Russia is taking lessons from NASA's aeronautics and Europe's Clean Sky programs in structuring its new civil aviation research effort, to begin in 2016.

The US Dept. of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported that 743.1 million passengers were transported by US airlines in 2013, the highest annual total since 2008’s 743.3 million passengers.

Indonesia-based Lion Group has signed a training services agreement with Airbus that will see the manufacturer develop training programs that help move the groups’ airlines towards EASA regulatory compliance.

Russia’s and Tunisia’s aviation authorities have agreed to sign a new air service agreement, but it will not change the current situation regarding flights from Moscow and Saint-Petersburg.

International Airlines Group (IAG) has seen a slight improvement in its freight volumes, although it is retaining a weak cargo outlook for 2014-15. “There is maybe some volume recovery, signaling the end of the cargo downturn, but it is too early to ring any bells,” IAG CFO Enrique Dupuy said at the release of IAG’s full-year results.

The ACARS reporting system on the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was taken off air prior to the pilots’ last radio contact with Malaysian ATC, Malaysian defense and transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein said.

Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Najib Razak, has confirmed that the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777-200 operating flight MH370 had its tracking transponders turned off in "what looked like a deliberate action from somebody on board the aircraft."

The search into the baffling disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 operating flight MH370 continues almost a week since it vanished from radar during a routine flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.