Brunei's department of civil aviation has granted the Chinese-manufactured Comac C909 type certification. The type certification covers ARJ21-700 (C909's former name) and its converted freighter, business, medical and emergency variants, according to a type certificate acceptance report dated 22 October. The certification comes on the heels of Brunei's civil aviation authority accepting the design standards of the Civil Aviation Authority of China on 18 October. With the type certification, Brunei is poised to be the fourth country outside China to operate the regional jet. Startup carrier GallopAir has a letter of intent with Comac to purchase 30 aircraft, with confirmed orders for 15 C909s and 15 convertible orders for the regional jets and C919s. Indonesia's TransNusa and Lao Airlines operate five and two of the type, respectively, while VietJet previously wet-leased a pair of C909s from Chengdu Airlines.

Alaska Airlines is resuming flights late on 23 October after a temporary ground stop that was triggered by an IT outage, its second in four months. Alaska Air Group says in a statement that its airline "experienced an IT outage that affected operations. A temporary ground stop was put in place for Alaska and Horizon. The ground stop was lifted at 11:30 pm Pacific [time]". It has delayed a third quarter earnings call that was scheduled for 24 October "to allow our teams to focus on supporting our guests and the recovery of our operation". Reports indicate the ground stop was requested around 15:30 Pacific time for all Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air flights, but those operated by sister carrier Hawaiian Airlines and partner SkyWest Airlines were not affected. Alaska has issued a general waiver, allowing passengers booked on 23 and 24 October free rebooking up to 27 October. The airline is likely to face significant disruption as it resumes its schedule. Cirium schedules data shows that prior to the outage, it was scheduled to operate 743 flights on 24 October. The latest issue follows another IT outage on 20 July that forced it to ground flights for around three hours.

Safran has raised its 2025 delivery guidance for CFM International Leap engines after 25% higher output in the third quarter than in the second. The French aerospace group – which jointly owns CFM with GE Aerospace – now expects 2025 deliveries to be up 20% year on year. It had previously targeted a 15-20% increase on last year's 1,407 Leap deliveries. In the third quarter, CFM delivered 511 Leap engines, up 40% year on year. For the year to end-September, output was up 21% at 1,240 engines. During a 24 October results call, Safran chief executive Olivier Andries expressed confidence that CFM would catch up with Leap delivery delays that have created a fleet of engine-less Airbus A320neo-family jets at the airframer's assembly lines. On 30 July, Airbus said it had 60 "gliders" in its inventory. The delays were caused initially by supply bottlenecks at GE facilities in 2024 and subsequently by industrial action at Safran's assembly plant in Villaroche, outside Paris, earlier this year. "We had a very strong Q3," Andries says. "I don't see any reason why Q4 should be different than Q3. This is why we have raised our guidance on deliveries of Leap for the full year. If we continue on this rate of weekly deliveries to Airbus, we will catch up by end of October, beginning of November." Andries says CFM is "aligned with Airbus" on Leap volumes for next year and 2027, but still in talks with the airframer about its plan to reach production of 75 A320neo-family jets a month in 2027. "We have engaged in discussion for the Rate 75, and so the discussions are ongoing at the moment," he says. Noting that Airbus "has not said that Rate 75 would be fully reached [across the] full year in 2027", he adds: "We have a joint vision of the number of engines they need for 2026 and 2027. And we are discussing now 2028 and going forward." Andries highlights a Safran decision, disclosed on 13 October, to establish a new assembly line in Morocco for Leap-1As, which are optionally available on A320neo-family jets. Deliveries from that site are scheduled to begin in 2028, and its production volume to reach 350 a year in 2030. Leap production across all sites – Safran's main assembly line in Villaroche, plus a Mexican line which supplies engines to Airbus's US assembly line in Mobile, GE's facilities, and the new Moroccan operation – is targeted to reach 2,500 engines per annum. However, Andries describes engine assembly capacity as "just the tip of the iceberg" of efforts to boost production capacity. "We have to look at the global picture, which is encompassing forging, casting, machining [and] special processes," he says, citing increased engine demand from Airbus, Boeing and Comac. In the third quarter, Safran's propulsion division grew revenue 21% to €4 billion ($4.7 billion). The manufacturer highlights a 16% rise in spare-part sales for CFM56 and high-thrust engines and a 24% increase in commercial engine services, driven largely by Leap hour-based support contracts. Equipment and defence revenue rose 12% to €3 billion, while the aircraft interiors division's turnover increased 10% to €802 million. Safran says a 12% rise in cabin equipment sales was partially offset by certification challenges for business seats. Deliveries of business seats declined to 428 from 592 in the third-quarter of 2024. The group has lifted its full-year 2025 outlook and now predicts 11-13% revenue growth, up from a previous estimate in the low teens. Recurring operating income is forecast at €5.1-5.2 billion (versus €5-5.1 billion previously), and free cash flow at €3.5-3.7 billion (up from €3.4-3.6 billion). Safran notes that it has for the first time included in the upgraded figures a net cost estimate of €100-150 million as a result of new tariffs.