Amazon Web Services was briefly hit by a wide-ranging outage on Tuesday afternoon that impacted a large number of major websites, including the Boston Globe and New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Authority. The afternoon outage affected some news organization’s ability to publish coverage of former President Donald Trump’s court appearance in Miami. In a tweet, The Boston Globe wrote, “Amazon Web Services is experiencing an outage, which has affected digital publishing operations at the Globe since around 2:45 p.m. EDT.” New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority similarly reported on Twitter that its website and app are “temporarily unavailable because of an Amazon Web Services outage.” The transit agency said it would post alerts about train and bus service disruptions on Twitter. Other news outlets such as The Verge also publicly confirmed that their websites were temporarily hit by the AWS outage. Southwest Airlines said in replies on Twitter that it was working with Amazon to resolve issues that some customers were reporting involving accessing its website.<br/>
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Brazilian airline Azul is ready to raise additional capital, its CE said, after reaching deals with lessors and bondholders to postpone debts maturing in the near term under a broad restructuring plan. John Rodgerson told Reuters the additional cash would help Azul to "grow again" as it plans to open new routes this year. Azul launched on Tuesday exchange offers aimed at pushing bonds set to mature in 2024 and 2026 to 2029 and 2030, respectively, following a deal with aircraft lessors to give them equity and tradable debt in exchange for lower payments. "Now, with all our debt renegotiated and moved forward, we are ready to raise new capital," Rodgerson said. "No one wants to give you money to pay old creditors. They want to give you money to help you grow again." Azul is evaluating the market before providing details of any transaction, but the CEO said it could come "at any moment" and confirmed that loyalty program TudoAzul and its cash flow could be pledged as collateral. Rodgerson had floated that possibility in a press conference earlier this year, following similar moves by US carriers Spirit and Hawaiian, touting it as "much better" collateral than the airline itself.<br/>
Airbus is preparing to ship a jetliner built in China to a European customer for the first time, flexing its global production network as it works through constraints on delivering new aircraft to customers. The A321neo jet, being built for Wizz Air Holdings Plc, took its first test flight on June 9, according to tracking website FlightRadar24. Airbus said that its Tianjin plant was able to offer a production slot in line with its customer’s expectations and the carrier’s growth plans. Most of the planes made in Tianjin since its opening in 2008 have gone to Chinese airlines feeding the country’s dramatic expansion of air travel. The plant has occasionally built aircraft for carriers such as Malaysia’s Air Asia. Wizz confirmed it was the customer for the Tianjin-built A321neo, declining further comment. Airbus, based in Toulouse, France, and US rival Boeing Co. are contending with supply chain and production headaches that have slowed efforts by both planemakers to ramp up deliveries. The issues have knocked new-plane deliveries off schedule by months in some cases. Airbus, which had to downgrade its delivery target twice last year, aims to hand over 720 jets this year, mainly from the A320 family. The planemaker is also retooling its factories as the larger A321 gains in popularity. Its Hamburg, Germany plant is focused on complex aircraft with three classes or more, while it’s in the process of repurposing its A380 superjumbo assembly line in Toulouse to build A321s, Airbus said.<br/>
Middle Eastern freight operator Texel Air is to establish a Pacific region sister carrier, which will be based at Auckland in New Zealand. Texel Air is located in Bahrain and uses a fleet comprising several variants of Boeing 737 freighter: two 737-800s, two 737-700s and a 737-300. It states that the Auckland airline – to be branded Texel Air Australasia – will initially have a 737-800 converted freighter, and two more will be introduced by the end of this year. The new operation was formally unveiled on 10 June. Texel Air’s Bahrain arm has been operating its 737-300 in New Zealand under a contract with NZ Post and Parceline Express for the last two months, prior to the 737-800’s arrival. The company aims to expand the overall group fleet to 10 aircraft by 2026, mainly flying wet-lease capacity in Australia and New Zealand to support cargo and express services. “These next steps are sure to create employment opportunities and boost economic growth,” says Texel chair John Chisholm, who is a New Zealand national.<br/>