South African Airways will start flights to Sao Paulo, Brazil, from Cape Town and Johannesburg. The carrier says it will operate twice-weekly flights each from Cape Town and Johannesburg from 31 October and 6 November, respectively. This marks its first intercontinental route since the airline returned to the skies in September 2021 after an intensive business rescue process and the Covid-19 lockdown.

Hong Kong Airlines has introduced the first of three Airbus A330-300s as it continues its recovery and expands its network. The newly added, 292-seat A330 entered service on a flight to Bangkok on 21 June, the carrier says, with the other two to be added over the northern summer season. This will allow it to upgrade capacity on several routes to Japan, Bangkok, Shanghai and Taipei. Fleets data shows that Hong Kong Airlines now operates 10 Airbus A320ceos and five A330-300s, while it has a further 15 aircraft in storage. Chairman Hou Wei says that the airline is benefiting from strong demand and is accelerating the rollout of its route network. "During the recent Dragon Boat Festival holiday, our ticket sales were strong, reaching a peak since the pandemic began," he says. "The load factor even exceeded pre-pandemic levels by 7%, the result is quite encouraging, as our profitability has significantly improved, and it also demonstrates our flight resumption efforts this year continue to gain traction. We will accelerate the recovery of flights and expand the coverage of our flight destination network." The airline will resume service to Sanya on 1 July and inaugurate a new service to Nagoya on 8 July. Data shows that the carrier is now operating 360 return flights per week. Its largest routes by seat capacity are from Hong Kong to Bangkok, Shanghai Pudong and Tokyo Narita.

Boeing and Virgin Australia have signed a wide-ranging memorandum of understanding to collaborate on key sustainability and First Nations initiatives in Australia. The two companies will jointly advocate for the development of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) acceleration in Australia, and to advance clean energy cooperation between Australia and the USA with a focus on clean energy supply chains. They will also partner to advance carbon offset projects that support regional development, with a particular focus on advancing First Nations people. Similarly, they will work closely to identify how they can accelerate First Nations engagement and inclusion in their workplaces and supply chain. "This is the first sustainability-focused MoU between our companies and we are delighted to partner with Boeing. This MoU, which combines our deep expertise in Australia’s commercial aviation industry with Boeing’s global knowledge and insights, will help to drive and amplify change," says Virgin Australia's chief corporate affairs and sustainability officer Christian Bennett. Virgin and Boeing signed the MOU as the carrier took delivery of its first of eight Boeing 737 Max 8s, which was handed over on 28 June. The jet was loaded with a 30% blend of SAF for the first leg of its delivery flight from Seattle to Brisbane. The agreement comes months after Airbus and Qantas announced a major sustainability partnership, including a co-investment by both parties in an A$400 million ($265 million) sustainability fund. Together, the companies are working with the Queensland government to explore scaling up SAF production using alcohol-to-SAF technology, using sugarcane wastes as the primary feedstock. Qantas has also called on the Australian government to introduce a minimum SAF blend mandate to help catalyse investment in domestic production of the alternative fuel.