American Airlines has paid a nonrefundable deposit to Boom Supersonic for 20 of its Overture aircraft and taken an option on an additional 40 jets. The US major's agreement to purchase up to 20 Overture aircraft is contingent on Boom meeting industry-standard operating, performance and safety requirements in addition to American’s usual conditions with manufacturers. Boom last month disclosed a new design for its Overture aircraft, after five windtunnel tests. Powered by 100% sustainable aviation fuel, Overture will fly Mach 1.7 over water with a range of 4,250nm (7,871 km), carrying 65-80 passengers at twice the speed of today's airliners, says the US airframer. It expects to roll out Overture aircraft in 2025, and forecasts passenger flights by 2029. "Looking to the future, supersonic travel will be an important part of our ability to deliver for our customers," American's finance chief Derek Kerr states. "We are excited about how Boom will shape the future of travel both for our company and our customers." United Airlines was the first US airline to sign a commercial deal with the manufacturer, agreeing in June 2021 to purchase 15 Overture aircraft. In 2017, Japan Airlines invested $10 million in Boom as part of a strategic partnership.

KLM has agreed in principle terms for a new labour contract with Dutch pilot union VNV. If adopted, the agreement will become effective from 1 March 2022 until 1 March 2023. It will "ensure calm and stability for the coming year and reflects KLM's current circumstances", the airline says. KLM adds that the new agreement includes a wage clause specifying a 2% increase effective 1 October and further 2% effective 1 March 2023, similar to recent agreements for ground personnel. The two parties will now finalise the protocol texts and present them to VNV's members council for approval. The airline says it also reached an agreement with VNV on productivity and flexibility, under which employees will receive one-off payments when KLM no longer has a credit facility with government guarantees. An international commuting arrangement for pilots has meanwhile been discontinued. As a result, pilots living outside the Netherlands will have to pay for their flights when commuting to work, KLM says.

Ryanair Group is axing eight routes from Budapest and reducing frequencies on seven more in response to a new Hungarian tax on company profits. Hungary is imposing a windfall tax on the earnings of companies enjoying a bounceback in demand following the Covid-19 pandemic. Ryanair says the measure, which it labels "stupid and bizarre", amounts to an extra charge of €10-25 ($10-25) per departing passenger from 1 July. Having passed on the additional cost to customers, Ryanair has been fined Ft300 million ($769,000), according to Facebook post from Hungarian justice minister Varga Judit. "The war inflation and the war economic situation require that whichever multinational companies that make extra profit should pay their share of the costs of the overhead protection and the national defence," she wrote on 8 August. Ryanair has responded by ending its connections to Bordeaux, Bournemouth, Cologne, Kaunas, Krakow, Lappeenranta, Riga and Tallin for the winter season, and reducing frequencies to Amman, Bristol, Pisa, Prague, Sofia, Tel Aviv and Warsaw. "We regret these route and flight cuts which are caused solely by the stupid and illogical decision of the Hungarian government to impose an 'excess profits' [tax] on the loss-making airline industry which now makes flying to/from Hungary more expensive and less competitive," states Ryanair group chief executive Michael O'Leary. "Applying an 'excess profits' tax to the loss-making airline sector in Hungary is inexplicable, and only succeeds in raising flight costs to/from Hungary when other Central European airports have lower costs and no idiotic 'excess profits' tax either. These routes and flights will be switched to other lower-cost neighbouring countries like Slovakia, Austria, Croatia and Romania, none of which have any idiotic 'excess profits' tax on loss-making airlines." The Hungarian government said in May that it would seek to force large companies including airlines to pay "a large part of their extra profits" into funds designed to ease cost-of-living pressures and bolster the national military. A statement from prime minister Viktor Orban suggested that many companies are making "extraordinarily high profits" amid rising prices, and listed airlines among those that would be obliged to provide additional funds for 2022 and 2023.