The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has added new sanctions on Belarusian flag carrier Belavia and a Misnk-based aircraft component and repair company. OFAC says in a 9 August press release it is designating Belavia for "being owned or controlled by, or for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly" the government of Belarus. It identifies an MHI RJ CRJ-200ER operated by Belavia, which aircraft it says is used by "high-ranking officials" and family members of the "US-sanctioned regime leader, Alyaksandr Lukashenka". OFAC is also designating Minsk Civil Aviation Plant 407, which is described as a state-owned company and one of the biggest aircraft component manufacturer and repair facilities in Belarus. "In a February 2023 meeting between Lukashenka and US-sanctioned president of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, Minsk Civil Aviation Plant 407 was highlighted as a key facility for Belarusian production to meet Russia's civil and military aircraft demand," OFAC says. The new designations were announced alongside a slew of non-aviation-related sanctions OFAC says target "entities involved in the Belarusian regime's continued civil society repression, complicity in the Russian Federation's unjustified war in Ukraine, and enrichment of repressive Belarusian regime leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka". OFAC recaps that following the 23 May 2021 diversion of Ryanair Flight 4978 to arrest a political activist, the US Department of Transportation issued Order 2021-7-1 to prohibit ticket sales and interline passage with the US. It adds that the European Union simultaneously revoked Belavia's access to member states' airspace and airports, and that the airline was previously designated by the EU on 2 December 2021 for "instructing employees not to protest against the fraudulent election and for opening new routes to facilitate unauthorised migration from several countries in the Middle East to the EU".

Air Baltic has posted its strongest ever second-quarter net result but observes that its performance was held back by maintenance problems associated with the Pratt and Whitney PW1000G engines which grounded much of its Airbus A220 fleet. The carrier made a net profit of €26 million ($29 million) in the three months to end-June, with revenues rising to €186 million, a 42% increase on last year and up 30% on 2019. But the Latvian airline warned that high fuel prices exacerbated by “significant disruption” to its operations related to engine shortages and the need to wet-lease in capacity raised costs by €30 million. Throughout the period an average of 11 A220 aircraft were grounded due to engine shortages, related to the need for enhanced maintenance checks on the PW1000G units, plus a lack of spare equipment available as replacements. This represents more than a quarter of the airline’s 42-strong fleet. Air Baltic was therefore required to bring in 11 wet-leased A320s as replacements through the quarter, resulting in increased fuel burn, lower load factors, increased airport and ground handling fees and deteriorating on-time performance. “The Q2 punctuality was one of the lowest in Air Baltic's history,” it states, with just over 60% of services being on time compared to nearly 90% in 2019. Furthermore, it warns of ongoing “significant uncertainty” surrounding the delivery and maintenance of engines, which may have a negative impact on the airline's “operational performance and cash generating ability beyond management's current expectations.” While the company remains in talks with P&W for compensation, it warns of uncertainty surrounding the extent of the support that will be provided, adding that: “The airline's liquidity would be negatively impacted if the support proves to be inadequate.” Air Baltic did receive €20.4 million to mitigate its costs regarding the engine issues in early July, which therefore did not contribute to its second-quarter result. The issue with P&W’s engines has been a particular concern for Air Baltic as the A220, exclusively powered by the PW1000G, makes up the entirety of the carrier’s permanent fleet. Chief executive Martin Gauss said that in June the carrier was taking significantly longer than expected for engines to be overhauled by P&W, making it impossible for the carrier to plan its forward capacity. More recently, Wizz Air said that issues with the same engines that power its A320-family units would constrain capacity growth this year. The issues come despite strong demand for Air Baltic’s product through the period, as the industry continues to see strong leisure sales post-pandemic. Overall booked revenue rose by 30% on last year and 12% on 2019. ACMI earnings also rose to nearly a fifth of its revenues as Air Baltic placed wet lease capacity with several airlines across Europe – agreed before the impact of the P&W engines issues was understood. However, Air Baltic did warn that the probability of hitting its target of €700 million in revenues for the full year had “somewhat decreased” due to softening in demand in July, with its updated guidance being €670-700 million. The carrier was also negatively impacted by a lack of fuel hedging for the first half of 2023, although over the “medium term” it plans to ramp up hedges to cover 30-50% of its requirements up to 18-months out. Air Baltic has sought to move away from a focus purely on a hub-model based around Riga towards more point-to-point flying in response to the war in Ukraine, which shut down Russian airspace hurting transfer passenger numbers. This will see it increase leisure flying during the winter season from Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius and Tampere with new leisure routes, plus extending its season length to popular holiday destinations such as Malta, Catania, and Valencia. In total, it operated 108 connections through the first half against 102 last year and 87 in 2019, with seat capacity rising by 23% on last year, although it remains 9% below 2019.

The US Federal Aviation Administration has issued an airworthiness directive to address a major safety risk arising from the operation of the Boeing 737 Max's engine anti-ice (EAI) system under certain conditions. The regulator says in the directive that use of the system "in dry air for more than five minutes during certain environmental and operational conditions can cause overheating of the engine inlet inner barrel beyond the material design limit, resulting in failure of the engine inlet inner barrel and severe engine inlet cowl damage". The directive requires the addition of a paragraph to the aircraft's flight manual to prohibit the use of EAI "in-flight when not in actual or anticipated icing conditions". Following the revision to the manual, operators will also be required to revise their master minimum equipment list to prohibit dispatch under a certain item. Boeing 737 Max jets are equipped with CFM International Leap-1B engines, while the inlet is manufactured by Boeing. The directive was prompted by a June 2023 report that indicated that flight testing and analysis revealed the EAI could be prone to excessive heat buildup when operated for more than five minutes in dry air " during certain combinations of altitude, total air temperature, and N1 settings", leading to the failure of the inlet barrel. "The departure of the inlet may cause fuselage and/or window damage, potentially resulting in decompression and hazard to window-seated passengers aft of the wing and/or impact damage to the wing, flight control surface, and/or empennage, which could result in loss of control of the airplane," it says. "Inlet loss also causes significantly increased aerodynamic drag and asymmetric lift due to wing blanking, which risks fuel exhaustion on certain flights, resulting in a forced off-airport landing and injury to passengers." The airworthiness directive is an "interim action" that will become effective from 25 August, and operators have 15 days to comply. The issue affects approximately 402 aircraft registered in the USA and 1,187 aircraft worldwide, the FAA estimates. The cost of compliance for US operators is about $34,000 to comply with the airworthiness directive. The FAA adds that the manufacturer is currently "developing a modification that will address the unsafe condition identified" and may consider additional rulemaking. Boeing says it "supports the rule issued by the FAA addressing a potential overheat issue for specific parts on the engine inlets on 737 Max airplanes". It adds: " Boeing has identified measures to mitigate the potential issue and are working with our customers to deploy those measures while a permanent fix is developed. We will continue coordinating closely with the FAA." The manufacturer adds that airlines will receive updated airplane flight manual operational guidance to address the issue in the near term.