Korean Air has signed a firm order with Airbus for 27 A350-1000s and six -900s. The carrier had in March disclosed its intention to order the long-haul jets, noting that the deal was part of preparations for Korean's pending merger with Asiana Airlines. Asiana has 15 A350-900s within its 81-strong fleet and another 15 on order, Cirium fleets data shows. The carrier's long-haul fleet additionally includes 15 A330ceos, nine Boeing 777s, six A380s, two 767s (one passenger jet and one freighter) and 10 747Fs. Last month, Asiana retired its last 747-400 passenger jet. Korean has no A350s in its fleet of 166 aircraft today. Its long-haul fleet includes 49 777s (including 12 Freighters), 26 A330ceos, 14 787s, 11 747Fs, 10 A380s and nine 747-8s. The airline has another 27 Dreamliners on order. Jason Yoo, Korean's operating chief, describes the A350 as "a great fit for our global network". Korean has declined to disclose a delivery schedule for its A350s.

US regional carrier PSA Airlines has opened a new maintenance base in Dallas/Ft Worth, making it the ninth maintenance base in its network. The site will serve as a line-maintenance operation, the American Airlines' wholly owned subsidiary says. PSA already has maintenance bases at Akron-Canton, Charlotte-Douglas, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, Dayton, Greenville-Spartanburg, Norfolk, Pensacola and Savannah/Hilton Head airports.

China Eastern Airlines narrowed its operating loss to CNY1.9 billion ($263 million) in the year ended 31 December, compared with a CNY31.6 billion loss in the prior year. Revenue more than doubled to CNY114 billion from CNY46.3 billion in 2022, the Shanghai-based carrier says in a disclosure to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Passenger revenue amounted to about CNY105 billion, up nearly 199% year on year, while cargo and mail traffic revenue dropped 53% to CNY3.6 billion. The group's total operating expenses increased to CNY121 billion from CNY81.5 billion in the previous year. China Eastern posted a net loss of CNY8.6 billion, reducing it from a loss of CNY39.9 billion. The airline carried about 116 million passengers in 2023, up 172% year on year. Capacity, as measured in available seat-kilometres, was up 155% while RPKs grew 197%, resulting in a load factor of 74.4% versus 64% in 2022. China Eastern ended the year with CNY11.7 billion in cash and cash equivalents. In 2023, the group introduced 22 aircraft and retired 15 aircraft. As at 31 December, it operated a fleet of 782 aircraft.