MOSCOW—A Russian government official has confirmed that COVID-19 restrictions have delayed the certification of the country’s new Irkut MC-21 narrowbody commercial airliner.

Fiji Airways has decided to lay off half of its employees and seek additional financing to improve its prospects of surviving the COVID-19 crisis.

The U.S. is girding to ward off Chinese tentacles that could reach into the western aerospace ecosystem after COVID-19. 

The UK has begun firing trials of Thales Lightweight Multirole Missile (LMM) from the Leonardo AW159 Wildcat naval helicopter.

The carrier will no longer considered to be ‘state-run.’

The carrier has extended the suspension of international flights to the end of June.

Routes speaks to Álvaro Leite, chief commercial officer at Aerodom, the VINCI Airports subsidiary that operates six airports in the Dominican Republic.

Welcome to Routes’ weekly look at how the Middle East and African aviation markets are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, helping you understand the schedule changes and manage the impact so we can navigate through this crisis together.