Commercial airline pilots can use artificial intelligence predictions to avoid making some contrails, an American Airlines study suggests. Contrails constitute a significant non-carbon impact on the climate from aviation. Persistent contrails, in particular, can trap heat in the atmosphere. Google Research and Breakthrough Energy, which funds technology designed to reduce carbon emissions, led the study for American. They aimed to determine if it is possible to identify atmospheric zones that are likely to create contrails, and if pilots can avoid making contrails in flight when supplied with such data. Satellite imagery, weather data and flight-path data were fed into artificial intelligence programmes to develop contrail forecast maps. Additionally, several American pilots flew 70 flights over the course of six months while using the AI-based predictions to make modifications to routes that were projected to create contrails. Based on these tests, Google Research found that flights where pilots used the AI predictions to avoid creating a contrail reduced contrail formation by 54%, as measured by distance, compared to flights where pilots did not use the AI predictions. "This first proof point – albeit on a small number of flights – shows that a commercial flight can verifiably avoid creating a contrail," American says. "Additional research is necessary to determine if this success can be replicated and scaled." In October 2022, Delta Air Lines and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's department of aeronautics and astronautics commenced jointly testing ways to prevent persistent contrails.

Boeing in July booked orders for 52 aircraft, led by 39 orders placed by Saudi Arabian flag carrier Saudia, and delivered 43 aircraft that month. Saudia ordered 21 Boeing 787-10 aircraft and 18 787-9s to grow its widebody fleet. Luxembourgish flag carrier Luxair also ordered four 737 Max aircraft. Orders from unidentified customers included eight Max jets and one 777 freighter. This order tally for Boeing declined year on year compared with 130 aircraft orders in July 2022, and compared with 304 orders finalised in June 2023 amid the Paris Air Show. Supply chain and manufacturing challenges impacted the rate of deliveries, which declined compared with the 60 aircraft Boeing shipped in June. The largest deliveries by the US airframer in July included nine 737 Max aircraft sent to United Airlines, seven Max jets to Southwest Airlines, and four Max to Ryanair. Net orders for Boeing during 2023 as of July jumped to 467 aircraft after the airframer factored in cancellations, conversions and the uncertainty of fulfilment. The Virginia-based airframer in 2023 has so far shipped 309 aircraft as it aims to reduce its backlog while increasing its monthly jet production rate. Boeing aims to increase the Max build rate to 42 per month when there is more stability in the market, with a goal of producing 50 Max jets per month by 2026. The airframer also aims to increase the monthly production rate for 787s from its current rate of four to five per month by the end of 2023 and to a monthly rate of 10 787s by 2026.

US airlines have asked the Federal Aviation Administration to extend through 28 October its limited waiver of minimum slot-usage requirements at the New York area's JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airports and at Washington National. The FAA issued the notice on 22 March in order to give carriers "the ability to reduce operations during the peak summer travel period, which are likely to be exacerbated by the effects of air traffic controller (ATC) staffing shortfalls". The waiver is set to end 15 September. United Airlines, which operates a hub at Newark, cut back its schedule of flights connecting with New York area airports during the summer to ease the burden on understaffed ATC systems. The Chicago-based carrier also reduced summer frequencies at Washington National. US carriers have made the request for an extension via their trade group Airlines for America (A4A), which on 7 August sent a letter to the FAA. "The FAA's 'staffing related relief' notice acknowledged that the relief was granted based on post-pandemic effects of air traffic controller staffing at the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facility (N90) being 54% staffed," A4A writes in the letter. "The FAA has observed that unless carriers reduced their flight schedules, this staffing challenge would likely cause operational disruption until responsibility for the Newark airspace sector was moved to the Philadelphia TRACON." A4A notes in the letter that since the issuance of the waiver in March, responsibility for the Newark airspace sector has not been transferred to Philadelphia, and that staffing levels at N90 have not been meaningful improved. "Accordingly, in order to maintain operational integrity as FAA staffing shortages persist, we request that the FAA extend the notice through the end of the full Summer IATA Season [28 October]." A4A member airlines include United, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Atlas Air, FedEx Express, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines and UPS.