Korean Air plans to ground its Airbus A330 fleet in stages to conduct comprehensive safety checks following two safety incidents involving the type within the span of a week, amid a safety overhaul ordered by South Korea's transport ministry on all the nation's airlines. Korean Air president Woo Kee-Hong said the airline's fleet of 30 A330s will be grounded in stages for detailed inspection, in remarks captured in the minutes of a 2 November emergency meeting convened by South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to address safety concerns. Two of Korean Air's A330-300s were involved in two separate incidents within the span of one week. On 23 October, a Korean Air A330-300 overran the runway while landing in bad weather at Mactan-Cebu International airport in the Philippines. The aircraft sustained damage to the front wheels and fuselage and was later written off. In a 2 November report by local news agency Yonhap, the airline confirmed a second incident on 30 October, when another A330-300 bound for Sydney was mid-air when one of the engines failed, prompting the aircraft to return to Seoul. Woo said at the meeting that the flag carrier will retire six examples that it owns and will conduct its inspection of the remaining 24 examples in five batches. Data shows Korean Air has a fleet of 30 A330s, including four in storage and one written-off due to the recent accident. Nearly two-thirds of the A330 fleet are above 20 years old, and these include three A330-200s, five A330-300s, including the written-off example involved in the runway excursion, and 11 A330-300Xs. Over the next two weeks, the ministry will focus on reviewing Korean Air's flight crew training and certification, as well as maintenance and management of major aircraft systems such as engines. Woo said the airline was taking the recent incidents involving its A330s "very seriously" and sought to address safety concerns by detailing steps it was taking to review existing safety systems and procedures, adding it will also commission an external review. He says the airline plans to "thoroughly analyse, inspect and improve safety factors throughout the entire process" and "will classify the issue as urgent and execute immediate action". Woo also highlighted the airline's plans to modernise its fleet, saying it has invested W540 billion ($380 million) on aircraft, engines and simulators for the current year, and plans to spend another W1.4 trillion for aircraft and W64 billion on engines in 2023. The carrier also plans to invest about W1.5 trillion in the maintenance activities, including W400 billion to secure spare engines and parts. The recent safety incidents has spurred the ministry to scrutinise airlines' safety standards across the board. The ministry will conduct “special safety inspections” for all 11 Korean carriers by 24 November, as airlines prepare to return to normal levels of international flying. This includes returning of furloughed airline employees and operational readiness of overseas airports.

Air New Zealand has launched an accelerator programme for zero-emissions aircraft and will work alongside aircraft developers to operate its first commercial demonstrator flight from 2026. The carrier is in close negotiations and expects to sign letters of intent by the end of the year with the partners it will work with, it says in a statement today. The Mission Next Generation Aircraft accelerator programme will focus on two goals that will include its plan to fly its first commercial demonstrator flight from 2026 and begin replacing its Bombardier Q300 domestic fleet with a more sustainable aircraft from 2030, which Air New Zealand says is likely to be green hydrogen or battery hybrid systems. These goals follow the airline's Product Requirements Document (PRD) released in December 2021, which saw more than 30 aircraft developers respond with ideas and insights to guide the technology development. Chief executive Greg Foran states: "The next three years will be focused on supporting the building, testing and certifying of aircraft and associated infrastructure. By 2026, we're aiming to have our first zero-emissions aircraft – either cargo or passenger – take flight in New Zealand. “The learnings we will take from flying an aircraft with next-generation propulsion technology from 2026 will pave the way for our long-term green hydrogen and hybrid partners to deliver an aircraft that can replace our Q300 domestic fleet. We’re breaking new ground here – it’s not just the aircraft that needs to be developed, but also the infrastructure and regulation required to fly commercially.”

Boeing forecasts a longer timeline for the certification of its two forthcoming 737 Max variants while also planning engineering upgrades for both Max and 787 aircraft. The airframer is in the certification process with the US Federal Aviation Administration on both Max 7 and Max 10 aircraft, Boeing Commercial Airplanes segment chief executive Stan Deal said on 2 November during the company’s investor day conference, and anticipates the certification “of Max 10 by late 2023 or early 2024”. Deal also raised the possibility that Max 7 certification could take until “later this year or early into 2023”, potentially going beyond the company’s previous forecast of year-end 2022. Certification for 777X aircraft “remains on track”, for it to begin deliveries by 2025, Deal says. A major lesson from the grounding of Max aircraft between 2019 and 2020 was to not make forecast for certification only to repeatedly delay them, Boeing Company chief executive David Calhoun said during the investor conference. “Our stated objective is going to remain stability… to deliver on time to customers,” Calhoun said. US lawmakers at the end of 2020 tasked FAA with improving aircraft certification following the agency’s lifting of a flight ban against Max aircraft that year. Two fatal Max crashes raised scrutiny from Congress while the FAA in August lifted a separate ban on shipments of 787s after resolving manufacturing issues with the widebody type. Shipments of 787s could be slowed by ongoing reviews, as the FAA has said that it will retain power to grant airworthiness certificates for new 787s prior to delivery until “Boeing’s quality control and manufacturing processes consistently produce 787s that meet FAA design standards”. Boeing plans to develop improved versions of its existing aircraft including “a new flight management system” for Max aircraft, Deal said, as the airframer prepares to “usher in autonomy” for future aircraft designs. The company “in the near future” also plans to introduce a variant of 787 aircraft capable of carrying more weight, which Deal said is intended to increase its capability.