Just three weeks before Berlin's shiny new international airport was scheduled to open, officials have called it off, citing problems with fire safety equipment. No new date has been set but the German capital's mayor has said it could be as late as the second half of August.

Der Spiegel international also reports that Lufthansa CEO Christoph Franz has surprised employees in recent days with radical plans for cost-cutting at the German national airline. He wants to combine the airline's low-cost subsidiary Germanwings and large portions of its European flights. The move is intended to reduce costs, but not necessarily fares. 

 Boeing and Airbus suffered major order cancellations last month, with airlines dropping 25 787 Dreamliners and seven A350s, according to data released by the aircraft manufacturers.

The Center for Aviation (CAPA) an organisation delivering market analysis, data and information services to support strategic planning recently produced a report entitled “Etihad Airways gets springboard into Northern Europe with 2.9% stake in Aer Lingus”

The United Kingdom is emerging as an end-game country for the Middle East triumvirate: Emirates has firmly planted itself across the country, Qatar Airways is cosying up to British Airways and Etihad Airways’ 2.9% stake in Aer Lingus has the potential to give it a springboard into the UK, codesharing on Aer Lingus’ wide Ireland-UK network..

Air Scoop , a consultancy reporting on low cost Eu airlines, has updated its initial 2011 report on Ryanair's business model. The goal was to establish a comprehensive report on the most disruptive low-cost airline on the market to serve as reference for future years. It provides a brief, compelling, overview of Ryanair's business model, as well as highlight new elements and evolution in the carrier's development.

DELTA AIR LINES is getting into the oil-refining business. On April 30th, the company announced that a subsidiary, Monroe Energy LLC, would acquire the Trainer refinery complex near Philadelphia. The state of Pennsylvania is providing $30m in assistance (basically in exchange for saving the jobs at the refinery), and Monroe plans to pour some $100m into retooling the complex to "maximise jet fuel production", according to a Delta press release. The newsletter provides a link to an Economist blog article

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