Delta Air Lines will launch flights between Ronald Reagan Washington National airport and Seattle-Tacoma International airport on 9 March 2025, following the US Department of Transportation's approval of the US major's application for a Washington National slot. The new route will be operated using Airbus A321neos, Delta says. With this final order, Delta will offer a nonstop flight to all three of its western hubs from the nation's capital. Delta also operates flights from Seattle to Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, and Taipei and plans to transition to A350s on these routes in spring 2025. "Seattle is a key market for our customers, a crucial hub for Delta, and a premier West Coast gateway," states Delta president Glen Hauenstein. "Delta commends the Department of Transportation for recognising that additional service from DCA to Seattle will give consumers the much-needed competition and choice they deserve." In addition to reauthorising and funding both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board through 30 September 2028, the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 signed into law on 16 May by US president Joe Biden authorised 10 new slot exemptions at Washington National. US carriers American, United, Delta, Frontier, JetBlue, Southwest, Alaska and Spirit submitted applications for the new slots. Alaska has received approval from the DOT to launch flights between San Diego and Washington National.

Lufthansa Group has agreed a firm purchase agreement covering five additional Airbus A350-1000s, bringing its total orders of the variant to 15. The German airline group notes that it has also ordered a total of 60 A350-900s. Fleets data indicates that 32 of these have already been delivered. Deliveries under the latest deal are scheduled for 2028-30. "With the state-of-the-art A350 long-haul jets, we are accelerating the largest fleet modernisation in our history," states Lufthansa Group chief executive Carsten Spohr. "We are investing more than ever before in our history to make air transport more sustainable, to achieve our CO2 reduction targets and at the same time offer our customers the highest level of comfort with a first-class travel experience." The group first ordered the A350-1000 in March 2023, signing a firm agreement for 10 jets scheduled to arrive from April 2026. In total, Lufthansa Group has outstanding orders for around 250 aircraft, including 100 long-haul jets which will replace the carrier’s four-engined aircraft as they are phased out, namely the Boeing 747-400, Airbus A340-600 and A340-300. "Including today's order, Lufthansa Group has ordered 770 aircraft from Airbus throughout its history and is proud to be the Airbus's largest customer worldwide," adds Spohr. "With the upcoming integration of ITA Airways in January, the Airbus fleet of Lufthansa Group airlines will grow by another 100 short- and long-haul aircraft." The A350-900 can carry up to 350 passengers in a typical three-class configuration, says Airbus. The figure for the A350-1000 is 410.

Azerbaijan Airlines and Kazakhstan's Qazaq Air have announced further suspensions of services to Russia in the wake of the crash of flight J2-8243 on 25 December. The Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190, flying from Baku to Grozny in Chechnya, was forced to make an emergency landing near Aktau in Kazakhstan when it crashed with a large loss of life. Azerbaijan Airlines said on 26 December that it would suspend services from Baku to Mineralnye Vody, Sochi, Volgograd, Ufa and Samara, in addition to cancellations to Grozny and Makhachkala announced a day earlier. The carrier will continue to offer services elsewhere in Russia, including Moscow and St Petersburg. Cirium data shows that the carrier operated to 13 Russian destinations in November. "This decision, made in accordance with the Azerbaijan State Civil Aviation Authority, is based on the preliminary results of the investigation into the crash of the Embraer 190 aircraft operating the Baku-Grozny flight J2-8243 of Azerbaijan Airlines due to physical and technical external interference and considers potential risks to flight safety," it states. "The suspension will remain in effect until the completion of the final investigation." Qazaq Air said it would temporarily suspend flights between Astana and Yekaterinburg from 28 December until 27 January. The move is being "carried out to ensure the safety of passengers and crew members based on the results of an ongoing risk assessment of flights to Russia", the airline says. A resumption of flights will be based on a fresh risk assessment. Qazaq Air will continue to operate flights to Omsk and Novosibirsk.