ch-aviation
• Dirk Andrei Salcedo
Mongolia is considering COMAC C919s as part of the fleet renewal of its national airline, MIAT. The interest would give the Chinese narrowbody a potential foothold in Mongolia and add another prospective customer as COMAC seeks to expand the aircraft’s international presence.
Asia-Pacific (APAC)
Latest source-backed stories
The Pentagon said the United States will transfer three King Air turboprop aircraft configured for maritime domain awareness to the Philippine Coast Guard. The planned handover expands the coast guard’s dedicated airborne surveillance capacity, though the announcement did not provide details on timing, aircraft variants or support arrangements.
Mongolia is considering COMAC C919s as part of the fleet renewal of its national airline, MIAT. The interest would give the Chinese narrowbody a potential foothold in Mongolia and add another prospective customer as COMAC seeks to expand the aircraft’s international presence.
Air New Zealand will add more than 7,000 seats between Shanghai Pudong and Auckland during the 2027 Chinese New Year period, targeting one of the busiest travel seasons for Chinese visitors to New Zealand. The increase expands capacity on a key Asia-Pacific market for the national carrier.
Satellite imagery shows China developing a military support center on former farmland in Laos over the past year. Analysts say the facility could deepen Beijing’s operational presence in Southeast Asia and broaden its regional access beyond established Chinese military installations.
High activity
FLYONE Armenia has finalized its first direct purchase from Airbus, ordering two A321neos powered by CFM LEAP-1A engines. The privately owned carrier will configure the aircraft with 239 seats as it expands from Yerevan across Europe, the Middle East and former Soviet states, where airport traffic has surpassed 5.6 million annual passengers.
JD Logistics Airlines has increased its registered capital from CNY1.1 billion ($163.8 million) to CNY1.6 billion ($238.3 million), a 43% rise. The move strengthens the cargo carrier’s capitalization as it operates Airbus A330-200 freighters from Nantong.
High activity
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.
High activity
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.
Create a free account to see more recent Asia-Pacific (APAC) stories and keep bookmarks in one place.
