Etihad Airways recently performed 42 eco flights using Airbus A350-1000 over a period of five days to test operational efficiencies, technology and procedures that will reduce carbon emissions. The sustainable flight testing programme included 22 contrail prevention flights over the course of three days, the UAE's flag carrier says. Additionally, Etihad's Sustainable50 A350-1000 officially became the first A350 to operate as an eco flight. Etihad Aviation's group chief executive Tony Douglas states: "We believe this is the most intensive sustainability flight testing programme ever conducted, the results of which will contribute to reducing aviation's carbon emissions and environmental impact as the learnings are implemented into standard airline operations across the industry. "Some of the technologies and operational efficiencies we have tested can be implemented today and we're well in the process of putting these innovations into standard operational procedures, which we hope to see replicated across the industry, while some technologies are still in their infancy and we'll continue to work with our partners to test and develop these for future use. However, there are a number of impactful solutions which are ready to go, but require an industry and regulatory response to become practical, that the industry needs to raise to the challenge for." Etihad points to sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), acknowledging that both SAF and lower carbon aviation fuel are needed for aviation's energy transition. Douglas states: "This challenge needs policy changes from governments, continued R&D, supply chain enhancements and refining improvements." "The other big area, which has a simple solution but requires fundamental restructure to the way things currently work, is for the industry, traffic controllers and regulators to modernise flight paths for controlled climbs and continuous descent. In our demonstration eco flights, we've been able to take at least 40 minutes out of flight times and reduce the CO2 content by around six tonnes, which is incredible," he adds.

Airbus has highlighted stepped-up efforts to manage supply-chain hold-ups as it outlined a plan to raise monthly A320-family production to 75 aircraft in 2025. Chief executive Guillaume Faury said during a results briefing on 4 May that the European airframer had encountered disruptions at its assembly lines because of suppliers' struggles to deliver equipment on time as production increased amid the fading effects of the pandemic. "What is changing tremendously is the ability of suppliers to deliver on time," Faury says. Dealing with the consequences is, he notes, is "time-consuming and quite expensive". He adds: "This is indeed very significant." Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the increased output, Faury says Airbus's efforts to manage supplier disruptions is "by far higher" now than during the past two years. He says the airframer is "managing the crisis one by one" and "putting a lot of resources" in to ensure that hold-ups do not slow down final assembly lines and potentially delay aircraft deliveries. Beyond supply-chain bottlenecks, Faury acknowledges that the war in Ukraine and sanctions against Russia have created additional headwinds in a "complex environment". In the past, Airbus sourced around 50% of its titanium requirements from Russian supplier VSMPO Avisma. Faury says the airframer has secured titanium provisions for the short and medium term, and is talking to alternative suppliers to meet future demand. Longer term, Faury is confident that supply-chain bottlenecks will be overcome and that the airframer will be able to ramp up production beyond a first target of reaching Rate 65 on the A320 family in mid-2023. He says Airbus assessed a "very large" number of suppliers – the "most important" ones – on their ability to increase production. "It's always possible to ramp up beyond a certain aircraft [number] in a certain timeframe," he suggests. The approximately two-year schedule to reach Rate 75 in 2025, from 65 in mid-2023, provides "enough time to have the speed of ramp-up that is consistent with what the supply chain will be able to deliver", he says. Following up on his comments in February that Airbus wanted to decide by June whether to ramp up production beyond Rate 65, he says the airframer has accelerated the decision timeframe "because the indicators were telling us we had the conditions to launch the rate increase". Airbus plans to increase the ramp-up at its final assembly lines in Toulouse, Hamburg, Mobile and Tianjin, he notes. The industrial footprint at the US site in Mobile will be increased as part of the plan. In Toulouse, a former A380 production line is being adapted for A321 assembly, to enable Airbus to manufacture the variant – now the A320neo series' most successful model – at all production sites. In the widebody segment – all assembled in Toulouse – Airbus wants to increase monthly A350 production to "around six" in 2023 and A330 output to "almost three" a month by year-end. On the A220 programme, meanwhile, Airbus targets 14 aircraft by 2025. That narrowbody is being assembled in Montreal and Mobile.

Ryanair Group carried 14.2 million passengers in April, against 1.5 million in the same month last year. The budget airline says the figure increased 27% versus March 2022. Ryanair operated over 82,600 flights in the month with a load factor of 91%, compared to a load factor of 67% a year earlier.