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Delta became the latest Airbus A321neo operator on 20 May when Delta flight 1202 departed Boston Logan airport, bound for San Francisco International. The milestone marked the latest expansion and modernisation phase for the Atlanta-based carrier. Delta is outfitting its A321neos with new first-class seats and advanced in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems, and may deploy the jets on transatlantic flights. Delta acquired its first A321neo (registration N501DA) – the jet operating the Boston-San Francisco flight – in March. It has outstanding orders for another 154 of the type. Delta expects to have 26 in its fleet by year-end, with the rest scheduled for delivery through 2027. The jets will have Pratt & Whitney PW1100G geared turbofans. Delta will initially deploy A321neos from its growing hub in Boston. In addition to San Francisco, Delta will begin flying A321neos this summer from Boston to Denver, San Diego and Seattle, it says. The Denver and San Diego routes are new to Delta’s network. Those routes are part of broader expansion at Boston by Delta, which this summer plans to operate about 155 flights daily from the city, the carrier says. That is up from about 125 daily flights from Boston in pre-pandemic 2019, according to Cirium data.<br/>

Hours after President Vladimir Putin announced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Aeroflot’s top executives gathered at the airline’s headquarters down the street from the Kremlin. In the official part of the surreal board meeting, they discussed the flagship Russian carrier’s budget without mentioning the war or any risks it might create, according to two people familiar with the proceedings who asked not to be identified because they weren’t public. But on the sidelines, some executives found little beyond curse words to describe the airline’s prospects, one of the people said.<br/>Within weeks, the company’s top executive, the head of its low-cost unit and its strategy chief would resign their posts. Aeroflot succeeded over the last two decades in turning itself from a punchline about Communist-era service into an award-winning international carrier flying one of the youngest fleets in the world. It now faces a future that looks much like its Soviet past and, with its Boeing and Airbus jets cut off from parts and service, it is shifting its focus to domestic routes and locally produced planes as the impact from unprecedented economic sanctions on Russia becomes clearer. “Aeroflot was built up to a global standard but will be a shadow of itself, able to fly only to those parts of the world willing to do business with Russia,” said Christopher Granville of London-based consultancy TS Lombard. “This is a mirror for the Russian economy as a whole, now cut off from the Western-led economic system.” The airline’s former CEO, Mikhail Poluboyarinov, said he quit because he didn’t see himself as the best person to head a company whose international expansion he’d championed and was now mainly serving the domestic market and relying on Russian-made planes. Aeroflot’s press service did not respond to a request to comment on the board meeting or its prospects.<br/>

Air France-KLM said Friday it had entered exclusive talks with private equity firm Apollo for a E500m capital injection for one of its engineering and maintenance units to help repay French state aid. "The proceeds of the transaction would enable Air France-KLM and Air France to partially redeem the French state perpetual bonds," the airline said, adding it would not involve any operational or workforce-related changes. The airline's current market capitalisation is E2.73b. An Air France-KLM spokesperson said the deal with Apollo Global Management would not result in the buyout firm taking an equity stake and was "purely financial". The Air France-KLM unit involved owns a pool of spare engines. A source close to the matter said revenue would be generated through "giving Air France access to this spare engines pool". Sale and leaseback deals are common financing mechanisms in aviation, allowing airlines to sell freshly delivered planes and engines to lessors and rent them back to lighten their balance sheets. But a flood of investment from new sources of funding has increased competition for traditional leasing companies. The Dutch finance ministry, a shareholder in the airline group, said it supported the proposal. "Attracting private investors is good for the financial position of the company. We have a common interest that it frees itself of state aid," the ministry told Reuters. At 1215 GMT, Air France-KLM shares were up 2.8% to 4.37 euros, extending near-double digit gains this year. Air France-KLM said in February it planned to raise up to E4b to repay support it received during the pandemic. It said this month it was considering measures such as a capital increase and quasi equity instruments to speed up payments to the French state, its top shareholder.<br/>

Pilots of a KLM Boeing 737-800 did not amend a runway intersection designation when recalculating take-off performance data for Amsterdam Schiphol, leading the aircraft to accelerate too slowly and use almost the entire runway length before becoming airborne. KLM only became aware of the incident two-and-a-half months after its occurrence, by which point neither the flight-data nor cockpit-voice recorder information was available. But analysis of aircraft maintenance system data shows the jet rotated at the calculated speed of 157kt and lifted off just 176m from the far end of runway 09, crossing the threshold at 28ft. Dutch investigators have attributed the incident to operational and time pressures, with an unplanned last-minute change of runway intersection following a delayed departure from the gate. The aircraft (PH-BXG), bound for Munich on 10 June 2018, had three cockpit crew – the captain, the first officer, and a safety pilot on the observer seat – because the captain was supervising as route instructor to the first officer. To give the trainee first officer additional time for flight preparation, the captain and safety pilot took over some of the first officer’s tasks. The crew had expected a runway 36L take-off from intersection V3, but the flight was switched to runway 09. Initially the crew tried a performance calculation for an intersection N4 departure from runway 09, but the weather and aircraft weight meant this could not be achieved, and the figures were recalculated for intersection N5. As the flight queued for the runway, air traffic control asked the crew whether an N4 intersection departure was possible. Story has more.<br/>

China Eastern Airlines outlined several actions it needs to undertake before operating Boeing Co.’s 737 Max again, including modifications to the aircraft and further pilot training, damping hopes the narrowbody will return to Chinese skies any time soon. Li Yangmin, vice chairman of the Shanghai-based state-owned carrier, indicated to investors at a virtual briefing Friday that the airline is yet to start work on returning the Max to commercial service. “Obtaining airworthiness approval is one of the most basic tasks, and afterwards the company will also need to complete the aircraft modification, parking aircraft recovery, pilot training,” Li said in a written response to questions. Once a “supplementary” operational certification is approved, commercial flights using the Max jets in China Eastern’s domestic fleet “will only be resumed after meeting relevant national requirements,” Li said. Representatives at China Eastern didn’t immediately respond to questions sent separately by Bloomberg News about whether the airline has started the process of resuming commercial operations for the planes. A spokesman for Boeing China said the company continues “to work with global regulators and customers to safely return the 737-8 and 737-9 to service worldwide.” China was the first to ground the Max in March 2019 following fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed everyone on board. China’s aviation regulator said in December that the 737 Max was airworthy again, paving the way for commercial flights in the country to restart. None of the nation’s airlines have returned them to commercial service yet, though the Max is flying again in most major markets.<br/>

A Jakarta court has for the third time extended flag carrier Garuda Indonesia’s debt restructuring deadline by another month, a court-appointed curator for the case said on Friday. Garuda started the court-led restructuring process on Dec. 9, after a vendor petitioned the court over unpaid bills. It has repeatedly requested more time to negotiate restructuring terms and verify $13.8b of claims against it. The state-controlled airline has said the claims were bigger than the $9.8b it has in its books and that it would seek to cut its total liabilities to $3.7b under the process. Martin Patrick Nagel, one of the curators, in a text message to Reuters said the new deadline was June 20. It was unclear how many claims Garuda still has to verify and the carrier did not immediately respond to a request for comment. As of March 14, claims worth $9.72b were yet to be verified and another $885.5m was in dispute.<br/>