SpiceJet has confirmed that India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation has deregistered three Boeing 737s while requests to deregister two others have been suspended. The carrier says in a statement provided that out of the requests made by SMBC Aviation Capital and CDB Aviation Leasing to deregister a total of five aircraft between them, "one lessor has already requested DGCA to suspend the deregistration of two aircraft". Documents seen show that CDB Aviation Leasing filed deregistration requests for two 737 Max 8s, MSNs 60184 and 60646, on 11 May. Legal sources confirm that the DGCA has deregistered two 737 Max 8s (MSNs 64507 and 64509) and a 737-800 (MSN 41397) that were requested by SMBC Aviation Capital on 8 May. While not confirming the lessor, SpiceJet says that "out of the remaining three, two were grounded for a long period, and not operational". Fleets data shows that the airline has 11 737 Max 8s, 16 737NGs (including two -700 Freighters) and nine De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400s in service. A further four Max 8s, 11 737NGs and 18 Dash 8-400s are stored. "We remain focussed on bringing on our grounded fleet back into operations," the airline adds.

International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) executive director Drew Kodjak is joining the Biden administration as senior director of transportation emissions in the White House Climate Policy Office. The office, established by US president Joe Biden a week after being sworn in on 20 January 2021, is charged with implementing the president's domestic climate agenda. Washington DC-based nonprofit ICCT provides research and technical and scientific analysis to environmental regulators in the USA. Kodjak, an environmental attorney, joined ICCT in 2005 after serving as attorney-adviser for the US Environmental Protection Agency. "Drew has been a leader in decarbonising transportation for more than 30 years," states Rachel Muncrief, who has taken on the role of active executive director of ICCT. "He has shown brilliance and dedication in accelerating the decarbonisation of the transportation sector." In September 2022, President Biden named John Podesta senior adviser to the president for clean energy innovation and implementation, and promoted Ali Zaidi to assistant to the president and national climate adviser.

WestJet and its pilots represented by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) union have reached a tentative agreement on the second collective bargaining agreement between the organisations, potentially avoiding a strike hours before the union's self-imposed deadline on 19 May. The agreement now heads to union members for a ratification vote. Canada's second-largest airline on 18 May began preparing for a strike by cancelling flights and parking the majority of its Boeing 737 and 787 fleets to avoid the aircraft being stranded far from the carrier's Calgary hub in the event of work stoppage. The mainline and its subsidiaries including ultra-low-cost carrier Swoop must now reverse course, WestJet chief executive Alexis von Hoensbroech states, adding that "the full resumption of operations will take time". "The WestJet Group is pleased to have reached a tentative agreement that is industry-leading within Canada and recognises the important contributions of our valued pilots by providing meaningful improvements to job security and scope, working conditions and wages," von Hoensbroech says. "We were able to arrive at a deal, however, [we] recognise the impact on our guests and we sincerely appreciate their patience during this time." The agreement between WestJet and its pilots comes as the ALPA union is also finalising its merger with the pilots' union at Air Canada, while pilots at Canadian start-up Lynx Air also seek representation by ALPA. Pilots' unions at carriers including FedEx, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines have also voted to authorise strikes if negotiations for new contracts do not lead to an agreement. The Allied Pilots Association that represents pilots at American on 19 May also announced it could potentially avoid a strike through a new agreement in principle with the US mainline, details of which the union states will be disclosed "in the coming days".