Singapore Airlines has obtained approval from the Indian government for its proposed foreign direct investment into the enlarged Air India Group, stemming from the merger of its 49%-owned company Vistara and Air India. SIA will hold approximately 25.1% of the expanded group after the completion of the proposed merger, the carrier says in a filing to the Singapore Stock Exchange. Tata Sons will hold 73.4%. The proposed merger, subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Singapore Airlines disclosed its plan to merge Vistara and Tata-owned Air India in November 2022. In June, India's National Company Law Tribunal approved the scheme of arrangement to merge Air India and Vistara.

Malaysia Aviation Group has confirmed that it will reduce capacity by 20% across large parts of its network as it grapples with supply chain issues and significant delays in new aircraft deliveries. "The reduced network involves 20% of our capacity, comprising Malaysia Airlines, Firefly and Amal's routes in Malaysia, Asean, North Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Greater China, South Asia and the Middle East," says group managing director Izham Ismail in a 29 August statement. "As air travel returned to normalcy with airlines globally restoring capacity into the market, we had been managing our schedules proactively to mitigate post-pandemic challenges including supply chain disruptions. We made the decision to carefully restore our capacity taking into consideration the speed of supply chain support," he adds. MAG flagged that it would reduce capacity until December due to the operational challenges it is facing on 24 August but had not stated which regions would be affected. A major driver of the reduction in capacity is a significant shortfall in new aircraft deliveries, with 17 expected this year. However, it has only received four Boeing 737-8s out of the 13 contractually agreed, while it will only receive three out of the scheduled four A330-900s due this year. MAG has also experienced attrition of skilled workforce as new MRO players have entered the Malaysian market. "To address this, we are collaborating with partners to augment our manpower and increase our skilled engineering workforce, and we have improved remuneration packages to sustain a strong talent pipeline for MAG," Ismail adds.

Air Canada has entered a 21-day cooling-off period in its contract negotiations with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA).
The airline says it remains committed to reaching a negotiated settlement and reports what it views as "significant progress" in talks. In response to potential customer concerns, the carrier has introduced a "goodwill rebooking policy" allowing free rebooking for flights scheduled between 15 and 23 September. Customers can change their travel dates, cancel for future credit, or rebook for later dates under specific conditions. The policy applies to all Air Canada-operated flights, including subsidiaries. Air Canada Express flights, which are operated by Jazz or PAL Airlines, will not be affected by the negotiations.The cooling-off period ends on 17 September.