British Airways chief executive Sean Doyle continues to see a role for the Airbus A380 in the airline's fleet strategy on routes to the USA and Asia. Speaking to Eurocontrol's Aviation StraightTalk webinar on 26 April, Doyle says the airline's 12 A380s offer flexibility on a range of routes while maximising efficiency at the airline's slot-constrained London Heathrow base. "We use the A380 for multiple missions. We can fly it to places in Asia like Hong Kong and Singapore, and we've also deployed them into places like Boston and Washington Dulles and Miami. So it works for the [US] East Coast as well as longer operations in to the bigger Asian markets," says Doyle. The A380 should be seen in context of BA retiring its last 31 Boeing 747s in 2020, representing a large chunk of the carrier's pre-Covid capacity. As a result, Doyle says, "we certainly see the A380 as having a future in [BA's] plans." His comments stand in contrast to several other A380 operators. Air France has retired the type from service, while Lufthansa retired six of its 14 A380s and removed the remaining aircraft from future planning. Earlier this month, Etihad Airways announced that its 10 A380s would be grounded "indefinitely". Doyle provides insight into how he sees BA's brand develop, with the airline having faced criticism in recent years for a perceived shift away from its premium positioning, especially in economy class. "I think that what airlines have to do is offer value for money… But ultimately you're there to serve your customer's needs, and everything we do will be driven by customer insight," says Doyle in response to a question about cost cuts by his predecessor. He adds: "Value is important for customers. But at the same time investment is important for customers." He cites a £6.5 billion ($9 billion) investment programme launched in 2019, which includes new aircraft, new business cabin interior, wi-fi systems, and improvements to lounges and catering. Investments such as these will continue in future while the carrier will also focus on efficiency, says Doyle. "I don't think those two things are incompatible." He predicts that once passengers begin to see the impact of such investment, "you will see perceptions shift in the right direction" – perhaps indicating an awareness of damage done to BA's brand. Doyle is bullish about the prospect of a US-UK flight corridor as he sees both countries being "neck and neck" with the vaccine rollout. As European countries expand their vaccination programmes, he sees the possibility of a stronger recovery in that region later this year. Nevertheless, Doyle believes that several carriers will likely fail over coming years "because it'll be a choppy path to recovery", and therefore lead to greater airline consolidation.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency plans to "increase its scrutiny" of the in-development Boeing 777X programme "as part of our lessons learned from the 737 Max". The agency says that while it would not comment in detail on the scope of its activities, "we will indeed be conducting a more in-depth review of the aircraft critical changes", adding: "We will be following a thorough process to ensure the safety of the aircraft". It stresses that its scrutiny of the 777X will fully respect the Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement, and notes that negotiations with the US Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing are already under way. EASA was responding to questions on comments by Emirates Airline president Tim Clark, who said that the 777X programme was "in a state of disarray", with deliveries expected to be several years late and the carrier still unaware of what the aircraft's exact capabilities would be. Clark attributed this to the desire of safety bodies around the world to have some oversight of the programme for themselves, adding cost and complexity to the development process. "The various regulators across the planet will want to look at the airplane and how its built to make sure it passes muster as far as they're concerned," he said.

Lufthansa Technik will put up a large amount of surplus aircraft parts for auction using a new e-auction platform hosted by IATA. The German MRO provider describes IATA's "MRO SmartHub" as a "neutral web-based platform" to buy and sell aircraft parts, and says that it will be the service's launch customer. In the global auction starting on 26 April – on the eve of the MRO Americas 2021 convention – LHT will offer a variety of aircraft parts that have been part of the company’s surplus inventory for less than three years and are made available in sub-packages to fit requirements of specific fleet operators or MRO providers. Commercial assets include material for Airbus A320, A330, A340, A380, Boeing 737, 747, 757, 767, 777, 787 and MD-11, Bombardier CRJ, Embraer ERJ and De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400 aircraft. LHT says that the material will come with dual or triple release certification with one-year warranty. Current LHT customers will be automatically accredited for the bidding process after registering on the platform, the MRO provider notes. Head of commercial for aircraft component services Georg Fanta states that the components available for auction come from an "extensive surplus portfolio that we are permanently adjusting to the changing demand of our valued customers from all over the world". In April 2020, LHT disclosed the sale of rotable component stock, including 9,000 line-replaceable items, to US spare-parts specialist AvAir.