The UAE GCAA signed an open skies agreement with the govt of Belize. DG of the GCAA, Saif Mohammad Al Suwaidi and Jose Manuel Heredia Jr, minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation of Belize, signed the agreement. The agreement enables the designated carriers of both parties to operate with full flexibility on routes, capacity, frequency and types of aircraft, whether owned or leased, in any type of service and it also includes the exercise of fifth freedom traffic rights. This agreement is also in line with the federal govt’s approach that looks forward to wider horizons in terms of trade relations with various countries of the world. The UAE is working on urging other countries to sign open skies agreements that will eliminate all restrictions on international air transport movement. <br/>
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COMAC launched the first flight of its C919 narrowbody May 5. The aircraft departed from Shanghai Pudong International and flew over Shanghai’s neighbouring county of Qidong for 1 hour and 20 min. The CFM Leap 1C-powered C919 is designed to seat 158 passengers in a standard 2-class configuration. When the much-delayed C919 program was launched in 2008, the maiden flight was originally scheduled for 2014 followed by first delivery to Chengdu Airlines. However, the aircraft was not rolled out until Oct 2015 following program delays. COMAC said at the time it had been aiming for first flight in 2016. To date, COMAC has received 570 orders from 23 customers for the aircraft. China Eastern Airlines is set to be the launch customer. <br/>