Brazil’s civil aviation authority (ANAC), has Avianca Brazil, which could be the final blow to the airline which has operated under bankruptcy protection since December 2018. ANAC said in a statement that it has decided “to suspend all operations of Avianca Brazil as a precautionary measure”. It adds that all flights will remain halted until the carrier proves its ability to ensure safe operations, saying that the decision was made based on information provided by ANAC's operational flight safety department.

Two South African Airways Airbus A340-600s have participated in a large flypast to mark the 25 May inauguration of president Cyril Ramaphosa. The aircraft (ZS-SNE and ZS-SNH) departed from OR Tambo international airport in Johannesburg and circled south-east of Pretoria’s Loftus Versfeld stadium, where the event was held, before conducting the flyover. A few other formations – comprising various fixed-wing and helicopter types, including a Lockheed Martin C-130 – also participated in the celebratory program.

Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury has defended the airframer’s forecast, in the decision to terminate production of the A380. The airframer had conservatively forecast a 20-year demand for nearly 1,300 high-capacity passenger aircraft in 2007, the year the A380 entered service, and was still putting the outlook for 450-seat jets at nearly 1,200 a decade later, despite poor A380 sales. Airbus disclosed in February that it would end production of the type in 2021 after Emirates – on which A380 production heavily depended – opted to cut back its order backlog, in favour of twinjets. Speaking during an event in Toulouse on 21 May, Faury said, wryly: “Forecasts are a difficult job, especially when it comes to the future.” “There is so much variability in the market,” he says. “So much is happening that was not even on the radar screen the year before.” “Sometimes we get it right and sometimes we don’t,” he says, adding that the manufacturer sometimes needs to be “humble”.