The World of Aviation

Air France has become the latest airline to warn the coronavirus outbreak will affect profits, estimating its impact on the business at between €150 million and €200 million between February and April.

The number of three-hour delays on US domestic flights increased by 50 per cent in 2019, according to new figures released by the Bureau of Transportation.

Airbus is in talks with American manufacturer General Electric to provide engines for the A330neo, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Private plane operators have seen a “considerable uptick” in enquiries from passengers eager to travel to or from China, in an attempt to avoid infection with coronavirus, and navigate around international travel bans.

Boeing has asked for a key tax break to be suspended to end a 16-year, tit-for-tat trade war with Airbus. The Seattle-founded planemaker will hope the unexpected concession will stop the European Union imminently imposing tariffs on US goods, and comes a week after the US imposed strict tariffs on Airbus.

Airbus’ defence and space division will cut more than 2,300 jobs worldwide before the end of 2021. The company blamed a flat market and postponed defence contracts for the redundancies, but maintained that the underlying outlook “remained solid”.