Airbus will surrender the type certificate for the A300B4 variant at the end of 2025, the airframer has confirmed. This follows a decision communicated via an operator information transmission in January 2024, notes Airbus. It has no plan to surrender type certificates for the subsequent A300-600 and A310 models. Cirium lists six A300B4s in service and three in storage. The nine aircraft – eight of which are freighters – were all built between 1979 and 1984, and are powered by GE Aerospace CF6-50C engines. Pratt & Whitney JT9Ds were alternatively available to power the model. The only one of the nine A300B4s users for passenger operations is in service with Iran Air. Seven of the eight freighters are based in Kyrgyzstan. Moalem Aviation and KAPKG Cargo each have one in service and one in storage. Aerostan, Gewan Airways and Sky Jet have one in service each. The other freighter is managed by US-based South Aircraft Leasing and stored at Orlando Sanford International airport in Florida. Airbus manufactured 188 A300B4s between 1974 and 1984. Type certificates for the earlier-generation A300B1 and -B2 were surrendered by Airbus in 2023.

Airbus added orders for 14 A321neos in February: six from Korean Air and eight from an unidentified customer. Korean had in December 2024 disclosed its intention to exercise options on six A321neos. The SkyTeam carrier now has 41 of the aircraft on order, Airbus data shows. The European airframer lists no change to Asiana Airlines' previous order for 25 A321neos. In December, Korean completed acquisition of a majority shareholding in Asiana. Beyond the A321neo deals, Airbus had no orders or cancellations in February. It delivered 37 single-aisles – 20 A321neos, 12 A320neos, four A220-300s and one A319neo – and three widebodies: two A330-900s and an A350-900. Chief executive Guillaume Faury last month said the number of A320-family deliveries would be lower in 2025's first quarter than in the same period last year because of reduced engine deliveries from CFM International. He expects the situation to normalise in the year's second half. Airbus delivered 53 A320-family jets across January and February, down from 65 in the same month last year.

Air France-KLM chief executive Ben Smith has underlined his carrier’s interest in expanding via an acquisition, indicating his ongoing interest in Air Europa or TAP Air Portugal. Speaking as part of his carrier's full-year results call on 6 March, he told investors that it would be "very nice to have" a third hub alongside Paris and Amsterdam, which would be "perhaps Lisbon or Madrid". The carrier has previously stated its interest in taking over TAP Air Portugal and is reported to be seeking a stake in Spain's Air Europa, actions which would give it greater access to the Portuguese and Spanish capital markets. "It would be very nice to have [a third hub] if we could acquire one of the two [airlines] on favourable terms," Smith adds, although he did not mention either carrier directly. The group was not looking to buy or merge for the sake of scale, he continued, but would put "significant effort" into avoiding being "marginalised in a certain market". All three of Europe's largest legacy airline groups are known to covet TAP given its strong position across the South Atlantic, with Smith himself previously commenting that the prospect of controlling those routes is "extremely powerful for us". Meanwhile, IAG recently dropped out of its bid to take control of Air Europa citing regulatory burdens. It had likewise justified the purchase on account of the Madrid-based airline's connections to Latin America. Smith went on to note the potential to develop a further hub in Copenhagen given Air France-KLM's near-20% position in SAS, which it has the right to increase to a controlling stake later on. "The financial situation which we're in is not as strong as we will be in a few years' [time]," continued Smith, underlining that it expects to have more latitude to explore acquisitions as its balance sheet recovers from the pandemic. "We are balancing out what our opportunities are in a responsible way."