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Middle East Airlines appears to have advanced deliveries of new Airbus A321neo and A330neo jets intended to modernise its fleet. MEA has 15 A321neos on order and states in its latest full-year accounts that it will take 9 of them in 2020, with another pair in 2021. The airline had previously indicated that – of these initial 11 A321neos – it would introduce only 5 in 2020 with the others spread over the following 2 years. MEA also states that it will take all 4 A330neos in 2021, whereas deliveries had originally been split evenly between 2021 and 2022. The airline has since committed to another 4 A321neos. MEA is taking the long-range A321XLR version of the twinjet and expects to receive them in 2023, its accounts show. MEA generated a full-year profit of LL126.3b (US$84m) for 2018, down from the previous figure of LL145b. <br/>

Tarom has named yet another director general, the sixth to hold the post at the troubled carrier this year. The carrier generated increased net losses of RON66.3m (US$15.5m) over the first half of this year. Tarom's overall income reached RON713m, up by more than 12%, but could not outstrip expenditure of RON779m. The carrier has identified George Costin Barbu, previously the head of the Romanian civil aviation academy SSAvC, as the airline's new interim chief for a 4-month term. Barbu is an aeronautical engineering graduate. He takes over from Valentin Gvinda who had initially been selected to succeed Madalina Mezei – the latest in a string of short-tenure Tarom chiefs, including Maresi Caravan and Florin Susanu, after Werner-Wilhelm Wolff stepped down in March. <br/>