A United Airlines plane bound for Guam on Sunday returned to Chubu airport in Aichi Prefecture for an emergency landing after detecting a system malfunction during the flight, the transport ministry said. Flight 136, a Boeing 737 aircraft, made the return landing at around 11:35 a.m. There were no injuries among the 44 passengers and six crew members on board, according to the ministry. The flight was canceled, and the runway at Chubu airport was temporarily closed, the ministry said, adding that no damage to the aircraft had been confirmed. Japanese regional airline Airdo Co., meanwhile, said later in the day that its flight 73, a Boeing 737 aircraft bound for Kushiro in Hokkaido from Tokyo's Haneda airport, experienced hydraulic system trouble at about 5:45 p.m. Airdo said the plane was redirected to Memanbetsu airport in Hokkaido due to poor visibility caused by fog at Kushiro airport, adding that none of the 148 passengers and crew members was injured. After the plane landed at Memanbetsu airport around 6:15 p.m., the runway was closed, and total of eight flights scheduled for departure or arrival were canceled or diverted. Airdo said it is investigating the cause of the trouble.<br/>
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Panama City-based Copa Airlines has taken delivery of its first Boeing 737 Max 8. The aircraft will join the fleet after it receives post-delivery modifications “for the next several weeks”, the company said on 4 July. It has the registration HP-9801CMP and flew to Panama City on 3 July. It is the company’s 100th aircraft, and is the first of seven total examples on order with Boeing. Copa also has 15 of the larger as-yet uncertificated Max 10 version on order. In addition to the new Max 8, the airline’s in-service fleet comprises 67 older-variant 737 models and 32 Max 9s, according to Cirium fleets data. Last month Copa introduced a new route to the USA, from Panama City to Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. With this new destination, Copa’s network in the USA expands to 16 cities. All told, the carrier flies to 31 countries across the Americas, using Panama City’s Tocumen International airport as its hub. In Q1 2023, the company posted a profit of $176m, up almost 45% from the same period a year ago. It is scheduled to report second-quarter earnings in early August. <br/>
Lufthansa sought to reassure investors about ITA's financial health on Friday after the German carrier won EU approval this week to buy 41% of the Italian airline, which remains under the shadow of its predecessor Alitalia. ITA Airways took to the air in 2021 and has since sought to shake off the troubled legacy of Alitalia, which burned through an estimated E10b of state funds in its last 14 years. Once a symbol of glamour and style for Italy and a beacon of national identity, the government accepted that ITA, Alitalia's new configuration, needed strong ownership to survive. As part of the deal, Lufthansa will give itself two years to assess ITA's financial health before pushing for a full takeover, in a similar strategy to its takeover of Swiss Airlines and Brussels Airlines. "We only need to execute if it is economically viable, even though you can hear my optimism and the optimism of the whole group that this will be the case," CEO Carsten Spohr told a conference call for investors and analysts. It took the German airline group more than a year to win European Commission approval for its purchase of a stake in the Italian carrier, eventually agreeing to a number of concessions for which the details are still being ironed out.<br/>Spohr said he expected ITA's business costs to improve further, given the efficiency of Rome's Fiumicino Airport, and that the airline's leasing debt was not a major concern.<br/>
Turkish Airlines has struck a compensation agreement covering engine availability issues impacting the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G geared turbofans powering its Airbus A320neo-family aircraft. P&W last year disclosed it was recalling thousands of GTFs, saying the engines might contain components subject to early failure due to defects introduced during a manufacturing process. A string of A320neo-family operators, for which the PW1100G is one of the engine options, have been impacted. Turkish Airlines in May said it expects 40 to 45 of its Airbus narrowbodies will be grounded this year and into 2025 due to required engine inspections. In a short stock market statement, the Istanbul carrier says it has reached a compensation settlement with International Aero Engines (IAE) in relation ”to mitigating the operational impact arising from engine availability and related issues”. Without specifying details, the airline says this includes doing so through revision of the purchase and maintenance agreements. IAE, an entity majority owned by P&W and also including MTU Aero Engines and Japanese Aero Engine, is the type certificate holder for the Neo’s powerplant, which is officially designated the PW1100G-JM. <br/>
Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Indonesian flag carrier Garuda Indonesia have received approval from the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore for a joint venture (JV) agreement. The two companies said on July 5 that the JV will allow them to collaborate on a wider range of commercial activities that will benefit both airlines, as well as Singapore and Indonesia. These activities may include operating joint revenue-sharing flights between the two countries; coordinating flight schedules to offer travellers more options; “seamless connectivity” between Singapore, Indonesia and other countries; and exploring joint sales and marketing initiatives that provide greater value to both airlines’ customers. SIA and Garuda first announced their plans to enter into a JV agreement in May 2023, with aims to increase passenger capacity between Singapore and Indonesia. In May 2024, both airlines signed an agreement to explore revenue-sharing arrangements for flights between the two countries, on top of allowing their frequent flyer members to earn and redeem miles on codeshare flights. These flights include routes between Singapore and Bali, Jakarta, Medan and Surabaya in Indonesia, as well as long-haul routes between Singapore and Johannesburg, London, and Mumbai.<br/>
German MRO provider Lufthansa Technik has signed a contract with Air India for the comprehensive components services for the airline’s Boeing 777 fleet. The Total Component Support contract covers the Gurugram-based airline’s 27 777 aircraft. S.K. Dash, chief technical officer at Air India, said: “The partnership with the well-experienced Lufthansa Technik for the component support of our entire Boeing 777 fleet of 27 aircraft is a significant milestone in our collaborative journey. “Lufthansa Technik demonstrated professional ad-hoc support for our Boeing 777 fleet and we are delighted to strengthen this relationship further by way of this long-term agreement,” he explained. The deal in India is a continuation of Lufhansa’s maintenance arm’s global operations, following contracts in Europe with Air Serbia and the Americas with Frontier. <br/>
The Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER involved a fatal turbulence event in May remains grounded, having not flown any flights since returning to Singapore in late-May. Flight tracking data shows the aircraft’s last flight was more than a month ago, on 26 May, when it flew from Bangkok – where it had made an emergency landing – to Singapore. The 777 (9V-SWM, MSN34578) was operating flight SQ321 from London to Singapore on 21 May when it was struck by severe turbulence over the Irrawaddy river basin. The incident left one passenger dead and several more passengers and crew members injured. Parts of the aircraft cabin were damaged during the incident, which reportedly saw passengers thrown upwards from their seats. The 777, which was carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew members, diverted to Bangkok after the crew declared a medical emergency, landing at 15:45 local time on 21 May. Investigations into the incident are ongoing, though in a preliminary report found that an “uncommanded” increase in altitude and airspeed – likely caused by an updraft – led to the in-flight upset. Investigators also found that the upset involved a “rapid” change in gravitational forces – of about 3g – lasting close to 5s. FlightGlobal has reached out to SIA for comment on when the 777 will return to service, but the carrier declined to comment.<br/>