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Airbus has tried for years to find a new customer for its bigger jets in India, the world’s fastest growing aviation market before Covid shattered travel. Two of its previous buyers went bankrupt, while another was sold, giving arch rival Boeing a firm foothold in the South Asian nation’s market for transcontinental planes. Remi Maillard, the chief of Airbus’s Indian unit, reckons things are about to change. The European planemaker has doubled down on efforts to sell its A350 jets to local carriers in recent days, with a specific eye on formerly state-run Air India, which under its new owners -- conglomerate Tata Group -- needs to revamp its fleet of Boeing 777 jets. “We believe the A350 will trigger a tectonic shift, a change of paradigm in long-haul travel that matches the aspiration of India and its people,” Maillard told reporters in the southern city of Hyderabad, where top aviation executives and government officials have gathered this week for the Wings India airshow. “The A350 will play a strategic role in this transformation.” Airbus flew an A350 to three major Indian cities over the past three days, showcasing the jet to potential customers and media. On Tuesday, Ratan Tata, the Tata Group patriarch who was recently named chairman of Air India, also toured the plane, images posted on social media show. Boeing and Airbus are in talks with the new owners of Air India about an order for a raft of new jets, Bloomberg News reported last month. Those discussions involve both A350-900s and 787-9 Dreamliners. Air India has a fleet of 16 Boeing 777 jets, with an average age of more than 12 years, according to Planespotters.net. <br/>

Ethiopian Airlines, the biggest carrier in Africa, has appointed a new CEO to replace Tewolde Gebremariam who left the company for medical reasons, the company announced Thursday. The board of directors accepted Tewolde's request for early retirement and decided to appoint Mesfin Tasew to replace him, chairman of the board Girma Wake said. Mesfin, a former COO of Ethiopian Airlines, is the CEO of ASKY, a pan-African airline based in Lome, Togo. Ethiopian Airlines, a 100 percent state-owned company that prides itself on being the only profitable airline on the African continent, has achieved a turnover of $3.51b for the fiscal year 2020-2021. In an aviation industry stricken by the Covid-19 pandemic, the airline is one of the few in the world to have managed to stay afloat without a public bailout and without laying off permanent staff. The jewel of the economy of Africa's second most populous country, it turned to cargo freight when passenger traffic fell, including converting some of its passenger aircraft to transport cargo. "We will have growth that goes with the market conditions, but definitely we want to continue growing... Vision 2035 is about growth," said Girma. "Because of the war (in Ukraine), the price of fuel has shot up, plus the availability of fuel is sometimes a problem. This is really going to be a challenge," he added.<br/>

Thai Airways expects to bounce back to the black by 2023, though the carrier warns that it might miss a crucial deadline to resolve grounds for delisting. In a stock exchange disclosure, Thai expects a full-year profit of at least Bt10m ($298,000) in 2023, based on financial estimates which take into account factors such as international and domestic recovery. The Star Alliance carrier, which narrowed its operating losses in 2021, also targets shareholder equity to turn positive by 2024, a key criteria to prevent delisting. However, it says that its estimates “may differ from the actual performance in future”. “Therefore, Thai might not be able to fully eliminate [grounds for] delisting because shareholders’ equity might remain [negative],” says the airline, which intends to apply for a deadline extension with the Stock Exchange of Thailand to resolve its equity woes. In the full-year to 31 December 2021, Thai posted an operating loss of Bt19.7b compared with an operating loss of Bt35.4b a year earlier. Revenues for the year fell 51% year on year to Bt23.7b. Thai is currently undergoing business rehabilitation, after the country’s central bankruptcy courts approved its reorganisation plan in June 2021.<br/>

Emergency services were called to the Wellington Airport runway on Friday afternoon after an engine issue was detected on an Air New Zealand plane prior to takeoff. An Air New Zealand spokesperson said the aircraft's emergency warning light illuminated while flight NZ5353 from Wellington to Christchurch was taxiing to the runway. "As per our operating procedures, the captain closed down the engine and alerted emergency services to meet the aircraft," the spokesperson said. "Flight crew determined this was not an emergency situation. Customers disembarked the aircraft normally and were bussed back to the terminal as a precaution. Customers are being accommodated on alternative services.The aircraft will be taxied back to a stand and inspected by engineers."<br/>