Airbus has delivered its 12,000th aircraft with the handover of the latest A220-100 to Delta Air Lines.
The manufacturer had reached 11,995 deliveries at the end of April – aided by its acquisition of A220 programme, formerly the Bombardier CSeries, last year. Airbus says the milestone figure was officially reached on 20 May with the delivery of a 12th A220 to Delta, which has 40 A220-100s and 50 A220-300s on order. Airbus, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, delivered its first aircraft, an A300B2, to Air France in 1974.

An investigation is on its way after the fatal crash on 16 May of a Diamond DA62 in Dubai. The piston-twin aircraft owned and operated by UK firm Flight Calibration Services (FCSL), was testing the navigation aids at Dubai International airport (DXB) when it crashed at 19:30 local time, 5km from the airport, after what the Dubai government calls a "technical malfunction". All four occupants of the aircraft lost their lives in the accident. Shoreham-based FCSL specializes in inspecting and calibrating ground-based navigation aids – including instrument landing systems and primary and secondary radars – for airports and airfield owners across the world. Diamond Aircraft says it is "deeply saddened" by the crash and "will fully support investigations to discover as soon as possible the cause of the accident".

Boeing had no new commercial aircraft orders in April and slashed its 737 backlog by 171 aircraft amid the collapse of Indian carrier Jet Airways. Chicago-based Boeing’s April deliveries also came to a halt as the 737 Max remains grounded. Boeing took 207 737s off its books in the first four months of 2019, though 36 737 orders equate to a net reduction of 171 737s in the four-month period, according to Boeing's figures. Boeing also took 10 787s off its backlog in April. Including 737 and 787 reductions, Boeing's total backlog of all aircraft types declined by 119 between January and April. The reduction largely reflects Jet Airways' suspension of flights in April, which prompted Boeing to remove 210 aircraft from its books. Jet had orders for 737s and 787.