcast explains European leaders’ attempt to mandate sustainable airline fuel, Amadeus’ attempts to make bleisure travel easier, and Traveloka’s $200 million funding move.

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Episode Notes

The European Union will vote later this month on new sustainable aviation fuel requirements as part of its strategy to cut carbon emissions significantly by the end of the decade. Airlines Reporter Edward Russell writes that while the bloc is again taking the lead globally on climate issues, its possible mandate is sparking fierce debate in airline industry circles.

European Union transport ministers have recommended that the group require 6 percent of all aviation fuel be sustainable, which is more than 5 percentage points above the current worldwide figure. The mandate, known as ReFuelEU, would be part of a larger package of carbon reduction emissions initiatives called Fit for 55. The European Union aims to cut its emissions 55 percent from 1990 levels by 2030.

While Russell writes European carriers want the bloc’s leaders to advance policies promoting sustainable aviation fuels, airlines disagree over how high to set the mandate. Industry trade group Airlines for Europe, which includes Air France-KLM and the Lufthansa Group, does not support a 6 percent sustainable fuel requirement and prefers a mandate of 5 percent. However, the International Airlines Group, the parent company of British Airways and Iberia, is in favor of a 6 percent mandate.

Next up, Traveloka, Indonesia’s largest online travel agency, is looking a year after its plans to go public through a blank check company fell through to raise more than $200 million, reports Asia Editor Peden Doma Bhutia.

Traveloka has already raised more than $1 billion in funding across six rounds, and Bhutia writes additional funding will help the company grow its financial tech business and its valuation. Investment management agency BlackRock and the Indonesia Investment Authority, a wealth fund owned by the government, are in talks to enter the new round of funding.

Finally, rather than leaving staff to their own devices when mixing work trips with long vacations, a travel agency should take control. As merged business trips and vacations are on the rise, travel technology company Amadeus is throwing its support behind startups helping employees blend their personal and professional lives, reports Corporate Travel Editor Matthew Parsons in this week’s Future of Work briefing.

Amadeus has long had its eye on blended leisure and business trips, and its Amadeus for Startups division provides technology to entrepreneurs wanting to facilitate the hybrid work model. Paul de Villiers, an Amadeus executive, said that corporate travel’s rebound has helped the merged travel sectors gain traction.

One of the startups Amadeus has supported is Norway-based travel management platform Travelin.ai, which is speaking at Amadeus’ Travel Tech Night in Berlin on June 14. Travelin.ai co-founder and CEO Roy Golden has argued that most corporate travel agencies have done a poor job of helping their clients handle the complexities of so-called workcations, citing in particular missteps that have resulted in companies being audited.