Australia's latest aviation policy white paper has committed to establishing a new charter of rights and an ombuds scheme, plus additional monitoring of airline pricing and how airports set their charging regimes. The finalised policy paper puts forward 56 government initiatives, which transport minister Catherine King says, "will create the framework to give passengers a better deal while ensuring the industry maintains Australia’s strong safety record". Central to the policy is a greater focus on passenger rights with the establishment of the charter that King says, "establishes a regime for the fair and appropriate treatment of customers, including actions the airline must take in the event of flight delays and cancellations". It will also require airlines to report reasons for flight delays and cancellations to the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics to allow the agency to provide greater detail on disruptions broken down by airline and route. Alongside that will be the establishment of the Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme by 2026 which will replace the industry-funded Airline Consumer Advocate to resolve passenger-airline disputes. The policy also foresees changes to how Australia's airports negotiate commercial agreements with their airline customers, with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission set to play a greater role in monitoring pricing and service quality across major capital city airports. "Major airports are natural monopolies and appropriate oversight is needed so they do not misuse their market position," says King. "The ACCC will monitor the conduct of pricing negotiations between airlines and major airports - and the next Productivity Commission inquiry into the economic regulation of airports will advise whether stronger regulation is required." That may include the adoption of a negotiate-arbitrate model, which has been advocated by the Airlines for Australia and New Zealand industry lobby group. Other changes noted include reforming Sydney airport slot management arrangements, most of which have already started, but without lifting the 80 movements per hour cap nor the overnight curfew. The policy also calls for pursuing additional capacity in bilateral air service agreements with other countries and to negotiate open skies agreements "where to do so is in Australia's interests". The government has also restated its vision for the aviation industry to reach net zero emissions by 2050, with plans to establish a robust certification scheme for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) purchases and providing access to other innovation funding to development new feedstocks for SAF.

Malaysia Airlines will reduce its network until December following a recent spate of disruptions as it continues to grapple with delivery delays, supply chain and labour issues. “We are taking immediate steps to address the root causes of these significant issues that contribute to operational difficulties including supply chain constraints, manpower challenges, and other external factors as part of the continuing normalisation of global aviation operations post-pandemic,” says group managing director Izham Ismail in a 24 August statement. “MAG has also been affected by the delayed deliveries of new aircraft this year, leading to less aircraft being made available for operations than planned,” he adds. The MAG chief referenced disruptions that took place on the week of 19 August involving Malaysia Airlines, Firefly and charter operation Amal. On 19 August, flight MH128 from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur was diverted to Alice Springs due to engine issues, reports Australia's SBS news. The flight was operated by an Airbus A330-300, bearing registration 9M-MTJ (MSN 1347). Flight tracking data shows the jet returned to Kuala Lumpur on 25 August. The next day, on 20 August, another flight from Kuala Lumpur to Shanghai (MH386) was forced to return to the Malaysian capital due to a cabin pressure issue, reports Malay Mail. The flight was operated by an Airbus A330-300, bearing registration 9M-MTG (MSN 1318). Izham says the reduced network will "ensure the longterm reliability of our fleet and robustness of our operations" and adds that the airline is "working closely with our aircraft and engine manufacturers, and a wide range of suppliers to comprehensively address supply chain and technical issues". The 24 August statement follows a similar notice on 16 August, where the carrier apologised for an increase in flight delays and cancellations by Malaysia Airlines and Firefly. Malaysia Airlines operates 42 Boeing 737NGs, 23 A330s, seven A350-900s, four 737 Max 8s and three A330 freighters, fleets data shows. It also has 21 737 Max 8s and nine A330neos on order. It is scheduled to receive six 737 Max 8s and three A330neos before the end of this year.

Airbus intends to complete by the end of this month a series of flight tests with a fully sustainable aviation fuel-powered A321 in co-operation with research partners, to determine SAF emissions and potential reduction in condensation trials.
On 9 March, the European airframer completed the first flight with the test aircraft (D-AVZO) from Toulouse, using 100% SAF in both of the twinjet’s CFM International Leap-1A engines. The aircraft was followed by a Dassault Falcon 20E business jet of German aerospace research centre DLR, equipped with probes for emission measurement. Since the end of February, the two aircraft had conducted flights in reserved airspace outside France's coastline with conventional fuel – for emissions comparisons – under a project called VOLCAN, short for vol avec carburants alternatifs nouveaux or “flight with new alternative fuels”. CFM shareholder Safran, Dassault, French aerospace research centre ONERA and the national transport ministry are additional participants in the project, co-funded by the French council for civil aeronautical research, CORAC. DLR says the aim of the flight tests is to measure emissions from lean-burn engines and to determine their influence on contrails. One key question, the institute adds, is whether particles other than soot can cause contrail formation. Soot particles in the exhaust gas act as "strong" condensation nuclei for water droplets at altitudes with sufficient humidity, and therefore cause contrails, which play a significant role in aviation's impact on global warming, DLR notes. Emissions from engines powered by SAF contain less soot particles than conventional fossil-based fuel, previous research has shown. DLR says around 15 test flights are planned with the A321 and that the team will trial different variants of SAF based on hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids, across different engine operating modes. During the trials, the Falcon chases the narrowbody in close proximity – down to 100m – to measure emissions as near as possible to the engines' exhaust and also at a distance of several kilometres, where contrails will be fully formed. Airbus and DLR previously measured emissions of an Airbus A350 powered by 100% SAF on both its Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines. In 2021, the airframer conducted an A319neo test flight for which one of the aircraft’s Leap-1As was powered by 100% SAF.