Budget carriers Ryanair and Wizz Air have rapidly moved to grab market share in Romania following the sudden suspension of services by local operator Blue Air. The carrier cancelled all services for a week from 6 September, local media outlets have reported, after its accounts were seized by the environment ministry for non-payment of a fine. Ryanair promptly announced it would launch "rescue fares" to the country, on routes from Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Oradea, Sibiu, Suceava and Timisoara in Romania and from Turin in Italy. Eastern Europe-focused Wizz Air announced a "major expansion" in Romania alongside its own rescue fares for Blue Air passengers, basing five more Airbus A321s in Bucharest and offering additional services to Bacau, Cluj-Napoca, Iasi and Sibiu. "As part of this growth, the airline will also launch new routes from Bucharest to Athens, Prague and Larnaca, and will increase frequencies on over 30 existing routes," says Wizz. The new aircraft will join its Romanian fleet from the start of October, bringing its Bucharest-based fleet to 17 and delivering an additional 2.6 million seats. It will also, the carrier asserts, make Wizz the largest operator from the city, as well as from several other Romanian cities. The Romanian government says the suspension of Blue Air's services leaves around 3,000 travellers unable to return to the country, and has instructed local carrier Tarom to operate repatriation flights. Data shows that Blue Air leases 12 of its 18 Boeing 737s from Air Lease Corporation and one from Pearl Aircraft Corporation. The fleet includes five Max 8s, and the carrier has another four on order. All are being leased from ALC.

Globus, a subsidiary of S7 Group, has secured approval from the Russian government to return two Boeing 737 Max jets to their lessors. A government order published on 27 August gives Globus permission to export the two aircraft to Turkey by 31 December. One of the aircraft (MSN 43302) is leased from Air Lease Corporation and the other (MSN 44297) from another US lessor, Aviation Capital Group, data shows. Both jets were operated by S7 Airlines and are now in an unconfirmed location in Turkey, the data indicates. They were the only two Max jets operated by S7.

German pilot union Vereinigung Cockpit has called off strike action against Lufthansa planned for 7-8 September following an interim agreement during last-minute talks. The union says that the deal, while incomplete, provides both sides with the "opportunity to have a better future", setting a timeframe to build on the full spectrum of issues that need to be agreed. Although the full details of the deal are yet to be released, "the structure side and working side of this agreement is a little bit bigger than before", says Vereinigung Cockpit, adding: "The biggest thing is that there is now time for future discussions." Lufthansa had warned earlier in the day that unless discussions were successful by 12 noon, it would be forced to call off flights, given the need to make aircraft and crew scheduling decisions, as well as to provide some notice to passengers about their flights. The airline group had offered a €500 ($496) increase for pilots from 1 September 2022 and a further €400 from 1 April next year, although Vereinigung Cockpit complained that other areas of concern were being ignored. Lufthansa has been contacted for comment.