American Airlines has joined Delta and United in pushing US regulators to finalise their tentative awards of 12 new flights to Tokyo Haneda. American and United, in separate filings with the US DoT Tuesday, asked the regulator to dismiss objections by Hawaiian Airlines and finalise the allocation of the new frequencies. With support from American, Delta and United, the regulator is almost certain to confirm the allocation of the new Tokyo flights that it first announced in May American will receive two flights for service to Haneda from Dallas/Fort Worth and Los Angeles; Delta five flights for service from Atlanta, Detroit, Honolulu, Portland (Oregon) and Seattle; Hawaiian one flight for service from Honolulu; and United four flights for service from Chicago O'Hare, Los Angeles, Newark and Washington Dulles.<br/>
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With the 737 Max jet still grounded after two deadly crashes, deliveries of new Boeing jets are falling far behind last year's pace. Boeing said Tuesday that it delivered 30 commercial airliners during May, down 56% from the 68 it made in May 2018. Deliveries of 737s plummeted from 47 a year ago to just eight last month. All eight were an older model of 737, call the NG. Boeing is still building Max jets in Washington state, but they are being parked for now. The company has 4,550 unfilled orders for the Max but stopped deliveries after regulators around the world grounded the plane following crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed 346 people. It's working on changes to flight-control software implicated in the crashes. Boeing reported a canceled order for 71 Max planes that were to be leased to Jet Airways until the financially struggling Indian carrier suspended all flights in April. Boeing has not reported other large cancellations despite the Max's grounding. Orders for all Boeing airlines were "anemic" in May but should be better at next week's Paris air show, said Cowen Research aerospace analyst Cai von Rumohr.<br/>
Airbus and Boeing are battling for wide-body aircraft orders worth well over $10b as the clock ticks towards next week's Paris Airshow, industry sources said. The contests include a fight for business at Philippines budget airline Cebu Air as Airbus seeks a new foothold for its slow-selling A330neo airliner in the face of competition from Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. The budget carrier is leaning towards breaking its exclusive ties with Airbus by selecting the Boeing 787 for its requirement for up to 16 wide-body jets to be delivered in 2020 and 2021, but negotiations are set to go down to the wire, the sources said. None of the parties agreed to comment on any confidential aircraft negotiations. Airbus is urgently looking for at least two new buyers for the upgraded A330neo model, while wrestling with some glitches and delays in production for the 250-300-seat aircraft. Cebu Air has eight older versions of the A330 wide-body and a fleet of smaller A320-family aircraft. Airbus is close to signing a deal to sell A330neo jets to Virgin Atlantic, Reuters reported last week. Asian carriers are looking to renew their long-haul fleets as passenger demand remains robust despite a decline in cargo traffic amid global trade tensions. Boeing looks set to win an order for its upcoming 777X long-haul jet from Korean Air, industry sources said.<br/>
A New Jersey woman has pleaded guilty to participating in a scheme to illegally smuggle aircraft parts to Iran. Joyce Eliabachus faces up to five years in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday to helping smuggle more than $2m in components. An alleged co-conspirator, Iranian resident Peyman Amiri Larijani, faces conspiracy and money laundering charges. The US attorney's office in Newark says the pair used a company run out of Eliabachus's Morristown home to ship parts through Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to Iran. They allegedly shipped more than 23,000 parts in 49 shipments between May 2015 and October 2017, without required licenses. Among the Iranian airlines buying the parts were several that have been officially designated by the US as threats to national security or economic interests.<br/>
A dedicated facility for travellers on private jets entering and leaving Singapore aims to grow Seletar Airport into a "hub" for the luxury market. The business aviation centre (BAC), unveiled to the media on Tuesday, has a private drop-off area, a lounge, dedicated immigration security screening as well as other personalised services. With faster clearance processes, passengers can expect to take no more than 10 minutes to breeze through the BAC from entry to exit, before boarding their jet. This is the latest facility to open at Seletar Airport after its new S$80m passenger terminal welcomed its first business passengers in November 2018. Spanning 10,000 sq m, the two-storey terminal is designed to handle up to 700,000 passengers a year. Business travellers are a key part of the Seletar development, which was built to cater to the growing private and business jet market, as well as to free up space at Changi Airport. Since November 2018, SATS Seletar Aviation Services (SSAS) has handled more than 4,000 flight movements at the airport, of which close to 70% are attributed to business aviation.<br/>
In a bid to increase competition in Indonesia’s domestic aviation market and drive airfares lower, President Joko Widodo is proposing opening the country’s domestic routes to foreign carriers. One of the fastest-growing aviation markets in Southeast Asia, Indonesia’s domestic services are dominated by flag-carrier Garuda Indonesia and its Citilink, Sriwijaya Air and NAM Air subsidiaries; Lion Air and its Batik Air subsidiary; and AirAsia Indonesia. However, Indonesian civil aviation authority DG Polana Pramesti said there is currently no interest by foreign carriers to enter the market, according to Indonesian news outlet Tempo. She said the cost of entry is too high and deters would-be investors. As with most joint ventures in the country, companies must be registered in Indonesia with a local company holding at least 51% of the venture. Foreign carriers wishing to run scheduled services must also operate at least 10 aircraft, five of which must be owned and the remainder leased.<br/>