Swiss will roll out IATA's Travel Pass on its Zurich-London Heathrow route from 22 April, becoming the first Lufthansa Group carrier to employ the mobile app aimed at easing travel amid the pandemic. Travellers can opt to receive their Covid-19 test results directly into the app to display their travel eligibility to airlines and other relevant authorities without divulging other personal health information, Swiss says. It also enables travellers to check Covid-19-related entry provisions at their country of destination. Swiss is additionally testing other digital solutions, including the EU Green Pass and CommonPass, and trialling a programme under which travellers can upload Covid-19 test results on the carrier’s website up to 12 hours before the trip, to check their eligibility to travel. That programme is currently tested on its flights to Spain, Portugal and US city Newark from Zurich.

Romanian carrier Tarom has put 14 aircraft up for sale, including all of its Airbus A318s, Boeing 737-300s and 737-700s.
In a notice on its website, Tarom says it plans to sell four A318s, four 737-300s and four 737-700s, as well as two ATR 42-500s. The airline is seeking offers for the aircraft, which are being sold in an "as-is, where-is technical condition".
Data shows that Tarom has four A318s in service. It has one 737-300 in service and three in storage, as well as three 737-700s in service plus one in storage. The airline owns a total of seven ATR 42-500 turboprops, all of which are listed as being in storage. Its fleet also includes four in-service Boeing 737-800s and four ATR 72-600s, as well as two ATR 72-500s which are listed as being in storage. Tarom has another five ATR 72-600s on order along with five Boeing 737 Max 8's. Tarom says the aircraft it is selling are available for inspection at its maintenance facility in Romania. The airline was cleared by the European Commission last year to receive nearly €37 million ($44 million) in rescue aid.

Boeing reported 76 total orders for new aircraft during the first quarter despite cancellations, surpassing Airbus in quarterly sales of commercial jets for the first time since 2019 as airlines plan their fleets amid the tenuous recovery of travel demand. Orders for Airbus fell to negative 61 aircraft during the first quarter following cancellations by Norwegian in February. Airbus took orders for 28 narrowbodies during March, including 20 A220-300s, four A320neos and four A321neos. It took no orders for aircraft during January. Boeing during March logged cancellations for 156 737 Max aircraft, which were offset by orders for 196 new 737 type aircraft. Cancellations during March include Turkish Airlines removing 50 orders for Max jets. New orders during March included 100 Max 7 jets ordered by Southwest Airlines. The European airframer still has a larger backlog of orders compared with its US-based rival and maintained its lead in deliveries of aircraft to operators. Airbus delivered 125 aircraft from January through March, while Boeing delivered 77 jets during the first quarter. New aircraft sales slumped during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and carriers cancelled numerous orders, but Airbus has fared better than Boeing during this crisis, in part because of the grounding of Max aircraft in March 2019. The order backlog for Airbus at the end of January was 7,163 aircraft, while Boeing ended January with a backlog of 4,016 orders. Airlines in the USA have reported increased bookings for summer months amid momentum of vaccination. The US Federal Aviation Administration removed its grounding of Max aircraft in November and in the months since then other nations have set standards to modify the aircraft, allowing it to fly again. Airbus will report its first-quarter earnings on 29 April. Boeing will report its quarterly earnings on 28 April.