Russian president Vladimir Putin would never have allowed the return of Western aircraft that had been leased to his country's airlines, in the view of a retired UK general giving evidence at an Irish High Court case pitting lessors against insurers. Asked during cross examination as a witness on 10 July whether he believed there were any circumstances under which the Russian leader would have permitted the return of leased aircraft to their owners, General Richard Barrons said "no, not at all". "I remain firmly of the view that president Putin was never going to agree to sacrifice his country's civil aviation capability... in the face of the demand from his enemy that he do that," he adds. Barrons believes it was "certain" that commercial aircraft and supporting services supplied by the West to the Russian civil aviation sector would be "very high up" the list of likely sanctions that would be imposed by Western governments on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine. He further believes that the West expected the Russian invasion was likely to succeed and therefore the sanctions regime was constructed with that in mind. Barrons says that while the civil aviation sector was of limited importance to the Russian military – it relies more heavily on rail for its logistics – as a form of economic warfare, targeting the country's commercial airlines had an advantage of impeding the civil state and of conveying a message to the Russian people that "their life was no longer going to proceed normally". As a former "military practitioner", Barrons says that if he had been involved in planning the sanctions regime he would have had the "same interest in dismantling Russia's civil aviation capability" and would have expected that the sanctions would need to endure for a "very long time" based on an assumption of a military victory by Russia and subsequently a "very protracted standoff" between it and the West. Barrons is of the belief that there is "almost no prospect" of the war now ending before 2026 "on the current trends", and he has not suggested it will end in 2026. Discussing talks between Russia and Ukraine over a settlement to the war, the former military officer says that Russia has demanded that Ukraine stop fighting, "de-nazify" and does not join NATO. "The day Ukraine joins NATO is the day it gives up any aspiration to take back by force any territory that is lost, because NATO is never going to allow that to occur," he adds. The Russian proposition would also see Ukraine retain a "much diminished armed forces", and a neutral status guaranteed by the USA, UK, Germany and Russia, a position he describes as "non-sense" due to the inability of Western powers to provide such guarantees as NATO members and without military forces stationed in Ukraine. Asked by senior counsel Michael Collins for SMBC Aviation Capital if there any prospects for peace negotiations to succeed, Barrons says: "I would always say, it's a good thing to talk, you might find a compromise. But so far the gap to be closed [in talks] has been too wide and too profound for there to be a realistic prospect of a settlement." The hearing continues.

Ryanair has opened its new base in Tangier, Morocco and commenced operations from the base in May. Ryanair says it has based two aircraft with an investment of $200 million at the new base, supporting over 600 new local jobs, including 60 pilot and cabin crew jobs. The new base is Ryanair's fourth in Morocco, taking its investment in Morocco to over $1.4 billion in aircraft, it says. As a part of its summer schedule, Ryanair will operate 25 routes, including 13 new routes, connecting Tangier with eight European cities – Baden Baden, Barcelona, Carcassonne, Eindhoven, Lisbon, Manchester and Memmingen – and five new Moroccan destinations – Agadir, Essaouira, Marrakesh, Ouarzazate and Oujda. It adds that this base opening will increase Tangier's summer 2024 capacity by 70%.

Airbus, Spanish airport operator Aena, regional airline Air Nostrum, Iberia, storage specialist Exolum and energy company Repsol are studying the creation of the first hydrogen airport hub in Spain. This collaboration will focus on hydrogen supply and infrastructure, on the specific requirements for ground operations at airports and will provide the partners with a holistic view of the hydrogen-powered aircraft and how it can be integrated into the airport ecosystem, Airbus says. "Given Spain's great potential in renewables and low carbon hydrogen production, it is essential that the aviation industry as a whole collaborates to secure a future end-to-end hydrogen supply chain up to the airports," says Airbus' vice-president ZEROe Ecosystem, Karine Guenan. "As a regional airline, we can be relevant in the project because we have the necessary conditions to become the first implementers of hydrogen technology, thanks to the size of our aircraft and the average distance we fly," states Air Nostrum's director of quality and environment Maria Jose Sanz.