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China’s factory output grew slower than expected last month as trade war pressures bit, official data showed Monday, while a bump in a key gauge of domestic consumption offered a rare bright spot for the economy.The United States and China this month agreed to a temporary truce in a blistering trade war that saw tariffs hiked to eye-watering levels and upended global supply chains.And the impact of the standoff was highlighted Monday as a report showed industrial production grew just 5.8 percent last month, below the 6.0 percent predicted in a survey of economists by Bloomberg.That was below a forecast-beating 6.1 percent in April, according to the data published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).”Weaker external demand was partly to blame,” Zichun Huang, China Economist at Capital Economics said in note.”Despite the tariff truce, the contraction in industrial sales for export appears to have deepened last month.”However, retail sales  — a key gauge of consumer demand — grew 6.4 percent year-on-year in May, according to the NBS, topping the 4.9 percent forecast in the Bloomberg survey and sharply up from April’s 5.1 percent increase.Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, wrote in a note that the retail sales figures “came as a surprise” — pointing to the possible impact of a government trade-in programme for consumer goods.The NBS said the world’s number two economy “maintained stability” last month as authorities “stepped up the implementation of more proactive and effective macro policies”.But it added that “there are still many unstable and uncertain external factors, and the internal momentum for expanding domestic demand needs to be further strengthened”.Beijing has struggled to sustain strong growth since the pandemic, grappling with deep-seated problems at home including a persistent slump in domestic consumption and a debt crisis in the property sector.Commercial property prices in a representative group of 70 cities fell month-on-month in May, reflecting continued consumer caution, the NBS said.The surveyed unemployment rate — another closely watched figure as millions of young people struggle to find suitable work — edged down to five percent in May from 5.1 percent the previous month, the bureau said.China is targeting economic growth of around five percent this year.But the picture has been complicated by trade tensions with Washington that erupted in a gruelling tit-for-tat tariff war after US President Donald Trump took office in January.The two sides have since agreed a pause on retaliatory levies but have not yet announced a lasting deal.

The partnership between US Steel and Nippon Steel has reached a new phase, with an agreement on US national security guarantees, in addition to the so-called “golden share” advantage obtained by President Donald Trump’s administration.On Friday evening, Trump signed an executive order approving the partnership, bringing an end to the long-running saga over foreign ownership of a key national asset which began in December 2023, when US Steel and Nippon Steel announced plans for a $14.9 billion merger. Nippon’s acquisition of US Steel was held up by former president Joe Biden, who blocked it in his last weeks in the White House on national security grounds.Trump initially opposed Nippon Steel’s takeover plan, calling for US Steel to remain domestically owned, but he threw his support behind a “partnership” in May.”US Steel will REMAIN in America, and keep its Headquarters in the Great City of Pittsburgh,” the US president said in a Truth Social post.In a joint statement, US Steel and Nippon Steel said Trump “has approved the Companies’ historic partnership that will unleash unprecedented investments in steelmaking in the United States, protecting and creating more than 100,000 jobs.””In addition to President Trump’s Executive Order approving the partnership, the Companies have entered into a National Security Agreement (NSA) with the US Government,” they said, which calls for approximately $11 billion in new investments to be made by 2028.Trump’s executive order did not provide details about the NSA, but he reserved the authority to issue further orders “as shall in my judgment be necessary to protect the national security of the United States.”Friday’s announcement follows a review of the deal by the government’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which is tasked with analyzing the national security implications of foreign takeovers of US companies. On Saturday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick insisted on the need for the “perpetual Golden Share,” which gives the US government the right to block any action it so chooses.Lutnick did not elaborate on the precise value of the share, saying only that it had “powerful terms that directly benefit and protect America, Pennsylvania, the great steelworkers of US Steel, and US manufacturers.”He gave a list of examples of actions that the US government would have to approve, including any relocation of US Steel headquarters, moving the company outside the United States, changing its name or moving jobs outside the country.

Oil prices soared and stocks sank Friday after Israel launched strikes on Iran, prompting retaliation from Tehran and stoking fears of a full-blown war.Oil futures rocketed more than 13 percent at one point before coming back to gains nearer seven percent, reigniting worries about a renewed spike to inflation.After a down day in Europe and Asia, Wall Street indices spent the entire day in the red before finishing the day down more than one percent.”After having a pretty solid run in May and the first part of June, markets found an excuse to take some profits,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist of B. Riley Wealth.Shares in major airlines tumbled after flights around the Middle East were suspended.The dollar climbed higher, while gold — viewed as a safe haven investment — was close to its record high of above $3,500 an ounce set in April, having added around 30 percent since the start of the year.The drop in equities and rise in safe-haven assets “all go to show just how fragile sentiment remains in the face of major geopolitical events,” said David Morrison, senior market analyst at financial services provider Trade Nation. “The question now is whether investors view this flare-up as a relatively contained incident within the longstanding animosity between Israel and Iran, or if this is the spark that ignites a conflagration across the Middle East and then beyond?”On Friday, Iran fired a barrage of ballistic missiles at Israel in a counter-strike just hours after the Israeli strikes targeting the Islamic republic’s nuclear facilities and bases.Air raid sirens and explosions rang out across Israel after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to the airways to issue a word of caution, saying he expected “several waves of Iranian attacks” in response.Smoke could later be seen billowing above the skyscrapers in downtown Tel Aviv, according to an AFP journalist, as Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had attacked dozens of targets in Israel.While Friday was a decisively negative day for equities, analysts described the selling as orderly.Investors “are paring back some risk, but this is hardly a panicky sell-off,” said Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers.The market is partially in “a wait and see approach to what happens over the weekend because it’s obviously a very fluid volatile situation,” Sosnick added.But further escalation would add more upward pressure to oil prices.Matthew Ryan, head of market strategy at global financial services firm Ebury, said: “The big fear for investors is that an escalation to the tensions will not only raise the risk of a prolonged conflict, but it could disrupt Iranian oil production.”Rising oil prices have “broader implications,” Ryan said, noting that they “could both weigh on the global growth outlook and keep inflationary pressures higher for longer.”This would complicate the decision-making of major central banks, which will have to decide between raising interest rates to curb inflation or cutting them to stimulate economies.- Key figures at around 2040 GMT -Brent North Sea Crude: UP 7.0 percent at $74.23 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 7.3 percent at $72.98 per barrelNew York – Dow:  DOWN 1.8 percent at 42,197.79 (close)New York – S&P 500: DOWN 1.1 percent at 5,976.97 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 1.3 percent at 19,406.83 (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.4 percent at 8,850.63 (close)Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 1.0 percent at 7,684.68 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 1.1 percent at 23,516.23 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.9 percent at 37,834.25 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.6 percent at 23,892.56 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.8 percent at 3,377.00 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1540 from $1.1584 on ThursdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3560 from $1.3613Dollar/yen: UP at 144.04 yen from 143.48 yenEuro/pound: UP at 85.11 pence from 85.09 penceburs-jmb/sst

War, tariffs and the Air India crash will cast a shadow over the Paris Air Show as the aerospace industry’s biggest annual gathering opens on Monday.More than 2,400 companies from 48 countries are showing off their hardware at the week-long event at Le Bourget airfield on the outskirts of Paris.The sales rivalry between Airbus and Boeing usually drives the headlines as the world’s top civilian planemakers announce many of their biggest orders at the air show.But this year’s event “is much more complex”, said Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury, who also chairs the board of the Gifas association of French aerospace firms that organises the biennial event.The list of challenges is growing.Russia’s war in Ukraine is stretching into its fourth year and there are fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East after Israel launched strikes on Iran on Friday, disrupting commercial flights across the region.The world economy is expected to slow sharply after US President Donald Trump launched his tariff blitz in April.And Boeing is facing a new crisis after Thursday’s crash of a 787 Dreamliner operated by Air India in the city of Ahmedabad, which killed at least 265 people on board and on the ground.Boeing chief executive Kelly Ortberg cancelled plans to attend the Paris Air Show to focus on the investigation into the crash.Prior to the tragedy, Boeing had been making progress under a new leadership as the US company sought to restore trust after a series of safety and quality lapses.Boeing and its European rival, Airbus, have also been dealing with delays in delivering aircraft due to supply chain issues.- Trade war -US President Donald Trump’s tariff onslaught has added to the issues facing the industry, which relies on a global supply chain.Trump imposed 10 percent tariffs on US imports of goods from nearly every country in April, and steeper levies on dozens of countries could kick in next month.The Trump administration is also mulling whether to impose sector-specific tariffs of between 10 and 20 percent on civil aircraft and parts.The heads of Airbus and Boeing have both called for tariffs to return to zero as had been the case since a 1979 agreement.”The entire Western aerospace industry considers that would be the best that could happen,” said Faury.In a recent interview with trade journal Aviation Week, Ortberg warned that that tariffs are an added cost for Boeing, which has been financially weakened in recent years by production problems. We’re “not in a position to pass those (costs) along to our customers,” he told Aviation Week. “I’m hopeful that, as each of these country-by-country negotiations resolve, those tariffs will go away in the long run.”The tariff problems come as the industry has yet to fully recover from effects of the Covid pandemic on its supply chain.Airbus is having trouble getting enough fuel-efficient engines for its top-selling A320 family of single-aisle jets, holding back the delivery of around 40 aircraft.The main bottleneck is a lack of toilets for widebody aircraft, said Christian Scherer, the head of Airbus’s commercial aircraft division.- Fighter jets -The Paris Air Show is also about showing off the latest military hardware, at a time of conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.European countries are boosting defence budgets in the face of the Ukraine war and fears about Trump’s commitment to the NATO alliance.”The geostrategic environment has led us to bolster this aspect which was in the background in previous years,” said Gifas head Frederic Parisot.Some 75 companies related to weapons production will be participating at the show, with military jets, helicopters and drones to be displayed.Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fifth-generation stealth multirole fighter will be featured, along with the Rafale produced by France’s Dassault Aviation.Nine Israeli companies — fewer than in the past — are expected to have displays after a French court rejected a bid by NGOs to ban them over their alleged role in the Gaza conflict.

Oil prices soared and stocks sank Friday after Israel launched strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites and warned of more to come, stoking fears of a full-blown war.Investors ran for the hills on news of the attacks and a warning from Tehran that its regional foe faced a “bitter and painful” fate, while US President Donald Trump has said a “massive conflict” in the region was possible. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement: “This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.”We struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme. We targeted Iran’s main enrichment facility at Natanz. We also struck at the heart of Iran’s ballistic missile programme,” he added.Nuclear scientists “working on the Iranian bomb” had also been hit, he said.Army officials said intelligence showed the country was approaching the “point of no return” on its atomic programme and could obtain a nuclear weapon in a “short period of time”.In Tehran, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Israel would suffer severe consequences, issuing a statement that said: “With this crime, the Zionist regime has set itself for a bitter and painful fate and it will definitely receive it.”Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz had earlier cautioned that “a missile and drone attack against the State of Israel and its civilian population is expected in the immediate future”.Trump previously said he believed a “pretty good” deal on Iran’s nuclear programme was “fairly close”, but that an Israeli strike on the country could wreck the chances of an agreement.A US official said there had been no US involvement in the operation.Still, there are worries the United States could be sucked into the crisis after Iran threatened this week to target US military bases in the region if a regional conflict broke out.And on Friday, the foreign ministry in Tehran said the United States would be “responsible for the consequences” of the attacks, adding that they “cannot have been carried out without the coordination and permission” of Washington.- Supply worries -Both main oil contracts, which had rallied earlier in the week on rising tensions, spiked more than 12 percent — hitting levels not seen since January — amid fears about supplies of the commodity.They later eased back slightly after Iran said its key refineries and fuel depots were unaffected, though they still remained well above five percent.The rush from risk assets to safe havens saw equity markets across Asia and Europe tumble and bonds rally with gold, which popped above $3,400 an ounce. US futures were deep in the red.”The Middle East powder keg just blew the lid off global markets,” said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.”Equity futures are plummeting. Bond yields are sinking. Gold and oil are skyrocketing,” he added.”Brent crude futures are racing toward the mid-$70s range — but if the Strait of Hormuz, which accounts for 20 percent of global oil flows, finds itself in the blast radius, you can add another $15 to the bid.”If Iran holds back, we get a relief bounce. But if missiles start raining down on Tel Aviv or Tehran retaliates with real teeth, we’re staring down a scenario that could redefine the macro narrative for the rest of 2025.”Banking giant JPMorgan Chase had warned just this week that prices could top $130 if the worst-case scenario developed.Market sentiment had already been low after Trump sounded his trade war klaxon again by saying he would be sending letters within the next two weeks to other countries’ governments to announce unilateral levies on their exports to the United States.The “take it or leave it” deal spurred fears he would reimpose the eye-watering tolls announced on April 2 that tanked markets before he announced a 90-day pause.- Key figures at around 0810 GMT -West Texas Intermediate: UP 5.4 percent at $71.75 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 5.4 percent at $73.11 per barrelTokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.9 percent at 37,834.25 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.6 percent at 23,892.56 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.8 percent at 3,377.00 (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.5 percent at 8,838.12 Dollar/yen: UP at 143.76 yen from 143.56 yen on ThursdayEuro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1542 from $1.1583Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3564 from $1.3605Euro/pound: DOWN at 85.08 pence from 85.11 penceNew York – Dow: UP 0.2 percent at 42,967.62 (close)

A London-bound passenger jet crashed in a residential area in the Indian city of Ahmedabad on Thursday, killing at least 265 people on board and on the ground — but one passenger has miraculously survived.An AFP journalist saw bodies being recovered from the crash site, and the back of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner — which had 242 passengers and crew on board — hanging over the edge of a building it hit around lunchtime.The government opened a formal investigation into the cause of the crash, and rescue teams worked into Friday morning scouring the charred wreckage with sniffer dogs.”The tragedy in Ahmedabad has stunned and saddened us,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after Air India’s flight 171 crashed following takeoff. “It is heartbreaking beyond words”.Deputy Commissioner of Police Kanan Desai told reporters said that “265 bodies have reached the hospital”.That suggests that at least 24 people died when the jet ploughed into a medical staff hostel in a blazing fireball — and that the toll may rise further as more bodies are located.- ‘Devastating’ -The AFP journalist saw a building ablaze after the crash, with thick black smoke billowing into the air, and a section of the plane on the ground.”One half of the plane crashed into the residential building where doctors lived with their families,” said Krishna, a doctor who did not give his full name.”The nose and front wheel landed on the canteen building where students were having lunch,” he said.Krishna said he saw “about 15 to 20 burnt bodies”, while he and his colleagues rescued around 15 students.India’s civil aviation authority said two pilots and 10 cabin crew were among the 242 people on board.Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese, and a Canadian on board the flight bound for London’s Gatwick airport.UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the scenes from the crash were “devastating”, while the country’s King Charles III said he was “desperately shocked”.- ‘Sole survivor’ -But while everyone aboard the flight was initially feared killed, state health official Dhananjay Dwivedi told AFP “one survivor is confirmed” and had been hospitalised.Air India said in a statement that the “sole survivor is being treated in a hospital”, adding that the “survivor is a British national of Indian origin”.The survivor is believed to be 40-year-old Vishwash Kumar Ramesh. India’s Home Minister Amit Shah told reporters he was speaking to them “after meeting him”.The BBC and Britain’s Press Association news agency spoke to Ramesh’s family members.”He said, ‘I have no idea how I exited the plane'”, his brother Nayan Kumar Ramesh, 27, told PA in the British city of Leicester.- ‘Devastating’ -The plane issued a mayday call and “crashed immediately after takeoff”, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said.Ahmedabad, the main city of India’s Gujarat state, is home to around eight million people and the busy airport is surrounded by densely packed residential areas.”When we reached the spot, there were several bodies lying around and firefighters were dousing the flames,” resident Poonam Patni told AFP.”Many of the bodies were burned,” she said.The AFP journalist saw medics using a cart to load bodies into an ambulance, while a charred metal bed frame stood surrounded by burnt wreckage.US planemaker Boeing said it was in touch with Air India and stood “ready to support them” over the incident, which a source close to the case said was the first crash for a 787 Dreamliner.The UK and US air accident investigation agencies announced they were dispatching teams to support their Indian counterparts.Tata Group, owners of Air India, offered financial aid of 10 million rupees ($117,000) to “the families of each person who has lost their life in this tragedy”, as well as funds to cover medical expenses of those injured.India has suffered a series of fatal air crashes, including a 1996 disaster when two jets collided mid-air over New Delhi, killing nearly 350 people.In 2010, an Air India Express jet crashed and burst into flames at Mangalore airport in southwest India, killing 158 of the 166 passengers and crew on board.Experts said it was too early to speculate on what may have caused Thursday’s crash.”It is very unlikely that the plane was overweight or carrying too much fuel,” said Jason Knight, senior lecturer in fluid mechanics at the University of Portsmouth.”The aircraft is designed to be able to fly on one engine, so the most likely cause of the crash is a double engine failure. The most likely cause of a double engine failure is a bird strike.”India’s airline industry has boomed in recent years with Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), last month calling it “nothing short of phenomenal”.The growth of its economy has made India and its 1.4 billion people the world’s fourth-largest air market — domestic and international — with IATA projecting it will become the third biggest within the decade.

The dollar plunged on Thursday after US President Donald Trump threatened higher unilateral tariffs on trade partners, and oil see-sawed as traders evaluated the probability behind reports that Israel could be gearing up to strike Iran.Stocks traded mixed as investors navigated the double whammy of returning trade uncertainty and geopolitical volatility, while Boeing’s share price slumped sharply in the wake of a deadly 787 Dreamliner crash in India.In New York, investors cheered benign US producer price data and a successful US Treasury auction that sent yields lower.But markets were leery after Trump on Wednesday said he would be sending letters within the next two weeks to other countries’ governments to announce unilateral US levies on their exports to America.”This is the deal, you can take it or leave it,” Trump told reporters.Investor unease about Trump’s trade rhetoric is “causing a little bit of selling,” said Jack Ablin of Cresset Capital Management.In the end, the S&P 500 finished up 0.4 percent after a see-saw session. All European stock markets finished lower, except London, which posted an uptick despite official data showing the UK economy shrank more than expected in April.The dollar was down against the euro, and at one point fell by more than one percent to its lowest point in three years against the European single currency.”Trump has done it again. The US president has rattled markets with fresh threats of unilateral tariff rates on several trading partners,” said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at FOREX.com.Markets were also following reports that Israel was poised to launch airstrikes on Iran.Trump called Thursday on Israel not to attack Iran, saying a deal on its nuclear program remained close.But Iran has ramped up rhetorical pressure before upcoming talks, including with a threat to strike American bases in the region if the negotiations break down and conflict erupts.Oil prices, which had initially jumped on Wednesday on the heightened tensions, flipped direction for much Thursday, finishing modestly lower.Back in New York, Boeing dropped nearly five percent after a London-bound Air India plane — a Boeing 787 —  crashed in Ahmedabad with 242 people aboard.The US planemaker declared itself ready to support Air India following the crash, the first involving a 787 Dreamliner.- Key figures at around 2015 GMT -New York – Dow:  UP 0.2 percent at 42,967.62 (close)New York – S&P 500: UP 0.4 percent at 6,045.26 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 19,662.49 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 8,884.92 (close)Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.1 percent at 7,765.11 (close) Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.7 percent at 23,771.45 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.7 percent at 38,173.09 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.4 percent at 24,035.38 (close)Shanghai – Composite: FLAT at 3,402.66 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1583 from $1.1487 on WednesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3605 from $1.3547Dollar/yen: DOWN at 143.56 yen from 144.56 yenEuro/pound: UP at 85.11 pence from 84.79 penceBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.6 $69.36 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.2 percent at $68.04 per barrel

A London-bound passenger jet crashed in a residential area in the Indian city of Ahmedabad on Thursday, killing at least 260 people on board and on the ground — but one passenger is believed to have survived.An AFP journalist saw bodies being recovered from the crash site, and the back of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner — which had 242 passengers and crew on board — hanging over the edge of a building it hit around lunchtime.The government opened a formal investigation into the cause of the crash, and rescue teams worked overnight scouring the charred wreckage with sniffer dogs.”The tragedy in Ahmedabad has stunned and saddened us,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after Air India’s flight 171 crashed following takeoff. “It is heartbreaking beyond words”.Police commissioner Vidhi Chaudhary said the number killed stood at 260 people, suggesting that at least 19 people died when the jet ploughed into a medical staff hostel in a blazing fireball.- ‘Devastating’ -But while everyone aboard the flight was initially feared killed, state health official Dhananjay Dwivedi told AFP “one survivor is confirmed” and had been hospitalised.The AFP journalist saw a building ablaze after the crash, with thick black smoke billowing into the air, and a section of the plane on the ground.”One half of the plane crashed into the residential building where doctors lived with their families,” said Krishna, a doctor who did not give his full name.”The nose and front wheel landed on the canteen building where students were having lunch,” he said.Krishna said he saw “about 15 to 20 burnt bodies”, while he and his colleagues rescued around 15 students.India’s civil aviation authority said there were 242 people aboard, including two pilots and 10 cabin crew.Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese, and a Canadian on board the flight bound for London’s Gatwick airport.UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the scenes from the crash were “devastating”, while the country’s King Charles III said he was “desperately shocked”.But one of the British passengers was reported to have walked out alive — with India’s Home Minister Amit Shah telling reporters he had heard the “good news of the survivor” and was speaking to them “after meeting him”.The BBC and Britain’s Press Association news agency spoke to family members of the reported survivor, 40-year-old Vishwash Kumar Ramesh.”He said, I have no idea how I exited the plane”, his brother Nayan Kumar Ramesh, 27, told PA in the British city of Leicester.- ‘Devastating’ -The plane issued a mayday call and “crashed immediately after takeoff”, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said.Ahmedabad, the main city of India’s Gujarat state, is home to around eight million people and the busy airport is surrounded by densely packed residential areas.”When we reached the spot, there were several bodies lying around and firefighters were dousing the flames,” resident Poonam Patni told AFP.”Many of the bodies were burned,” she said.The AFP journalist saw medics using a cart to load bodies into an ambulance, while a charred metal bed frame stood surrounded by burnt wreckage.US planemaker Boeing said it was in touch with Air India and stood “ready to support them” over the incident, which a source close to the case said was the first crash for a 787 Dreamliner.The UK and US air accident investigation agencies announced they were dispatching teams to support their Indian counterparts.Tata Group, owners of Air India, offered financial aid of 10 million rupees ($117,000) to “the families of each person who has lost their life in this tragedy”, as well as funds to cover medical expenses of those injured.India has suffered a series of fatal air crashes, including a 1996 disaster when two jets collided mid-air over New Delhi, killing nearly 350 people.In 2010, an Air India Express jet crashed and burst into flames at Mangalore airport in southwest India, killing 158 of the 166 passengers and crew on board.Experts said it was too early to speculate on what may have caused Thursday’s crash.”It is very unlikely that the plane was overweight or carrying too much fuel,” said Jason Knight, senior lecturer in fluid mechanics at the University of Portsmouth.”The aircraft is designed to be able to fly on one engine, so the most likely cause of the crash is a double engine failure. The most likely cause of a double engine failure is a bird strike.”India’s airline industry has boomed in recent years with Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), last month calling it “nothing short of phenomenal”.The growth of its economy has made India and its 1.4 billion people the world’s fourth-largest air market — domestic and international — with IATA projecting it will become the third biggest within the decade.