Latest News
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Vietjet signs $965 million financing agreement for 6 Boeing 737-8 aircraft
Vietjet, a Vietnamese budget 'airline', has announced that it has signed a $965-million financing agreement with Griffin Global Asset Management. This is for the purchase of six Boeing 737-8 planes. Vietjet stated in a press release that the agreement was a'significant step' in their strategy to diversify international funding sources. To Lam, head of Vietnam’s Communist Party, signed the deal during his visit to the U.S. to attend the Board of Peace's inaugural meeting, an initiative started by U.S. president Donald Trump to tackle?global conflict. Vietjet announced on Thursday that it had signed an agreement with RTX subsidiary Pratt & Whitney earlier this month. The deal was worth $5.4 billion. * ?The Agreement The contract, which was originally announced at Singapore Airshow, is for the supply and maintenance of 44 engines for A321neo aircraft and A321XLR. (Reporting and editing by John Mair; Khanh Vu)
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JetBlue engine failure causes traffic disruptions at Newark Airport
Officials said that traffic was disrupted on Wednesday at Newark Liberty International Airport after a JetBlue flight bound for Florida?had an engine failure during takeoff. The plane returned to the airport. Around 5:55 pm, passengers and crew of Flight 543 exited on the Airbus A320 taxiway. The Federal Aviation Administration and JetBlue reported that the crew evacuated passengers using slides after reporting smoke in the cabin and cockpit. There were no injuries reported. Flightaware and the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey said that nearly all flights had been halted at the airport outside of New York City for an hour. Flightaware is a website that tracks flights. It reported that 31% of arriving flights, or 183 flights, were delayed in Newark, along with 30%, or 177 flights departing. The FAA announced that it would be investigating the incident involving the plane bound for West Palm Beach in Florida. Safety is JetBlue's number one priority. "We are focused on supporting our crewmembers and customers, and we will work closely w/ the appropriate federal authorities to investigate what happened," said?JetBlue.
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Next week, the US House of Representatives will consider legislation relating to aviation safety.
The House of Representatives is set to consider aviation safety legislation on Monday. This will address dozens of recommendations made by the National Transportation 'Board. It was formed after a collision in January 2025 between a regional jet of 'American Airlines and an Army Black Hawk helicopter, which killed 67. The U.S. Senate passed legislation unanimously in December known as the ROTOR Act that would require aircraft operators by the end of 2031 to equip their fleets with a safety system ?known as automatic-dependent-surveillance-broadcast system, or ADS-B. The bill will also increase oversight of commercial helicopter and jet traffic, as well as flight routes near airports. A spokesperson for the House Transportation Committee said that leaders of the House Transportation and Armed Services Committees were?working separately to introduce a comprehensive House Bill to address the issues raised by the crash. Major aviation unions, as well as many families of those killed on Wednesday, urged the House to pass the ROTOR Act quickly. The NTSB concluded last month that systemic failures on the part of the FAA caused the crash, which was the worst U.S. airline disaster since 2001. The NTSB determined that the FAA allowed helicopters to fly close to the airport without any safeguards to keep them separate from planes, and failed to act on its recommendations to move helicopter traffic away. The NTSB sent more than 30 recommendations to the FAA, citing several failures that occurred before the Washington crash. There have been 15200?air separation?incidents between commercial planes and helicopters near Reagan Airport since 2021. This includes 85?close call events. The NTSB has found problems with the way that the FAA manages traffic at Reagan. The NTSB also stated that the FAA rejected advice from its own staff to include hot spots on a chart of helicopter routes. FAA Chair Jennifer Homendy stated that the agency did not also review helicopter routes as required annually and had routes which were not designed to provide proper separation. (Reporting and editing by David Shepardson)
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Oil prices settle at 4% due to tensions between Iran and the US, while Russia-Ukraine negotiations end without a breakthrough
The oil prices rose by more than 4% on Wednesday, as traders priced-in potential supply disruptions due to concerns about conflict between the U.S.A. and Iran and after talks in Geneva failed to produce a breakthrough. Brent crude futures settled up $2.93 or 4.35% at $70.35 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled at $65.19. This is a gain of $2.86 or 4.59%. Both contracts reached their highest settlements in the past 30 days, rebounding from two-week lows. According to Phil Flynn of Price Futures Group, both contracts rose late in the session, by more than three dollars, on reports that Israel raised its alert levels on signs of an attack by the U.S. or Israel on Iran. U.S. Heating Oil Futures also rose?around 5%. Andrew Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates said that the oil price movements today are solely geopolitical. They continue to respond to headlines about meetings between U.S., Iran and Russia,?and Ukraine and Ukraine. He added that "the oil market prices in an additional risk of supply disruption." Oil fell on Tuesday after Iran's Foreign Minister said that Tehran and Washington reached an agreement regarding the principles to be used in nuclear talks. The semi-official Iranian Fars news agency announced on Wednesday that Iran and Russia would conduct naval drills in both the Sea of Oman and northern Indian Ocean. Iranian state media reported that Iran temporarily closed parts of the Strait?Hormuz - a vital oil supply route for the world - due to "security precautions" while its elite Revolutionary Guards were conducting military drills in this area. State media reported that the strait was closed for a few minutes, but did not specify if it was fully reopened. "Iran is aware of (U.S. president Donald) Trump's negotiating tactics." It also knows that Trump does not want a disruption of oil exports from the Strait of Hormuz or a rise in oil prices up to $150 per barrel. "Iran can negotiate calmly." In a note sent to clients on Tuesday, the political consultancy Eurasia Group stated that it believes there is a probability of 65% of a U.S. strike against Iran before April's end. John Kilduff is a partner with Again Capital. He said: "Everyone is watching the amount of military gear that is flooding into the region from the U.S. This is an indication that hostilities will be imminent." RUSSIA AND UKRAINE PEACE TALKS END AFTER BREAKTHROUGH The two days of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in Geneva ended on Wednesday without a breakthrough. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Moscow of blocking U.S.mediated efforts to end this four-year war. Trump has repeatedly pressed Ukraine to accept a deal which could involve painful concessions. This is because Russian forces have been pounding Ukraine's power grid and advancing on the battlefield. Zelenskiy called the discussions "difficult." Kilduff, of Again Capital, said that if the talks go as Zelenskiy has suggested, we may finally see a drop in Russian exports to the world market. This would be a positive development. U.S. crude oil, gasoline and distillate inventories Last week, the temperature dropped. Market sources said that American Petroleum Institute figures released on Wednesday were in stark contrast to the expectations of analysts. Crude stocks will rise by 2.1 millions barrels. The Energy Information Administration will release its official U.S. crude oil inventory report on Thursday. Reporting by Georgina Mcartney in Houston; Siddharth Cavale in New York; Stephanie Kelly and Alex Lawler, in London; Mohi Nrayan, in New Delhi, and Katya Glubkova, in Tokyo. Editing by Mark Potter and Kirby Donovan.
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After a massive blackout, power returns to Paraguay’s capital.
Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, began receiving power on Wednesday after some transmission lines were taken offline. This knocked out power in much of South America. The state power company ANDE said that one of the transmissions lines was re-started, and it is normalizing the?power distribution in Asuncion and its surrounding metropolitan area. ANDE released a statement saying that "technicians are continuing to do the necessary work to restore service across the country." The outage affected the northern and eastern regions of the country. Drivers in the capital were thrown into chaos when traffic lights went dark. The blackout occurred as Paraguay is experiencing the austral summer, with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius. The state water utility ESSAP said that its services may also be affected by the "blackout". ANDE stated that it was 'investigating the cause of the outage. (Reporting and writing by Daniela Deantis, Sarah Morland, Cassandra Garrison).
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The Argentine maritime workers’ strike for reform of labor halts grain shipments
The Argentine maritime workers of the maritime workers federation FESIMAF began a 48-hour walkout on Wednesday in protest against a planned 'labor reform', which was deemed by the grain exporters' chamber to be paralyzing shipments through the nation's ports. Argentina is the top grain supplier in the world, and it's also the largest exporter of soy oil and meal. Gustavo Idigoras is the president of Argentina’s CIARA CEC grain exporters chamber. He added, "We think it's a purely political measure which is a long way from any specific needs." The FESIMAF stated that the strike action, which comes one day before the planned walkout nationwide called by Argentina's powerful CGT labour federation, is to "defend the workers' rights in the workplace and their job security from the proposed changes in labor laws. The SOEA oilseed crushing union in Argentina has also announced that it will be on strike for 24 hours on Thursday. Daniel Succi, leader of SOEA, said in a press release: "We condemn this misnamed modernization which only seeks to?legalize labor setbacks and destruction of thousands jobs. We also condemn the dismantling our national industry." The strike was a protest of President Javier Milei’s proposed labor reform bill. It would limit the right to strike and cap severance payments, tighten sick leave, and limit the ability for workers to claim damages following dismissal. The reform package, a flagship for Milei’s administration, is being strongly opposed by Argentine unions who claim that it threatens the long-standing protections of workers. According to industry sources, the maritime strike would disrupt services such as cargo loading,?unloading and pilot transfers, and other commercial vessel activities, especially in the port of Rosario. Rosario is one of the largest agricultural export hubs around the world. Guillermo Wade of the 'Chamber of Port and Maritime Activities' told ' Earlier on Wednesday, Guillermo Wade, manager of the?Chamber of Port and Maritime Activities told? The lower house of Argentina is scheduled to discuss the bill Thursday after it was approved by the Senate last Monday. (Reporting and writing by Maximilian Heath and Nicolas Misculin; Writing and editing by Aida Pelaez Fernandez and Sarah Morland, and Lucinda Elliot, Chizu Nomiyama, and Alistair Bell).
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Canadian arbitrator upholds Air Canada wage agreement
The Canadian arbitrator has largely accepted Air Canada's offer to increase its flight attendants' salaries by more than 20% in four years. This puts an end to the bitter dispute that led to a four-day cabin crew strike of 2025. The arbitrator's ruling is a blow for flight attendants, who had demanded higher wages. They claimed that the raises Air Canada offered did not cover their rising cost of living in cities like Toronto. The tentative agreement was signed between the airline, the Canadian Union of Public Employees in August 2025. However, the wage issue went to arbitration after both sides were unable to reach an agreement. The union stated that the arbitrator Paula Knopf?found wage rates offered by Canadian Airlines were generally within normative ranges for this sector, and needed to be evaluated in light of other improvement,' According to the agreement, flight attendants are now paid for their work both on the ground and in the air. They receive a portion of the hourly wage for tasks such as boarding passengers. Cabin crew unions in North America have been pushing this change for a few year now. Delta Air Lines will be one of the first companies to offer ground compensation in 2022. Knopf has also increased the wages offered to employees of Rouge, Canada's budget airline. They argue that the rates must not be lower than other Canadian airlines. (Reporting and editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri in Bengaluru)
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New York tunnel construction will resume after Trump releases funding
New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced that construction on the massive $16 billion Hudson Tunnel Project would resume next week, after the Trump?administration released $127?million of frozen funding on Wednesday. New York and New Jersey filed a lawsuit after the U.S. Department of Transportation withheld $200 million in funding from the project since October 1, 2017. The funding freeze led to a construction halt on February 6, which put 1,000 workers unemployed. The Hudson Tunnel Project is aimed at building a new commuter train tunnel between Manhattan and?New Jersey, and repairing a century-old one used by over 200,000 passengers and 425 trains?daily. Hochul posted on social media that the new law was "a major victory for commuters and workers." "We will continue to fight for the federal government to meet its commitments." The Department of Transportation has not yet commented on whether it intends to withhold future funds for this project. Sources said that Republican President Donald Trump had offered to unfreeze funds last month in exchange for Democrats' support to rename Washington Dulles Airport, and New York Penn Station, after him. Democrats strongly criticised the suggestion. The Hudson Tunnel, which was heavily damaged by hurricane Sandy in 2012, requires frequent emergency repairs, causing travel to be disrupted on the country's busiest passenger rail line. Trump posted on Monday, 'on social media, that he was against the project and worried about cost overruns of billions of dollars. Trump stated that "Gateway would be a financial catastrophe for the region if hard work and proper preparation is not done NOW to avoid future cost overruns insurmountable," Hochul claimed that she called Trump Monday, after his posting and informed him that the project did not face cost issues. U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas has ordered the federal government to release funding for this project. Under then-Democratic President Joe Biden, the project received federal funding of about $15 billion. So far, nearly $2 billion has already been spent. (Reporting and editing by Edmund Klamann; David Shepardson)
MOL finds alternative oil supply as Druzhba Pipeline Outage drags on
Officials said that the MOL group of Hungary has ordered tankers to deliver?Saudi oil, Norwegian oil, Kazakh, Libyan, and Russian to its?Hungarian refineries. It also halted diesel deliveries to Ukraine in an effort to fix a Druzhba pipe outage.
MOL's refineries have been struggling since the supply halt, which Ukraine claims was caused by a Russian attack on the pipeline infrastructure that occurred on January 27, 2013.
The Slovak Government approved a loan for 250,000 tons of oil on Wednesday.
Both countries blame Ukraine for the delay in resuming the flow of funds for political reasons.
Hungary and Ukraine are not friends. Slovak Premier Robert Fico accused Ukraine of blackmail on Wednesday, in an attempt to change Hungary's position against Ukraine's EU membership.
MOL ORDERS MORE OIL VIA ADRIATIC PIPELELINE
MOL is ordering more oil from Croatian port Omisalj through the Adriatic Pipeline and finalising a deal with Croatian pipeline operator JANAF.
MOL responded to questions about the procurement of REB and alternative crude oil from Saudi Arabia and other countries, including Kazakhstan, Norway and Libya, in an email. questions.
Gabriel Szabo, the chief executive of MOL's Slovak Slovnaft unit, said that the company will start drawing on the state loan to secure limited operations in the next month and has contracted seven tankers with non-Russian crude oil to Croatia which would allow them to return to full capacity by April.
Hungary and Slovakia also requested the European Commission on Wednesday to enforce a regulation that would allow them to purchase Russian oil through maritime routes in case pipeline deliveries were not possible.
It would be the same route via Croatia, whose economy?ministry said that its pipeline could transport more oil but should not be Russian.
BLAMING UKRAINE
Viktor Orban is the Hungarian prime minister who opposes Ukraine’s plan to enter the EU. He faces a difficult election in April and said: "Ukraine blackmails Hungary. It has stopped oil flow on the Druzhba Pipeline. We need?to tap into the strategic reserves."
Denisa Sakova, Slovak Economy Minister, told a press conference that Ukraine had repeatedly delayed the anticipated restart of supplies.
Fico, the Slovak leader, repeated Orban's remarks about suspected blackmail. He said that, if true, Ukraine would lose its support for EU membership.
UKRAINE REITERATES OUTAGE DUE ATTACK:
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry?spokesperson reaffirmed its position, saying that: "The reason for the stoppage was Russian drone attacks, Ukraine is a trustworthy transitor."
Fico claimed that Slovak intelligence indicated the damaged installation near Brody had been repaired. He added that Slovak officials demanded to see the pipeline installation.
Slovnaft is the largest fuel exporter in Slovakia. It exports to the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Ukraine. Cutting exports to the Czech Republic is one of the key measures it takes to supply the domestic market.
Hungary announced that it would stop all diesel exports to Ukraine pending the Druzhba power outage.
(source: Reuters)