India's airlines have been cleared to continue growing their flights to the USA after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reaffirmed the country's Category 1 status under its International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) programme.
India's Ministry of Civil Aviation states that the FAA conducted an audit of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in October 2021, with subsequent consultations and reviews having taken place in 2022. It was advised on 12 April that it continues to meet the standards required to maintain its Category 1 status. Under the IASA programme, the FAA regularly audits foreign aviation regulators against ICAO safety standards, with those that comply granted Category 1 status. This allows airlines from those countries to continue to operate or expand their services to the USA and to enter into codeshare agreements with US carriers. The Ministry adds that the determination " has come at a time when the Indian aviation is on a high growth trajectory and air carriers in India have major capacity induction and expansion plans." India was upgraded to Category 1 in 2015, having been relegated to Category 2 status in December 2012 after concerns were raised about the DGCA's level of safety oversight of the country's airlines. Airlines in Category 2 countries are not able to codeshare with US carriers nor add more flights there and are subject to additional inspections. Air India is currently the only Indian carrier to fly to the USA, operating 41 return flights per week between Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi to San Francisco, New York JFK, Newark, Chicago O'Hare and Washington-Dulles. Air India has signalled its intentions to add more flights to North America in the short-term and is in the process of adding more Boeing 777-300ERs and -200LRs to facilitate that expansion.

SkyUp Airlines has extracted its entire fleet from Ukraine after evacuating a Boeing 737-800 from Kiev. The Ukrainian airline says it ferried the narrowbody (registration UR-SQP) from Boryspil International airport to Romanian city Iasi on 4 April, a move, it says, that was taken "in the interests of the state". Fleets data shows that the aircraft (MSN 33029) is a 2006-vintage jet that is managed by Avolon and forms part of the collateral of its SAPA 2018-1 asset-backed securities issuance. SkyUp says the 189-seat jet was the only one remaining in Kiev after the Russian invasion began, with all other aircraft moved abroad in advance. The airline has been using a number of its aircraft in wet leasing services, charter, humanitarian, evacuation and special flights. In 2022, SkyUp Airlines performed 7,713 flights, transported more than 1.08 million passengers and generated almost UAH100 million ($2.72 million) in taxes to the Ukrainian state budget, it says.

Airbus delivered 61 commercial aircraft in March, nearly doubling the total number for the year so far, to 127. In February, the European airframer had handed over 46 aircraft to customers, bringing the total to 66 by the end of last month. March deliveries included 26 A320neos, 25 A321neos, three A330-900s (one each for Delta Air Lines, Condor and Virgin Atlantic) and two A350-900s (one each for Singapore Airlines and Starlux Airlines). Airbus data shows it additionally delivered five A220-300s, half of the single-aisle line's total output for the year so far. Air France received three A220-300s, while US carriers Breeze Airways and JetBlue Airways took one each. The airframer's March output was slightly below the 63 deliveries it had reached in the same month in 2022. In terms of new business, Airbus booked 20 gross orders last month. This includes an order of five A350 Freighters from an unnamed customer and Lufthansa's follow-on order, disclosed in March, for five A350-900s and 10 A350-1000s. A private customer ordered a single A319neo. Two A320neo orders by Colombian carrier Viva Air, which suspended its operation in February, were cancelled from Airbus's backlog. The manufacturer's backlog still includes 16 A320neo orders by the airline. By 31 March, Airbus had received 142 net orders for its commercial aircraft family this year. This comprised orders for 12 A220-300s, 27 A320neos, 60 A321neos, one A319neo, five A350-900s, 33 -1000s and four A350 Freighters.