Four Chinese airlines have between them ordered 292 Airbus A320-family jets. The European airframer says the orders came from Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines. Once "relevant criteria" are met, the aircraft will be added to Airbus's backlog, it adds. Airbus has not disclosed the delivery schedule or order breakdown but says the deals demonstrate a "positive recovery momentum and prosperous outlook for the Chinese aviation market". Chief commercial officer Christian Scherer credits Airbus China chief executive George Xu and his team with "excellent work" in "having brought to conclusion these long and extensive discussions that have taken place throughout the difficult Covid pandemic". Airbus notes that its in-service fleet in China comprised some 2,070 aircraft at the end of May. Across the first five months of 2022, the airframer recorded 191 net orders for A320-family jets (103 A320neos, 86 A321neos and two A319neos).

British Airways has doubled down on its policy of cancelling services this summer as it seeks to avoid the cancellations and last-minute disruptions that have plagued the industry. Data shows that the IAG-owned carrier has this week alone cut 1,254 one-way flights from its July schedule, or 214,000 seats. This amounts to a 6.2% reduction in its total flights for the month compared with last week, and a 5.3% drop in seats. This comes on top of the roughly 16,000 services it has already cut from its summer schedule. In total, the carrier will now operate 18,952 services in July – a rise of 166% on last year – and 2.4 million seats. Swathes of the airline's short-haul network will be impacted by the latest cuts, with particularly large reductions for some destinations. Faro in Portugal, for example, will have a third fewer flights while Bordeaux and Verona each lose a quarter, Cirium's data shows. Other destinations impacted include Amsterdam and Alicante, each of which lose around a fifth of scheduled BA services. "We took pre-emptive action earlier this year to reduce our summer schedule to provide customers with as much notice as possible about any changes to their travel plans," says the carrier. "As the entire aviation industry continues to face into the most challenging period in its history, regrettably it has become necessary to make some further reductions. We're in touch with customers to apologise and offer to rebook them or issue a full refund."

Ryanair has sealed a deal with union BALPA that will bring full pay restoration for the airline's UK pilots. The agreement will come into force having been approved by BALPA members in a ballot. "While the recovery from the impact of the pandemic is still ongoing and our industry faces significant challenges, this long-term agreement delivers stability, accelerated pay restoration, future pay increases and other benefit improvements for our UK pilots," states Ryanair's people director Darrell Hughes. All of Ryanair's European pilots are covered as a minimum by emergency agreements reached in 2020, but the company is now seeking to update this through deals with unions. So far, it has renegotiated agreements with 70% of its pilots. These will run into 2026 or 2027. As part of its plan to operate at 115% of its pre-Covid capacity this year, Ryanair says it is prioritising early restoration of pay through renegotiated agreements, to enable growth.