The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has selected the chief of French air navigation service provider DSNA, Florian Guillermet, to replace its acting executive director Luc Tytgat. EASA says that an effective start for Guillermet has yet to be confirmed, while a formal appointment notice is scheduled for 15 February. Guillermet was executive director of the Single European Sky air traffic management research programme from 2014 to 2021. Prior to that, he worked at Eurocontrol, French regulator DGCA, and Air France. "I have known Florian for many years and deeply respect his operational knowledge of aviation as well as his high-level strategic thinking," states EASA chair Piotr Samson. The European regulator, Guillermet says: "will have an instrumental role in accompanying the transition to greener aviation while maintaining the sector's strong safety record". Tytgat took over as EASA acting chief on 1 September after expiry of the second five-year term of former executive director Patrick Ky in August.

Comac has delivered its third C919 to China Eastern Airlines. The jet (B-919D, MSN00009) made a ferry flight from Shanghai Pudong to Shanghai Hongqiao on 9 December, states the airframer. The aircraft is the third of five C919s the airline ordered in 2021. China Eastern received its first C919 in December 2022 and it entered commercial service on 28 May flying between Shanghai and Chengdu. It received the second example in July. The carrier ordered an additional 100 C919s in September, with five units scheduled for delivery in 2024.

Melbourne airport's international capacity is set to exceed pre-Covid levels this month, and it has been calling on the Australian government to embrace more liberal bilateral agreements to enable airlines to tap even more travel demand. The airport says that over 1.31 million seats will be available for international passengers, around 1% higher than the seats available during 2019. “Pleasingly, approximately 10% of our current international capacity is being operated by new airlines or on new routes, which means consumers and exporters have more choice about when and where to fly," says chief executive Lorie Argus. She adds that there is still "latent demand in the market, and we believe a liberalising of the Bilateral Air Service Agreements with a move towards open skies policies would give airlines the certainty to expand operations into Melbourne.” Melbourne is one of four 'gateway cities' where airlines face constraints under most of Australia's bilateral air service agreements. The other cities are Perth, Sydney and Brisbane, while other international airports, such as Cairns, Gold Coast and Adelaide, are largely unrestricted. Argus's comments come months after Australia refused a request from Qatar for additional services between the two countries that would have allowed Qatar Airways to boost its services above the 28 per week currently permitted to the gateway cities. Canberra has repeatedly cited "national interest" concerns for refusing the request, which has been widely interpreted as protecting Qantas. Qatar is a key alliance partner of rival carrier Virgin Australia, which has also lobbied to increase the bilateral cap.