Boeing forecasts a longer timeline for the certification of its two forthcoming 737 Max variants while also planning engineering upgrades for both Max and 787 aircraft. The airframer is in the certification process with the US Federal Aviation Administration on both Max 7 and Max 10 aircraft, Boeing Commercial Airplanes segment chief executive Stan Deal said on 2 November during the company’s investor day conference, and anticipates the certification “of Max 10 by late 2023 or early 2024”. Deal also raised the possibility that Max 7 certification could take until “later this year or early into 2023”, potentially going beyond the company’s previous forecast of year-end 2022. Certification for 777X aircraft “remains on track”, for it to begin deliveries by 2025, Deal says. A major lesson from the grounding of Max aircraft between 2019 and 2020 was to not make forecast for certification only to repeatedly delay them, Boeing Company chief executive David Calhoun said during the investor conference. “Our stated objective is going to remain stability… to deliver on time to customers,” Calhoun said. US lawmakers at the end of 2020 tasked FAA with improving aircraft certification following the agency’s lifting of a flight ban against Max aircraft that year. Two fatal Max crashes raised scrutiny from Congress while the FAA in August lifted a separate ban on shipments of 787s after resolving manufacturing issues with the widebody type. Shipments of 787s could be slowed by ongoing reviews, as the FAA has said that it will retain power to grant airworthiness certificates for new 787s prior to delivery until “Boeing’s quality control and manufacturing processes consistently produce 787s that meet FAA design standards”. Boeing plans to develop improved versions of its existing aircraft including “a new flight management system” for Max aircraft, Deal said, as the airframer prepares to “usher in autonomy” for future aircraft designs. The company “in the near future” also plans to introduce a variant of 787 aircraft capable of carrying more weight, which Deal said is intended to increase its capability.

Air New Zealand has taken delivery of its first Airbus A321neo configured for domestic operations from the airframer and will put it to service this month. The aircraft arrived in Auckland from the Airbus's facility in Hamburg, Germany on 3 November, the carrier says. The new aircraft is currently undergoing five days of pre-service readiness in the Auckland hangars before it commences its first flight on 8 November from Auckland to Wellington, it adds. It is the first of two new A321neos to join the carrier's domestic fleet in 2022. The second will arrive later this year and feature Air New Zealand's first-ever black Star Alliance livery. Three more A321neos are expected to arrive 2023, with the final two scheduled for 2026. The airline says it will use the A321neos predominately on routes between Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Queenstown and Dunedin. "We're focused on growing our domestic network and this A321neo is especially configured for domestic flying to add almost 50 additional seats per flight compared to our A320s," Air New Zealand chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty says.

Lufthansa Group has extended a service which enables passengers to purchase SAF and carbon offsets on board the aircraft, across all of its worldwide fights with internet access. Having been tested on a limited number of flights, the airline is now rolling out the service to customers on a permanent basis, making it available via a free onboard wi-fi connection. Guests can use a slider to decide how they want to offset the CO₂ emissions of their flight, such as via SAF from biogenic residues or carbon offsets from the nonprofit organisation Myclimate. "A combination of both options is also possible," says Lufthansa. "Furthermore, passengers can see directly when using the offset offer on board how many passengers have already offset the CO₂ emissions of their individual flight on that day and thus become part of a growing community." The move is part of the group's goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and halving its net CO₂ emissions by 2030 compared with 2019 levels.