The UK Civil Aviation Authority has criticised Wizz Air as being "clearly the worst airline" when it comes to escalated complaints and delays in paying passengers for what they are owed. The latest quarterly data from the regulator gives a figure of 811 per million passengers for complaints about the airline that were escalated to the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme or handled by the CAA's in-house team. With the exception of Royal Brunei Airlines, with a figure of 555, other airlines had less than half as many complaints, and many far less. The CAA also highlights the time Wizz is taking to process claims from passengers, plus the large number of unpaid County Court Judgements (CCJs) against the airline. "The UK Civil Aviation Authority has been clear with Wizz Air that this is an unacceptable way to treat passengers and that it is imperative for the issues to be tackled urgently," it says. The regulator has given the carrier a Christmas deadline to resolve overdue complaints and claims. Issues with CCJs may continue into January, but the CAA is urging Wizz to priorities these payments also. "We will continue to monitor the situation. Where we have evidence that an airline is letting passengers down, we won't hesitate to take further action where required," states Anna Bowles, head of consumer policy and enforcement at the CAA. Wizz Air responds that it is "deeply sorry" for the inconvenience caused to its customers and is "working hard to put things right and resolve all outstanding claims as quickly as possible". It attributes the delays to the disruption seen in the summer, which resulted in an unprecedented number of claims. "We have recently doubled the size of our customer services team and are working continuously to process all outstanding customer claims, Alternative Dispute Resolution claims and settle all County Court Judgements," adds the airline.

Virgin Atlantic will operate a net-zero carbon emissions transatlantic flight from the UK next year. The flight will be operated using solely sustainable aviation fuel on a Boeing 787, powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines, from London Heathrow to New York JFK, the UK engine maker says. The move comes after the long-haul carrier received government funding to operate flights using SAF. Rolls-Royce's head of sustainability Rachael Everard states: "The Trent 1000 can already be flown with a 50% blend of SAF on commercial flights, and by the end of 2023 we will have proven that our whole family of Trent engines and business aviation engines are compatible with 100% SAF."

Boeing is pitching US lawmakers to extend a federally-mandated deadline of 27 December to install flight crew alerting systems on the in-development 737 Max 7 and -10, while the US Federal Aviation Administration intends to pause the two variants' certification after the deadline. The US airframer for months made efforts to insert an extended deadline into House or Senate legislation. A final bid to insert an extension into a federal spending omnibus bill seems unlikely. The FAA says that if Boeing has not installed new alert systems the agency “will cease work on reviews related to the crew alerting system for the 737 Max 7 and 10 in accordance with our congressional mandate”. All aircraft facing FAA certification after 27 December must have cockpit alert systems installed, as mandated by a law enacted in 2020, after the House and Senate in the wake of two fatal Max crashes each spent 18 months investigating the FAA certification of those aircraft. The alert systems regulation was intended as a means to prevent potential confusion of pilots during in-flight emergencies. The FAA mandate does not impact certificated aircraft. Boeing declined to comment. A pause in FAA certification for the Max 7s and Max 10s could further prolong delays that Boeing has forecast for the variants. During an investor briefing on 2 November, Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief executive Stan Deal pushed expectations for the Max 10's certification until “late 2023 or early 2024”. Max 7 certification could take until early 2023, he says. Boeing previously had a target of certificating the Max 7 by the end of 2022. In November, Boeing efforts failed to insert an extension into a defense spending bill. Washington state representative Rick Larsen, who advocated an exemption, tells Cirium: “The women and men make this airplane and live and work and go to school in my district and they’re the folks who are going to be on the short end of the stick if orders don’t get done.” In April, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chair Peter DeFazio opposed extending the cockpit safety installation deadline for Boeing, stating that such equipment “became an industry standard in 1982 and is on every current Airbus and Boeing model under production except for the 737s”. The Allied Pilots Association union that represents pilots at American Airlines opposes granting Boeing an extension.