Canada's largest three airlines have reduced flights on their schedules amid the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 and travel restrictions imposed by that nation's federal government, while Air Canada will suspend 15 destinations in the Caribbean from 24 January through 30 April. Destinations suspended from the flag carrier's network include Antigua; Aruba; Samana; Curacao; Exuma; Grenada; Puerto Plata; Santo Domingo; Bermuda; Grand Cayman; Havana; St Vincent and the Grenadines; St Martin; St Kitts; and Nevis. "These changes will only impact 7% of our customers since we are maintaining operations to 23 sun destinations throughout the winter season," The Montreal-based carrier tells Cirium. "Customers affected by these route suspensions will be notified and a full refund will be processed automatically." These suspensions represent nearly half of the 29 Caribbean destinations Air Canada is scheduled to operate during January, data shows, yet sun destinations on its network also include Mexico. WestJet has trimmed its schedule by 15% of its flights through 31 January in response to both winter storms and staffing shortages amid the spread of Omicron, which has contributed to 499 active Covid-19 infections among WestJet Group employees. "Despite all contingency planning, in addition to hiring back thousands of WestJetters to safely support peak operations, we find ourselves no longer able to predictably resource our planned schedule," the Calgary-based airline says. Airlines in the USA have also cancelled thousands of flights since December amid a high volume of employees calling in sick. Air Transat says it has not faced restrictive staff shortages due to sickness and will not suspend destinations, yet the leisure carrier has reduced its schedule by 30% of its flights until 25 February. "The only exception is that our flights from Moncton and London, Ontario, are cancelled until end of April 2022," Transat says. "The lingering effects of the Omicron variant and the restrictive measures put in place by the federal government on 15 December have had an impact on our customers' reservations and cancellation requests." Ottawa has not closed its borders but has advised against non-essential international travel amid the spread of the Omicron variant.

VietJet will resume flights between Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok from 21 January. The Vietnamese low-cost carrier will operate two weekly flights between Tan Son Nhat International airport and Suvarnabhumi International airport, it says in a release today. VietJet has resumed several international routes from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to Tokyo Narita International airport, Taipei, Seoul Incheon International airport and Singapore, operating weekly flights since early January. In the next phase of service resumption, it will recommence its entire international network while looking to open new routes to destinations such as India and Russia. In Thailand, the carrier currently operates services from Bangkok to destinations such as Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phuket, Krabi, Hat Yai, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Surat Thani, Udon Thani, Khon Kae and Ubon Ratchathani in addition to other cross-regional routes.

Boeing ended 2021 with a backlog of 4,250 commercial aircraft orders, having delivered 340 jets during the year, amid pressure to reduce its inventory of undelivered aircraft and boost production. Unfilled orders at year-end totalled 5,136, but this is reduced to 4,250 by adjustments required under accounting standard ASC 606, which factors in uncertainty of fulfilment. The 737 Max dominated the US airframer's orders during 2021, accounting for 749 of the gross total of 909. Factoring in cancellations and accounting adjustments, net orders came in at 535. This compares with negative net totals in 2019 and 2020, of 87 and 1,194 respectively. Cancelled orders in 2021 spanned 395 737's, 32 787's and three 747's. The 2021 orderbook also included 84 dedicated freighters, reflecting ongoing demand for air freight amid lack of cargo capacity. Boeing in December won orders for 80 aircraft, including for 50 Max jets from Allegiant Air. There were orders for 19 767-300 Freighters from UPS, seven Max jets from Southwest, and seven 777Fs from Atlas Air's parent. US lessor Aviation Capital Group in December cancelled an order for one Max jet. Boeing delivered 38 aircraft in December, including 32 Max jets. Deliveries of 787's remain paused as Boeing co-ordinates with the US Federal Aviation Administration to conduct quality inspections. Boeing reports a backlog of 411 unfilled 787 orders. Deliveries in 2021 were more than double the 157 of 2020, when customers deferred aircraft amid the pandemic and Max jets were grounded for most of the year. The FAA had ordered the Max grounding in March 2019 following two fatal crashes and lifted the ban in November 2020. Boeing had delivered 380 aircraft in 2019, and 806 in 2018. The airframer increased deliveries of Max jets from 14 in August 2021 to 32 in December. Boeing says that an estimated one third of the Max aircraft it has in storage are awaiting deliveries to China. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on 2 December published a directive allowing fixes to Max automated flight controls that were implicated in the two crashes, but the regulator has not yet lifted its grounding of the aircraft.