Japan Airlines’ retirement of its 747 fleet, once the world’s largest, has prompted the Japanese government to bring forward its plan to replace the two 747-400s it uses as official transports. Additional aircraft will be considered for short and medium services, for which the Mitsubishi Aircraft MRJ regional jet is expected be a candidate—and perhaps the reason for the requirement.

BEIJING — Attempting to acquire 60 highly capable fighters within a limited budget, South Korea is calling for a further and final round of bids for the F-X Phase 3. The program will be reconsidered if all three bidders again exceed the 8.3 trillion won ($7.2 billion) budget, as they did in their initial offers, local media report.

A second program delay has dashed the small remaining hope of the Comac C919 entering service on schedule in 2016. The first flight of the 158-seat aircraft, delayed earlier this year by about nine months from the original target of June 2014, will not take place until the end of 2015, says the director of an expert committee that is advising the cabinet on the program. That leaves only one year for flight-testing to meet the already doubtful end-2016 target for first delivery.