Lufthansa Group is awaiting Russian government approval to sell its entire 49% stake in catering company Aeromar, having finished negotiations with the prospective buyer. The German group advised that although the sale process is ongoing, it "only requires" approval from the Russian authorities to conclude. Russian news agency Interfax identifies flag carrier Aeroflot, which already holds 51% of Aeromar, as the buyer of Lufthansa's stake. Lufthansa declined to confirm the buyer's identity. Aeroflot lists Aeromar as a joint-stock Aeroflot Group company. Lufthansa started the sale process for its stake in 2022. In the group's annual report for that year, it wrote down the value of its investment in Aeromar by €17 million. The unit, it said, would "no longer have any value due to the economic restrictions in connection with the Russia-Ukraine conflict". Aeromar describes itself as Russia's largest airline-food production company, also providing services for cleaning and equipping aircraft, as well as airborne and ground sales.

Air Niugini has taken delivery of its first Airbus A220-300 which it is leasing from Azorra. The aircraft, bearing MSN 55388, departed from Airbus's Mirabel facility on 11 September on a ferry flight to Port Moresby with stops scheduled in Vancouver, Honolulu and Nadi. It features a special livery to mark the 50th anniversary of Papua New Guinea's independence from Australia. "The delivery represents a significant milestone in Air Niugini’s fleet modernisation programme, with eight A220-100s on direct order with Airbus and three A220-300s being leased from Azorra," Airbus states. The A220s will replace Air Niugini's ageing fleet of five Fokker 100s and four F70s which operate on domestic and some Pacific Islands services.

Fleets data shows that only three F70s and two F100s are in service, alongside three Boeing 737-800s, two 767-300ERs and one De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400. The fleet renewal is being complicated by a dispute between the carrier and the country's National Airports Corporation over how many airports in Papua New Guinea the A220s will be able to operate to. That led last month to chief executive Gary Seddon being suspended last month as the board awaits further information on the aircraft.

European manufacturer ATR plans to use one of its aircraft as a flight test bed for hybrid-electric propulsion by 2030, as the company participates in two of 12 sustainability initiatives selected and funded by the European Union's Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking following its third call for proposals. Clean Aviation has released €945 million ($1.1 billion) of funding to support 12 projects aimed at decarbonising the airline industry. ATR will lead two projects under the Ultra-Efficient Regional Aircraft (UERA) technologies category, which has been assigned €144 million of the EU funds. It will work alongside Safran and RTX subsidiaries Collins Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney Canada. Through its HERACLES (Hybrid-Electric Regional Aircraft Concept for Low EmissionS) project, the airframer will use an ATR72-600 to flight-test hybrid-electric technologies by the end of this decade. This will be carried out under Clean Aviation's DEMETRA (Demonstrator of an Electrified Modern Efficient Transport Regional Aircraft) programme. The EU's Clean Aviation JU says that the projects selected in its latest round will start at the beginning of 2026, with flight tests planned for 2028 and 2029. The EU has agreed to work with Canada as part of its PHARES (Powerplant Hybrid Application for Regional Segment) project, which has been earmarked for €69 million of funding from the bloc. This will see Pratt & Whitney Canada providing propulsion support for the hybrid-electric regional aircraft test programme. "Europe will not fly into the future with yesterday's technologies," states European commissioner for start-ups, research and innovation Ekaterina Zaharieva. "Together with trusted partners, like Canada, we set our course towards CO2 emission reductions [of] 30% – to stay competitive, secure sustainable growth and keep our industry ahead of other world regions." ATR chief executive Nathalie Tarnaud says the project is "more than a technological demonstration", noting: "By flying the world's first hybrid-electric regional aircraft by 2030, we aim to further demonstrate that sustainability and connectivity can go hand-in-hand." The 12 projects selected by Clean Aviation fall under four main areas. In addition to UERA, the EU will provide €199 million for Ultra-Efficient Short-Medium Range Aircraft technologies and €20 million for "fast track areas". A further €15 million of funding will be made available to projects dedicated to "aircraft concept integration and impact assessment", says Clean Aviation. Other companies that have been selected to participate in the latest round include Airbus, Rolls-Royce and Skylife Engineering.