Mesa Air Group has sold six MHIRJ CRJ900s and 10 GE Aerospace CF34-8C engines to two separate third parties. The aircraft and engines were associated with its Regional Aircraft Securitization Programme (RASPRO) finance lease, and part of previously announced agreements to sell 15 CRJ900s and 30 engines to the two parties. Based on the sale closings and resulting payments to RASPRO, Mesa's purchase obligation has been reduced to $27.3 million as of 31 May, the Phoenix-based parent company of Mesa Airlines says. The RASPRO finance lease carried a $50.4 million obligation for Mesa to purchase the assets at the end of the lease in March. As disclosed in its first quarter earnings release, it will fulfil the purchase obligation between May and September. The airline anticipates "fully eliminating this obligation in the coming months" as it purchases the remaining assets from RASPRO, and in turn executes their sales. "We look forward to enhancing our focus on returning to profitable performance and executing other strategic actions while closing the remaining transactions related to the RASPRO assets in the coming months," says Mesa chairman and chief executive Jonathan Ornstein.

WestJet has will expand its codeshare agreement with Virgin Atlantic to offer more connections through London Heathrow. WestJet says starting this northern winter, the expanded deal will allow passengers from its Calgary-London services to connect on Virgin Atlantic's flights to New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Lagos, Dubai and the Maldives. By summer 2025, WestJet will also provide domestic connectivity to Virgin Atlantic's new route from Heathrowto Toronto-Pearson and introduce a reciprocal frequent flyer partnership. WestJet and Virgin Atlantic started the codeshare partnership in 2019.

Israeli flag carrier El Al has received board approval to enter exclusive negotiations with Boeing and aircraft lessors with the view to purchasing and leasing around 30 Boeing 737 Max jets, according to a 10 June filing to the Tel Aviv stock exchange. These would be the first Max jets to be added to the company's almost all-Boeing fleet, fleets data shows. El Al has an in-service and stored fleet of 49 aircraft, along with six Boeing 787-9s on order. The under-negotiation Max jets, which will cost $2-2.5 billion, will "gradually replace" the carrier's existing 737s and be used to expand its narrowbody fleet, the filing adds. The final cost of the aircraft will depend on the number of aircraft purchased, the number of aircraft leased, purchase options exercised by the company, price adjustments at the future delivery dates of the aircraft, credits granted to the company, and other factors, El Al says. Deliveries are expected to start in 2027 and take place over "several years". El Al expects the negotiations to take several weeks. "There is no certainty that a preliminary offer document, a binding agreement, or the transactions with Boeing or with the aircraft leasing companies will be completed," the company says. The announcement, published in Hebrew, did not state which variant of the Max El Al is interested in. A deal, if consummated, would be a significant win for Boeing following the Alaska Airlines door-plug accident at the start of this year, although it would still be dwarfed by American Airlines' firm order for 85 Max 10s, alongside similarly sized orders for Airbus and Embraer aircraft, placed in March.