Delta Air Lines has taken delivery of its first Airbus A321neo, the first of 26 expected to arrive in 2022. The Atlanta-based member of the SkyTeam alliance expects to enter the aircraft into revenue service in May. The order placed on 24 August, 2021, for 30 A321neos followed a firm deal for 25 jets in April 2021, bringing Delta’s total purchase commitments of that type to 155 aircraft. “The delivery of our first A321neo helps to usher in the next era of premium domestic service at Delta,” Mahendra Nair, Delta’s senior vice-president of fleet and tech ops supply chain, states. “Not only do these aircraft offer the best customer experience in the industry, but these fuel-efficient airplanes further demonstrate our commitment to a more sustainable future.” The carrier had said on 24 August that its A321neos, powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1100G turbofan engines, will be deployed across its domestic network, complementing Delta's existing A321ceo fleet of 121 aircraft. The A321 type will grow more dominant in Delta's domestic operation throughout 2022 as more of them enter the fleet and as the carrier retires its ageing Boeing aircraft. Delta has said that it will retire a certain number of its Boeing 717s and 767s if demand flags. The carrier has 91 717s and 66 767s in its fleet, Cirium fleets data shows. The carrier stated on 23 March that it will have 282 A321-family aircraft in its fleet once all of its A321neo orders are fulfilled. Delta’s A321neos will be manufactured at facilities in Mobile, Alabama, and Hamburg, Germany.

Comair has arranged for South African Airways Technical to take over the line-maintenance of its aircraft from Lufthansa Technik. The airline says the move follows a recent review of Lufthansa Technik by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA). Although Lufthansa Technik passed the routine SACAA audit in February, the unscheduled review “made a number of findings which need to be addressed within 24 hours or the approved maintenance organisation licence is suspended”, Comair says. The airline currently uses both SAA Technical and Lufthansa Technik to maintain its aircraft. Comair’s chief executive Glenn Orsmond states: “Our priority at the moment is to restore a full, reliable flight schedule for our customers to ensure they can book and fly with confidence, which is why, in these extraordinary circumstances, we acted as soon as we were informed that the suspension was a possibility.”

The number of passenger services operating to and from Russia has continued to decline as Western sanctions close off the country’s connectivity. Data shows that flight hours on departing services from Russia fell to a low of 2,643 on 21 March, the lowest since the crisis in Ukraine erupted, and the weakest since 16 February 2021, when travel was effectively shut down because of Covid-19. Stripping out the data for domestic flights, the data shows an even greater decline in activity in the country, to just 230 flight hours on 14 March, although it has bumped up very marginally since then. On only one occasion since June 2020 were there fewer flight hours from the country. The data also shows that 31 passenger airlines have operated services from Russia internationally since 15 March, with the top 10 being Ural Airlines, Uzbekistan Airways, Turkish Airlines, Belavia, Flydubai, Aeroflot, Kyrgyzstan-based Avia Traffic, Emirates, Air Serbia, and Somon Air and Utair at joint ninth. The majority of the remaining airlines have operated just a handful of services from the country in the past two weeks. The data tallies with announcements from a number of airlines that for insurance- or leasing-related reasons they have been forced to abandon services to Russia, even if their home countries have not joined Western sanctions. Speaking on 15 March, Peter Foster, chief executive of Kazakhstan’s national airline Air Astana, noted that it had ceased flying to or over Russia because insurance had been withdrawn. Previously, Russia accounted for around 9% of its network. Likewise, Turkish low-cost carrier Pegasus, which previously flew to six destinations in Russia – a large source market for Turkish tourism arrivals – would cease flying to the country until at least 10 April. “In accordance with the European Union Regulation No 2022/328, sanctions and restrictions are implemented related to insurance/reinsurance, leasing, operations and maintenance services on flights to and from Russian Federation,” it stated. Even services to countries allied with Russia, such as China, have been hit. In recent weeks only one daily service – operated by Air China – has taken place between the two countries, down from around four per day in the first two months of the year, across a variety of carriers. Meanwhile, Russian airlines risk having their aircraft impounded abroad because of the sanctions regime, and 78 aircraft have been seized, according to Moscow-based Interfax.