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Emirates airline said Tuesday it is working with local authorities to implement heightened security measures, a move that will potentially enable the airline to lift the electronics ban on its flights to the US. The carrier said it is working hard to put in place protocols that meet the requirements of the US Department of Homeland Security’s new safety guidelines for all US bound flights. “We hope that we will receive validation that all measures have been successfully implemented so that the electronics ban can be lifted as soon as possible for our US flights,” an Emirates spokesperson said. Emirates did not provide details on when the ban may be lifted or a possible timeline. The statement comes a day after Dubai Airports confirmed there have been no changes to the electronics ban on board direct flights from Dubai to the US. <br/>

AirAsia India aims to scale up to a fleet of 20 planes by September-October and commence international operations thereafter, its CE Amar Abrol said Tuesday. Any domestic airline with a fleet size of at least 20 aircraft will be eligible for international operations under India’s aviation policy. AirAsia India currently has a fleet of 10 Airbus A320 planes. Abrol said the initial international destinations in the airline’s plan would naturally be those in Southeast Asia, the stronghold of AirAsia Berhad. As a precursor of sorts, the airline is launching Fly-Thru, a service which facilitates seamless check-in for passengers through to the final destination. Abrol said it is in its testing stages. He said AirAsia India would stick to its earlier target of doubling revenue and passenger traffic this year although he declined to give any projection on profitability. <br/>

AirAsia India said Tuesday the new tax regime will leave the aviation industry poorer by about INR4b annually if the govt does not roll back the levy. "On an average, an operator will have to pay an additional INR100m-120m per aircraft in additional levies, which include the 5% duty on plane imports. This will put an additional INR4b tax burden on the airlines that lease out planes," AirAsia India MD and CE Amar Abrol said. But he said the airline has decided not to pass on this additional burden to customers as it expects the govt to rollback the duty. "The problem is that credit set-off of 3% is available only on services and not on purchase of machinery or aircraft imports. Overall, it seems to be a negative impact and the details are being worked out," he said. <br/>

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating an engine malfunction involving an AirAsia X Airbus A330-300 shortly after take-off Monday. The aircraft was operating flight D7207 from Gold Coast to Kuala Lumpur when the incident happened. It had to divert to Brisbane 15 minutes after take-off due to an "in-flight engine fault", says the ATSB. AirAsia X adds that the aircraft had a suspected bird strike to its right engine shortly after take-off from Gold Coast, and that the remains of 2 birds were found on the airport's runway. None of the 345 passengers and 14 crew aboard the jet were injured, but the Rolls-Royce Trent 700-powered aircraft sustained minor damage, says the ATSB. The bureau has since classified the case as a serious incident. <br/>

Philippine Airlines has been recognised as being among the World’s 10 Most Improved Airlines, a category within the Skytrax World Airline Awards. The airline was ranked at 6, and its position amongst the World’s Top 100 Airlines 2017 has also jumped to the 67th spot this year from 83 in last year’s rankings. The carrier is vying to become a 5-star airline by 2020 through expanding its network, acquiring new aircraft and service innovations. PAL rolled out the first newly refurbished A330-300 on Manila-Honolulu flights last month. Meanwhile, the other A330 tri-class planes will be used for flights between Manila and Melbourne, Sydney, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo Haneda and Narita, and Osaka. The airline is also set to acquire 6 Airbus A350-900, due for delivery in June 2018. <br/>

Ryanair kicked off the start of summer with a 12% jump in the number of passengers carried. The airline carried 11.8m passengers in June, up by 1.2m on the same month last year. More passengers per flight were carried last month, with a load factor of 96% recorded, a year-on-year rise of two percentage points. Ryanair chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs attributed the monthly hike in passengers to lower fares and the airline’s ‘always getting better’ customer service scheme. Eastern and central European rival Wizz Air saw June carryings rise by 23.6% to almost 2.5m passengers with a load factor up by 0.6 percentage points to 92.3% as it opened its 28th base at Luton airport. <br/>

TUI AG is considering resurrecting efforts to form a joint venture with Air Berlin and Etihad Aviation Group by taking a bigger role in the endeavour than originally planned, according to people familiar with the situation. TUI is studying whether to take a majority stake or even full ownership of the proposed leisure airline -- which was intended to combine assets from Air Berlin’s Niki and TUI’s TUIfly -- said the people, who asked not to be identified. However, TUI’s reluctance to add German capacity stands in the way of a deal, said one of the people. The original project, which collapsed a month ago when Etihad pulled out, was aimed at letting German tour operator TUI revive its unprofitable TUIfly airline while allowing loss-burdened Air Berlin to offload its Niki leisure brand. <br/>

Samoa's prime minister Tuilaepa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi has confirmed his country has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Fiji's national airline as it prepares to resume flights between Samoa, New Zealand and Australia. Tuilaepa didn't give any details about the MOU in parliament but said airfares between Samoa and New Zealand and Australia were too high and the two airlines currently serving the routes were controlling airfares through partnerships. He said a commission that studied airline options recommended that Polynesian airlines go into a joint venture with another airline to provide flights from Samoa to the two destinations, at an affordable price. <br/>