Australia’s December Trade Surplus Expands but Falls Short of Expectations 
Instagram Outage Disrupts Thousands of U.S. Users 
Elon Musk’s SpaceX Acquires xAI in Historic Deal Uniting Space and Artificial Intelligence 
Denso Cuts Profit Forecast Amid U.S. Tariffs and Rising Costs 
Stephen Miran Resigns as White House Economic Adviser Amid Federal Reserve Tenure 
Nvidia, ByteDance, and the U.S.-China AI Chip Standoff Over H200 Exports 
Dollar Steady as Fed Nomination and Japanese Election Shape Currency Markets 
Trump Extends AGOA Trade Program for Africa Through 2026, Supporting Jobs and U.S.-Africa Trade 
Silver Prices Plunge in Asian Trade as Dollar Strength Triggers Fresh Precious Metals Sell-Off 
Boeing Signals Progress on Delayed 777X Program With Planned April First Flight 
Google Cloud and Liberty Global Forge Strategic AI Partnership to Transform European Telecom Services 
Dollar Steadies Ahead of ECB and BoE Decisions as Markets Turn Risk-Off 
Australian Scandium Project Backed by Richard Friedland Poised to Support U.S. Critical Minerals Stockpile 
US-India Trade Bombshell: Tariffs Slashed to 18% — Rupee Soars, Sensex Explodes 
Paul Atkins Emphasizes Global Regulatory Cooperation at Fintech Conference 
Asian Markets Slip as AI Spending Fears Shake Tech, Wall Street Futures Rebound 
Korean Air and Asiana Airlines have signed a new contract worth ₩290 billion or about $260 million. The leading carriers in South Korea have teamed up for an engine maintenance deal.
As per The Korea Times, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines inked the contract on Wednesday, May 12. The usual signing ceremony took place at the latter’s headquarters located in Seoul.
The deal between the Korean carriers
The two major airlines have agreed on terms where Korean Air will be exclusively fixing and maintaining the 22 units of Pratt & Whitney PW4090 engines in the Asiana Airlines fleet of planes. It was said that this is considered as the biggest maintenance deal in aviation agreed on between two local carriers.
This is because, in a common setting, a foreign company is always assigned for the local carrier’s planes’ engine maintenance. In fact, it was mentioned that in the last twenty years, Asiana Airlines relied on the Connecticut-based Pratt & Whitney aerospace company for its engine maintenance.
But now that their contract has expired, Asiana Airlines opted to get the services of a local company, and Korean Air was tapped to continue the task for the former. Part of their contract is for the latter to maintain 22 PW4090 engines in the next five years.
All the maintenance works will be done at Korean Air's Bucheon engine maintenance facility located in Gyeonggi Province. Repairs and regular upkeep of the said engines are part of the deal.
Korean Air and Asiana’s MRO contract and more
The multi-year MRO contract will further allow the two carriers to broaden their cooperation in other tech fields in the airline industry. Flight Global added that this is a significant agreement because the partnership will also pave the way for improvements in the country’s aerospace MRO business.
Meanwhile, the latest transaction between Korean Air and Asiana Airlines comes while the two companies are in the middle of acquisition negotiation. The former is acquiring the latter and with their merger, they will become one of the world’s biggest carriers. However, the deal is delayed due to the required regulatory approval.
