Airbus intends to recruit around 6,000 new employees over coming months to support the company's post-Covid-19 recovery and realise its plan to build more environmentally sustainable aircraft. The European airframer says that it will re-assess the number of external hires after the "initial" recruitment wave – before June – and "adjust our needs accordingly", indicating potential further employment efforts. New staff are to be recruited across all of the aerospace group's divisions and international operations. About a quarter of the planned recruitments are targeted to acquire "new skills" in the fields of decarbonisation, digital transformation and cyber technology, Airbus says. A third of all recruitment slots will be allocated to young graduates. The manufacturer says it sees "strong signs" of a post-Covid recovery. In 2020, Airbus outlined a plan to increase average monthly A320-family production to 65 aircraft by the second quarter 2023, from around 40 during much of last year. Airbus also said at the time that it was investigating further increases to reach 75 aircraft by 2025. At the end of September 2021, Airbus employed 125,888 staff, down nearly 5,500 from December 2020 and a fall of 9,000 from the pre-Covid level. Airbus chief human resources & workplace officer Thierry Baril states the manufacturer's "bold" plans for sustainable aviation "can only be achieved by acquiring the right talents in the various domains of expertise that will help us grow our activities as we come out of the crisis, while preparing the long-term transformation of the company". He adds: "We will also do our utmost to reinforce diversity across the company, fostering a safe and inclusive culture reinforcing Team Airbus to be ready to pioneer sustainable aerospace". In 2020, the manufacturer set itself a target of developing a zero-emission aircraft for service-entry in 2035.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation of India has decided to extend the suspension of scheduled international commercial flights to and from the country until 28 February due to rising Covid-19 cases. “This restriction will not apply to international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by the regulatory body,” it says in a 19 January statement. Moreover, flights operating under the air bubble arrangement will also not be affected. The ban, which has been in place since 23 March 2020, was extended from time to time and DGCA previously decided to resume flights from 15 December 2021. However, this was further extended until 31 January due to growing cases of the Omicron variant.

Aircraft Engine Lease Finance (AELF) is taking legal action in the UK against Surinam Airways over an alleged breach of a $4.15 million settlement agreement relating to a terminated lease on an Airbus A340-300. AELF alleges in a 21 December document submitted to the Commercial Court in London that Surinam Airways has failed to begin payments towards a $4.1 million settlement agreement reached between the two parties in June 2020. The settlement relates to an A340-300 (MSN 242), purchased by AELF from Airbus Asset Management in 2015 and operated by Surinam Airways until early 2020, when it was returned to the lessor. The aircraft is listed as having been permanently retired in September 2020. AELF says that it had agreed to Surinam Airways' request to start paying off the debt in monthly instalments of $100,000 beginning in December 2020, which it says gave the airline "a payment holiday for six months, during Covid". However, the lessor alleges that Surinam Airways "failed to make payments when due", and is now "playing for time" by claiming it was "not served correctly under the English State Immunity Act". According to AELF, the Surinam Airways claim is based on the argument that the carrier is "a sovereign state" and the aircraft lease agreement "contains an express waiver of sovereign immunity". But the lessor claims that a witness statement from Surinam Airways' chief legal officer "clearly states that [the airline] is an entity that is separate from the state". AELF adds: "This is a clear play for time. At the end of the day, regardless of whether service of process was or may need to be effectuated by a particular method, [Surinam Airways] has breached its obligations to AELF." Data shows that Surinam Airways has two in-service Airbus A320s and no longer operates any widebodies.