Turkish Technic has signed a base maintenance agreement with Emirates for five Boeing 777s. The Istanbul-based MRO provider says it commenced work on the first aircraft at Istanbul Ataturk airport on 1 April and will service the other four in upcoming months. A photo provided by Turkish Technic shows an Emirates 777-300ER (A6-ENM) at the MRO company's facility. Data shows the aircraft was delivered to Emirates from Boeing in 2014. The UAE-based carrier is the largest 777 operator, with a fleet spanning 123 777-300ERs, 10 -200LRs and 11 freighters. In March, Jordanian MRO provider Joramco disclosed a contract with Emirates for 777 C-checks. The carrier completes most of its airframe maintenance in-house.

Lufthansa and the Italian government are making "further progress" in talks on the German group's bid to acquire ITA Airways, the country's finance ministry has indicated. Economy and finance minister Giancarlo Giorgetti met Lufthansa Group chief executive Carsten Spohr and ITA president Antonino Turicchi to discuss the takeover proposals on 30 March in Italy. "During the positive conversation, the shared industrial plan was illustrated which will determine the development of ITA Airways in terms of fleet, network and strategic objectives," says the ministry in a 30 March statement. "With today's meeting... further progress is made in the direction of the industrial partnership between the two carriers." Separately, ITA says its board of directors has approved the business plan shared with Lufthansa Group. In January, Lufthansa made an offer for a minority stake in ITA plus options to acquire the remainder at a later date. "The plan is to agree on the initial acquisition of a minority stake as well as on options to purchase the remaining shares at a later date," said Lufthansa. Talks are focusing on the possibility of an equity investment in ITA, as well as its commercial and operational integration into Lufthansa Group. ITA, which is the successor to former flag carrier Alitalia, on 29 March reported an annual net loss of €486 million ($527 million) for 2022. Revenue reached €1.58 billion last year, of which €1.27 billion came from the passenger traffic business. During the year, ITA operated some 97,000 scheduled flights and transported around 10.1 million passengers. The airline expects its revenue to grow substantially in 2023, driven by the expansion of its route network and fleet size.

Ryanair plans to launch nine new UK summer routes, including five from Belfast, following the government's decision to cut domestic air passenger duty (APD) by half from 1 April. New routes from Belfast include flights to Cardiff, Edinburgh, East Midlands, London Stansted and Manchester. The airline also plans to launch flights between Bournemouth and Edinburgh, Newquay and London Stansted, as well as services from Edinburgh to Newquay and London Stansted. Ryanair's head of communications Jade Kirwan states: "Reducing APD will result in market growth in the UK, and these new routes show just that with 74 weekly flights scheduled across Belfast, Bournemouth, Cardiff, Edinburgh, East Midlands, London, Manchester and Newquay representing 95% growth on our UK domestic schedule compared to last summer." He continues: "While the halving of APD on domestic flights from Apr 2023 has allowed Ryanair to add more domestic routes to our UK schedule for summer 2023, if we are to continue to grow and drive traffic/tourism recovery for the UK, the UK government should immediately scrap APD for all travel and provide incentives for airlines like Ryanair to stimulate growth and recovery for the entire UK market."