European regulators have issued a safety reminder to operators of Rolls-Royce Trent 900-powered Airbus A380s after the propulsion specialist found that it had lost track of certain life-limited parts for the engine which should have been replaced and destroyed. Rolls-Royce, in common with other engine makers, returns flight-test engines to production standard for commercial service. During this process, several life-limited parts are removed and should be destroyed. But in an airworthiness directive issue on 22 July, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said that Rolls-Royce’s records covering this process for the Trent 900 were incomplete. “Following investigation, some of these components could not be located, nor confirmation obtained, of the destruction of these parts, which should have been removed from engines during their initial upgrade from flight test to in-service standard.” Installation of the parts – including specific rotors and discs from the intermediate- and high-pressure turbines and compressors – could lead to their failure “possibly resulting in high-energy debris release, with consequent damage to, and reduced control of, the aeroplane”, says EASA. Its airworthiness directive mandates removal from service of all the affected parts and “also prohibits (re)installation of affected parts on any engine”. Rolls-Royce adds: “On this occasion we have retrospectively discovered that the status of some parts cannot be fully identified. “As a result we are ensuring they cannot be reinstalled on any Trent 900 as communicated to our customers and MRO partners in 2018. This directive confirms and mandates this as a further precaution.”

Russia’s Azimuth Airlines placed an order for six Airbus A220 aircraft at the MAKS Moscow air show, which would make it the first Russian operator for the narrowbody. Azimuth says it plans to receive the six A220s by 2024 under a lease agreement with Air Lease Corporation. The first delivery is scheduled for mid-2022, the carrier says in a statement. The planes will have a single-class layout with 148 economy seats, Azimuth specifies, adding it intends to operate the A220 on both domestic and international routes. Azimuth currently operates a fleet of 15 Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft, and has a letter of intent for a further 2. It ordered a further 10 Superjets, also under a leasing transaction, at the MAKS air show.

American Airlines made an operating profit of $441 million in the second quarter of 2021 – a giant step forward after reporting a $2.5 billion operating loss in the second quarter of 2020, and a testament to the positive impact of Covid-19 vaccination efforts on demand for domestic leisure travel in the USA. The profit gap with the pre-pandemic second quarter of 2019 is still wide. The Fort Worth-based carrier notched a $1.2 billion operating profit in the second quarter two years ago. In 2021's second quarter American made a net profit of $19 million, though if special items are excluded that becomes a net loss of $1.1 billion. "[The $1.1 billion net] loss, while large, is the smallest we've had since the start of the pandemic, as demand for air travel has improved significantly throughout the quarter," American's chief executive Doug Parker said during an earnings call on 22 July. The carrier generated $7.5 billion in revenue in the second quarter, compared with $12 billion in 2019's second quarter. Total capacity was down 26% in the second quarter versus the second quarter of 2019, and the load factor fell 10 percentage points to 77%. American ended the second quarter with $21.3 billion of liquidity, a company record, the carrier states. Its cash-burn rate turned positive in the quarter, ultimately averaging out to a "cash build" rate of $1 million per day. Parker emphasises American's renewed focus on improving its balance sheet. His announcement that the carrier is prepaying on 22 July the entirety of its $950 million spare-parts term loan scheduled to mature in April 2023 is intended to evidence that American is serious about slashing its debt. "Today, as the recovery continues, we've begun the deleveraging of our balance sheet," says Parker. American intends to trim its debt by more than $15 billion by the end of 2025 versus its previous guidance of $8-10 billion. The carrier expects capacity and revenue in the third quarter will be down 15-20% and 20%, respectively, versus the third quarter of 2019, as it awaits the return of demand for domestic business travel, as well as the easing of international travel restrictions which hinder the return of demand for long-haul business travel. American's president Robert Isom says he's seen "no degradation" in bookings related to the recent increase in the daily rate of new cases of Covid-19 in the USA. He adds: "Our net bookings are fully recovered, and we're focused on... managing demand while bringing back the network in full."