Alaska Air Group is watching the jet fuel market "optimistically" as the USA and Iran move towards signing an agreement later this week that could lead to a longer-term peace deal. "I think it's still early days, and we're still watching. There's still a lot to be discovered from this, from what we've heard," Jason Berry, executive vice-president and chief operating officer of Alaska Air Group, told Cirium on 16 June. "I'm encouraged – I can say that. You're seeing already the market reacting, but I think it's still a long, long time until we really know what that does to the impact of fuel for us." He adds: "So we're watching optimistic, but still we're prepared for sort of running every sort of scenario we can to be ready." The war in Iran, launched by the USA and Israel on 28 February, made jet fuel more expensive for airlines after a major oil thoroughfare, the Strait of Hormuz, was closed. Back on 3 June, Alaska Air Group's chief financial officer Shane Tackett said at the TD Cowen 10th Annual Future of the Consumer Conference that he saw the jet fuel market as stable as it has been since mid-February and early March when the Iran conflict started. He noted at that time that jet fuel spot prices were below $3.80 per gallon, having come off highs of $5 and then being "pretty sticky" at between $4.50-$4.70 through the latter half of the first quarter and first half of the second quarter. Tackett said the tickets Alaska was selling at that moment were "probably covering [the increase in the] spot price of fuel in their entirety".

Alaska Air Group expects certification of the Boeing 737 Max 7 to be completed in July. The company's executive vice-president and chief operating officer, Jason Berry, tells, that Alaska is "watching closely" the certification and has "high confidence in Boeing at this point". "I just chatted with them a few days ago. They remain confident," he says, speaking on 16 June at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new maintenance hangar at Portland International airport in Oregon. Alaska does not have orders for the Max 7 but has outstanding orders for 161 of the larger Max 10 variants, Cirium fleets data shows. It also has outstanding orders for nine Max 8s. The company's in-service 737 Max fleet consists of 18 Max 8s and 80 Max 9s. He adds that Alaska expects the Max 10 to be certificated in the autumn, and plans to take its first of the type at the end of the first quarter of 2027, or early in the second quarter of that year. "There's a lot of work being done, but I would tell you, line of sight is getting closer and closer every day, and we remain confident that we'll take the delivery of our first Max 10 on time."

FlySafair does not expect an update from regulators on the proposed sale of the airline to a consortium until later this year. A proposal to sell the Johannesburg-based carrier to the Harith Aviation group has reached the stage of formal filings with competition and licensing authorities, with approval from South African regulators still pending, marketing chief Kirby Gordon told Cirium at the AviaDev conference in Botswana's capital Gaborone on 12 June. He says he is not expecting to hear anything until the third quarter of the year "at the earliest", or perhaps the fourth quarter, "just by virtue of the kind of timelines that they ordinarily take to work through deals of this magnitude". Harith General Partners is co-ordinating the acquisition of the low-cost airline, but is only a minority investor, with the bulk of funds coming from institutional investors across Africa, notes Gordon. FlySafair is currently 50% owned by a South African trust, 25% by a South African Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) fund and 25% by Ireland's ASL Aviation, he specifies. The current management team is set to be retained upon completion of the deal, with the stated aim of the prospective owners to maintain and sustain current performance rather than implement major strategic shifts. "There's no sort of massive strategic change that's intended," says Gordon, adding: "They're very well entrenched as a group of investors in infrastructure across Africa really... so the view is really to take an asset that is outperforming and effectively try to maintain that performance." Harith General Partners has an ownership stake in Lanseria airport, but Gordon does not foresee any requirement for FlySafair to shift its headquarters there. The airline does operate from Lanseria. FlySafair has agreed to add its first Boeing 737 Max jets to its fleet when it receives three leased from AerCap in the first quarter of 2028. In addition, two 737NGs will be placed with the South African carrier, with deliveries of those set to begin in the third quarter of 2026. Cirium data shows that FlySafair has 35 737NGs in service and two in storage. It has phased out its four 737-400s, says Gordon. FlySafair's network is primarily focused on domestic routes within South Africa, such as the Johannesburg-Cape Town-Durban "golden triangle". The airline also operates some regional services. Gordon says this focus will continue in its future network strategy. Following the spike in jet fuel prices, plans for a Lanseria-East London service have been put on hold, and surcharges introduced. Gordon acknowledges that the carrier has seen demand drop off "quite considerably" as South Africans feel the "pinch in their pockets" from rising fuel and other costs. But he says the impact of the price surge has been lessened for carriers in the country by its timing during the winter season, when aircraft are parked for maintenance.