Air India Express (AIX) has grown its Boeing 737 Max fleet to 40 units following the delivery of two further Max 8s from a US lessor, fleets data shows. Aviation Capital Group said on 21 February it had delivered two Max 8s to the Air India subsidiary, the third and fourth units of what the lessor describes as a "multiple-aircraft sale-leaseback". It did not disclose how many aircraft are in the transaction in total. The pair join two ACG-managed 737 Max 8s already in AIX's fleet (MSNs 61652 and 63289), fleets data shows. Those units were purchased by ACG for leaseback in February and January 2025, respectively. Prior to the latest two deliveries by ACG, the airline had 38 737 Maxes, thus taking its total fleet to 40 of the type. Avilease manages six Max 8s, Griffin Global Asset Management manages 10, Jackson Square Aviation manages seven, SKY Leasing manages six, and SMBC Aviation Capital manages seven. AIX has three Max 8s on order that are managed by parent Air India, which has a further 149 on order. Two are scheduled to deliver in February 2025 and one in March 2025. The carrier also operates 26 737-800s, 22 Airbus A320ceos and 12 A320neos.

Spirit Airlines has won approval for its plan of reorganisation under Chapter 11 bankruptcy from the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. "With this approval in place, the company expects to emerge from Chapter 11 in the coming weeks," Spirit says in a 20 February press release. Under the approved plan, Spirit says it will "equitise" $795 million of funded debt, receive $350 million of new equity investment, and issue $840 million of new senior secured debt to existing bondholders "upon emergence". In addition, the airline will enter into a new revolving credit facility of up to $300 million. "Spirit vendors, aircraft lessors and holders of secured aircraft indebtedness will not be impaired," it adds. Ted Christie, Spirit's president and chief executive, states that the approval will see it "emerge as a stronger airline with the financial flexibility to continue providing guests with enhanced travel experiences and greater value". He adds: "Throughout this process, we've had virtually unanimous support from our bondholders, who recognise Spirit's value and potential. As we move forward, our leadership team remains focused on reducing costs while also advancing our strategic initiatives to transform our guest experience and position Spirit for success." Spirit filed for Chapter 11 in November 2024.

The US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is of the greatest concern to the aviation industry, especially when it starts to “muck around” with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). "FAA is the standard bearer of aviation safety ... and we have to make sure they continue to be that robust and resilient force when it comes to aviation safety," director general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA), Subhas Menon, tells in a 12 February interview. When asked about the impact of a Trump presidency on the aviation industry, Menon brushed aside the impact of tariffs and geopolitical tensions but instead highlights the “dangerous approach” the current administration is taking when it comes to safety. His comments came before it was revealed that the FAA had fired hundreds of employees on probation, as part of cost-cutting measures, and raising further concerns on air safety after a string of accidents in the USA. While the country’s transportation secretary Sean Duffy clarified on X that no air traffic controllers and critical safety personnel were made redundant, it comes amid the wider pressure that DOGE is applying across government agencies to seek out cost savings under the leadership of Elon Musk. The association chief also points to US president Donald Trump’s comments in the wake of a deadly crash between a MHIRJ CRJ700 and a US Army Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk helicopter over Washington on 29 January. In a stark departure from usual protocol, the president blamed diversity programmes in the federal government for the crash without citing evidence and while the official National Transportation Safety Board investigation into the crash was underway. “They [Trump] immediately said thing which no leader should be saying without having all the facts at his disposal and casting aspersions on air traffic controllers. That's not good,” says Menon. TARIFF IMPACT LIMITED Speaking on the potential impact of tariffs, Menon says: “I don't think we need to be too worried, because whatever [Trump] does, there will be a reciprocal effect.” "If he imposes tariffs on European aircraft, Europeans will impose tariffs on American aircraft,” he quips, and in the meantime the two major airframers will still need to ensure prices remain competitive in a key region. Furthermore, regional travel remains strong in the Asia-Pacific region, Menon says, explaining that, for now, carriers are collectively trying to grow their capacity but are constrained by the lack of aircraft and spare parts as a global supply chain crunch continues. Preliminary AAPA data shows that passenger traffic among Asia-Pacific carriers rose 31% in 2024 over the previous year, while load factor increased to a record 81.6% as unit revenues outpaced capacity growth. More widely, he says the tariffs will have implications beyond aviation and businesses will have to adjust and find its own equilibrium, while Cebu Pacific chief executive Mike Szucs likewise points to the resulting impact on the wider economy. Speaking at a low-cost carrier panel at the Aviation Festival Asia in Singapore on 19 February, Szucs says: "Particularly as LCCs, we've always been looking at GDP multiples feeding through into sort of traffic demand so anything that reduces economic growth will ultimately create a problem." "If that happens for whatever region in the country, and it somehow impacts economic growth in the Philippines or in this region, then we will see an impact on travel." Speaking on the same panel, John Simeone, chief executive officer of Jetstar Asia echoes Menon’s views that traffic out of the likes of Australia, Japan, South Korea and Thailand remains strong and he “can’t see that changing too fast”. "So there is impacts in [from] cost of living and geopolitical tensions. But the reality is people do prioritise travel, people that learn that travel is very important to them, and I think it's just a case of stimulating demand where you need." Szucs adds, however, that tariffs may become a problem if they start limiting the movement of critical aircraft components, especially as the industry is already reeling from a lack of spare parts.