PSA Airlines, a subsidiary of American Airlines Group, plans to open its 10th maintenance base in Knoxville, Tennessee, this summer. The carrier says the new facility will specialise in "B checks", which are more comprehensive maintenance procedures performed two to three times annually. Vice-president of technical operations, Richard Ugart, highlighted the strategic importance of the Knoxville base in supporting the airline's operational reliability and fleet growth. The facility will employ approximately 100 team members, including aircraft maintenance technicians, supply chain professionals, and management staff. The maintenance base complements PSA's existing facilities across nine other locations, including airports in Akron-Canton, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Dallas-Fort Worth, Dayton, Greenville-Spartanburg, Norfolk, Pensacola, and Savannah.

Cathay Pacific and its low-cost subsidiary HK Express will operate nearly 300 weekly return flights to 20 Chinese mainland destinations during the peak summer period, up nearly 40% from 2024. The airline is increasing flights to Beijing Capital to seven daily return flights, whereas HK Express will offer a daily flight to Beijing Daxing, for a total of 56 return flights per week, it says. It is also boosting frequency to eight daily return flights to Shanghai Pudong International airport, along with 11 return flights per week to Shanghai Hongqiao International airport, resulting in 67 weekly return flights between Hong Kong and Shanghai. Flights to Zhengzhou, Ningbo, Haikou, Chongqing will increase from four return flights per week to daily flights, with HK Express also operating daily flights to Ningbo this summer. Flights to Hangzhou will also see an upsurge with four return flights per day, while flights to Nanjing are increasing to twice per day, and flights to Wenzhou will increase to 10 per week, as flights to Wuhan grow to 12 per week. The Cathay Group is also adding 13 international destinations to its network this year, including Hyderabad, Dallas, Urumqi, Rome, Munich and Brussels for Cathay Pacific, and Sendai, Nha Trang, Ishigaki, Komatsu, Cheongju, Daegu and Miyako Shimojishima for HK Express, with more announcements expected, it notes. With this, the group will operate passenger services to more than 100 destinations this year.

A Helvetic Airways Embraer E195-E2 has become the first aircraft of the type to touch down at the UK's London City airport as part of a regular scheduled flight. The flight – operated by Helvetic on behalf of Swiss, under a wet-lease arrangement – took off from Zurich. Helvetic notes that the E195-E2 becomes the largest jet operating at London City, and offers the lowest fuel consumption per seat among aircraft serving the downtown airport. "This makes us the only airline in the world to land at London City with three different Embraer aircraft, allowing us to offer our wet-lease customers the greatest possible flexibility," states the airline's chief executive Tobias Pogorevc. Embraer Commercial Aviation's head of region for Europe and Central Asia, Marie-Louise Philippe, says the Brazilian airframer has developed "the world's first automatic take-off system for aircraft", the E2TS (Embraer Enhanced Take-off System), adding: "When certified, E2TS will increase the range of the E195-E2, specifically from LCY, from 3,200km to 4,000km, bringing new destinations such as Istanbul, Gran Canaria, Casablanca, Athens and Cairo within [the airport's] range."