Alaska Airlines has expanded its Boeing 737 Max order by exercising options on 42 Max 10s and 10 Max 9s, the airframer confirms. With the new agreement, the US carrier has unfilled orders for more than 100 Max jets, notes Boeing. Alaska specifies that its confirmed Max fleet has grown from 94 to 146 – including 35 Max 9s already in service – and that its orders span all three variants: the Max 8 as well as the 9 and10. The airline says it has also secured rights on 105 more Max jets, giving it "line of sight to operating more than 250... by 2030". Fleets data shows that, in addition to the 35 Max 9s, Alaska operates 169 737NGs, 10 Airbus A321neos and 25 A320ceos. It has another six A320ceos in storage, along with six A319ceos. The airline declares itself "on track to sunset Airbus aircraft by the end of 2023". Alaska's Max 9s are configured with 178 seats. The Max 10 can seat 204 passengers in a two-class configuration and offers a range of 3,100nm.

Ryanair's apparent status as a structural winner out of the pandemic is reinforced by Eurocontrol data showing that the low-cost carrier operated just over 10% of European services during the first nine months of the year. The data, contained in a snapshot issued by the air traffic manager, equates to a capacity increase of 9% on 2019. This gives Ryanair a capacity share nearly twice that of the second largest airline in Europe by number of flights, EasyJet. the UK carrier's number of flights was down 21% versus the same period in 2019. Beyond Ryanair, the only other large European airline to have increased its capacity since 2019 is Wizz Air. The central European budget airline's number of flights rose 12% and it accounted for 2.6% of European services. Meanwhile, the largest declines were at Norwegian, down 46%; SAS and Eurowings, both down 37%; British Airways, down 32%; and Lufthansa, down 31%. Eurocontrol’s data also serves to underline the growth in low-cost airlines over the past 30 years. Their market share has expanded from 1.6% in 1998 to 33% in 2022's first nine months as they benefited from the liberalisation of the European air transport market. "LCCs reacted rapidly to variations in demand, cutting harder but recovering more swiftly," notes Eurocontrol. "For the months January to September, the LCC segment grew from 31.9% in 2019 to 32.5% in 2022. In particular, Ryanair and Wizz Air quickly exploited the high demand for intra-European leisure traffic and expanded operations to 109% and 112% of their respective 2019 levels."

Qatar Airways has agreed to purchase 25 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel from US producer Gevo, starting 2028, as part of emissions-reduction plans. The Middle Eastern carrier will receive the deliveries over five years at "various airports" across California, it says, and will blend the product with existing supplies of conventional jet fuel. Within the US state, it currently serves Los Angeles and San Francisco. "Qatar Airways continues to prioritise our commitment to net-zero flying by the middle of this century," states group chief executive Akbar Al Baker. "Decarbonising aviation requires a gradual incorporation of lower carbon and sustainable aviation fuels, and we are proud to collaborate on this global effort for a better future." The airline intends to replace a tenth of its conventional jet fuel needs with SAF by 2030, a commitment shared with other Oneworld carriers. Members of the alliance had previously agreed to purchase 200 million US gallons of SAF from Gevo ."By working with farmers on regenerative agricultural practices, Gevo can sustainability source feedstock to produce sustainable aviation fuel, while also increasing soil health, sequestering carbon, and providing nutritional products to the food chain," states Gevo chief executive Patrick Gruber.