Airbus

The Paris Airshow opened under bright blue skies on June 19, with a new member of Boeing's best-selling 737 range set to vie for attention with a potentially huge order for F-35 fighter jets and a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron.

The aircraft industry descends on Paris for the world's biggest airshow, a prime battleground for bitter rivals Boeing and Airbus, but also a chance for new kids on the block to snap at the heels of the two giants.

While Airbus and Boeing will again hog the spotlight at the Paris Air Show with their battle for ever-larger slices of the lucrative pie in the sky, a lot of the really interesting stuff will be going on elsewhere at the upcoming biennial aviation and defense industry gathering.

The C919, regarded as China's answer to the Boeing 737 and Airbus 320, is expected to make its maiden flight on May 5, according to the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC). It is China's first domestically-built large passenger jet.

The plane will take off from Shanghai's Pudong International Airport.

Russia's МС-21 jet has left the assembly line at the Irkutsk aviation plant and is being prepared for its maiden flight, Izvestia daily reports.

The first large made-in-China passenger plane successfully completed its maiden test flight on May 5, marking a key milestone on the country's ambitious journey to compete with the world's leading aircraft makers.

Greece's largest carrier Aegean Airlines said on Wednesday passenger traffic grew 5 percent in the first quarter, with load factors improving to historically high levels for the winter season.

The company, a member of the Star Alliance airline group, said it flew a total of 2.1 million passengers on domestic and foreign routes, together with its subsidiary Olympic Air.

Czech airline SmartWings announced it would include an additional two flights to the Greek islands of Mykonos and Santorini for the summer season of 2017. The two new routes will be Prague – Mykonos, starting from June 9 till October 3 every 10-11 days; and, Prague – Santorini from June 2 till October 6 every 10-11 days. The planes used will be either the Boeing 737-800 or the Airbus A320.

Airbus said on Jan. 8 Iran's state airline IranAir had accepted its first new jet, marking a key step in opening up trade under a nuclear sanctions deal between Iran and major powers. 

Germany will not donate four Airbus H145M helicopters, as recently reported "by some media in Serbia," Germany's state broadcaster Deutsche Welle has said.

The broadcaster said it learned unofficially from the German Air Force, the only formation in that country that has these helicopters in service, that they "know nothing about a donation."