China will lift an outbound group travel ban to over 70 countries including Japan, South Korea, Australia, the US and the UK starting 10 August, giving a much-needed boost to the global travel industry. Travel agencies and online tour operators can immediately resume tour services for Chinese citizens, states China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The list also includes India, Turkey and Myanmar in Asia; Germany, Netherlands and Sweden in Europe; and Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela in South America. This is the third batch of countries China is relaxing group travel restrictions for, on top of the 60 countries and territories that had previously been given the green light for outbound tour groups. The country only opened its borders in January this year after three years of zero-Covid policy, before progressively lifting the ban on tour groups starting with 20 countries in February, and 40 more in March. Prior to the pandemic, Japan, South Korea, Australia and the US were among top destinations for Chinese travelers. However, these countries were ostensibly missing from previous batches of destinations pegged for the resumption of group travel amid geopolitical tensions. Meanwhile, aviation recovery in the world's second-largest economy has been uneven, with the domestic sector almost back to pre-Covid levels, as international flights lag behind. China’s international ASKs for its top three carriers in July were still down more than 50% from before the pandemic,

Australia's Alliance Aviation Services reported a 25% lift in underlying profit before tax to A$56.9 million ($37.2 million) for the year ended 30 June as it boosted the wet-lease operations of its Embraer 190-E1 fleet. Revenue for the year increased 40% compared to the 2022 fiscal year to A$517 million, mostly driven by a near-tripling of wet-lease revenue. Contract charter revenue was also higher, while ad hoc charter and scheduled services registered declines. Net profit after tax came in at A$36.5 million, reversing a A$5.2 million loss from the prior period. Alliance ended the year with cash and cash equivalents of A$22.3 million, up from A$20.9 million at the start of the year. “During the second half of the 2023 financial year we started to realise substantial financial return from the multi-year investment in the E190 fleet and related additional resources," says managing director Scott McMillan. Fleets data shows that Alliance operates 28 E190s, 23 Fokker 100s and 11 F70s, while it has two more E190s and three F70s in storage. The other E190s have been leased to Air North. In February the carrier announced it was purchasing 30 more E190s from AerCap that will be delivered between September 2023 and March 2026, up to 11 of which will be disassembled for parts. It also subsequently announced a deal to buy four more E190s from Azorra Aviation that will enter service between November 2023 and March 2024. McMillan says that the company is placing a greater focus on wet-leases, with a move away from ad hoc charters to a "contracted revenue model" of wet-leasing. Most of the airline's wet-lease work is conducted for Qantas, for which it has deployed 22 of its E190s. The Oneworld carrier has options to increase this to up to 30 aircraft. Alliance is also eyeing further organic growth from its contract charter work in the resources industry, with the addition of two new clients during the second half and "margin increases on contracts renewed during the year".

The US Federal Aviation Administration has warned that counterfeit traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) parts sold by a Russian company are circulating among US distributors that have been fraudulently labeled as Rockwell Collins parts, increasing the risk of near-misses in the skies. Every commercial, business or general aviation aircraft uses some TCAS hardware to both signal its presence and to help flight crews navigate air space. Commercial flights on aircraft with functional TCAS parts can still be at risk of collision with smaller aircraft equipped with inoperable or defective TCAS units. An unapproved parts notification published on 2 August by the FAA states that Russia-based Aviation Parts LLC since at least 2021 has been selling used units of TCAS transmitter/receiver parts labeled number 822-1293-XXX (TTR-921) with counterfeit identification plates that were "subsequently distributed by various brokers". European regulator EASA on 3 August also published an alert about the FAA unapproved parts notice. An FAA investigation begun in December 2021 found counterfeit units of these TCAS parts to be inoperable. "The FAA encourages aircraft owners, operators, manufacturers, maintenance organisations, parts suppliers, and distributors to inspect their aircraft and/or aircraft parts inventory" sold by Moscow-based Aviation Parts LLC, the regulator states. "If these articles are found within the existing inventory, the FAA recommends that they be quarantined to prevent installation until a determination can be made regarding their eligibility for installation, or replaced with FAA approved articles." The company now called Collins Aerospace in 2015 discontinued deliveries of that series of TTR-921 TCAS computers "due to obsolescence of key components". Collisions between aircraft are a risk even if all aircraft involved have functional TCAS computers. The FAA in March published safety guidelines for carriers to help flight crews minimise the risks of runway collisions. The agency is also investigating an in-flight near collision event between an Airbus A320 aircraft operated by Allegiant Air and a Gulfstream business jet that occurred on 23 July. Allegiant says that the airline "does not use Rockwell Collins TCAS parts in our fleet".

This article has been updated to include a comment from Allegiant Air