Christian Duhain has been appointed managing director-Asia-Pacific for AJ Walter Aviation's Singapore office. He was corporate VP-international development for Asia-Pacific and Latin America at EADS.

That it is not Ryanair but Lion Air that is now placing the biggest narrowbody orders shows how much the center of gravity in the air transport industry is shifting to the Far East.

Rob Jager has been appointed a non-executive director of Air New Zealand, effective April 1. He has been general manager of Shell Todd Oil Services, Shell country chair and chairman of Shell Companies in New Zealand.

Lufthansa, British Airways emerge as potential 777X early customers

Gregory O. Principato, president of Washington-based Airports Council International-North America, will leave the organization on June 30 “to seek new challenges and opportunities.”

In the first quarter of 2013, Delta Air Lines expected to pay $2 billion more for fuel than it did in the first quarter of 2000, the peak of what was then a steep upturn. That Delta is still likely to make a profit in the seasonally weakest period of the year—and in a still challenging economic environment—shows how much the carrier has changed.

If time is money, precision is capacity, and the Ground-Based Augmentation System (GBAS) can make the most of both. The 2013 Laurel for IT recognizes the multiple engineering challenges overcome by a team—including the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Honeywell Aerospace and United Airlines—that spent years preparing to go live with GBAS hardware in 2010 only to have to go back to the drawing board because of radio-frequency interference. Because of their persistence, GBAS is already proving the benefits of higher precision at one of the most congested U.S.

Yann Barbaux (see photo) has been appointed chief innovation officer for Toulouse-based Airbus. He was head of EADS Innovation Works, which he created and developed.