Lufthansa low-cost subsidiary Eurowings is preparing its first Airbus A321 for scheduled service from May. Eurowings says the International Aero Engines V2500-powered twinjet (D-AIDV) – freshly in repainted in the airline’s livery – is the first of six A321ceos joining the carrier’s fleet from Lufthansa. Data lists two additional ex-Lufthansa A321ceos – D-AIDU and D-AEUJ – in storage for deployment at Eurowings. D-AEUJ is powered by CFM International CFM56 engines and was initially delivered to now-defunct Air Berlin. In addition to the A321ceos, Eurowings is scheduled to receive four new A321neos by year-end, as part of a deal for 13 A320neo-family jets, the airline says. It adds the A321s will be configured with around 230 seats – including 16 business seats – and deployed on popular routes to Mediterranean destinations.Lufthansa's operates its A321s in cabin layouts for 200 and 215 passengers, its website indicates. Eurowings and its subsidiaries based in Austria and Malta together have 40 A319ceos, 55 A320ceos, seven A320neos and two Boeing 737-800s. Eurowings Discover, meanwhile, has another nine A320ceos, three A330-200s, nine A330-300s, and two A350s on lease from Finnair.

SriLankan Airlines has ambitions to expand its fleet size to 35-36 aircraft in three to four years' time, even as it seeks to restructure its debts amid the country's economic and political crisis. Speaking at Aviation Festival Asia in Singapore on 28 February, chief executive Richard Nuttall said the first phase of the plan was to bring the fleet from 24 aircraft currently to its pre-pandemic size of 27. The fleet size has remained unchanged, at 24 aircraft, since March 2021. Data shows that SriLankan's all-Airbus fleet comprises five A320ceos, two A320neos, one A321ceo, four A321neos and 12 A330ceos. Nuttall believes a fleet of 35-36 aircraft would be of the "optimal size" for the airline to carry passenger traffic created by the Sri Lankan diaspora, tourism, and Indian traffic, particularly from secondary cities, to Sri Lanka, and also feeding to the East. "And those are markets where we have an advantage where we're number one or number two. That is very hard for anybody to compete with," he says. This comes amid the airline's troubles in servicing existing debt given the country's stay on serving foreign debt. Nuttall is optimistic on the path out of its troubles, stressing that the airline "essentially has an operation that is profitable and absolutely should grow", driven by its three core travel segments. 'I think the people that matter know that they need that airline," he says. "I mean, the reality is, if you look at tourism in Sri Lanka, 10% of the population either directly or indirectly, their livelihood comes from tourism."While there is "appetite for making this thing work", he acknowledges that "it takes a little bit of time when you don't have access to capital because of what the country is going through". He adds: "The goal is to restructure some of the debt, and then that puts us in a much better position to invest for the future, and then possibly privatise."

Malaysia Airports' local operations handled 52.7 million passengers in 2022, an almost five-fold increase from 2021. The figure represents a 50% recovery against pre-pandemic levels, airport operator Malaysia Airports Holdings (MAHB) says in a 28 February release. Its Turkey operations saw 31.2 million passenger movements, an increase of 23% year on year, mainly driven by a 10% growth in its international passenger movements. The operator states: "The robust recovery seen in both Malaysia and Turkey is underpinned by the easing of global travel and health restrictions, improved passenger confidence to travel, as well as resumption of airlines operations via capacity restoration and addition of new routes." The group reported a net profit of MYR187 million ($41.7 million) during the period, rebounding from a loss of MYR766 million in the year-ago comparable period, mainly due to higher number of passengers, improvement in cost efficiency, reduction in utilisation fees and improved contribution from associates and joint ventures. Revenue rose 87% to MYR3.13 billion. The group's EBITDA rose to MYR1.19 billion from MYR220 million a year ago, driven by passenger traffic that more than doubled and recovered by 59% against pre-pandemic levels. Malaysia Airports' managing director Dato' Iskandar Mizal Mahmood states: "After a tumultuous period of uncertainty and challenges, passenger traffic is steadily improving and recovering closer to pre-pandemic levels. "We are now working towards finalising and signing the new operating agreements with the government after receiving the cabinet's approval on the principal terms in early February, which will catalyse our development plans and chart our future growth. While we actively continue to seek revenue generation opportunities, we will also continue to be prudent in managing our costs to strengthen our financial position."