Asia-Pacific airlines carried more people and cargo in April than a year earlier despite the week-long flight disruptions caused by the Icelandic volcanic eruption. International passenger numbers hit 15.2 million last month, up 11.7%, while traffic measured in revenue-passenger kilometers grew by 8.9%. Total seat capacity increased by a modest 1.2% which helped push load factor up 5.6 percentage points to 78.4%.

Budget airline Tiger Airways, which took Swissport to court for early termination of contract, has been awarded S$4.7 million in damages by the Singapore High Court. It is not yet known whether the ground-handling company will appeal. January last year, Swissport informed Tiger Airways and three other airline customers, AirAsia, Northwest Airlines and Swiss International, that it would pull out of Changi Airport after four loss-making years and would terminate all existing contracts.

Comac plans to use carbon-fiber composite for the center wingbox of its 156-seat C919 narrowbody airliner but stick to aluminum for the outer wing to limit technical risk. The manufacturer aims to develop a completely composite wing for later versions of the aircraft, says an industry source closely involved in the effort. The company’s other project, the ARJ21, is suffering more serious delays.