American Airlines expects its summer operations to escape disruption from Boeing delivery delays. "It looks like we're going to be minimally impacted," chief executive Robert Isom said during a 27 April earnings call. Airframers need to be "better than what they have been", adds Isom, but he has "all the confidence" things will improve. American intends to take delivery of 23 new aircraft this year, with nine due to arrive in the second quarter and six the following quarter, says chief financial officer Devon May. It took delivery of three aircraft in the first quarter. Isom says the carrier is "growing less than anybody else this year", noting that "manufacturers haven't been able to deliver on time and we've had pilot constraints". About 150 of the airline's regional aircraft are "still on the ground" due to the shortfall in pilots. However, the airline is making progress on these issues and anticipates that "virtually all those regional aircraft will be back in the system" eventually, he adds. He acknowledges that last summer was "pretty rocky" and says there are likely to be operational issues this summer, but the airline has "new tools in place to allow us to build back from any disruption in a much better fashion". The Fort Worth-based Oneworld member has reported a profitable opening quarter for the first time in four years, on the back of strong demand, beating its breakeven guidance for the period. This was "driven by continued strength in demand", says Isom, citing a "noticeable" rise in demand for long-haul, international flights. This segment will see "the largest proportion of our growth in this coming year", he adds. "We're well on our way to a fully recovered business, but we aren't there yet," he warns, adding that the carrier aims to "remain nimble and continue to adapt to customer behaviour". He believes the airline industry is now "on the other side" of the Covid-19 crisis, and points to consumers' growing preference for "experiences" such as travel over "hard goods".
American ended the first quarter with $14.4 billion of total available liquidity. It reduced total debt by $850 million in the first three months of the year and says it is 60% of the way to its goal of reducing debt by $15 billion by the end of 2025.
Traffic rose 17% on a 9% increase in capacity during the first quarter of 2023. Load factor improved by 5.6 percentage points to 80%. Isom forecasts "record revenues" in the second quarter, and the carrier expects adjusted earnings per diluted share of $1.20-1.40, rising to $2.50-3.50 for the full year. In May, American intends to make a profit-sharing payment to its employees for the first time in three years, noting that it has accrued $211 million for this purpose.

Air Moldova says it has been "forced" to suspend all operations between 21 and 25 April, due to a lack of financial resources. It follows a warning from Moldova's civil aviation authority in November that the carrier was at "potential risk of insolvency". The regulator said at the time that an unannounced inspection had uncovered "serious deficiencies" in Air Moldova's finances, and that the airline had been asked to submit a corrective action plan for approval. In a 21 April statement, Air Moldova said it was suspending the operation of all flights until 25 April, and that all affected passengers would receive a refund. In March, the carrier claimed it was "the target of a pre-meditated denigration campaign aimed at bankrupting the company". It said at the time that it had been forced to "temporarily" return two leased aircraft, after the lessor "demanded their immediate return". Data shows that Air Moldova has a fleet of five aircraft, four of which are listed as being in storage. One Boeing 737-700 is in service and is managed by Deucalion Aviation but sub-leased from Greece's Lumiwings. One Airbus A319 is leased from Carlyle Aviation Partners, one A321 is leased from Willis Lease Finance and one A320 is leased from TrueAero. It also owns an Embraer 190. Air Moldova was privatised in 2018. The airline said in March that its plan for 2023 was to renew its fleet and launch eight new destinations.

SriLankan Airlines has linked its parking of five Airbus A320neo-family jets to a "global shortage" of engines, suggesting that bottlenecks in the supply chain continue to crimp airline operations in Asia as the peak summer season approaches.
The airline says the five aircraft "are currently awaiting engines after shop visits, as the global industry faces a shortage of engines and long lead times for engine repairs for this type of aircraft". Fleets data shows that SriLankan has six A320neo-family jets in its all-Airbus fleet of 24 jets. Flight-tracking data indicates that five of the six Neos have not been operated since late March or earlier. The five jets comprise two A320neos, registered 4R-ANA and 4R-ANB, and three A321neos: 4R-ANF, 4R-ANE and 4R-AND. The first four are leased from Air Lease Corporation and the fifth from AerCap. Additionally, an A321ceo, registered 4R-ABQ, has also not been operating since mid-December 2022, the data shows. SriLankan's A320neo-family jets are all fitted with CFM International Leap-1A engines, while its A320ceo-family jets are variously powered by CFM56s and International Aero Engines V2500s. The airline adds that it is "currently working with its suppliers to work out a solution, and the global supply of engines is also expected to improve in the months ahead". It dismisses local media reports that the aircraft were grounded owing to a lack of finances.