Lithuania’s GetJet Airlines secures Latvian AOC

New Namibian carrier looks to replace Air Namibia

US warns Türkiye over servicing Russian, Belarus carriers

Turkish airport ground handler Havaş has warned Russian and Belarusian airlines that it may no longer be able to serve around 180 Boeing and other aircraft due to United States sanctions, Russia’s RBK TV channel reported.

The ban would include refuelling, maintenance, and repair of any aircraft in which more than 25% of American parts and technologies have been used - a general de-minimis rule for what constitutes a US product.

The development follows the emergence of reports last week that Washington was leaning on Türkiye to stop Russian carriers from operating flights there with Boeing jets, as it tries to more comprehensively enforce sanctions imposed on Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine last February.

TAV Airports-owned Havaş, Türkiye’s largest ground handler, dispatched a letter to Russia dated January 31 saying: “We are running a due-diligence process to identify the risks and consequences to our business and stakeholders. As a result of this, we may find ourselves unable to serve some or all of your flights.”

The letter, which circulated on social media channels...

Airbus, Boeing jets in Russia “safe” until 2030 - Neradko

Western-made aircraft in the fleets of Russian airlines will “fly safely” until 2030, provided that work is kept up to maintain their airworthiness, Alexander Neradko, the head of Russia’s civil aviation regulator (Rosaviatsiya), has told the country’s RBK TV in an interview. And the term “cannibalisation” should be abandoned, he added, as there is nothing unusual in transferring spare parts between aircraft.

According to Neradko, the ban on the supply of spare parts and technology and the provision of maintenance guidance from companies in countries that imposed sanctions against the Russian aviation industry after the “special military operation” started in Ukraine have not affected flight safety in the country.

On business trips, he uses only air transport and almost always flies on scheduled airline or commercial helicopter routes, he claimed.

“I have confidence that it has not become more dangerous to fly. And this has nothing to do with the presence or absence of original spare parts,” the official said.

The media should avoid the term “cannibalisation”, he urged. The word “appeared at the suggestion...

China's Hainan Airlines resumes B737 MAX flight operations

Hainan Airlines (HU, Haikou) has resumed commercial B737 MAX flights, with a B737-8 operating a roundtrip scheduled passenger service between Haikou and Kunming Changshui on Wednesday, February 1, 2023. Hainan Airlines becomes the second China-based airline to restart MAX flights after China Southern Airlines (CZ, Guangzhou) began reintroducing some of its MAX aircraft in December.

FlightRadar24 ADS-B data shows B-207H (msn 60706) operated flight HU7089 to Kunming and the return service HU7090 to Haikou on Wednesday. The aircraft also operated a series of test flights in and out of Qionghai in the latter days of January before ferrying to Haikou on January 31.

Hainan Airlines operates a fleet of eleven B737-8s. According to ch-aviation fleets advanced data, all were acquired over the 2017/18 period. Seven of the planes arrived on operating lease and four were purchased by or for the airline. A second B737-8, B-1388 (msn 62199), has recently moved out of storage at Haikou and into a maintenance facility there and has conducted some test flights, the most...