Lufthansa has transferred its first reactivated Airbus A380 to Munich ahead of its planned return to service in June.
The German carrier says the aircraft (D-AIMK) was flown to Munich from Lufthansa's primary base in Frankfurt on 12 April. Daily flights from Munich to Boston with the type are scheduled to begin on 1 June, and to New York JFK on 4 July. Lufthansa previously said it would reactivate four of its remaining eight A380s by year-end and that they would be based in the Bavarian city. Prior the pandemic, the airline operated 14 A380s from Munich and Frankfurt. The airline mothballed its A380 fleet amid the pandemic in 2020 and, until the recovery last year, expressed doubt about a service-return of the type. In 2019, Lufthansa disclosed an agreement with Airbus under which six A380s would be prematurely returned to the airframer by 2023 in exchange for more A350s. Data shows Lufthansa has removed two A380s (D-AIMK and D-AIMM) from storage at Teruel airport in Spain. Ten A380s in the carrier's fleet are listed as being in storage in Teruel and two at Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrenees airport in France. D-AIMK and D-AIMM are among the four youngest A380s in Lufthansa's fleet, which were built in 2014 and 2015. The airline took delivery of its first A380 in 2010. Lufthansa's A380s are configured with eight first, 78 business, 52 premium economy and 371 standard economy seats. The fleet is powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines.

Boeing during March took orders for 60 aircraft and shipped 64, doubling its delivery pace compared with the previous month as the US airframer resumed shipments of 787 widebodies after completing quality reviews with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The manufacturer shipped 52 of its narrowbody 737 Max aircraft, seven 787s, a single 737NG-based P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol craft and 11 widebodies. Shipments of 12 Max jets each to Southwest Airlines and United Airlines marked the largest deliveries of the month, followed by Air Lease with seven and Ryanair with five. Undisclosed customers ordered 17 Max jets and eight 787s during March Japan Airlines placed the largest order for 21 Max aircraft that month, while Lufthansa ordered seven 787-9 widebodies and Eva Air ordered five 787-9s. The US FAA on 13 March cleared Boeing to resume deliveries of 787s. The FAA must still issue airworthiness certificates for each 787 prior to shipment, as it has done since Boeing resumed deliveries of the type in 2022 after a 10-month hiatus due to production issues. Net orders for Boeing during 2023 stand at 56 aircraft after the airframer factored in cancellations, conversions and the uncertainty of fulfilment. Boeing during March improved its order performance year on year compared with 53 aircraft during the same month the previous year and five in February 2023

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.