Airbus Group Wednesday posted a 15% rise in profit for 2015 and raised output again on a popular long-range jet in a sign of sustained strong demand for commercial airliners. Airbus and Boeing have enjoyed a prolonged period of high aircraft order bookings as airlines renew aging fleets and add planes to deliver growth. Investors have increasingly become concerned, though, the boom period may be nearing an end. Despite those worries, Airbus said it would lift production next year of the A330 widebody to 7 planes a month from 6. It had previously cut production plans of the plane to 6 aircraft a month from 10, anticipating a sharp drop in demand as it introduced an updated model with more fuel efficient engines. The existing model has proved more popular with customers than expected, though. <br/>
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It’s been more than 50 years since commercial flights from the US could legally land in Cuba, and now domestic airlines have under 12 weeks to explain to federal regulators why they deserve to have a few of just 110 daily roundtrip flights to the island. The battle for Havana will be particularly fraught because the agreement to restore commercial flights includes only 20 slots in the capital. The process of gaining authority to fly from the US to the 10 international airports in Cuba will culminate when federal officials dole out access based on an effort to “maximise public benefits,” the DoT said. The return of commercial flights between the US and Cuba, which could occur as soon as this summer, will remain restricted to one of 12 permitted activities—and tourism is not among them. <br/>
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said that the Russian plane that crashed in Sinai last year was downed by terrorists seeking to damage Egypt's tourism industry and relations with Moscow. "Has terrorism ended, no it has not but it will if we unite. Whoever downed the Russian plane, what did he mean? He meant to hit tourism, and to hit relations with Russia," Sisi said. The comments were the first official Egyptian indication that the plane was deliberately downed. Moscow stopped all civilian flights to Egypt, a popular destination for Russian tourists, after a Russian plane crashed in Sinai Oct 31. Russia said a bomb brought down the flight and Islamic State said it smuggled the explosive aboard concealed in a soft drink can. But an Egyptian-led investigation had said it has yet to find evidence of foul play. <br/>