Lufthansa Group has agreed a collective bargaining agreement with around 20,000 ground staff based in Germany, amounting to roughly a fifth of the company's entire workforce. The deal with the Verdi union will last for a minimum of two years and provides for pay increases of 4.6%. That includes retroactive pay rises for employees of Lufthansa Technik and Lufthansa Cargo, followed by further pay rises in March next year. At Lufthansa mainline, staff will receive pay rises at the start of next year and on 1 March, the increases having been delayed "due to the challenging economic situation", says the group. Executive board member Michael Niggemann states that the long-term nature of the deal provides "a solid foundation for continuing to invest in the Lufthansa Group and thus also in the future of our employees". He adds that the company plans to co-ordinate with unions on "crisis measures" to safeguard jobs "should the impact of the geopolitical conflicts on the Lufthansa Group intensify".

British Airways has returned to service the first of its aircraft to be equipped with Starlink wi-fi. The Boeing 787-8 (registered G-ZBJJ) had the connectivity equipment installed during a 14-day period of downtime at London-Heathrow airport earlier this month. IAG-owned BA says it is carrying out the Starlink installations on its Boeing 787-8 fleet first. Fleets data shows that this is the only sub-fleet of BA widebodies currently without any internet connectivity system. Wi-fi from Panasonic and Intelsat (formerly known as Gogo) has been fitted to 115 BA widebodies – including its A350s, A380s and 777s, and a majority of its 787s. The airline says that more than 300 aircraft across its long-haul and short-haul fleets will within the next two years be equipped with the Starlink connectivity system from US-based SpaceX. The Starlink deal was announced by BA in November 2025 as part of a $7 billion transformation plan which incorporates various customer-experience improvements. These span new aircraft deliveries and refurbishment of passenger lounges. Unlike most Starlink installations that use either one small antenna or two or three, depending on the size of the aircraft, the BA 787 uses a larger radome housing (see photo below), akin to other satellite-based systems from other connectivity OEMs.

European regulators have warned that non-airworthy commercial engine parts stolen in Spain may be offered for sale on the open market. The parts were being sent for "mutilation" to prevent their further use, but a shipment consisting of 12 containers was "rerouted late January 2026 from its destination by a third party that impersonated the contracted mutilation provider", says the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, citing a report by Spanish regulator AESA. EASA says law enforcement agencies are "considering the scale and modus operandi" of the theft as part of their investigation. Three of the containers held "critical or life-limited parts", notes EASA. It stresses that the equipment has "not been mutilated". The regulator has identified 625 parts from engines spanning CFM International CFM56-5B/7Bs, International Aero Engines V2500s, Pratt & Whitney PW1100Gs and Rolls-Royce RB211-535E4s. EASA advises aircraft owners, operators and MRO providers to inspect their aircraft and inventories for suspect parts. Findings related to the equipment should be quarantined and reported to authorities, the regulator adds.