The International Air Transport Association (IATA), in collaboration with Emerton, today released a new study examining bottlenecks in the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) of latest-generation single-aisle aircraft engines—namely LEAP engines from CFM, and Geared Turbofan (GTF) engines from Pratt & Whitney.
The study, Single Aisle Aircraft Engines MRO: Strategic Levers to Address Supply Chain Challenges, highlights how engine durability issues, spare parts shortages, limited spare engine availability, and constrained aftermarket access are disrupting airline operations.
These pressures are creating costly operational challenges, including reduced engine time on wing, increased demand for engine shop visits and more complex airline maintenance planning.
The number of grounded Pratt & Whitney GTF powered aircraft peaked in March 2025 at 648, 28% of the GTF-fleet. These aircraft were awaiting engine shop visits, spare engines or parts. Affected airlines have had to adapt their fleet plans, including by retaining older aircraft, extending leases or leasing additional aircraft, and adjusting capacity.
Urgent Action Needed to Ease Engine MRO Bottlenecks
ECA urges Southern Africa to build resilience as Middle East crisis exposes structural economic vulnerabilities
The UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Subregional Office for Southern Africa (SRO-SA), has called on Southern African countries to accelerate regional integration, strengthen economic resilience and implement coordinated policy responses to mitigate the growing impacts of the ongoing Middle East crisis.
The call was made during a High-Level Regional Dialogue on “Implications of the Middle East Crisis on Southern Africa: Assessing Impacts, Ongoing Mitigation Measures and Building Regional Resilience,” which brought together senior government officials, representatives of regional economic communities, United Nations Resident Coordinators, development partners, private sector leaders, civil society organisations, and policy experts.
Opening the dialogue, Eunice G. Kamwendo, Director of ECA’s Subregional Office for Southern Africa, warned that the crisis represents another major external shock following the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia–Ukraine conflict, threatening to reverse the region’s hard-won macroeconomic gains.
ECA commits to improved delivery for Africa’s prosperity at the mid-year review meeting
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UN- ECA) is working assiduously to drive transformative change across the continent, with a renewed focus on accelerating implementation and delivering results.
The 2nd Quarter Annual Programme Performance Review Meeting (APPRM) of the EAC, held in Addis Ababa from 17-19 June, showcased ECA’s commitment to advancing key priorities, including the AfCFTA, regional value chains, technology and digital transformation, macro-economic policy, finance and planning.
To drive progress, ECA is taking bold steps to accelerate its work program, aiming to achieve 75% of its annual deliverables by the 3rd Quarter APPRM. The organisation is strengthening partnerships with the African Union and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) to fast-track implementation of Agenda 2063 and Agenda 2030.
Key initiatives include, among others, the development of three regional value chains for intensified focus, convening the Committee on Climate Change, Blue Economy, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Management, and launching a pioneering training course on Economic Diplomacy for young diplomats.
Somaliland President Signals Growing Ties with the US, UAE and Israel
In an exclusive interview with i24NEWS on Wednesday, Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi said he could not rule out the possibility of an Israeli military base on Somaliland soil in the future while announcing that direct flights between Israel and the capital Hargeisa would begin “very soon.”
Speaking to i24NEWS’s Middle East Now anchor and correspondent Nicole Zedeck during his historic first public state visit to Israel, Abdullahi said the opening of Somaliland’s first-ever embassy in Jerusalem was a natural extension of the two countries’ relationship. “Normally, embassies are opened in the capitals of individual countries that recognize each other,” he said, adding that Israel was the only country to respond to a letter he sent to 193 nations in May 2025 requesting recognition.
Abdullahi was keen to push back on the characterization of Somaliland as a breakaway region, noting that his country declared independence on June 26, 1960, five days before Somalia, making it older than Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Eritrea, and roughly half the countries on the African continent. “We are not breakaway,” he said. “We became a sovereign country on 26 June, 1960.”
