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.

HAECO Hong Kong has completed the first split scimitar winglet modification in tandem with a C-check for a Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800. The modification work was to change the blended winglets into split scimitar winglet configuration, to improve fuel efficiency of the aircraft, HAECO Hong Kong says in a release today. It adds that it has completed over 110 winglet modifications on 737NG, 757 and 767 aircraft as an Aviation Partners Boeing (APB) designated authorised modification centre.

Aeroflot will resume flights to Aktau and Shymkent as part of efforts to reactivate its network to Kazakhstan. The Russian carrier says it will start operating once-weekly flights to Aktau and Shymken from Moscow on 20 and 22 January, respectively. Aeroflot adds that its flight programme to Kazakhstan will be completely restored from 22 January. Recent unrest in the Eurasian state had led to a flurry of service cancellations. In addition to Aktau and Shymkent, Aeroflot serves the nation's capital Nur-Sultan, Almaty, Aktobe, Atyrau, Karaganda, Kostanai and Kyzylorda, the carrier's website indicates.