Turkish low-cost airline Pegasus has placed a firm order for 36 additional Airbus A321neos. The agreement is an amendment to the airline's original order for Airbus aircraft in 2012, later altered for additional units in 2017, 2021 and 2022, for a total of 114 aircraft, the airline states in a stock market disclosure. Pegasus currently has 87 Airbus A320-family units in its fleet, data shows, as well as 15 Boeing 737s. It will receive new Airbus aircraft from its previous agreements up to 2026, with 10 arriving this year, 24 next and 11 in 2025. The latest order will then supply the carrier until the end of 2029. New aircraft are required to fulfil its aggressive expansion plan as it seeks to meet demand for inbound tourism to Turkey and cater for the country's large domestic market. As part of this a second runway and terminal is being developed at Pegasus's main hub of Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen, which the carrier plans to utilise "to the maximum", chief executive Guliz Ozturk said last month.

Boeing is leading a joint research project with UK partners to explore composite manufacturing technologies to enable higher aircraft production rates. The project, named isothermic high-rate sustainable structures (IHSS), will concentrate on dry fibre and resin infusion manufacturing methods and be based at a new facility dubbed Compass (composites at speed and scale), at the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Centre (AMRC), Boeing says. The US airframer established AMRC with the university in 2001 and subsequently opened a component manufacturing facility in Sheffield. Spirit AeroSystems' plant in Prestwick and Dorchester-based industrial automation specialist Loop Technology are additional partners in the IHSS effort, which is backed by the UK government via the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI). The Treasury says the project represents an £80 million ($105 million) investment and will be the first of 12 zones across the UK that will receive support to boost advanced manufacturing, life sciences, green industries, technology and the creative sector. Each one the investment zones will involve a university and be supported with £80 million, the Treasury adds. Boeing predicts the IHSS project will initially generate 50 jobs and "has the potential to create 3,000 UK jobs long-term and around £2 billion annually in export opportunities". AMRC chief executive Steve Foxley states: "Building on the long-standing partnership with Boeing, Compass offers a step-change in large scale composite material capability and will continue to transform the UK manufacturing industry for a more sustainable and resilient tomorrow." Spirit highlights that IHSS represents its first research and technology collaboration with Boeing in the UK. The US aerostructures company's Prestwick facility will contribute stringer preform fabrication and inspection technologies to the project. In 2020, Spirit acquired from Bombardier aerostructures manufacturing sites in Belfast, Moroccan city Casablanca and Dallas in the USA. The Belfast site produces composite wings for the Airbus A220 programme.

IATA director general Willie Walsh has labelled London Gatwick the worst-performing major European airport for air traffic control issues this summer. In an update on the sector’s resilience, Walsh notes that amid continent-wide ATC-related delays, the most severe impacts are being felt at Europe’s busiest facilities. Gatwick, he asserts, has been hit particularly hard because it is also facing local ATC issues. He says Gatwick ranks as the worst performer out of 31 major airports and the 106th worst out of 110 in the wider data set. A Gatwick spokesperson responded that flights at the airport are increasingly being regulated at peak times due to the knock-on effects of air traffic control restrictions across numerous parts of Europe. “These restrictions are beyond the control of the airport and have been put in place to manage and smooth out the flow of aircraft arriving from, and departing to, disrupted airspace across Europe. Multiple factors are causing airspace restrictions across Europe, including industrial action, staff shortages, the war in Ukraine and poor weather.” Walsh continues that ATC performance across both Europe and the USA has been disappointing. He points to a lack of national resources, particularly in France and Germany, which has led the continent's ATC performance to lag "unacceptably behind" 2019 levels, although it has improved year on year. "It is disheartening that the politicians who were quick to criticise airlines last year have remained silent about the disruption caused by government controlled or regulated ATC providers," Walsh complains. "What can these politicians do so we don't have another year of European ATC performance below pre-Covid levels? To start, they need to be held accountable for the economic and environmental costs of poor ATC performance, so they have an incentive to make better decisions." He is calling on authorities to address issues with staffing, move forward with the Single European Sky modernisation programme, and find ways to maintain essential ATC services during periods of industrial action. Many airline executives have warned that this year's summer getaway risks being blighted by ATC issues, although the industry's performance so far has been a notable improvement on 2022 when thousands of flights were cancelled because of capacity bottlenecks. Data published on 12 July by air traffic manager Eurocontrol shows that although overall air traffic in Europe was up by 7% in June compared with a year earlier, air traffic flow management delays per flight were down 8% at 3.7min per flight. Traffic levels for the month were “at or above” those of June 2019 for many parts of Europe, it continues, including up to 15% higher in areas of south-east of Europe in particular. “This clear positive trend comes despite the war in Ukraine reducing available airspace and shows that close cooperation between all operational partners in preparation for the summer is delivering a good result and keeping delays to a minimum,” states Eurocontrol. It adds that specific areas are facing constraints because of local issues such as infrastructure or staffing.