Saudi Arabian Airlines is close to placing a multi-billion-dollar order for aircraft at least partly involving Airbus jets, people familiar with the matter said Wednesday. The carrier, known as Saudia, has been negotiating with both Airbus and Boeing for wide-body jets for months and its chief executive told Air Transport World in March that a decision for planes like the Airbus A350 or Boeing 787 was expected soon. The order for wide-body aircraft, which could also include a number of smaller A320-family narrow-body aircraft, may be announced at the Paris Airshow, the people said. Airbus and Boeing are battling for wide-body aircraft orders worth well over $10b as the clock ticks toward next week's Paris Airshow, industry sources said on Tuesday.<br/>
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An Indian court sentenced a business class passenger to life in jail after he was found guilty of placing a hijacking note in the washroom of a flight, the first such ruling under a new law. Birju Kishor Salla, 38, was also fined 50m rupees ($720,000), which will be distributed among pilots, crew and passengers, a special court of the National Investigation Agency said in a judgment Tuesday. The passenger, who was flying on a Jet Airways India flight to New Delhi from Mumbai in 2017, was found guilty of intentionally disrupting the operations of an aircraft on board. “Flight No. 9W 339 is covered by hijackers and aircraft should not be land and flown straight to POK,” Salla wrote in a note placed in a tissue paper box, according to court filings. POK refers to the part of the disputed state of Kashmir that’s administrated by Pakistan. Salla further vowed to start killing people if the aircraft’s landing gear was deployed, according to the documents. A platinum member of Jet Airways’s loyalty program and a jeweller by profession, Salla may have wanted to ground the airline to woo a stewardess, who he hoped would then approach him for job, the Times of India newspaper reported without saying where it got the information.<br/>
Hong Kong Airlines will transfer purchase rights of two Airbus A350-900s to sister company Hainan Airlines for free, as the latter moves to ramp up capacity and growth. Hainan says in a Shanghai Stock Exchange disclosure that the two aircraft in concern, which HKA has on order with Airbus, have serial numbers 360365 and 360371. Hainan, HKA and Airbus signed the purchase right transfer agreement, the disclosure states. As part of the deal, the HNA Group, which owns both carriers, will provide a guarantee of $509m, and the Hainan Airlines Group will provide a counter-guarantee of $509m.<br/>
Virgin Atlantic executive Mark Anderson will lead the overhaul of Flybe after being appointed CEO of Connect Airways, the consortium that took over the UK regional airline. Connect Airways, a consortium of Virgin Atlantic, UK-based airline operator Stobart Group and funds managed by US-based Cyrus Capital Partners, acquired Flybe in February after the carrier was hit by high fuel costs, currency fluctuations and uncertainty over Brexit, the UK’s protracted effort to withdraw from the EU. The consortium is awaiting merger clearance from the EC. Flybe CEO Christine Ourmieres-Widener said May 28 that she would step down July 15. On June 12, Connect announced the appointment of Anderson, who was previously Virgin Atlantic’s EVP-customer and before that ran Virgin Holidays. “As the team prepares to launch under a Virgin brand, Mark’s experience and insights from his time at Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Holidays will be invaluable,” Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss said. <br/>
Engine maker CFM International is poised to announce one of the world’s largest jet engine orders with a deal for more than 600 engines from India’s IndiGo, industry sources said. The French-US engine maker, owned by General Electric and France’s Safran, has been competing with the airline’s existing engine supplier, Pratt & Whitney, to provide the power for 280 twin-engine A320-family jetliners already on order from Airbus by the Delhi-based budget carrier. The airline has selected CFM for the order, which is expected to rise above 600 engines including spares, the sources said. It was unclear if this includes previous options. The two sides are putting finishing touches to the deal in time for an announcement at next week’s Paris Airshow, they added. CFM International and IndiGo declined to comment.<br/>