WestJet is celebrating another milestone in operational excellence, securing a place among the world’s most on-time airlines for the second month in a row. Earning back-to-back accolades in theย Cirium On-Time Performance Report,ย WestJet is the most on-time airline in North America for the month of June and the entirety of Q2, a new record milestone. In addition to this important accomplishment, WestJet was recognized as the 6th most on-time airline amongst all major global airlines.
WestJet completed nearly 17,000 flights in June, with 86.4 per cent arriving on time – almost four percentage points ahead of the next highest-ranked North American carrier. Combined with a completion factor of 99.43 per cent, the results demonstrate a consistently reliable operation. WestJet’s June results cap a strong quarter for the airline, with on-time performance steadily improving throughout the spring.
WestJet completes 180-seat retrofit ahead of schedule
In addition to executing another exceptional on-time schedule, WestJet’s operations teams completed the retrofit of its remaining Boeing 737 aircraft (previously configured with 180 seats) ahead of schedule. The project, which was carefully coordinated alongside WestJet’s busy spring flying schedule, standardized the airline’s narrowbody fleet, reducing complexity in day-to-day operations. Completing the retrofit ahead of the peak summer travel season positions the airline to deliver a more consistent guest experience while supporting operational reliability and on-time performance. The retrofit project was originally planned to be completed this fall; however, WestJet proudly wrapped up the project part-way through June.
AerCap has signed lease agreements with China Southern Air Logistics Co. Ltd. (China Southern Airlines Cargo) for three Boeing 777-300ERSF converted freighter aircraft.
The aircraft, also known as “The Big Twin,” represents the first passenger-to-freighter conversion program for the Boeing 777-300ER. The first aircraft is scheduled for delivery in October 2027, while the second and third aircraft are scheduled for delivery in Q1 and Q2 2028, respectively.
Urbanization and GDP growth are driving long-term air travel demand according to Airbus’ 2026-2045 Global Market Forecast (GMF).ย In the next 20 years, urbanisation is shifting to smaller cities. With a rise in middle classes and the diaspora this will lead to new city pairings made economically viable thanks to increasingly efficient aircraft and growing passenger traffic volumes. Not only is aviation essential for the transportation of high value, quick to market goods, aviation also connects people for a multitude of reasons across the globe, providing an economic lifeline to many communities.
Networks are decentralising. The number of smaller urban centreย s will ย grow at almost triple the pace of larger ones reflecting shifting urban populations and an increasing diaspora. Alongside aircraft efficiencies the Airbus GMF forecasts expanding connectivity beyond trunk routes to smaller and medium city-pairs. Routes such as Riga-Tenerife or Melbourne-Alice Springs can be already efficiently served by aircraft like the A220. Enhanced aircraft range is also opening new city pairs, allowing direct connections. Such routes include Lisbon-Recife with the A321neo, Dublin-Nashville with the A321XLR, Algiers-Kuala Lumpur with the A330neo and Taipei-Phoenix with an A350.
Airbus product strategy echoes market demand. ย This is evident in Airbusโ record order book which stands at some 9,000 aircraft, underpinning the full product production rates from the A220 to the A350, including rate 75 for the A320. Currently, over 70% of the A320 Family backlog is for the largest A321neo and XLR, ideal aircraft for new city pairs. Higher capacity routes can be served by the A330neo and the longest haul routes by the A350. The A350 is also proving extremely popular in the quick to market cargo segment, with the Freighter variant.
Passenger traffic growth remains resilient.ย By 2045, the middle class demographic most likely to fly will increase by 1.4 billion people (+34%). Global air traffic is robust and inextricably linked to world economic growth as well as peopleโs desire to travel. Short term disruptions like regional conflicts and high fuel prices are not dampening demand long term as historic data shows. In the next 20 years, the Airbus GMF forecasts passenger traffic to grow 3.9% annually, thanks to global GDP growth (+2.6%), rising urban populations (+1.3 billion) and increasing middle classes. By 2045, air traffic will more than double, reaching about 10 billion passengers per year.
Mirroring an economic shift toward the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, demand is evolving accordingly. ย Traffic patterns are evolving due to robust growth in developing economies like India, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia. A significant evolution includes increased international migration and family-related passenger travel (VFR: visiting friends and relatives).ย
Demand for new efficient aircraft continues to be strong.ย Of the requirement of 42,060 aircraft in the next 20 years to compensate for 19,820 aircraft replacements of older aircraft and 22,240 for growth, some 81% will be single aisle and 19% widebodies. This reflects the continued trend for more cost- and COโย -efficient aircraft.ย
Fleet renewal and record replacements are driving efficiency. Post-COVID fleet aging is accelerating replacement demand, especially favouring fuel-efficient, flexible, new-generation single aisle and widebody aircraft to profitably open both low-density and longer-haul routes. By 2045, Airbus forecasts the percentage of the global fleet that will be made up of the newest generation aircraft will reach almost 100% from around 39% in 2026.
Air Canada announced on July 8, 2026 that Anko Van der Werff will become its next President and Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board, by the end of January 2027. Mr. Van der Werff, currently President and Chief Executive Officer at Scandinavian Airlines, succeeds Michael Rousseau, who previously announced his retirement after 19 years with Air Canada.
โOur Board of Directors was impressed by the quality of experienced executives from around the world who expressed interest in the role,โ said Vagn Sรธrensen, Chair of the Board. โWe are delighted to have attracted and recruited an executive of Mr. Van der Werffโs stature to lead Air Canada. He has an exceptional breadth of international aviation experience and a proven 25-year track record, including his most recent forward-looking executive leadership at Scandinavian Airlines, Avianca Group, and Aeromรฉxico and earlier at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (now Air France-KLM) and Qatar Airways. We are confident he will drive further value-creating growth and transformation while maintaining our commitment to disciplined capital allocation.โ
โAir Canada is a globally recognized airline leader. It is an honour to be chosen to lead this iconic Canadian company as it advances its ambitions and strategy, builds on its award-winning employee culture and customer value proposition, and prepares for an even brighter future,โ said Anko Van der Werff. โI look forward to working closely with Air Canadaโs talented executive team and with all employees to fulfil our commitments to shareholders and customers. I am excited about relocating to Montrรฉal and eager to get started.โ
Mr. Sรธrensen concluded: โThe Board is grateful to Michael Rousseau for his outstanding leadership and extraordinary contributions, which are in large part responsible for the enviable position Air Canada enjoys among global carriers. We thank him for that legacy and for his support with the transition.โ
The selection of Mr. Van der Werff follows a comprehensive global search for the best person to lead Air Canada into the future. The search considered a number of performance criteria, including the ability to communicate in French.
Mr. Rousseauโs retirement is effective August 31, 2026. He will continue to be available as needed throughout the transition. Following his departure and for the duration of the transition period, the Executive Committee will report to the Board of Directors.
Biographical notes
Anko Van der Werff will become President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada by the end of January 2027. A global aviation executive with more than 25 years of international airline leadership experience, he has held senior roles across Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. Prior to joining Air Canada, he served as President and CEO of SAS Scandinavian Airlines, leading the carrier through a significant period of transformation and strategic renewal.
Before joining SAS in 2021, Mr. Van der Werff was Chief Executive Officer of Avianca, one of Latin America’s leading airlines. Earlier in his career, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Aeromexico, held senior commercial leadership positions at Qatar Airways, and occupied a number of management roles at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.
Mr. Van der Werff served on the Board of Governors of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) until June 2026 and has also served on the boards of several international organizations in the aviation, technology and business sectors.
He holds a master’s degree in law from Leiden University and completed executive studies at Harvard Business School.
A native of the Netherlands, Mr. Van der Werff speaks Dutch. He is able to communicate in French. Aside from those two languages and English, he also learned Spanish, Italian and Swedish at different levels over the course of his international career.
K2 Airways flight KTA1732 was a scheduled overnight cargo service from Sharjah to Karachi on July 7, 2026, operated by the airlineโs sole aircraft, a 27โyearโold Boeing 737โ4M0 (BDSF) registered APโBOI. The aircraft departed Sharjah shortly after 1500 UTC and initially experienced GNSS interference affecting ADSโB reception, a problem also affecting other aircraft in the region. Once clear of the interference zone, normal ADSโB tracking resumed as the freighter crossed the Arabian Sea toward Pakistan.
While cruising toward Karachi, the aircraftโs ADSโB data began showing highly abnormal behavior. Preliminary telemetry indicated a sudden loss of altitude, followed by an unexpected climb, and then a second, catastrophic descent. The final received data point at 16:21 UTC placed APโBOI at roughly 1,100 feet above mean sea level, descending at an extreme vertical rate of approximately โ22,400 feet per minute and slowing to about 114 knots, a profile consistent with a stallโinduced loss of control. Radar contact and radio communication were lost moments later, approximately 155 nautical miles west of Karachi.
Pakistanโs Airports Authority reported that the crew had earlier advised Karachi ACC of a navigational system issue at 2118 PST. Controllers attempted to guide the aircraft, but by 2121 PST radar showed rapid descent and abrupt heading changes before all contact ceased. A searchโandโrescue operation was immediately activated, involving multiple maritime agencies, but no wreckage or survivors were initially located. All five crew members were declared missing, and the aircraft was presumed to have crashed into the Arabian Sea close to midnight local time.
APโBOI had begun its life as a passenger 737โ400 with Aeroflot in 1999, later flying for Garuda Indonesia, TNT Airways, ASL Airlines Belgium, and FedEx Express before being transferred to AerCap and leased to K2 Airways in October 2024.
Converted to freighter configuration in 2012, it was powered by two CFM56โ3C1 engines and had become the backbone of K2โs cargo operations. The disappearance of flight KTA1732 left the airline without an aircraft and marked the presumed loss of its only operational freighter.
Airbus and MTU Aero Engines intend to deepen their collaboration by establishing a joint venture dedicated to the development and commercialisation of a fully electric hydrogen fuel cell engine. This upcoming milestone follows the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by both companies at the Paris Air Show in June 2025.
By establishing a dedicated and highly agile organisational set-up, the partners aim to accelerate technology development, design, testing and certification of a revolutionary propulsion system for aviation based on a hydrogen fuel cell. The new entity will be supported by Airbus and MTU with all their competences and through various engineering and manufacturing teams from both organisations.
This non-binding agreement is subject to standard regulatory approvals and the completion of social processes at European and national levels. The new joint venture is expected to start operations in 2027.
Hydrogen has the potential to play a crucial role in substantially reducing the climate impact of aviation in the long term and transforming air transport in a way comparable to the impact of electric vehicles in the automotive sector.
The joint venture is driven by the partnersโ shared ambition to create the technology leader in this field and provide the first hydrogen–based fuel cell propulsion system to a commercial aircraft. It will combine Airbusโ extensive commercial aircraft programme knowledge, significant fuel cell propulsion and liquid hydrogen expertise with MTUโs multi-year fuel cell technology development and its recognised engine design, integration, validation and certification as well as maintenance expertise.
Beyond the engine technologies, Airbus and MTU will continue to foster the emergence of a hydrogen aviation economy and the associated regulatory framework, which are also critical enablers to the advent of hydrogen-powered flight at scale.
On Friday, July 3, 2026, a high-profile seaplane incident occurred on the East River in New York City when a Cessna 208 Caravan Amphibian, operated by the premium commuter carrier Tailwind Air, struck a large piece of floating marine debris while executing a routine landing maneuver.
The single-engine turboprop aircraft was operating a scheduled commuter flight into the Skyport Seaplane Base, located off East 23rd Street in Manhattan. As the seaplane touched down on the water’s surface, its left aluminum hull pontoon struck a heavy, semi-submerged wooden timber floating in the river’s active landing lane. The impact caused a severe breach in the forward compartment of the left float, resulting in rapid water ingress that caused the aircraft to list heavily and settle low into the water.
The pilot managed to maintain control of the aircraft, preventing a full capsizing maneuver, and safely taxied the crippled seaplane to a nearby floating dock before the pontoon could completely submerge.
New York City emergency services, including the NYPD Harbor Unit and FDNY marine vessels, responded to the scene to assist. All seven passengers and two crew members on board were safely evacuated directly onto the dock without any injuries. Marine salvage crews quickly deployed auxiliary bilge pumps and containment booms around the aircraft to stabilize the punctured float and prevent environmental contamination from aviation fuel before successfully towing the seaplane to a local maintenance facility for extensive structural hull repairs.
The story of Zinc, a highly anticipated startup in the Australian aviation market, has taken a significant strategic turn as the company reshapes its operational fleet and timeline to navigate the current realities of global aircraft supply chains.
Originally, Zinc’s business model was designed around the cutting-edge, high-capacity Airbus A321neo. The airline envisioned launching with the modern narrowbody to maximize efficiency and capture high-density trunk routes. However, severe, industry-wide delivery backlogs and ongoing supply chain bottlenecks at Airbus created major availability issues, leaving Zinc without a reliable or timely delivery window for the A321neo fleet. Realizing that waiting for the variant would indefinitely stall its entry into the market, Zinc’s leadership made the tactical decision to pivot its fleet strategy.
The airline now plans to launch its operations utilizing a standardized fleet of five Airbus A320 aircraft. While the standard A320 offers a slightly smaller passenger capacity than the A321neo, switching to the mature and more readily available A320 family allows the airline to secure its entry into service far more predictably.
This fleet realignment has naturally pushed back the company’s operational timeline, with the official launch timeframe now realistically reset for 2028. Zinc intends to use this additional runway to solidify its infrastructure and establish its primary operational hub at the brand-new Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport. Launching out of Western Sydney in 2028 positions Zinc perfectly to capitalize on the rapid economic growth and unconstrained slot availability of Sydney’s newest aviation gateway, giving the startup a distinct operational advantage as a fresh player in the competitive Australian sky.
Emirates’ third daily service on the Dubai-Cape Town route landed at Cape Town International Airport at 18:05 yesterday, marking the first arrival of flight EK778. This also marks the debut of the airline’s next-generation Airbus A350 in South Africa.
The A350 is the newest aircraft type to join Emiratesโ all widebody fleet, introducing the latest in-flight experience. The bright and airy cabins have been thoughtfully designed to provide more space and comfort in every cabin, whilst cutting-edge technology and enhanced entertainment options elevate every flight. The deployment also increases access to the airlineโs award-winning Premium Economy cabin, which first launched in South Africa in September 2025 and has proved consistently popular with travellers.
Outside of Cape Town, Emirates alsoย reinstated its fourth daily flight to Johannesburgย on 1 July 2026, boosting weekly connectivity to Dubai to 56 weekly services from its three South African gateways. The deployment is further supported by the seasonal deployment of theย second A380 service into Johannesburg. EK761 and EK762 will now be operated by a fully retrofitted A380, equipped with the in-demand Premium Economy cabin and the latest cabin interiors, enhancing Emirates world-class offering and boosting capacity in and out of South Africaโs largest and busiest international airport.ย
Japanโs startup airline TOKI AIR completed its first commercial flight to Sado Airport with an ATR 42-600, operating into the shortest commercial runway in the world served by an ATR 42-600.
Measuring at 890 metres, Sado Airport is not just another destination on the map. It is a highly constrained operating environment on an island off the coast of Niigata Prefecture. One where air connectivity can make a tangible difference for residents, businesses and visitors, yet where operational limitations mean that only a handful of aircraft can safely operate.
Photo credit: TOKI AIR
That is what makes this first commercial flight so significant. Serving Sado requires the right combination of airline expertise, careful preparation and aircraft performance. The ATR 42-600 is among the largest commercial aircraft types able to serve the airport, reflecting ATRโs proven ability to connect demanding regional destinations, including those with runways below 1,000 metres. In a region also known for strong winds, its 45kt crosswind capability provides additional operational flexibility, helping make commercial connectivity possible where infrastructure constraints would otherwise limit access.
Sadoโs runway environment also highlights the importance of aircraft certification and airport infrastructure working together. The runwayโs grooved surface, designed to improve water drainage and runway conditions, supports safe operations in challenging environments. ATR has specifically certified the wet grooved runway performance on the ATR 42-600, helping to unlock this type of operation and enabling regional operators to serve airports with demanding characteristics.
Connecting Sado Island
Taking its inaugural flight at the end of May, this milestone marks a new chapter in the airlineโs mission to improve regional connectivity across Niigata and beyond, as from the outset, connecting Sado has been a key priority.
Photo credit: TOKI AIR
TOKI AIR takes its name from the toki, the Japanese crested ibis, a bird closely associated with Sado Island, where major conservation efforts have helped restore its population. That link gives this first commercial service an added resonance: an airline named after one of the islandโs most emblematic symbols now helping reconnect it by air.
For Sado Island, the launch of commercial service means easier access to the mainland, stronger links for local communities, and new opportunities for mobility, tourism and economic activity.
In a protected island environment, the role of regional aviation is not only to connect, but to do so responsibly. With the lowest fuel burn, COโ emissions, and noise footprint in its class, the ATR is uniquely well-suited to meet Sadoโs essential connectivity needs.
With this first commercial flight to Sado Airport, TOKI AIR and the ATR 42-600 have demonstrated what regional aviation can achieve when the right aircraft meets the right mission.
This is where regional aviation delivers its full value: not only by flying communities efficiently, but by enabling the connections that matter most.
