Asia-Pacific (APAC) News

Skift

High activity

India seeks Chinese overflight access after Pakistan closes its airspace

India is discussing access to Chinese airspace over Xinjiang as airlines seek alternatives following Pakistan’s closure of its airspace. An agreement could provide Indian carriers with a routing option around the disruption, though the talks’ outcome and operational scope remain unclear.

SpaceNews.com

High activity

SpaceX’s four-launch week spans Crew-13, NRO mission and satellite rideshare deployments

SpaceX is scheduled to conduct four orbital launches this week, including Crew-13 to the ISS, a Falcon Heavy mission for the NRO and Transporter-18 with 130 payloads. The activity coincides with satellite-sector financing and development milestones from Astro Digital, Sateliot and India’s GalaxEye.

Bloomberg

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Bangkok flooding disrupts Thai Airways flights and strands 5,600 bags at Suvarnabhumi

Severe rainfall and flooding in Bangkok left Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports open but disrupted ground handling, baggage delivery and flight schedules. Thai Airways canceled several services, including Bangkok–Singapore flights, while working to clear about 5,000 to 5,600 stranded bags within 72 hours.

ch-aviation

China’s Hunan Airlines begins international operations

Hunan Airlines has begun international operations, expanding beyond China’s domestic market. The move adds a new entrant to the country’s international airline landscape, although the available reporting does not specify the carrier’s initial destinations, aircraft deployment or planned pace of network growth.

Wall Street Journal

High activity

Asian MRO activity expands as HAECO wins three airline contracts, GMF lands 747 work and AAR pursues $1.8B deal

HAECO has secured airframe, engine and landing-gear agreements with ANA, JAL and Garuda, while GMF AeroAsia will perform heavy maintenance on AirZeta’s Boeing 747s from 2027 through 2030. Separately, AAR has agreed to acquire a majority stake in MRO Holdings for $1.8 billion, according to sources.

FlightGlobal

Asia-Pacific international passengers soften as air cargo demand and global traffic reach records

Asia-Pacific airlines carried 33.5 million international passengers in August, down 0.6% year on year as higher fares, fuel costs and airspace restrictions weighed on demand. International cargo demand rose 1.1% during the month and 5.5% year to date, while global air cargo volumes increased 8% year on year.

CNA

High activity

TakeMe2Space to Launch India’s First Orbital AI-Computing Satellite on SpaceX Transporter-18

Indian startup TakeMe2Space plans to launch its sub-50-kilogram MOI-1A satellite on SpaceX’s Transporter-18 rideshare mission on Oct. 1. Equipped with Nvidia Orin NX processors, the spacecraft is designed to run AI models in orbit and process Earth-observation data before transmission to ground stations.

Reuters

China prepares to send first Pakistani astronaut to Tiangong space station

Two Pakistani pilots are undergoing Mandarin study, centrifuge training and simulated weightlessness as China nears a decision on which will become the first Pakistani astronaut to visit Tiangong. The mission would deepen China-Pakistan space cooperation and extend Beijing’s international astronaut program.