Pilots at United Airlines, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), have reached an agreement in principle (AIP) with the Chicago-based airline's management. "This landmark agreement marks a significant milestone for United pilots and includes substantial improvements to compensation, as well as advancements in quality of life, vacation, and other benefits," ALPA states. The AIP will result in approximately $10 billion in value over the life of the contract, ALPA adds. "Items included in the comprehensive and robust package are improvements to critical aspects such as quality of work-life, compensation, job security, work rules, retirement, benefits, and more," it says. In the weeks ahead, negotiators will work to complete the final language, ALPA says. Once completed, the United Master Executive Council (MEC) will subsequently review the language and vote to determine if the AIP becomes a tentative agreement, which would then be distributed to the entire pilot group for membership ratification, "ensuring that every pilot has a voice and the opportunity to shape their future". ALPA says that in the coming weeks, the United MEC will continue to distribute additional pilot communications, providing "comprehensive information and addressing questions or concerns ahead of the MEC's deliberations". Garth Thompson, chair of the United ALPA MEC, states: "This agreement in principle could not have happened without the steadfast resolve of the 16,000 United pilots. The tireless dedication demonstrated by United pilots over the past several years ensured our solidarity which was instrumental in achieving this historic agreement." Last year, United's pilots voted to reject a tentative agreement on terms for a new contract nearly six months after their union had first signed an agreement in principle. United Airlines forecasts that, including its recruiting efforts begun last year, it is on track to add 50,000 new employees through 2026, including pilots. The US major hired more than 2,300 pilots in 2022, an 85% increase versus 2021. It plans to add around the same number in 2023. Earlier this year, pilots at Delta Air Lines approved a new contract, which was effective 2 March and includes more than $7 billion in cumulative pay increases over four years. That agreement runs through December 2026. More recently, in May, American Airlines and its pilots represented by the Allied Pilots Association (APA) came to an in principle agreement on a new four-year collective bargaining agreement.

Etihad Engineering has completed its first post-Covid Airbus A380 heavy check for its parent carrier, which is preparing to return the type to service. The Middle Eastern maintenance provider shared that it has delivered the first A380 (registered A6-APG) back to Etihad Airways after a six-year check, and begun work on a second (A6-APH). Fleets data shows that a third (A6-API) returned to Etihad's Abu Dhabi base on 17 July, following a two-month visit to Chinese city Xiamen, where Hong Kong-based MRO provider HAECO has a facility. A fourth (A6-APJ) is still in Xiamen. Etihad Airways has been contacted for comment. In December 2022, the carrier disclosed a plan to reactivate four of its 10 A380s from this year's summer season. The fleet had been placed in storage amid the pandemic in 2020. A6-APG and A6-API are scheduled to re-enter service with Etihad on 25 July. A6-APH and A6-APJ will follow suit in September and November, respectively. The four reactivated aircraft – all built in 2016-17 – are Etihad's youngest A380s. The first in the Engine Alliance GP7200-powered fleet was delivered to the carrier in 2014. A6-APG and A6-APH are managed by Natixis Transport Finance, and their leases are scheduled to expire in 2029. All the other A380s in Etihad's fleet are owned by the carrier. Etihad Engineering says the check on A6-APG included rear-spar and frame modifications, off-wing inspections of all four engines, component maintenance, and removal and servicing of the aircraft's entire cabin interior featuring 405 economy, 70 business and nine first-class seats plus two private compartments dubbed "The Residence". The aircraft arrived in Abu Dhabi in March, having been taken out of storage at Spanish airport Teruel in January and subsequently ferried to Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrenees in France. A6-APH was removed from storage in Teruel in May and arrived in Abu Dhabi from Tarbes in June. A6-API exited storage in Tarbes in May and was ferried to Xiamen, while A6-APJ was in storage at Teruel until earlier this month. "The Etihad Engineering team has built formidable experience and expertise over the years on the A380 platform," states senior vice-president airframe services Haytham Nasir, citing the MRO provider's track record of having carried out "the world's first 12-year check on an A380, as well as complex structural modifications, landing-gear changes, cabin refurbishment and numerous heavy maintenance programmes for customers from Asia, Europe, Australia, the Middle East and the Far East". Etihad Engineering is a partner of Airbus for A380 support.

Airbus and South American carrier LATAM Airlines Group have co-operated on a sustainable aviation fuel-powered delivery flight of an A320neo from the airframer's base in Toulouse, France to Fortaleza, Brazil. The flight's fuel supply was 30% SAF produced from cooking oil, LATAM notes. LATAM expects to have 31 A320neo-family aircraft in operation by the end of 2023, and more than 100 in operation by the end of this decade. The aircraft type is a centrepiece of the group's sustainability objectives. "[The delivery flight] is a joint effort between LATAM and Airbus and represents one of our most concrete advances in the group's agenda regarding the use of SAF," states LATAM's finance chief Ramiro Alfonsín. He adds: "Today the amounts of SAF available worldwide are very limited, and access to this type of fuel in South America continues to be one of the great challenges facing the decarbonisation of the industry."